Hillary
2 years ago
After previous stays at The Grand Hotel Casselbergh, our latest break went disastrously wrong 鈥?thanks to an extremely rude receptionist (Julia) with a tyrannical attitude.
We queued and received the card access to our room and went up in the lift with cases and bags. We arrived at our room to find the door open and the room on display. We tried to use the access keys both from inside and outside the room to lock it, the door stayed open so that the interior of the room could be seen from the hallway. We went back down to reception with cases and bags and informed reception of the problem. Instead of assigning us another room the receptionist dragged us with cases and bags back in the lift and returned to the same room. She then repeated the checks that we had done before announcing that a technician is needed. Once again we went back down to reception with cases and bags. The receptionist said we鈥檇 need to wait at the room for the technician to arrive and then repair the lock. We weren鈥檛 happy that we were wasting our holiday for 鈥榟otel鈥?problems, there also was no indication of the technicians availability and how long it would take. We told the receptionist that we weren鈥檛 happy and that we weren鈥檛 prepared to waste our time. We were absolutely astounded when the receptionist said 鈥榶ou can always leave鈥? We asked if we could speak to her manager who she said was unavailable until 09:00 the next morning. We said we weren鈥檛 happy with her attitude so attempted to take an identification photo of her on the iPhone, so that we could identify the individual when we spoke to the Manager the next day. When my wife attempted to take a photo, the receptionist attempted to grab my wife鈥檚 phone from her, across the reception desk. This was clearly a physical assault (see photo). Stunned, we asked if we could be assigned an alternate room 鈥?we weren鈥檛 sure that a door that defaults to open when the lock fails was a room that we wanted. The receptionist begrudgingly gave us another room and we thought that was the end of it until we spoke to her manager in the morning.
We unpacked and got changed so that we could go down to use the steam room. On the way down we noticed a technician attending our original room door. We spent around 40 minutes in the steam room and sauna before returning back to our room. The technician was still playing with the lock on our original room. After arriving back in our room, we were getting changed ready for an evening out when there was a loud knock at the door. We ignored it as we had the 鈥榙o not disturb sign鈥?on the door. The door was knocked repeatedly until my wife answered. We were shocked and frightened to see a receptionist and 4 or 5 armed police officers at the door, they said we must leave immediately. We packed in fear quickly and were escorted down to the parking by our heavily armed police escort 鈥?we felt like hardened criminals or terrorists. Shaking and close to tears we left.
The incident didn鈥檛 end there.
When we returned to the UK we progressed the incident through our agent who was extremely supportive. They spoke to the 鈥榟otel management鈥?several times. The hotel claimed that we had assaulted the receptionist in the lift and that it was supported by CCTV. We said that the claim was both slanderous and fabricated and we knew the footage of an assault could not exist as no contact had occurred in the lift. Despite constant requests, no footage as evidence was provided by the 鈥榟otel management鈥?to the agent. In consequence, we received an apology and a full refund of our accommodation costs from the agent.
Key problems:
– Tyrannical receptionist
– Deceitful management
– Room locks which when faulty default to open
We queued and received the card access to our room and went up in the lift with cases and bags. We arrived at our room to find the door open and the room on display. We tried to use the access keys both from inside and outside the room to lock it, the door stayed open so that the interior of the room could be seen from the hallway. We went back down to reception with cases and bags and informed reception of the problem. Instead of assigning us another room the receptionist dragged us with cases and bags back in the lift and returned to the same room. She then repeated the checks that we had done before announcing that a technician is needed. Once again we went back down to reception with cases and bags. The receptionist said we鈥檇 need to wait at the room for the technician to arrive and then repair the lock. We weren鈥檛 happy that we were wasting our holiday for 鈥榟otel鈥?problems, there also was no indication of the technicians availability and how long it would take. We told the receptionist that we weren鈥檛 happy and that we weren鈥檛 prepared to waste our time. We were absolutely astounded when the receptionist said 鈥榶ou can always leave鈥? We asked if we could speak to her manager who she said was unavailable until 09:00 the next morning. We said we weren鈥檛 happy with her attitude so attempted to take an identification photo of her on the iPhone, so that we could identify the individual when we spoke to the Manager the next day. When my wife attempted to take a photo, the receptionist attempted to grab my wife鈥檚 phone from her, across the reception desk. This was clearly a physical assault (see photo). Stunned, we asked if we could be assigned an alternate room 鈥?we weren鈥檛 sure that a door that defaults to open when the lock fails was a room that we wanted. The receptionist begrudgingly gave us another room and we thought that was the end of it until we spoke to her manager in the morning.
We unpacked and got changed so that we could go down to use the steam room. On the way down we noticed a technician attending our original room door. We spent around 40 minutes in the steam room and sauna before returning back to our room. The technician was still playing with the lock on our original room. After arriving back in our room, we were getting changed ready for an evening out when there was a loud knock at the door. We ignored it as we had the 鈥榙o not disturb sign鈥?on the door. The door was knocked repeatedly until my wife answered. We were shocked and frightened to see a receptionist and 4 or 5 armed police officers at the door, they said we must leave immediately. We packed in fear quickly and were escorted down to the parking by our heavily armed police escort 鈥?we felt like hardened criminals or terrorists. Shaking and close to tears we left.
The incident didn鈥檛 end there.
When we returned to the UK we progressed the incident through our agent who was extremely supportive. They spoke to the 鈥榟otel management鈥?several times. The hotel claimed that we had assaulted the receptionist in the lift and that it was supported by CCTV. We said that the claim was both slanderous and fabricated and we knew the footage of an assault could not exist as no contact had occurred in the lift. Despite constant requests, no footage as evidence was provided by the 鈥榟otel management鈥?to the agent. In consequence, we received an apology and a full refund of our accommodation costs from the agent.
Key problems:
– Tyrannical receptionist
– Deceitful management
– Room locks which when faulty default to open