What is it about hotels in some Ports? Do you think they all complete for the same standard?
Recently we had reason to stay on the South Coast. There was a variety of hotels but as we were booking last minute, there was a limited choice.
Our first choice was a hotel we had stayed in before. We hadn’t like it much, the car park had been a free for all, the rooms were weird and the hotel itself was in the middle of a housing estate, but we booked a Sea View and a Deluxe Room.
A few days before I emailed to see if they could confirm if the doors were all the same size and if the Deluxe Rooms were accessible by lift, as we wanted to check the wheelchair would fit in it. We had no reply and a couple of days before we were due to stay I called them to ask, they wouldn’t confirm anything, expect the rooms were on the 5th and 6th floor, advising that wheelchairs were all different sizes, so they couldn’t say if it would fit or not!
The day before we decided to cancel, the risk was too great and I was considering a bad review for the hotel and we hadn’t even got there yet, which isn’t a good sign.
We booked another hotel, we confirmed we had an Accessible Room and all seemed to be OK, until we arrived. We arrived to find all the staff disappear, despite it being check-in time and three people waiting. When the first person was dealt with the phone rang, so we all waited again, by this time there were more people waiting. When I call a hotel I have to call about 10 times before anyone ever answers the phone, I always presumed they were dealing with guests on reception but perhaps not.
The bar and restaurant were another adventure, we ordered 2 x starters, 2 x mains and a side order. The food arrived all together but only 1 x main had been cooked. I didn’t eat with my husband, as I had to wait for my food. It is only since we got home we find we have been overcharged, we were never asked to sign anything. I thought I would have a trip to the bar, as we were in our room watching TV, I just wanted two drinks. I was gone over 20 minutes, as there were two staff members serving, until there was 8 in the queue, then one went to clear empty bottles. Meanwhile someone who wanted 7 x drinks jumped the queue and the staff member just served them.
We didn’t get a good night’s sleep, it was noisy from the bar, the door needed oiling between the reception/bar and the corridor to the room, plus people were coming and going all night – yes literally all night!
