Photo Fakeout: When hotel decor goes missing

Welcome to the latest installment of Photo Fakeouts, a series in which we show you the difference between hotel marketing photos and the real thing. Often we bring you examples of deceptive cropping or fancy camerawork -- but sometimes the discrepancy is simpler than that.

We know what to expect when we check into a hotel, because we always take the time to view a hotel's website before we visit. But sometimes when we arrive, we're dismayed to find that something is missing! The website promises beautiful blankets or a plush robe, but then they're conspicuously missing upon arrival. They either got up and walked away, or they were never there to begin with.
Take the above photos of the Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove in Miami, for example. We were counting on three (not one, not two…) plants to brighten our Deluxe Room and absorb our carbon dioxide. But there wasn't even one! The beautiful floral blanket was sadly absent as well, though at least we found one when visiting the Executive Suite (but still no plants).

Don't these pool chairs at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas look so cool? Don't you just want to sit on them? Well, you can't. Or at least we couldn't. Maybe we were there at the wrong time of day, or maybe the chairs had already been trashed due to wear and tear, but whatever the cause, they weren't there to make our day a little brighter. Instead we had to sit on these chairs. Bor-ing. (To be fair, we found the orange loungers hanging out elsewhere later).

Based on the left-hand photo we were looking forward to a bathrobe awaiting us upon arrival at the Savoy Hotel, but when our reporter arrived there was no robe to be found. We called to confirm and sure enough the hotel does not give out bathrobes. Luckily Miami is warm or we'd be feeling pretty chilly about this one (har har).


Check out the rest of our Photo Fakeouts.