The Plaza has long enjoyed a reputation as an elegant hotel, but with less than three months left before its scheduled closing for alterations and renovation, it is not the Plaza of old.

Here are just some of the complaints heard near the concierge desk yesterday.

A skeletal staff.
No key in the room safe.
No turndown service.
An empty mini-bar.
And all that for $500 a night.

One Londoner, who wished to remain anonymous, felt confident his city would beat the Big Apple in its bid for the 2012 Olympics when he heard that the International Olympic Committee’s evaluation commission would be staying at the Plaza starting Sunday evening for its four-day examination of New York City’s capacity to accommodate the Games.

“If they had any sense, they’d check out and move into the Pierre,” the disgruntled guest said. He complained so bitterly at checkout that he was given a 50% rate reduction for his room.

Another guest, Steve Wiener, has been a regular guest at the Plaza but said this stay would be his last. He had been enjoying a glass of clear Sambuca liqueur at the Oak Bar the night before when he realized he had red wine stains down his white shirt.

“I realized they had served my drink off of a dirty tray that must have had a red wine puddle on it, and it dripped off my glass onto my shirt,” the outraged patron said.

The Long Island native had expected a discount at the end of the evening, but when the bill came, it was hefty.

“I paid my bill, but I’m planning on saying something to the manager on my way out,” Mr. Wiener said. “It just isn’t right. The hotel has really gone downhill and I won’t be back.”

The hotel’s new owners, Elad Properties, has attributed its plans to remake the Plaza in part to the deteriorated condition of parts of the interior, and Elad’s president and chief executive, Miki Naftali, has been quoted as calling the Plaza “worn down.”

“It’s amazing people think it’s one of the best hotels in the world,” Mr. Naftali told the New York Times. “It’s not.”