Market Pavilion Hotel

This Leading Hotel is an embarrasment to the industry!

During a recent stay at The Market Pavilion Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina I was rather surprised by the treatment I received from the hotel staff. The Market Pavilion Hotels membership as a Leading Hotel of the World and its rating as a AAA four diamond hotel lead to certain expectations for levels of service. My recent stay is actually one of the worst hotel stays that I have ever experienced and leads me to question the rest of the members of Leading Hotels of the World. I have stayed in hotels from Fujairah to Curacao and hundreds within the US. I typically stay in small luxury hotels such as Hotel Providence in Providence, Rhode Island or the Waldorf Astoria, but I do stay in large brand name hotels such as the Ritz Carleton from time to time. I search out hotels excelling in customer service and will rarely make a reservation that is not at the club or concierge level when it is available. None of the hotels I have named are members of the elite group Leading Hotels of the World, but the Market Pavilion Hotel is. I was appalled by several things which should never have occurred in a hotel of this level. This hotel has numerous issues, from poor customer service and a complete lack of managerial ability on the part of the General Manager and Behind Desk Manager to poor cleanliness standards. The first and foremost issue I experienced upon arrival was the restaurant service at the Pavilion Bar. It took over 30 minutes for me to be seated which I can understand, but it was another hour and a half before I was brought a menu and another beverage. The older couple sitting by me waited for over an hour for a pair of cocktails. We couldnt even get the attention of any of the staff members to complain which was further compounded by the Free-for-all seating style adopted by the Pavilion bar. Had any of us gotten up to go find a manager, we would have lost our table to any of the 20 people waiting for seats. I called down to the first floor Concierge to inquire about reservations at the Grill 225 located in the hotel. The response from the Concierge was theres no way youre getting in there until early next week. In my experience there is a very fine line between being sassy and being rude. While playful banter is fun and appreciated, I have never stayed at a hotel where it was acceptable for hotel staff to be blatantly rude to a hotel guest, especially when that guest is a concierge level guest.