The Residences at Biltmore Reviews (%countItem)
The Residences at Biltmore Rating
Address: PO Box 15705, Asheville, North Carolina, United States, 28813-0705
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paid for a room with fireplace, it didn't work, refused to move us to a new unit. Next morning maintenance walks in unannounced while were not dressed
Our fireplace did not work, after three failed attempts by staff members at all hours of the day including into the night we were told it was broken and they could not swap out unit because they were fully booked. Was told could not speak to management until the next morning. Next morning arrives no contact from management but maintenance enters our room unannounced and says "oh I'm sorry I was told you checked out" mind you we are half dressed when he walks in. Waited to hear from GM but was told he was out of town at a Clemson game. Sent him an email and will wait to see what comes of it. We were told he is the absolute highest in command for the property. No one else has the authority to do anything but him. We will see.
To refund for the entire stay and an apology would be nice.
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
There are many untruths in the response the provided. The fireplace did not work upon departure. It stopped working about 15 mins after the last attempt to lit it the night prior. We notified the front desk of this. We personally keep our own thermostats on 73-74 degrees in our own homes because we find it comfortable so the fact that they are trying to imply that because the thermostat was on a certain temperature when they went in after we left means that the fireplace was working is beyond ridiculous. It was not working, the pilot was not on at all. Basically calling us liars, when the front desk person can attest to it going out multiple times and her having to come to our unit three times that day. In addition the timeline is completely off. They are stating we checked out and than maintenance went into our room. That is completely incorrect. The maintenance man entered our room at around 9 am we didn't check out until around 11. He never did anything that they are stating above. He simply walked in on us and than apologized saying "I'm so sorry they told me you had checked out" when I called to the front desk after he left the manager apologized stating that it was a mistake that he was even sent. And yes we were half naked. My husband was in his underwear and I had less on. But of course they would try and cover that up to protect themselves. I received an email from the assistant general manager stating that since I had already gone to the Revdex.com and social media there would be no more compensation. I have that email if you need proof. Also please look at their social media page and see how many dissatisfied and unhappy guest this property continues to have. Not just about the property but about how they are treated. The customers are all basically told they are making their complaints up as well by *** in his comments back to the customers after they complain on their FB page. Please review for accuracy. His manner is so unprofessional I'm surprised no one has reported him or taken it further as of yet. We have absolutely zero reasons to lie as they are basically implying. We stayed at this property one year ago for two nights and paid double what we paid this stay. The money has nothing to do with it. It's principle. We had no problems last time and had a wonderful stay. However this time was a complete nightmare and I honestly feel our privacy was invaded by them entering the room without permission. In addition to that not providing the amenity listed in the description for the price we paid. Not to mention the rude treatment we received followed by an emailing stating that because we choose to contact the Revdex.com and write a review on social media they will not provide any additional compensation. It's utterly ridiculous and clearly because it is privately owned there are no consequences for their actions and they can treat guest as they please. They should not be in business. They have by no means resolved this issue, only made it worse by creating lies and penalizing us for voicing our complaints when it should be the exact opposite.
The Residences at Biltmore would like to address the above complaint. On the night of 16 November, our guest checked into a one-bedroom suite. Our one-bedroom suites are advertised as having a gas fireplace, which do emit an open flame and heat. The guest called down to our front desk to state that their fireplace was not working. Our front desk staff immediately went up to address the issue by re-lighting the pilot light that had been blown out. This employee was called to this suite a subsequent two times to continue re-lighting the pilot light. During her second and third trip to the room, she even took the additional step of using compressed air to blow out the gas lines in the fireplace. Each time, she stated that the fireplace was working as normal. After the last trip to the suite, our guest advised front desk that the fireplace went out again and wanted to be moved. As it is our peak season, we were sold out of one-bedroom suites and were unable to move the guest. The guest asked to speak to a manager, but there was not one on property at 9:30 pm. They were advised to speak with the front desk manager on the following morning.
The following morning, on the day of departure, it is my understanding that the guest came to front desk to discuss their issue with the manager. He apologized for any inconvenience and issued a ten percent discount from the nightly rate. This is in accordance with the Frankfurt Table, an example of good practices of business ethics in tourism. The Frankfurt Table lists common failures in the execution of a contract between the tour operator and the client and lists certain percentages of compensation based on the level of failure. Under Table 1 of the Frankfurt Table, section 5 lists lack of equipment in the room. Though this section does not specifically list "fireplace", it does list similar failures, such as lack of air conditioning. It suggests that the hotel provide 10-20% compensation for lack of air conditioning depending on the season. Our front desk manager made a judgement call that, as the guest's room still had perfectly functioning heat and air, a lack of fireplace would only constitute a ten percent discount. At this point, the manager gave the guest an adjusted folio for their stay, and the guest departed the office. Front desk assumed from this transaction that the guest had departed the hotel as well, and therefore sent the Assistant General Manager of Operations and one of his staff to the suite to assess the reported issue with the fireplace continually turning off.
