I haven't actually stayed at this hotel- yet- but am already disappointed in their customer service. I visit Chicago quite often and usually stay at the InterContinental, but yesterday I read some online articles advertising The James Hotel's "Cyber Monday Special". The promo states that if you buy a gift certificate from their website, the hotel will match that amount in "James Credits" that can be used toward your stay. None of the articles gave an expiration date for these credits. My next trip to Chicago is in April, so I thought I'd give The James a try. I travel frequently with my pet and I've heard they have a very liberal pet-policy. So today I went online and bought a $500 certificate. Me, having the one track mind that I do, somehow missed the part about the credits expiring March 31, 2010. I realized my mistake immediately and called the hotel front desk to explain my predicament. I said I couldn't be in Chicago until April (I'm overseas on business until then), and asked if they could extend my credits an extra month, or it not, refund my gift certificate purchase. I had only just made the purchase minutes before and hadn't even recieved my email confirmation yet. Most businesses offer a 24 hr grace period. The girl at the front dest was extremely rude to me- basically saying "too bad, it's your problem now". She didn't even bother to act polite or pretend to be sympathetic about my situation at all. So now that I know this is the kind of service I can expect from The James, I might just call it a wash and stay at my usual hotel, or try Hotel Monaco. I hear they have great service and are good with pets too.
