The Plaza - A Fairmont Managed Hotel 5 stars

I booked a four night stay in an Edwardian suite to spend thanksgiving in the city. The check in was very smooth and the property appears well kept with nice fragrance pumped right through the HVAC system. The entire place smelled nice as a result. I am a die hard fan of Fairmont hotels and have tried many of their properties over the years. Having stayed at their flagship hotel the Savoy in London and their competitor the Ritz, it pains me to say that the service here fell quite short of my expectations of a flagship property. The staff working there seem just “tired” and they do not seem to want to have any sort of genuine connection with the guests. They are just all about business there. This is very different from places like the ritz there they take the time to get to know you and engage in meaningful ways to make the stay a memorable one. Our suite includes some sort of a white glove butler service but I’ve not even see the butler once during my stay. On the day after thanksgiving, somehow our room was not serviced all day. I even called in around 3 pm to request a house keeping service and it did not happen even then. I had to go to the front desk to request it to finally have the room cleaned. I think this hotel is great and has a lot of potential, but the staff training isn’t there yet. It’s also quite unique in the sense that it’s in a historic building in the sea of ultra modern high rises. However, the hotel seems to only occupy the south wing and is quite small despite looking imposing from the outside. As a result most of the rooms don’t have much of a view to speak of. If you are looking for rooms with views, you will have to pay quite a bit more for partial park views. All in all it was a rather uneventful and also unremarkable stay. I am Diamond with Accor and used four suite night upgrades for this stay, but they were not honored at check out. I had to call in and be out on hold for quite a while to get it sorted. The front desk person wasn’t even apologetic for this clerical error. I really want to like this hotel and would love more opportunities to experience its full glory. Perhaps the weekend was just too busy. Although For the same price I’d recommend going with four season or mandarin oriental both of which have much better views and modern amenities.

Fabulous Holiday Tea in Palm Court! Best server - Fariz Tello so be sure to ask for him directly! Lovely assortment of sweet and savory but the attention to detail that Fariz offered was spectacular. Enjoy!!

Booked the hotel for its iconic name and let's just say it didn't live up to its fame. To list a few: 1. the staff in general were not approachable and friendly. Most of them gave me the impression that unless I'm someone super famous/rich, it is not worth their 'warm/premium service'. 2. service response were EXTREMELY slow. I asked to take away my inroom dining table, and no one came for 45min so I ended up rolling up to the hallway myself. Due to flight change, I called to see if I can extend my stay, and no one called me back after 30min, so I had to go to the lobby myself. One night the inroom service told me that it would be 2 hours before the food would be delivered. 3. they charge EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING. I was charged for a kettle and some 'tea set?' which consisted of 2 slices of dried out lemon, some milk and sugar which I didn't end up using at all. When we ask for kettle in other hotels, it is always complimentary. Similarly, I was charged $18 for them to deliver me the Uber Eats (as the inroom had 2 hours wait). So unless you are loaded and these charges are a drop in the bucket, be aware of these 'surprises'! 4. After checkout, I was charged $14 from snack bar which I didn't use. When I questioned the bill over the phone, the front desk person told me that he would need to "verify" before reversing the charge. When I asked how, he said they would have photos. Then I asked how would a picture of an opened snack be a prove that it is something that I ate/didn't eat? To which the response was 'I am not trying to argue with you. Do you understand what I am saying?'. Mind blowing. I stayed in fair amount of high-end hotels around the world, and I can safely say this is the WORST stay ever. They probably won't care a non-significant customer like me anyway, but this will be an one-off experience and I will not be coming back ever again.

Our tea experience at the plaza was incredible. Fariz was our waiter and he did an amazing job. He gave us complimentary macaroons before we left that were absolutely diving. We will definitely be returning!

Had a nice stay in October with Family. Babul Chowdhury’s excellent attention for our in room Saturday breakfast service was above and beyond. He is an asset to the staff. He deserves recognition as a top performer. Would definitely stay again.