This "hotel" is NOT what its website would have you believe, and it does NOT deserve its star rating.
The décor is hideous – the walls were painted a dark blue/red/purple, and the furniture was shabby. Instead of achieving the mod feeling that they were so obviously trying to achieve, it just looked ugly and dated. The crappy carpet squares didn’t fit correctly against the walls, and felt sticky underfoot. The shower was not clean and the water was lukewarm to cool. The toilet basin was not properly attached, and slammed into the wall every time you flushed. The air conditioning didn’t work very well at all (kept our room at about 80 degrees when on High), and blew hot air directly at the head of the bed. Additionally, the AC controls were on the ceiling, so you had to pull up a chair to adjust them (not that it did you any good). The bed linens were nice, and the mattress was fairly comfortable. BUT, rather than paying for a duvet cover for the comforter, they simply wrapped it up in two sheets. The sheets, of course, didn’t stay on the comforter well at all during the night. The end result was that you were sleeping with 3 bunched sheets and one dirty comforter – not at all pleasant.
The Clarendon Hotel is, quite obviously, a gay hotel. Not a gay-friendly hotel, which we would have welcomed. Instead, we were made to feel very uncomfortable as the only heterosexual couple in the hotel. It didn't help that I am 5 months pregnant, and had to endure "God, I HATE breeders!" and like comments in the elevator and lobby. The clientele was obviously on the prowl for a one-night stand.
The neighborhood is sketchy. There are two doors from the parking area that ought to be locked at all times, but were always open and unlocked during our 5 day stay here, leaving the hotel totally unsecure. When we checked out at 4:00 am, there were 5 different men wandering the halls. One of them even followed us out to our car. Were they guests? People off the street? Who knows? It was very, very creepy.
When we got to the front desk to check out, no one was there. We ended up waiting more than 25 minutes for the front desk attendant to arrive, which made us late to the airport. So much for customer service.
Do yourself a favor, stay somewhere else. This hotel ruined my romantic vacation.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Would I recommend this hotel to my best friend?
no way!
I recommend this hotel for:
Young singles, A romantic getaway, Older travelers, Great pool scene, Families with teenagers, Tourists
I do not recommend this hotel for:
Young singles, An amazing honeymoon, A romantic getaway, Girlfriend getaway, People with disabilities, Great pool scene, Pet owners, Families with young children, Families with teenagers, Tourists
I selected this hotel as a top choice for:
Beach / Sun, Museums / Cultural / Historical sites, Great food / Wine, Shopping
Management Response
Ben Bethel, General Manager...
(Management representative)
Nov 5, 2008
Thank you for your review... I would like to take a few moments to respond to this review.
We're definitely not your typical boring beige big box hotel. When I renovated the hotel, I wanted to create an experience for guests that was different from other hotels, yet enjoyable and comfortable, with great service and high quality amenities.
I believe that the essence of travel is to experience new and different things. If you're used to the same boring beige/tan color scheme, the same old furniture, etc every where you travel, then why travel to different places? Why not just stay at home?
The website offers images taken from my digital camera, not taken by a professional photographer, and with no special lighting effects or modifications to the images. What you see is what you get.
Regarding the decor, we can't please all of the people all of the time, but many people love the hotel, it's decor, interiors and artwork. We've received awards in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area for Best Hotel Art (Village Voice/New Times), Best Hotel/Resort Pool (Phoenix Magazine), Best Boutique Hotel in Arizona (The Travel Channel), and numerous other awards.
Regarding the carpet squares, they're actually a high-end flooring that's carbon neutral, antibacterial and antimicrobial - and much cleaner than any other hotel carpet on the market. If there's a spill or stain we pull up the tile, insert a new one, and recycle the old one. With carpet at other hotels, no matter how clean it looks on the surface, you'd be surprised at what is growing on the carpet pad underneath the carpet!
Thank you for the compliments on the bed linens and the mattress - we use the same exact mattresses and beds as the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton chains, and the same sheets as many 5-star resorts... and I'd wager that our towels are nicer and softer than almost any hotel in the nation.
The reason we wrap the down blanket in two sheets is out of concern for cleanliness and sanitation. In many hotels you will find a multi-colored comforter or in higher-end hotels, a white duvet cover. We've found that no matter the star rating of the hotel, multi-colored comforters get washed about every 6-9 months, get thrown on the floor by guests who know this, which means that everything from the floor gets picked up and migrates to clean sheets when the comforter is placed back on the bed. We've also found that duvet covers face the same fate... if they don't look dirty, many times housekeepers (even at high end resorts) will not remove them and change them because they're very difficult to remove and replace, especially by yourself if you're a housekeeper. And finally, especially with duvet covers, the blankets inside only get washed about once or twice a year. We care a lot about cleanliness and sanitation and this is why we carefully wrap the down blanket between two top sheets - it makes it easy for housekeeping to change the sheets, and it makes it easy for them to wash every down blanket between every single stay. Yes, the sheets are less expensive, but this also means that housekeeping is more likely to replace the sheets with brand-new sheets when there's the slightest sign of wear and tear - with more expensive duvet covers, another hotel is less likely to replace them when they're stained and should be thrown out. We also do not load up the bed with 10 pillows and bolsters - all of which usually get thrown on a floor by a guest, then placed on freshly laundered sheets by housekeeping - it might look good, but it's just not sanitary. I hope this makes you feel more comfortable about the sleeping experience at The Clarendon, although I don't know how it's going to make you feel staying at any other hotel.
It's interesting that you ended up staying 5 days at The Clarendon, even though you seemed to hate the hotel so much. If you were so unhappy with the decor immediately upon check-in, please tell us and we'll be more than happy to do whatever necessary to make you happy - even if that means relocating you to another property.
Sincerely,
Ben
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
