Kimpton Vividora Hotel

"Unfortunately, our experience here did not live up to what I would expect from a five-star hotel. About a week before our arrival, I emailed the hotel to let them know that our flight was scheduled to arrive around 9:00 AM. I completely understood that check-in was not until 3:00 PM and that an early room could not be guaranteed, but after a very long travel day, I wanted to give them advance notice in case there was any possibility of getting into a room early so we could rest. Our flight ended up being delayed, and we didn’t arrive at the hotel until approximately 1:30 PM. Our room still wasn’t ready, which in itself I could understand. What was frustrating was watching guests who arrived and checked in after us receive rooms while we continued to wait. I understand that room assignments depend on room type, availability, housekeeping, etc., but considering I had contacted the hotel a week in advance, it did not feel as though much effort had been made to accommodate the request. Ultimately, our room wasn’t ready until shortly after the normal 3:00 PM check-in time. Unfortunately, the bigger issue throughout our stay was the repeated lack of respect for the Do Not Disturb sign. After such a long travel day, we were specifically trying to rest, yet staff knocked on our door and called our room twice. On another occasion, someone knocked to deliver a steamer that we had never requested, again while the Do Not Disturb sign was displayed. Our room on the third floor was also located next to what appeared to be a staff or storage closet. Throughout our stay, people were frequently going in and out, and the door would slam shut. It woke me up several times and made the room anything but quiet or restful. The most frustrating instance happened on our checkout day. Through our credit card benefits, we had already arranged and confirmed a 4:00 PM late checkout. Despite that, staff still knocked on our door asking when we were planning to leave—once again while our Do Not Disturb sign was on the door. Any one of these things individually would have been fairly minor. However, when they happen repeatedly throughout a stay, it points to a larger communication issue between departments. More importantly, having a Do Not Disturb sign repeatedly disregarded made it very difficult to actually relax in our room. For a five-star hotel, I expected a much higher level of communication, attention to guest preferences, and respect for privacy. We were really looking forward to staying here, so it was disappointing that instead of being a relaxing experience after a long journey, we spent much of the stay being disturbed. Unfortunately, the experience simply did not match the level of service I would expect from a hotel of this caliber. I want to end on some positives of this stay though. - great location - clean rooms - firm beds (my husband prefers a firm mattress and that can be hard to find in hotels) - great rooftop bar - tons of activities available (we didn’t take advantage of them) - luggage hold option - a sign in the bathroom showed they offered things from curling irons, contact solution to basically anything you could imagine (again, we didn’t take advantage but so nice to save having to go out searching if you forgot something)"

"This boutique hotel was wonderful! Tucked away on a quaint street in the Gothic Quarter was terrific. The staff was truly welcoming!!"

"I will start with the good, because this hotel has a lot of it... Check-in was a breeze, the front desk girl explained everything in detail and told us about our Chase Reserve and IHG platinum benefits, and gave us a welcome champagne. We had a complimentary bottle of wine waiting for us at the room with a cute note and snack. Every staff member we encountered could not have been nicer, the food was great, we always enjoy a Kimpton social hour of free wine in their beautiful lobby. The breakfast included was perfect, and was such a lovely restaurant. The rooftop pool was nice to cool off it, although it was only 4 feet deep and filled with children. The lounge seating is also small, I believe only about 10 charis. The location is very walkable, if you're trying to catch ubers or taxi's I recommend walking out a bit to the main streets and it will be quicker and cheaper. Why only 3 stars? The actual room was the least nice of any of the 5 star hotels we stayed at on this 12 day vacation. The toilet had no bidet and was apart from the bathroom near the front door. The room was very small, and I hate when a hotel calls a lower floor room an "upgrade" as the street below is loud. The "balcony" was silly, maybe 1 foot by 4 feet to look down on a bar. You only get 1 bath towel per person, but might as well as there's nowhere to hang it in the room. Housekeeping left less to be desired, with a lot of cigarettes left behind by a previous guest and holes in towels. The closet-style dark small shower was unattractive and not very functionable, with the locked in toiletries which took 15 pumps to get enough to wash yourself with. So if you're looking for a more luxurious room, this hotel may not be for you. If you only care about location, service and staff, then book away!"