moolman

Hi all,

What are my options to file a complaint? I already complained to the Rooms Manager, that's who they referred me to at the hotel when I asked for the GM, it was fixed for a day and on the last day happened again before I left.

I stayed for a week at the IC Madrid. There was a server in the IC lounge that was rude and wouldn't serve us until asked and when asked it was slow compared to other in the lounge. My wife went to breakfast alone the first day, he was rude and slow. She didn't mention it to me and on the second morning, I joined her for breakfast and something was off with the waiter and I mentioned it to her and she told me the whole story of what happed the first day. We asked for the GM and was referred to the Rooms Manager, he of course apologized, said he would talk to the waiter and his manager. Manager was nice about it, sent over a fruit basket to the room. I don't eat breakfast but my wife was just avoiding the waiter by eating breakfast in the main restaurant downstairs. We finally, went together to the breakfast lounge and this was the first time since speaking with the Manager and the waiter was totally normal, friendly and attentive, like he was with other guests. For example, when we walked into the lounge, he was greeting everyone but didn't greet us, little things like that, it was fairly obvious. Well, on the last day, my wife ate breakfast alone in the lounge before we left and waiter was at it again....haha... damn, we were late to a flight and didn't have time to talk to the manager again. I want to escalate this so this doesn't happen to other guests in the future. At least I speak English well enough and can defend myself..

Another example of what happened: My wife was eating alone at the lounge and I texted her that our son woke up and she wanted to come up to breastfeed him and then bring him back down to the lounge for breakfast. The waiter was rude and mentioned that he can't leave the food on the table for hours. She just told him, she will be back in 10min and not clear the table. That comment was not necessary and in fact very rude, especially at a full service hotel like an IC. The manager agreed, he said the waiter should not only not complained but offered to refresh the eggs if they got cold and if a guest want to leave food for hours, they can, they are the guest. She asked for 10 minutes and the lounge was empty, so people were not waiting.

Take it up with the Ambassador line? I'm a Diamond Ambassador,stayed at numerous ICs.

HadesNL

A tricky one,

From perspective: was there racism in racial identification profiling / skin colour / sexual orientation / gender?
If so: unacceptable

Was the person caught in an off day - was there a feeling radiating of grumpiness/dislike - observation showed an unsuited match in language/culture ?
If so : propable a personal issue thing that surfaced which caused interrelational friction
The person should have refrained interacting or try to harder to conceal as it does interfere with hospitality standards
Could be untrained or fresh recruits ot even unintentional due to inexperience .....

I can relate that in Spain, during last week stay in Alicante at the Melia hotel for 1 week, i observed:
older Spanish serving :
- would be extremely friendly amongst local guests Spanish speaking
- yet surly/dismissive towards English speaking guests
- turned into 50% accepting if one would start to converse in French/Portugese/Italian and be amazed a polite conversation could start in those languages
- openly hostile if the person did not suit / match their first impression (prompting the idea why are they even in the service industry)
- by the book / procedure / instructions
younger Spanish serving :
- more eager and open to converse in English and for friendly banter
- considered lower in rank than the oldtimers even though they were more service oriented towards all guests
- bending the rules if no prying eyes

I have stayed at IC Madrid before and was a regular at its club lounge.
No problems with the girls at the desk at the front entrance next to the elevators on level 1
I can however report a bit hestitantcy amongst its servers if one is non-Spanish speaking, English seems avoided in favour of any other language....
One can see the culture clashes that occur between the roaming staff "Spanish focused" vs the demanding ME guests / Influencing show off guests / less decorum lounge locusts


I can't advise on how to proceed further,
Been in situations i usually chalk it off to culture/fate/lessons/randomevent
but i can understand your intention to save others from such events....

Question poses if management should demote/retrain/reassign/refrain/dismiss such individual?

nicolas75

I am sorry to hear about this sad experience.

But it does not reflect what I have experienced in this hotel.

I have stayed at InterContinental Madrid many times and the service at the Club Lounge has always been excellent.

The two male staff (unless new people have been hired very recently) are polite and helpful (regardless of the nationality of the guests, which is very varied at the InterContinental Madrid).

But it should be noted that the Club lounge is self-service. The staff is in charge of clearing the tables, restocking the buffet, and at breakfast bringing drinks and eggs only.

