Property: Sofitel Adelaide
Room booked: Superior king (cheapest flexible rate available)
Room upgraded/type: Yes, apparently 2 categories to Luxury King City View, floor 19, but it seemed like a base room on a high floor
Rate: Flexible, $621 for 2 nights, reduced to $335 using 10,000 ALL points
Welcome drink: had club access but ended up using it for 2 glasses of flat de Bortelli sparkling on the ground floor just before check out
Early check in/late out: asked and received 1pm check out
VIP treatment: Fruit, 3 macarons, 2 sparkling waters and a bottle of Pinot Gris in the fridge on arrival. A bottle of bubbles was later sent as a service recovery gesture.
Access to executive lounge: Yes, Club Millésime
General comments:
First stay at Sofitel Adelaide and my first since making Diamond the week before. I had some hopes of a good upgrade but wasn't overly optimistic, having read that there's often little difference between Diamond and Platinum treatment in Australia.
Unfortunately that was our experience. I'll admit my expectations were shaped by how Asian properties treated us as Platinums, which is usually over the top.
We were celebrating my husband's 70th, which I flagged through the pre-arrival messaging. It wasn't acknowledged at any point.
The upgrade felt like a standard room on a high floor. Shower pressure was low, and the technician who came to check it left grubby boot prints from the door to the bathroom. I complained about this and and the overall disappointing room and the duty manager responded and offered a bottle of bubbles and to have the floors refreshed, but they were never cleaned.
The lounge was a mixed bag. The first night with AFF members at the annual gathering, service was mostly good and the drinks were ok. . The second night the team were young and not proactive, and I had to get up 4-5 times to ask for another drink. G&Ts were also weak the second night. Seems staff needs more training.
Afternoon tea was average and we waited 15 minutes for a cup of tea while the pots sat there ready to go. Not sure why table service is insisted on for something guests could do themselves in 30 seconds.
Second night we had no turndown service, so not sure what happened there, but it was another disappointment on top of the others.
Pommery was $33 a glass in the lounge but $20 downstairs at Garçon Bleu 3pm-6pm. They also wouldn't apply the Accor Plus Explorer 15% discount, with an explanation that seemed to relate to the lounge having unlimited drinks during happy hour. I didn't really follow the logic. Anyway they applied the 15% discount on check out so the staff member was wrong.
Breakfast was satisfactory but nothing amazing. Coffee was very good and welcome after the disgusting capsule coffee in the room (some alternative to Nespresso I hadn’t heard of).
Dinner at Garçon Bleu was excellent and the best part of the stay. I used our USD$100 hotel credit and 30% A+ discount so there waa no cost.
Overall I was underwhelmed by my first experience as a Diamond member and won't be rushing back here.
