Originally Posted by
remymartin
First off let me say I have thought long and hard as to whether I want to go full disclosure or not. In the past I've always negotiated with the hotel itself, but this time the GM isn't having it.
Recently I stayed at the less than 2 month old property St Regis Abu Dhabi. Yes, we all know new properties have their issues, but boy was I in for a new one. At check-in I had been assigned a regular room, and I quickly understood why. When I signed the guest form I noticed I had been marked down as "Preferred Guest". When I inquired about it FDA insisted to see my Platinum card. Once this was sorted, a suite immediately opened up. I somehow felt trouble might be ahead...
The really nice and charming butler took me up to a really impressive Junior Suite with an immaculate view of Corniche street and the surrounding sea. I quickly unpacked and went for the windows - the ones in the living room, floor-to-ceiling facing the sea. I took a few shots from different locations and smack in the middle, noticed I had stepped in something wet and as a result my sock was wet. I immediately got a bad feeling and yes, it smelled of urine! I took my socks off and called Butler service. When I went down to sort this out there had been some confusion about me wanting a non-smoking room. FDAs suggested I change into a regular room or they clean my suite. As I had already unpacked I preferred not to downgrade myself and asked them to clean the room. I also asked for my socks to be laundered.
At no point was I offered any sort of f&b for this inconvenience. I later mentioned this incident to some staff and got shocked looks.
At check-out I asked to speak to a manager as it was clear there was no sort of proactive goodwill on the bill. He was apologetic and took off a few F&B charges which he carefully picked. I believe one of the charges he took off was for breakfast, which I had chosen as my amenity anyway.
After my stay I sent a polite e-mail to the General Manager about my experiences and to ask if this was something I should expect at a St Regis. He replied in a polite manner offering his apologies and assurance that my next stay would be better. When I in my next e-mail wrote I felt some sort of point compensation would be warranted, I didn't get any reply. I gave him one week to reply to no avail.
I'm pretty disappointed something like this would occur in this level of hotel and even more so that top management isn't willing to offer any goodwill.
What would you do? Has this happened to anyone else? How did you get compensated? Am I being too fussy?
This is a classic case of
the person I'm speaking with should read my mind. You have a certain expectation. Key word: Expectation. The problem with that is the "expectation" of the guest and staff member may not be the same.
This is a St. Regis and a certain level of service is to be expected. You chose to stay in the room. If I were a staff member, I would think you were ok. I may have sent you a fruit plate or small bottle of wine, for your troubles. However, I wouldn't just give your free stuff, "just because" If I was in your shoes, there is no way in hell I would stay in a room that possibly had urine. It was wet and had an odor, but that doesn't mean it was urine, it could be something worse. In my mind I would think housekeeping missed this. Also I would wonder what the substance is and is it toxic, as I'm asthmatic. I would also wonder if a dog or child was in the room. With these unknowns I would ask to move.
Please answer these questions:
What do/did you want?
Why did you not ask at the time of the incident, instead of later/at check out/post stay email?
Let this be a learning lesson, when unfortunate situations happen, when informing staff.
- Go straight to the top
- Handle situation immediately. Not later, not post stay.
- Don't assume the staff will be proactive in offering restitution/goodwill.
- Know exactly what you want when you call.
Since you didn't handle this ON SITE, thank him and move on.