Highgate Hotels in Milwaukee

As far as hotels go… a unique concept. Some positives, some negatives, of which one – hotel management’s inadequate response to a significant problem – caused me and my wife to checkout after two nights of what was supposed to be a four-night stay. Our room was a junior suite on the top floor and was good-sized and had nice furnishings. We thought the food and service in the restaurants and bar were good (thumbs-up to Kate), the valets and bell staff hustled, and there is interesting artwork on some of the floors. All good things. On the downside: A few days prior to check-in we received an email offering us an early check-in for an extra $25. Not needing early check-in, we arrived at the posted 3pm check-in time. Our room wasn’t ready for another 35-40 minutes. Certainly a mixed message. The front desk staff are definitely hit-or-miss in terms of friendliness. There was no fan in the bathroom to help manage steam from the shower. The bathroom window is opaque but has no shade. As a result, at night, light from the highway adjacent to the hotel comes into the bathroom and continues into the sleeping area through the opaque glass shower wall. While the glass shower wall is opaque, it makes the shower far from private. Not a problem for us, but others might disagree. Also, the freight trains that run on the double tracks immediately adjacent to the hotel are noisy. I don’t want to have to wear a mask and earplugs to get a good night’s sleep in what is supposed to be a luxury hotel. Why the horrible rating and not just a mediocre one? Shortly after 8:00pm on our second night we smelled smoke in our sixth-floor room. Because the smell grew worse, at 8:45 I called the front desk. The person I spoke with explained that on nights when there is no breeze, smoke from the restaurant's “hearth” will drift up the side of the building and into the room. They had a ready explanation. In other words, they knew the smoke could be a problem but have done nothing about it. At 10:30pm I called again and asked to speak to the manager on duty. Unfortunately, the only manager in the building works in food and beverage and isn't that well versed in other aspects of managing the hotel. Regardless, I asked her to come to the room so she could establish for herself that I wasn't exaggerating about the eye-stinging, headache-causing smoky air. She and the restaurant's banquet manager did come upstairs and did acknowledge that the smoke was a problem. For a number of reasons - some the hotel’s, some ours - changing rooms at that hour wasn't a viable option. We were assured by the manager we were speaking with that she would write a detailed email for the hotel manager coming in the next day and that that manager would call us “first the in the morning.” I’m writing this review four mornings later. We are still waiting for that call.