When checking in there was a lot of information delivered very quickly, which I understand given the nature of running a hotel, however, there was very little clarity and transparency. For example, asked for a card, no problem, though no explanation why and what for, I knew there was a "room tax" to be paid but was not told how much nor asked to take payment, I also wasn't told that a discretionary charge of an additional $50 a night would be added on top of the "room tax" for any additional charges we incurred, imagine my alarm to find that I had been charged $400 instead of the room charge of $150, so I went back down to reception to ask why, only then for the above to be explained. In Europe, you are told upfront upon check-in about the "room tax" amount and asked for payment, as well as given a receipt upon payment, all clear, all above board this was not the case here. We were also given wooden chips and told they could be used for food, but no explanation of when or how a little bit more information would be useful. Neither were we told that we would need our room keys to access the lifts to our floor, don't know if this is standard in the US, this is a great security feature only allowing guests to access those areas, it was only that I had seen it on a YouTube video that I was aware, we weren't the only ones either, encountering numerous guests that we had to inform of this fact. Maybe a little less time should be spent on trying to upsell upgraded rooms for an additional charge and more on providing the guests with the information required to fully enjoy their stay.
I will say as a positive that we were given an upgraded room (didn't pay for it) from the 6th floor up to the 17th so that we weren't staring at a brick wall (recption informed us the view, we never saw the room ourselves), so thank you to reception for that. Didn't see the need for an upgraded room as the room was a great size and had everything we needed anyway. Also being able to get a notification on my phone when our room was ready, this was a nice touch meaning we weren't wandering for hours after a very early start in the UK and a long flight, some thing to consider at check-in as people might be a bit jet lagged and not fully with it. Otherwise we had a great time, hotel had a great location and was easy to get to everything.