336

Also had a bad experience there. Even during my Royal Ambassador years.
No racism involved in my case:

We received a call from the duty manager at 7AM in the morning with the request to leave the suite immediately as a film crew would have to use the suite to record a soap. There was a whole crew, actors, and 11 trucks of material waiting.
Even though my wife was sick, we did shown much understanding for the situation and vacated the room immediately at 7AM to another standard room. We checked out the same day (as scheduled).

Manager made big (but vague) promises for a future stay, but didn't deliver. Not even a thank you note. They couldn't care less even when I reminded them of the screw up.
​​​​​
I think I showed way too much understanding and was too soft.

moolman

Everyone else at the hotel was awesome. The kind of service you expect at the IC. The servers in the late evening were great, there's 2 older gentlemen that work at nights and they were having a blast with my son. The 2 younger guys and there's a younger lady that man the desk in the lounge were great too and made good restaurant recommendations.

The server I had an issue did not have an English issue. He was greeting everyone is English and Spanish as they walked into breakfast. I was constantly looking because it was so weird that he ignored me and the wife. If it was just one day, I can attribute it to a bad day, and then after complaining to the manager, it was fine, the final day is what has me upset because it came back again. I wish I had more time in the morning to raise a stink.

Yes, breakfast is self serve but when other people are asked what they would like for coffee and the server makes it for them and brings it. When other guests, when they sit down are asked what they want to drink and how they want their eggs, while we had to ask each time. That's when it was clear to me....haha

nicolas75

That would have been a big NO for me.

There is indeed no reason to be removed from a room before check-out time, especially as the shooting was obviously not unscheduled.

moolman

Yeah, your understanding and niceness did not pay off. I would have asked for at least a free night, if they make you move in the morning, maybe even 2 nights.

Repooc17

The server didn't pamper us and was rude = racism.

If you are going to use the racism card, there better be some indisputable evidence supporting your claim. Based on your original post, don't see an ounce of racism other than potentially some unprofessionalism on the part of the server (for argument sake, giving your the benefit for the doubt).

IAN-UK

The best option would be to let it go. If you have time on your hands, take up a new hobby.

Old-school service in Spain can be seriously formal: breaking the ice in Spanish can relax that formality, but otherwise respecting the role the server plays and showing appreciation for the service provided is a way of oiling the wheels.

I have no idea how this bit of theatre played out, but it seems the OP was primed to take offence. There were likely mutual misunderstandings, and after that the relationship deteriorated.

Taking the unhappiness to the GM as a formal but subjective grievance citing racism was never going to bring sweetness and light to the breakfast room. Instead it created thin ice for the principals to skate on, and not surprisingly the ice cracked.

mecabq

Agree. Way too easy to drop the "racism" card. Occam's razor suggests, and other posters here have mentioned -- not that it's acceptable at an IC -- Spanish service standards tend to be not the best. Whoops, am I "racist" for saying that?

dtremit

Surly Spanish service alone does not explain why OP was treated differently from other guests present at the same time � e.g., the waiter was greeting other guests but did not greet them. Presumably they were not the only non-Spanish-speaking guests in the room.

If you are the only people in the room who look a certain way, and are the only ones getting treated poorly, wouldn't Occam's razor suggest the two are connected?

Regardless � to the OP, it sounds like the rooms manager took action the first time you contacted them. Given that, I would probably get their email address from the hotel, and write a summary of the issues you experienced throughout the stay � including summarizing what you discussed with them previously � and updating to include the issues you faced the final day. I suspect they will follow up accordingly. And if they don't, you have a summary you can forward elsewhere, including your previous conversation with the rooms manager.

moolman

This pretty much hits the nail on the head why I went towards racism, not bad service. Who hasn't had bad service in Europe....lol.... and the fact that the waiter was normal after the complaint and went back to his old ways on the last day, he was capable of being normal.

I love how the people that experience no racism, tell me that I was looking for racism and that I should take a new hobby instead. Yup, just shrug it off right, roll it off your back and move on and take it....lol.... damn

mecabq

Assumes facts not in evidence.

eqeqeqx

All the way to post #8 before the expected "let's blame the op" post. ;-)

Based on what he's written, OP does seem capable of differentiating between general substandard service, and being the only one, with his wife, to receive said substandard service.

"Indisputable evidence"? You mean something like arranging for multiple people of a similar ethnicity to the OP, and multiple people of some other ethnicity, visiting the restaurant at the same time, and having a trained and certified human behavioral observer note any differences observed in the server's behaviour towards the two different ethnic groups, before submitting a report in writing? Something like that?

Ghoulish

Nah, just something more than the usual "I was treated poorly and the server's skin color was different from mine therefore racism".