Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel

Ok. Weekend frenetico. Gli ascensori affollata e nella lobby.

My favorite Baltimore hotel has lost a step

I travel to Baltimore on business several times each year. And this hotel has always been my favorite place to stay. Good location, very good food, and just a nice ambiance.

This time -- if seemed a little off. I got to my room and there was an overwhelming chemical smell. I didn't know if the room was just renovated (it was very nice, but it didn't seem that way) or they were trying to cover something up. Maybe I should have requested another room, but I was beat, so I did not. Secondly, in what must be an attempt to be "cutting edge", they give each bed three very small pillows. Really, they were the size of throw pillows that you put on your couch. I don't know if their research tells them that people's heads are getting smaller or something, but I just could not get comfortable. When I first saw the room, I thought they forgot sleeping pillows on both beds. Then I looked in the closet for the normal sized ones -- no luck. As sleeping is the #1 reason people stay in hotels, this is kind of a bummer. Very hard for me to get to sleep each night. Third, at breakfast in the morning they have a very nice buffet. it is expensive (about $22-23 + tip), but that is the going rate at nice hotels. But one of the mornings I stayed there, even though it wasn't terribly busy, they were very undermanned at the restaurant. I pretty much had to "steal" coffee and cream etc from other tables, as I could not get service (after waiting 15 minutes to be seated). I'm glad it was a buffet, or I'd still be waiting for that breakfast. I left a good tip of course, as that is a management problem and not the employees' fault. Maybe I'm being hard on the hotel, but it is expensive to stay there, and I know they can do much better, as they have done so many times in the past.