I knew this hotel from this website, and knowing that they are member of Accor Group, I thought it should be quite good.
I visited their website and made a booking there. Once confirmed, I got booking confirmation which I printed to keep. On the day before my stay, I called the hotel to confirm once again, and they confirmed although they couldn't let me know the room number. That was OK though. I told them I would be there around 3pm, and they said the room would be ready by then. So far it sounds just nice. When I arrived at 3.45pm, I passed the booking confirmation and to my surprise the receptionist said the room is not available. Exactly she said "Sorry sir, we don't have this type of room anymore, all fully booked." I explained that I have made the booking so there should be a room reserved for me. Mind that I am Indonesian and I talked to them in Indonesian, I do not think there was miscommunication. They insisted that there was no room booked for me, and if I wanted, I could have another room, which is higher class and more expensive off course. Only after I asked to meet the manager, the receptionist then confirmed with the reservation staff. Then the story revealed that my booking was cancelled because they couldn't bill my credit card. Weren't they supposed to let me know that my booking was cancelled, so at least I could provide another credit card detail? After all I had booking confirmation in my hand.
After quite some time standing there, the receptionist (that knew I was not happy at all) said that actually there is a room for me. I insisted the same rate as offered on the net (otherwise it is more expensive if you juas walk in), and finally I got my room. The almost one hour spent on this case costed me a meeting, I had to cancel my meeting with my client because it was simply too late to reach the meeting place on time.
That is not all, I discovered that the room seemed to be unused for quite some time. First of all, there is stain on the couch that makes me stay away from it. Secondly when I think a nice hot bath would make me relax, I found that the water is a bit green. I took a picture with white-balance set to the white toewl, so you can see it is real colour, nor manipulated. But I guess, maybe all area in Jakarta is having the same problem with the water. I changed my mind and just took a very quick shower. When I lied down in my bed and grab a pillow to stack it to another, i found dirty stuffs below the pillow. I have no idea what it was, looked like some food, the black one looked like worm, and there are some hairs. To my horor I jumped out of the bed and take out the whole blanket, to check the whole bed. I ended up sleeping on top of the blanket, not under it for the whole night.
I was thinking to complain, but then I thought the problem might be solved for my room, they would give me another room, but would this hotel get better after that? Would this happen again to other guests? Well, I hope with this post Mercure Rekso will be more commited with their quality, and fix their booking system.