Hotel Providence

Top Boutique Hotel

We booked this hotel because we were in town for one night, visiting the Waterfire festival. The location was great, close walking distance to the festival, downtown shopping, and restaurants. The hotel staff/policies were incredibly unhelpful. We were informed when we checked in that if we had called and asked for the military/ government rate we would of paid less than 50% of what we were charged. Of course, there was nothing they could do about it now. What they didn't tell us at check in was that the deluxe king room we had reserved and paid twice what we should of for, was unavailable. They happily checked us in and sent us up to what I can only assume is the worst room in this 4 star hotel. The glass shelf in the bathroom was broken, there was a large stain on the carpet, the door was so crooked on the hinges there were cracks you could easily see through at the top and bottom. But worst of all, it was a QUEEN sized bed, not KING. Shouldn't be the end of the world, but paying double what we were supposed to and then not even getting what we payed for- not really okay. Assuming they gave us the wrong room unintentionally, we gathered our things and went back to check in, where we were told that A: they can't change our room because the hotel is completely booked. B: it was in the fine print of "whatever website" we booked on that the room wasn't guaranteed. C: there was no offer of a rate reduction or other forms of compensation. Well, after reading all the terms and conditions of the website, and finding nothing mentioning the room not being guaranteed, we called the website, who did everything in their power to help, but we ended up cancelling the hotel reservation (through the website, not the hotel) for a full refund. No complaints about the website, they even went so far as to call all the other 4 star hotels in the area trying to get us a transfer. The hotel on the other hand, is a buisness I hope never to meet again.

The bed and the pillows were very comfortable. The staff was very unorganized and were very easy to get confused. The valet parking was a joke.