We recently stayed at a Kimpton Hotel in Boston, the Hotel Marlowe. We enjoyed our stay so much we planned our next trip around a stay at the Hotel Epic, a Kimpton Hotel in Miami.
The Hotel Epic was an important part of our vacation plans. But, Key West was our ultimate vacation goal. Our plan was to fly into Fort Lauderdale, drive to Miami and spend the first two days of our trip at the Hotel Epic. Our next stop on the trip was The Pier House Hotel in Key West. We planned to spend three days at the Pier House. The Hotel Epic was on our itinerary to finish off the last two days of our vacation.
As we began our vacation everything did not go as planned. Our plane leave Grand Rapids was more than an hour late. I called the Hotel Epic to let them know we would be a late arrival. I was surprised when I connected with a Hotel Epic employee who told me that they were not accepting guests.
Okay, what the hell does that mean. The Epic is not accepting guests – but we have reservations. The Hotel Epic employee told me they were having water problems. She went on to say that we should come to the Epic and pick up a letter and a voucher. The letter allowed us to stay one night free at the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami and get the second night at a substantially reduced rate. In addition to the deal at the Four Seasons, the Epic representative told us we will receive a voucher for a free night at the Hotel Epic. This amounted to hundreds of dollars of savings for our Florida trip.
Fast forward to our return trip to Miami. We called to see if the Epic was accepting guests. We were told they were not accepting guests. Their expected date for accepting guests was not until after the holidays. The Hotel Epic employee explained we will get a voucher for a free night at the Epic, a free night at the Four Seasons and a reduced rate for the our second night at the Four Seasons. Again, we were looking at a savings of several hundreds of dollars.
So, what was the problem with the Hotel Epic? When we called the hotel we were told it was a water problem. The Miami Herald reported the Hotel Epic was at the center of a Legionnaire’s disease investigation. Here is a link to the story – http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1388234.html.
If you read the story you will see the link between the Legionnaire’s Disease and the Hotel Epic is weak. The Hotel Epic is taking all the necessary precautions to protect their guests even though the Center for Disease Control says the link to the Legionnaire’s Disease and the Hotel Epic is weak. The Hotel Epic is playing it safe to the tune of $200,000 per day.
The Hotel Epic is taking care of the guests who booked a stay during this time by giving them great deals at competing hotels, plus vouchers for future stays.
I think the Kimpton Hotel, the Hotel Epic is doing all it can do to insure the safety of its guests, plus it is going out of its way to make sure it guests who’ve booked rooms during this challenging time are taken care of.
I’m still looking forward to my next stay at a Kimpton Hotel.