Sofitel Mexico City Reforma Hotel 5 stars

Thank you for receiving my correspondence. (I cannot attach the photo files here so I will send separately by email to the owner of Sofitel, and person in charge as well at Mexico city branch.) My name is Healim O. and I am sending this email to address an issue we had recently at the Sofitel Mexico City. I’m electing to express myself in English because I want to be clear in my thoughts. With this said, in advance, thank you for indulging my English. PURPOSE Our recent stay at Sofitel Mexico City was pleasant. My finance and I spent one night enjoying the hotel's amenities. The staff was wonderful. The service was excellent. Truly, we expect again to treat ourselves for a future visit because our stay was so enjoyable. With this said, our stay ended on a sour note. We were told repeatedly that the rate for the breakfast buffet was 25 USD per person. Miscommunication does happen, but in this particular case, when we had asked several times prior to the meal the same question --how much is the breakfast per person? --the final bill was wrong. Perhaps more a point of principle rather than monetary need, we wanted the hotel to refund us the difference. We appreciated everything -- the meal, the service and the staff were awesome! -- but we strongly felt we weren't properly told how much the meal would be. Therefore, again, we ask the hotel to refund us this difference between the breakfast buffet price-fix for two people plus tip, and the a la carte total for our bill. SITUATION 4/19/2021, around 12:20PM, we checked in at your hotel, just for the one night during our Mexico trip. During my check-in, I was wondering how much extra would be charged for the breakfast, because hotels.com does not have that option. Hotel staff Marina Bescos & Ana Reyes were at the front desk, and I asked "how much is the breakfast price?" and one of the girls (dark hair, not the blonde) answered me "50 USD." I asked again, "$50?" and she assured me that I correctly understood -- "yes." I came back to my fiance, and we thought that the quote was a bit weird for one person ($50 is kind of high for a breakfast buffet). So after we chatted on the lobby couch, I went back to her and asked for the same clarification. She said, "let me check" and left for a moment. When she came back, she assured me "the price is $25," so I thought that that was fair but followed up by asking "per one person, its $25, right?" and she said yes. Next morning, we happily went down for our breakfast place on 12th floor: 4/21/2021, 10:38AM. My fiance(who speaks Spanish) asked the woman host, "is this $25 per a person for the breakfast?" and she said yes. My fiance then asked, "are you sure? Is this an all you can eat buffet right?" And she said, "YES sir, what's your room number?" There was nothing unclear in that moment, so we sat and had an 'all you can eat' breakfast. When the bill came (pic attached), everything was charged a la carte, a total of 1,530 Pesos. Owing to repeated misinformation, the final bill for breakfast made no sense. We returned to the front desk to address the matter. The same girl, (dark hair --Marina Bescos or Ana Reyes, one of them) was kind enough to assist us, but in the end, we were presented with the SAME bill. The front desk staff (dark hair) was like, "okay, this is what I got for you" and after a few calls, she made NO ADJUSTMENT! The resolution was uncompromising when we felt we did everything we could do to clarify the rate in advance. Frankly, from our end, we felt we had no misunderstandings. The hotel was entirely at fault. Meanwhile, Miss. Fernanda Prats, Guest Relations Manager popped into us, and was also informed of our situation. She was super pleasant and nice --very likeable! --but the conversation served as a distraction because we didnt properly address the formality of the price adjustment. All the while the front desk was waiting for our conversation to conclude so we could sign the final reciept -- all pressure on us. The result: we signed! Regarding the presentation of the bill, the front desk staff, knowing we were from United States, would use a 21 pesos conversion rate, to argue the dollar difference in US dollars was smaller. (Of course the difference is smaller when the hotel uses a larger conversion metric.) The entire argument was problematic on two counts, 1) the conversion rate was actually something like 18 pesos per USD and 2) we were paying the bill in pesos. Why are we talking about USD? Frankly, this discussion seemed borderline disingenuous, trying to minimize the outstanding balance. To my point, the hotel bill stated an outstanding balance of 71.16 USD. However, my credit card was actually charged 77.11 USD. In the end, we paid for every single coffee refilled and energy drink that we ordered, and if we knew we were ordering a la carte, we would have never ordered some of the food items on the receipt because breakfast buffet implies 'all inclusive.' We have traveled to Asia and Europe, and many low&high-end hotels-- and we have never had this kind of confusion. In our defense, in order to avoid this misunderstanding, we questioned the staff regarding the swimming pool rsvp, check in and out, dining restaurant, and breakfast price. The front desk staff was very kind and helpful. Yet, we felt we didn't receive a fair response from the hotel regarding this breakfast bill. If I may offer one final comment regarding our experience. The front desk girl (same person) gave us a box of macaroons with the handwritten post card. Let me be clear the gift was appreciated -- very kind! However, the timing, when the gift was presented, felt wrong because at that moment we really needed to address the bill discrepancy. Again, while well intentioned, the gesture served as another distraction. The blonde-haired girl said, "because we were so nice, special and stood out among the desk staff... Love how you dress, etc, etc." First impression? We were wondering what makes us so special, and at the same time, we were touched by handwritten card and felt sorry immediately that we were complaining. After we left Sofitel, we read the post card again, and realized that the message was not personalized. The letter began with "Madame & monsieur," which is anonymous, and the girls signed their two names on the post card, for whomever received this letter. Final impression? We felt the gift seemed somewhat shameless; later, we would receive an email requesting us to complete a Tripadvisor or Google review, making us question the hotel's original altruistic intention. For future reference, if you are going to present us a written note, please add our names and offer some real, personalized remarks. I want to pay exactly what I was supposed to pay for a breakfast buffet. The quoted rate was 25 USD per person. Therefore, I'm requesting the following: 1) Total 77.11 USD was charged to my credit card. Instead I ask only to pay 50 USD plus the 90 pesos for the tip. Please refund me the remaining balance. 2) To avoid future misunderstanding, please address this issue among your staff. I invite you to contact me(he…) if you require any additional details, and look forward to your reply in earnest. Best regards, Healim

Besides the great and modern facilities, the hotel staff is the best I ever experienced. Managers are friendly and always attentive to your needs, front desk and concierge staff are wonderful and the Balta restaurant staff is amazing. I had the opportunity to chat with all of them, who joyfully tell you about the great things to know and explore in Mexico and its culture. Geraldo, Angel, Jaime, Victor, Carla, Ricardo and Saira are awesome. Thank you for are amazing experience.

Feels like coming home.

It was amazing. Anaid and the rest of the staff were phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal.

Couldn't use gym (no reservation only open times 0430), food was average, elevator set up is horrible (use 1 set of elevators to go to 14 to check in, 12 to eat, back up to 14 to check out and another elevator bank to go to room).