We were swamped by the reviews for this hotel on Tripadvisor and booked it based on those reviews. We were severely disappointed. My family and friends vacation in Thailand every year and never across a variety of hotels (both moderately and highly priced) have I come across such poor customer service and attitude.
The only reason I have a two rating with this hotel is because their rooms are actually quite nice, but that is where the good stops.
We were three families and had taken three suites. The suite that I was in (with my family) was not the cleanest I had come across. I noticed some fungus on the back of the leather sofas (or some white stuff) but the main issue was that there was some kind of a smear across the sofa where you sit. The suite has a sliding door which separates the sleep area and there were oily smears across door (where I would typically hold it to slide it open). To be fair, my suite was the only one with such a poor level of cleanliness and the two other suites our friends had were pretty clean.
So, I went to the reception and was met with a total apathetic stare by the person who was there. I was told that it is not possible that the room is unclean because it is certified by a supervisor before handing over. Not sure what that implied. Upon insisting, they sent someone to the room with me - who gave me one or the other explanation for the state of the room. Back to the reception and I was told that they don't have another room so they can't change it - I was however given the option to pay for an upgrade to a larger suite - not sure why I should pay if their room has a problem. But I didn't want to do it so I had to settle for this.
The biggest problem in this exchange was that there was not even a sliver of indication in their speech or mannerism which suggested that they felt bad about my situation - it was a "take it or leave it" attitude. When I am in Thailand I am used to smiles - I didn't have a single one.
Anyway, the thing that really spoiled our vacation though was the checkout. The same person who had checked us in checked us out. I do believe the problem is with the person. So, while my friends are checking out, they are made to wait for a long time. Apparently, they have a policy to check the rooms before final settlement (fair enough, a lot of hotels have them).
We had made it clear to them that we are getting late for our flight and so need to head out soon. They took well over 30 minutes to check out 3 rooms as they checked our room sequentially (this is when I had already made my room available for checkout a long time ago). But anyway, so they are making us wait - we told them that whatever charges there may be on the room can be put on the credit card which they had on file, but they wouldn't let us leave.
So, as we wait, suddenly the person (I keep saying the person, because I am not sure of the gender of this individual - and as you may know, this is common in Thailand, so no biggie) in a very rude tone asks my friend (and I am quoting), "Give me back my laundry bags" - i thought we were being accused of stealing something, the tone and facial expression suggested that. We asked "What?" - the person said - "you took laundry bags from the suite, give them back" (there was no politeness as you would expect in a hotel room) - we had just settled a bill of 30,000 plus Bhats and we were being hassled for something that may have cost them 100 bahts.
Plus whoever makes you pay for laundry bags - I have used hotel laundry bags for personal use before and it has never been a problem. My friends had taken laundry bags in their rooms to organize some of the stuff in their luggage. Even if these were paid (which is ridiculous to begin with) we could have been politely informed that those were not complementary and that we need to pay for them - instead we were asked to give them back. We just told them to charge us for the bags - the total that was charges was around 100 bahts - which was much less then the gratuity that each of us had left in the room for the room service folks - ridiculous.
Anyway, that being said, we paid for the bags and then asked to close the billing so that we could leave. But we were told that my room still needs to be checked and it was taking forever. Then I was asked "you took the bathroom slippers" - huh, I didn't take any slippers, so no idea what I was being accused of. BTW, these are the cloth slippers that are provided. I have never realized before in any hotel that these slippers are not complementary - I would have imagined that they would have to be complementary by default due to hygiene purposes - but whatever - the point is that I didn't take them. So while we are waiting, we are pressing on them that we are getting late - this person rudely tells my friend that he can go but I can't. And all the while it is clear that we are going together because all our luggage has been loaded in the van in front of the reception.
Finally, I actually had to go up back to my room and help the staff find my slippers which were in plain view. Unbelievable. I almost wanted to pick back the gratuity that I had left on the counter.
What really got me angry however was that while we were waiting, our kids (a 2 year old and a 3 year old) were playing in the lobby (waiting for us to finish) and being kids they were laughing and giggling loudly. This person actually first yelled at them to be quiet and then rudely told us to get the kids to shut up. This is middle of the day in a deserted reception area. I am not sure who they were disturbing.
Some of their policies with regards to the 'consumables' in the room I can understand for a budget hotel, but it wasn't cheap - it was over a $100 per night and that doesn't make it a budget hotel.
But I don't understand the rudeness. At all.
My recommendation - stay away. If i had a way to complain to TripAdvisor, I would like them to revoke the big "TripAdvisor" plaque that they have in their lobby. They don't deserve it at all.
