Even though we're 7* at Harrahs, we never get into the suites on the 26th floor at Harrahs New Orleans. Finally we went during the week instead of the weekend and our host put us there. Unfortunately, the experience was quite a letdown. Basically the rooms are pretty much the same as the other suites, but with much nicer decorations/decor. The size is the same. Their are nice paintings on the walls, a nice rug in the living room, a 4-poster type bed of sorts with much nicer pretty pillows. The bathroom did feature a jacuzzi tub and extra spigots in the shower, which was a definite improvement. And their were slightly better shampoos and soaps. However, I was surprised that the size was basically the same. We'd recently stayed in Biloxi where we had a much larger, 2 bathroom suite.
The 26th floor also features butler service, which seemed of no real help, unless you wanted them to unpack or bag your bags. If anything, having the butler added a layer of confusion to the room service, when we had a really awful breakfast experience. I clearly ordered decaffeinated tea, cream, sweetener for it, and juice, along with the usual egg/toast/etc breakfast. It arrived, but no juice or tea. The butler delivered it, but didn't notice the disparity in the order, or even question the fact that there were no liquids on the tray. I called back to room service and said, forget the tea, take it off the bill, but just bring the juice. Five minutes later the butler showed up - with the hot water for tea, but no juice, and no cream or sweetner for the tea. Another call, and the butler arrived with the juice and cream, but no sweetener, and the tea bag was not decaffeinated. Apparently the juice and maybe teapot, etc., are all in the butler's pantry, so I have to fault the butler as well as the room service department. I also noticed the toast was toasted on one side only, soggy, and cold. Another call - this time to room service Manager, who was apologetic, took entire breakfast off the bill, and offered us a comped breakfast the next day to prove "they could do it right." Sure enough, the next day's breakfast was fine, except the decaf tea was actually herbal tea, not the decaf black tea I actually wanted.
Other oddities occurred in our stay as well, such as no "amenity" for 7 stars appearing in the room, though it always shows up when we stay in the regular rooms. Shouldn't the butler be checking on this? Our wakeup call never came. One of the TV remotes had dead batteries. The remote for the tv in the bathroom was hidden behind it (who would have thought to look there?).
And then, there was the badly made bed. During the first night, as I crept to bed about 2 am, I noticed my feet were touching mattress instead of sheet. Too tired to move, I waited til morning to check. I found the sheet had been put on askew, and the mattress bad underneath also appeared to be askew. So I phoned the butler, who couldn't seem to understand what I was describing as I requested that the bed be "made properly" the next night. So he came over, bringing the maid. As we pulled the top covers further back to reveal more of how the sheet was not pulled all the way down, we saw that the mattress pad was actually twin-bed sized, but on a king sized bed! It was askew in the middle of the bed. Further, under that was another mattress cover, which had not been properly put on. All in all, a truly bad case of bed-making. The butler seemed flummoxed, while the maid said nothing and seemed stone faced, making me think she had been the one to do the sloppy job. The maid did remake the bed, properly this time.
So overall, the 26th floor for 7* really wasn't a great improvement over the regular suites. Further, when I take everything into consideration, I have to say Harrah's New Orleans hotel room and room service really were not good, and it was especially odd that things were this bad in one of the best suites in the place.
I guess the only saving grace was that the room was comped!
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