Do you ever have that sense of foreboding when you turn up at a hotel? Sometimes its just the fear of the unknown and the upcoming adventure then everything turns out fine… Then there’s the other times. This is one of those times!
I guess I’ve just been spoiled by the first class, luxury hotels I’ve stayed at for the past 5 years. So when you end up in a supposedly decent hotel, and you get a room that only has two single beds and looks like it was last refurbed in the 80s, including a cork bulletin board in the room (wtf were these people thinking!) I get a tad disappointed.
Stamford Plaza, Adelaide, Australia
The location is great, just across from Parliament House and a 5 minute walk from the casino (if that’s your poison).
The lifts are a shocker… slooooow… some up/down indicators don’t work, nor do some of the visual floor numbers. Apparently they are being fixed at the moment, or so the notice on the in-room cork bulletin board said… I only hope I wasn’t using the recently done up lift… if I was then there’s something majorly wrong!
Room was quite small, and felt cramped. One of the smallest rooms I’ve been in years. Certainly not the room size you would expect from a supposedly “deluxe” hotel… it was more motel room sized.
The bathroom was ok in size, but I get the feeling that it was only half refurbed when it was last done up. The vanity area was actually a nice, modern wooden unit, but the bath/shower looked very, very dated and had chunks missing like something heavy had been dropped in it.
TV was an old clunker of probably mid/late 90s vintage… none of those pesky flat screen plasma or LCD TVs that most hotels now offer.
All the time I was in my room, the InterContinental across the road was mocking my hotel decision. I checked our corporate hotel directory but the InterContinental just wasn’t on the list, so I just had to look out my uncleaned window and think of nirvana just a short walk away.
Will I be staying at the Stamford Plaza again??? Not if I can help it!