The DeSoto

Came to Savannah for the first time to celebrate my honeymoon. We chose the DeSoto because of its location and because they offered parking other than just street parking (valet only).

The whole experience at this hotel has been amazing but I have to specifically shout out Mr. Charlie with valet. What an amazing first impression to this establishment. We were greeted with big smiles & laughter. Charlie was out front every time we came outside, he remembered who we were, offered water & recommendations. He is a ray of sunshine, the kind of person who can immediately put you in a good mood! You can tell he truely enjoys his job & he is darn good at it!

The location was very ideal. Just minutes away from stores and main streets. The staff was very friendly and welcoming. However, I do have a couple of issues to address. The bath tub in the room needs re-surfacing and there was no refrigerator in the room.

The only saving grace at this hotel was their valet service. DJ and Mr Charlie were phenomenal and went above and beyond a traditional valet. Assisting with our luggage, providing local recommendations for food and sites/areas to visit. Now to the reason why this property is receiving 1 star. Prior to check in since the hotel typically only accepts one pet I went up to the front desk and asked them if two pets would be permissible which they agreed to accommodate for an additional fee. At the time of check in no mention of a pet policy other than 1 dog per room was ever mentioned to me by the staff. (Hold this thought it will become relevant later) Upon entering my room it was extremely hot so I set the AC down to 60 to try and cool the room down instead the temperature began to slowly climb as time went by so I called the front desk to have maintenance sent to my room to service the air conditioner. Over an hour passed and the room continued to get hotter and maintenance still hasn’t showed at this point. I went downstairs to inform the staff I would be going to dinner and to NOT send the maintenance to my room until I returned since I had dogs uncaged in there and we were provided a fan to help with the heat until we returned. While out trying to enjoy the town for the 1 day I am in Savannah I receive a call from the staff stating they sent maintenance to my room regardless of being asked explicitly not to and the maintenance startled the dogs causing them to start barking. Due to the barking caused by their staff a guest complained at which point I was contacted by the hotel again and instructed I needed to return immediately to tend to my dogs barking that their staff caused. I spent $200 on a dinner that didn’t even have enough time to get served to me so that went in the garbage. Upon returning to the hotel the front desk shoved a pet policy in my face asking me to sign it since they forgot to mention it at check in and the policy specifically states if your dogs bark they have the right to call you back to the hotel. This is something that should’ve been addressed at check in not hours later when a problem already happened because of your staff members entering my room without permission! On top of ruining my only night out the room peaked at around 75 degrees last night. One of the photos attached shows the room at 74 degrees with the AC on 60 and this photo was taken at almost 10PM, it wasn’t even that hot out there is no reason the AC shouldn’t be able to cool down such a small room. Maintenance was called back after I returned from my ruined dinner and after claiming they fixed the issue and left there was a bunch of black residue that magically appeared in the tub which appeared to be black mold. I am a platinum member with Expedia so I called them to complain at which point they called the hotel. The front desk on duty told them my AC was fixed and there are no issues with my room and the only issue was my dogs because according to the night shift I never made the hotel aware I had dogs at all. But I’ll refer you to the beginning of my message where I clearly told them prior to check in. The elevators are out of inspection and need to be reinspected. The rooms are extremely small, dated and not well kept. The TVs are old with no internet capabilities and look like they’re from the early 2000s. There’s also a lack of electrical outlets around the beds/sleeping area to accommodate charging devices. I can continue to go on if needed and more than happy to have management contact me to discuss a refund I am more than rightfully owed. For a 4 star hotel this is the worst stay I’ve ever experienced and I’ve been a platinum member for almost 4 years and listed in Expedias top 1% of spenders. This is not how a hotel should operate or treat its guests. And lying to Expedia about their guests experience tops the cake only after you consider when I complained to the front desk about all of this they continued to make fun of me and laugh at me with other guests that were in the lobby.

Beautiful hotel! The staff was so kind and knowledgeable!