The Fairmont Kansas City At The Plaza

Unfortunately, this is a property that everyone loves for the location, architecture and potential and hates because it continously falls short to deliver on the promise of a luxury property. The people who work here are terriffic, but the management just does not get it. The club floor lounge continues to lower the bar with cost cutting at every opportunity. The daily parking fee is a disgrace since the Country Club Plaza was founded on the notion of free parking. Please before you bring out the Holiday Inn sign, bring in an experienced turn-around manager and embrace your past customers-before it is to late.

Arrived in the early evening to be told the type of room that was reserved was not available, for which the staff was unapologetic (and not very friendly to begin with). The bottom line was they did not give me what I had reserved and should show some willingness to compensate in one small way or another as a gesture of goodwill.

Was told where the elevator was and left to figure the rest out for myself. Fine in a Best Western, Courtyard by Marriott level of hotel, but for a hotel that bears this name, more effort should be made to make the guest feel like a guest, and less like a customer.

Room service menu overpriced for bad, stale food.

This place is under destruction! Walking under and around scaffolding to reach a $250/night room is no way to set the stage for a visit. Only a single restaurant was open, the gift shop closed, the gym under repair. Only the valet parking seemed operational. The elevators were a hit-and-miss proposition, out of order most of the time.

It's a crying shame that the property -- once the Alameda Plaza and Kansas City's crown jewel -- has deterioriated.

OK - this is supposed to be 5 star. I stayed 3 days for a conference. My room had peeling wall paper, holes in carpet and the furniture was in very bad condition -- I wouldn't even expect it to be seen in a bad flea market. My tv remote did not work, although this problem was fixed. (When fixed, the staff explained that this happened all the time). The check-in staff was pleasant and the lobby was clean and nice, but our rooms were not ready at check-in time - we had to wait three hours after check-in. Several people in my party entered dirty rooms - even though the hotel staff had reported the rooms clean. I asked for wake up calls. Got one, but they did not do the other and I was late for a meeting. Very frusterating. The maids did not clean my room each day until 7 pm - they did not leave fresh washcloths and I had to call to ask for clean ones and wait for them more than once. If this were a holiday inn, I would not have bothered to write this. But, again, this was supposed to be a 5 star. I'm not sure I'd stay again - especially if is on my dime. Dissapointing.

For the money, I would stay elsewhere. We travel extensively and typically stay at five star hotels (Ritz, Fairmont, Four Seasons, St. Regis etc.) This hotel needs a lot of work. The rooms and hotel are tired. A bottle of Olde English furniture polish would go a long way in this hotel. So too would a simple cleaning of spectacular chandeliers hanging in the hotel.

Five years ago, the concierge level was very nice. It isn't anymore. The male concierge was boorish and didn't seem to appreciate the need for friendliness but cool detachment. I cringed when I heard him talking with friends on the telephone, barking at the kitchen to "bring up more hot dishes!" and then telling someone he couldn't take housekeeping calls. But his complaint was well deserved. Why should the concierge be dealing with housekeeping issues? Later, I heard a number of guests complaining about how the designated concierge food hours had been cut short by two hours.

All in all, the hotel has a great skeleton and the best location in Kansas City. With a small investment, the hotel could be brought back to greatness. But until the manager is removed and the staff and facilities are brought up to grade, I'll stay at the Raphael or any of the newer hotels located nearby.

Stayed in a deluxe king room and was very impressed with its spaciousness-450sqft. The views of the plaza and shopping area(both across the street) from the terrace were quite nice. The only drawback was the room furniture, which had clearly seen better days and was in need of refinishing. Marble bathrooms were very roomy and had a separate tub/shower area from the sink but no door between them. In-room digital climate control style heating/cooling worked fine. 2 gaps regarding amenities: no refrigerator or coffeemaker.

I was with a group, so our foodservice was on the banquet side and uniformly excellent(six kinds of tea at breakfast, extensive and well-prepared lunch and dinner entrees, elaborate desserts.)

For what it's worth, of the 25 or so rooms our group occupied, the consensus of opinion is that The Intercontinental is a fine hotel but needs some refurbishment.

We stayed in a "King Superior Room".

The valets were awesome, though the checkin lady was not very friendly, seemed rather sullen, and didn't even tell us how to get to our room.

We went there to celebrate my partner's birthday. We ordered room service for dinner and for breakfast. Room service is VERY fast (dinner took 30 minutes; breakfast arrived in 11 minutes from the time we ordered), well-priced (steak for $32; pasta for $12; breakfast for $12; desserts for $7), and beautifully presented.

The bathrooms are small and cramped, though clean and equipped with necessities like hair dryers and high-quality toiletries. Our shower did not drain properly (I was standing in at least five inches of water by the end of my shower), there was no vent so the bathroom got rather steamy, and when I took a shower in the evening the water was not hot at all (though in the morning the water temperature was perfect). I turned it as hot as it would go but it did not get very warm at all.

Upon arrival, we only had one bathrobe (two people in the room) and it took three hours and three phone calls to get a second bathrobe delivered (including one incorrect delivery of additional towels which we didn't need).

The beds were very comfortable and the flat screen tv was a nice touch. The climate control worked well. The balconies were small but had good views of the plaza.

The saunas in the men and women's locker rooms were lovely. I just wish they had a hot tub at the hotel!

Overall, I would say that Philips Hotel is better for less money, unless you want a plaza location or can make use of the swimming pool (which opens Memorial day weekend), in which case I would say that the Intercontinental may be worth the extra $60.

The good news is that the Hotel has been over by the Intercontinental Hotel chain. We stayed in Intercontintental's Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. the Summer of 2005 and we're very impressed. In discussions with the Kansas City hotel staff, they seemed hopeful that the new management would fix up the hotel.

Having said that, the Fairmont/Intercontinental in Kansas City is in serious need of an interior face-lift. We had a nice large two bedroom suite, but it could have used a paint job, a good cleaning, new drapes and new carpeting. The Bellman told me that when the Hotel was being run by Ritz-Carlton, they would "turn" a room every 125 days, whereas the Fairmont group never turned a room. It shows.

Kansas City needs a four-star hotel and, despite its problems, the Fairmont/Intercontinental is still the nicest - just not four-star quality. I think that the takeover by Intercontinental will change that.

Either way, the staff and service was excellent, as were the beds and bedding.

I am currently planning my 4 year anniversary and was surprised to see so many bad experiences at The Fairmont on the Plaza. We stayed here for our honeymoon and had an amazing experience with the staff, the room, etc. Maybe we lucked out?? Not sure. But we will definitely be back.

We got New Year Package (2006) cost almost $500 for New Year night.Well we understood it will be costly but we did not expect to see small bottle of champagne with almost melted ice in bucket.Bed sheets with wholes, spider web on the ceiling,balcony full of bird --- including chairs and table,noisy and filthy heater,bad unclear TV screen ...

Only thing we liked was a live jazz band and the sushi bar. We travel a lot---Fairmont from now on will not be on the top list.

Mr and Mrs Taylor