When the Assistant General Manager arrived at the room with his staff member, he observed that there was not a "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging on the door, and therefore knocked and announced himself as "Maintenance". He waited five seconds (as per procedure) and repeated the process of knocking and announcing. When he did not receive a response, he assumed the suite was vacant and let himself in, announcing for a third time that he was indeed hotel staff. At this point, there was no one in the living room or kitchen, and both the AGM and his staff member report that a man "poked his head out of the bedroom and said they were still in the room". Per the AGM and his witness, the guest was not seen "half-naked" as reported. At this point, our staff backed out of the room with an apology and did not return until after check out time.
After the guest had departed and our AGM and staff were able to return to the suite, we found that the thermostat in the room was set to "Air Conditioning" and was set to 73 degrees, with the thermostat reading 76 degrees. The outside temperature that morning was in the 40s, so the fact that the air conditioning was on 73 and the thermostat was reading 76 would suggest that there had been another heat source in the suite. Upon reflection of this, our AGM went to inspect the fireplace and found that it was hot to the touch, as if it had been used that morning. The pilot light had been blown out again, so upon re-lighting it, our AGM found that the fireplace was working as normal. To be sure, he and his maintenance staff remained in the suite to observe for thirty minutes and found no issue.
Additionally, it was mentioned by the guest that if the room didn't include a fireplace, the suite would have cost less. We do offer Studio Suites at the Residences at Biltmore, and these suites have an electric fireplace which is purely aesthetic and does not provide heat. On the night of 16 November 2019, we had two separate guests renting our studio suites for $309 and $299 (prior to tax) respectively. Once we discounted the nightly rate for our guests with an allegedly failing gas fireplace, their rate came to $314 plus tax, a mere $5 more than the suites that don't offer a gas fireplace at all.
We feel that the combination of our efforts to "fix" an issue that our staff cannot observe or replicate and the discount given in accordance with the Frankfurt Table and our Studio Suite rates for the evening in question has sufficiently compensated our guest for the issues they experienced during their stay with The Residences at Biltmore.
To re-address the issue of privacy, I will reiterate exactly what happened when our staff went to the suite on the day of departure. "On the morning of departure, the manager gave the guest an adjusted folio for their stay, and the guest departed the office. Front desk assumed from this transaction that the guest had departed the hotel as well, and therefore sent the Assistant General Manager of Operations and one of his staff to the suite to assess the reported issue with the fireplace continually turning off.
When the Assistant General Manager arrived at the room with his staff member, he observed that there was not a "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging on the door, and therefore knocked and announced himself as "Maintenance". He waited five seconds (as per procedure) and repeated the process of knocking and announcing. When he did not receive a response, he assumed the suite was vacant and let himself in, announcing for a third time that he was indeed hotel staff. At this point, there was no one in the living room or kitchen, and both the AGM and his staff member report that a man "poked his head out of the bedroom and said they were still in the room". Per the AGM and his witness, the guest was not seen "half-naked" as reported. At this point, our staff backed out of the room with an apology and did not return until after check out time."
The Residences at Biltmore has issued an apology and compensation for the complaint regarding the fireplace in accordance with the Frankfurt Table, an industry standard. We will not be issuing a full refund for the failure of one amenity. To issue any further discounts would suggest that there were additional failures in the suite, which there were not.
We have submitted our honest explanation of the event in question, which can be 100% verified by multiple staff members.
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
There are many untruths in the response the provided. The fireplace did not work upon departure. It stopped working about 15 mins after the last attempt to lit it the night prior. We notified the front desk of this. We personally keep our own thermostats on 73-74 degrees in our own homes because we find it comfortable so the fact that they are trying to imply that because the thermostat was on a certain temperature when they went in after we left means that the fireplace was working is beyond ridiculous. It was not working, the pilot was not on at all. Basically calling us liars, when the front desk person can attest to it going out multiple times and her having to come to our unit three times that day. In addition the timeline is completely off. They are stating we checked out and than maintenance went into our room. That is completely incorrect. The maintenance man entered our room at around 9 am we didn't check out until around 11. He never did anything that they are stating above. He simply walked in on us and than apologized saying "I'm so sorry they told me you had checked out" when I called to the front desk after he left the manager apologized stating that it was a mistake that he was even sent. And yes we were half naked. My husband was in his underwear and I had less on. But of course they would try and cover that up to protect themselves. I received an email from the assistant general manager stating that since I had already gone to the Revdex.com and social media there would be no more compensation. I have that email if you need proof. Also please look at their social media page and see how many dissatisfied and unhappy guest this property continues to have. Not just about the property but about how they are treated. The customers are all basically told they are making their complaints up as well by Shane in his comments back to the customers after they complain on their FB page. Please review for accuracy. His manner is so unprofessional I'm surprised no one has reported him or taken it further as of yet. We have absolutely zero reasons to lie as they are basically implying. We stayed at this property one year ago for two nights and paid double what we paid this stay. The money has nothing to do with it. It's principle. We had no problems last time and had a wonderful stay. However this time was a complete nightmare and I honestly feel our privacy was invaded by them entering the room without permission. In addition to that not providing the amenity listed in the description for the price we paid. Not to mention the rude treatment we received followed by an emailing stating that because we choose to contact the Revdex.com and write a review on social media they will not provide any additional compensation. It's utterly ridiculous and clearly because it is privately owned there are no consequences for their actions and they can treat guest as they please. They should not be in business. They have by no means resolved this issue, only made it worse by creating lies and penalizing us for voicing our complaints when it should be the exact opposite.