Hotel Review: This Ft. Worth, Texas Renaissance Needs a Rebirth

I recently stayed at the Renaissance Worthington in Fort Worth, Texas. When I found out our company was going to be meeting here, I figured it would be up to scale with the Westin Chicago River North that we stayed at last summer. Although the facilities were definitely bigger and the hotel offered more services, I couldn't help but wish over the week that I was there that we were back at the Westin. Here's why:

The Check In

Our group (over two hundred of us) was scheduled to arrive earlier than the normal 3p.m. check in, however we were promised that the hotel would try to be accommodating and check us in as early as possible. When I arrived at around 1p.m., the hotel was less than prepared for our arrival and we were told it would be at least a few hours for our rooms to be ready. I ended up leaving my luggage with the concierge and checked into my room at around 4 in the afternoon.

Overall, it was a smooth check-in, save for the fact that my room wasn't ready. At least they had my reservation correct! The waiting area in the lobby was nicely appointed and the water fountains and seating area was nice, although I had meetings to attend, had I nowhere to go, it wouldn't have been a dreadful place to hang out for a little while.

Restaurant and Bar

Because I was at the Renaissance Worthington for a conference, I really didn't have time to eat at the two restaurants, Kalamatas or the Chisholm Club, they seemed like more or less generic upscale hotel restaurants. There are plenty of restaurants within a 5 minute walking distance of the hotel- all different varieties; Razzo's, a Cajun style (think fried) casual restaurant, the Chop House, a higher end steak house, as well as Starbucks and Jamba Juice that were close by.

I did check out the hotel bar, which was located next to Kalamatas on the mezzanine level, just above the lobby. Again, it felt like a generic hotel lounge. The service was good, we had the same server two nights in a row and she was super friendly. They also had a projector of current pro-sports games that was being shown on the wall- so you could see a pretty much life size sporting event at the bar, although I would not say this was a sports bar. On Friday night, they did have live music, more as background music, definitely not for dancing.

We did have food service by the hotel for our luncheons, breakfast and one banquet dinner- all were fine- very Southwestern for flavor and choices- fajitas, BBQ, western style omelets... My overall impression of the food was fine, and a standing ovation goes to their Ranch dressing- soooo good- thin and creamy, not thick and mayonnaise-y like restaurants up North have-eww.

The Rooms

Ok, so now I've finally checked in. The room was pretty good sized and I think it's safe to say that hotels are finally starting to get it. No one wants to trade in their comfy beds for a hard, used mattress with a nasty outdated comforter. The Renaissance is no exception to figuring this out as well. The beds were great! They had down (or ersatz down) comforters with duvet covers that just made the bedding feel more clean. Extra pillows on the bed also saved me from calling housekeeping and asking for more, like I usually do.

The working space was adequate, there was high speed internet available for $9.95, although I accessed it once and for some reason was not charged!! The desk had two chairs, one on each side, so two people could work at the same time, it was nice to not be cramped for working space, like a lot of hotels try to do. The armoir with fully stocked mini-bar was standard, with the exception of a little stuffed horse with a cowboy vest- a nice Texas touch- for a price: $15.95!

The bathroom was the best part of the room. Lots of room and a curved shower curtain really make a difference when staying in a hotel for 5 days! The shampoo, conditioner and lotion were all from Bath and Body Works, which was a nice touch, but the soaps- I should have asked for more. I am not usually a fan of bar soap, but the sunflower scented soaps were so nice!

The room was clean and was probably the only part of the hotel that felt as though it had recently been updated, the colors were neutral with nice dark red accents, very nice overall.

Services

The fitness room was really clean and actually one of the better hotel gyms that I've seen in a while. There's an attendant's desk, but no one was there while I was in the room. Towels are offered and day lockers. There were several cardio machines as well as a bunch of free weights and a couple of those all-in-one weight machines. There were two TVs for the cardio equipment as well. Off of the fitness room was the indoor pool and jacuzzi, small, but still clean.

There was also a gift shop on the mezzanine level of the hotel. Plenty of T-shirts and little "Don't Mess With Texas" shot glasses and such. They also had the "I forgot my..." supplies as well (make-up, toothbrush, feminine stuff, razors- you get the idea).

Parking was apparently by valet only, for $15 per day. I did not have a car while I was here, so I'm not sure how good this service was or not.

The elevators were a little sketchy. Not very smooth and definitely not new. Some of the up/down buttons on different floors didn't seem to work and being on the third floor, I took the stairs more than once.

Meeting Rooms

The meeting rooms, including the Grand Ballroom were all very good sized and fairly modern- no ugly chandeliers like you'd expect to see, but everything just looked so worn. The railings on the staircases looked old and dirty And although the restrooms had a feeling like they had been refurbished, but only on the outside- meaning the sink fixtures, etc. The walls/wallpaper in all the meeting rooms also looked kind of dirty.

Service

The service at the hotel was overall very friendly, but I had a couple of major issues. The first was a wake-up call not received. I scheduled a wake-up call for 6 am and then decided to change it to 6:30 am. When I woke up at 6:55, I was in a panic! How could I not have heard the call? I didn't stay up that late. I didn't have that much to drink! The phone had a very loud ring and I can't even remember the last time I slept through an alarm clock or wake-up call. Also, when I did wake up, I initially assumed that I had woken up too early, and was having the kind of unrestful sleep that you have when you know you have to be awake at a certain time and you don't want to oversleep. When I phoned the front desk, they said they called twice and that I hung up both times!

When I met up with colleagues for breakfast that same morning, they complained that they had received two unwanted wake-up calls, one at 6am and one at 6:30 am- the colleagues just happened to be sharing a room on the very same floor- a coincidence? I think not.

To me, a wake-up call is a serious thing. Had I not woken up and missed the meetings, the repercussions could have been very serious. Now, I realize that I should have probably set the alarm clock as a back up, but when I'm at home, I set one alarm, that is what I rely on. Same as at a hotel, I rely on the wake-up call more than I rely on an alarm clock I'm unfamiliar with!

The second issue I had I don't take as seriously, but it still bothered me. The last day I was at the hotel, there must have been a new maid. She cleaned up everything, moved my shoes under the suitcase, put things away- basically touched all my stuff. That's fine to pick things up a little bit, but mostly, I expect my bed to be made, the towels to be changed, the coffee maker cleaned, mini-bar restocked, floor to be vacuumed and that's about it. Otherwise it feels way to close to invading my personal space.

I was also sharing the room with a colleague and we both had our toiletries kind of spread out in the bathroom. Other than our personal items, there really wasn't anything to clean up. When I came back into the room during one of our breaks, I found soaps/shampoos that were in the bathtub moved by the sink and our make-up was all moved together. I was really irritated that the maid took it upon herself to move our personal items and arrange them in a way that she thought best. We had a system! It worked for the past 3 days!

Overall

My final thoughts. Hmmm. Well, on the surface, this is a pretty nice hotel. The comfy beds, spacious rooms and services offered definitely put this hotel a notch above it's Marriott corporate owner. But look a little deeper and you'll find a hotel that's painted over the old wallpaper with a freaky maid staff and incompetent wake-up call operators.

A few other facts: The Renaissance Worthington is about 30 minutes from the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Although I'm not familiar with Fort Worth, it seemed to be in the center of things. I was told that the area the hotel is in has a privately owned police/security force and that it's very safe to walk the streets any time of day. I went for a run by myself in the dark at 6 am and felt perfectly safe. Oh yeah, and at night, the trees lining the street are all black- full of birds! So watch out!