HHjh Mimi Hj YusofGuest Status: Long-time loyal guest (4th stay)
Overall Rating: 2/5 (Disappointed)
We have returned to the City Rise Hotel three times previously, and our excellent experiences led us to leave positive reviews and recommend the hotel. Unfortunately, our fourth stay was highly disappointing and felt drastically different due to apparent overbooking and a failure in resource management, particularly during peak times.
Connectivity Issues
Our stay began with a frustrating technical glitch. While initially connected, the in-room TV lost its Wi-Fi connection. When attempting to reconnect to the guest network, the on-screen keyboard necessary to input the password did not appear. While this was a minor issue for a single night's stay, the overall Wi-Fi speed was extremely poor, which we suspect was due to the unusually high number of guests placing a strain on the network.
Chaotic and Inaccessible Breakfast (Major Concern)
The biggest issue arose during breakfast, which has always been a highlight of our previous visits. We arrived at 8:30 AM, well within the expanded serving window (6:00 AM to 10:30 AM). The dining area was beyond packed, it was chaotic. There was a significant queue just to enter, and once our room number was ticked off by the staff (meaning we were recorded as having consumed breakfast), we quickly realized there were zero available seats. Approximately 20 guests were standing, plate in hand, waiting for an empty table, and there was no crowd control, with people blatantly cutting the entry queue.
My husband approached the staff to suggest opening an adjacent hall, as we had seen done during previous busy stays. The request was denied, citing that the hall was reserved for an event. He then asked if we could, at least, take a plate back to our room given the seating crisis, but this was also denied. We questioned the difference between taking food to the room and standard room service, but the decision remained firm.
Ultimately, due to the extreme overcrowding, the stress of competing for a seat, and the lack of any proactive management of the situation, we chose to forego breakfast entirely. Despite not eating, our room was already marked as having utilized the service. This was particularly frustrating as we were checking out soon and did not have time to wait for the situation to resolve itself.
Severe Parking Congestion
The strain on the hotel's capacity was also evident in the parking area upon our return in the evening. The parking lot was full to an unprecedented degree, with cars parked illegally and inappropriately in areas like the main entrance, highlighting a clear lack of available space and regulation.
Verdict from us?
It appears the hotel management may have dramatically overbooked the premises without scaling key resources (like dining space and parking) to match the guest load. The capacity for breakfast was clearly exceeded. We highly recommend that the hotel implements stricter occupancy rules, re-evaluates its dining capacity (perhaps revisiting the policy of opening secondary halls, which worked well in the past), and verifies the number of guests receiving complimentary breakfast to prevent overcrowding.
While we have always loved the City Rise Hotel, this visit's lack of preparedness and poor handling of the breakfast situation has seriously damaged our opinion, and we will hesitate to book again during what appears to be any peak period.
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