After a very long but on-time flight, we arrived in Las Vegas. It’s been quite a few years—5 exactly—since I’ve last been in Vegas. Besides the major construction changes, it appears to be the same-old city. Full of expectation, I’m sad to report that our first night here at The Mirage was miserable.
I’m rarely critical of customer service. For some strange reason, maybe it’s the entrepreneur in me or maybe it’s because I deal with “customers” daily, but I tend not to be the kind of person that routinely complains about little annoyances, but livid would be a soft term to describe my anger and dissatisfaction with The Mirage hotel last night.
I pre-paid this vacation about two months ago via Orbitz. During the booking, we selected a non-smoking room. Of all room options, the smoking option is perhaps the most important; above bed and room size. So to my surprise, we checked in and were told they had no non-smoking rooms available and we could only get a “smoking optional” room. We were told if the smell was overwhelming, we could call down for a “de-fogging” and they would move us to a non-smoking room the following day. I hesitantly obliged without making a scene and we were off to our room.
Rarely do I get worked up about anything, but I cannot begin to describe my anger upon opening the door to the room and being smacked in the face with the most dense and disgusting smoking odor I’ve ever encountered outside of a “club.”
We immediately called down to the front desk for the “de-fogging.” We were told it would take two hours. Now, it was already midnight Vegas time and we’re still on East Coast time, so really it’s 3AM to us. I drove two hours from Sarasota to Orlando, then the flight was five hours, baggage and shuttle to the hotel was another hour and then another 30 minutes standing in line to check-in. To summarize, we were tired and now we had to waste another two hours just to get a decent night of sleep. I’ve already paid for this damn five-day hotel stay! I was boiling, but like a good customer, I didn’t complain. I’d wait and see how the process works.
We went down to the Carnegie Deli and ordered what turned out to be the most impractical sandwich I’ve ever had. It was a chicken salad sandwich, but the damn thing was stacked so high (about 8-9 inches) it was impossible to eat. Note to all restauranteurs: meals are just like every other consumer product. If it’s impractical, it’s useless. So besides the sandwich sucking, the service sucked too. What is the deal with this hotel?
After eating and a little bit of time-wasted gambling, we ventured back to the room. Opened the door and the smack of nasty air again. That was it. I was not going to stay in this room. It only took 5 minutes before our eyes were burning, noses running and our stuff starting to stink. I called down to the front desk and complained. House keeping never “de-fogged” the room. The rep offered me a $50 credit which meant nothing to me. My eyes are burning, I’m dead tired and they offer $50. The crappy inedible meal I just had was $30. I’ve already paid for this damn room! I want a smokeless room, not money. I politely told the rep that I needed a resolution and money is not the issue. My eyes are burning and I’ve only been in the room for five minutes!
The rep put me on hold for a couple minutes and then came back to tell me house keeping “just finished” cleaning a non-smoking room. Mind you this is 2AM Vegas time, 5AM our time. I didn’t see any house keeping people in the halls since we arrived. I call bullshit on this one and I knew it from the moment we arrived that there was something else going on here. I suspect it’s because I had already paid for my room. They had my money, what do they care?
The rep finally switched our rooms and generously allowed me to keep the $50 credit. Wow. Great job.
So here’s my advice to all of you planning on staying at The Mirage—DON’T. It’s not worth the struggle. You work hard to earn your dollars and spend decent amounts of it to relax and not be bothered by stupid little things like the smell of your hotel room. The customer service here sucks. There’s little regard or sensitivity to something that, quite frankly, should be the most sensitive issue a hotel should ever have to get right. God forbid people actually do not like staying in cancer-infested rooms.
I’m going to try and put this behind me and attempt to enjoy the rest of my vacation. However, I will never return to this hotel to spend my hard-earned money. Neither should you.
