There are good hotels, bad hotels and hotels we would prefer to forget. We know what we need, what we pay for and what is sometimes simply wrong. I have to admit, that I usually book 4-star hotels through a popular booking website, which reveals otherwise unknown facilities and their features. This usually helps to avoid misinformation and misunderstandings as they are objective in their descriptions of the facilities.
We muse at the boast that «all bedrooms have flat-screen TVs», when in fact there are only local programs in the indigenous language, totally foreign to us. The «free toiletries» are another intriguing magnet. While there are no tissues, body cream or conditioner, you can wallow in the combi-bath/shower/shampoo gel in the smallest possible bottle. Whilst these articles may fall short, you can rely on the shoe polisher, although a keen observer will note that black leather shoes are quite a rarity these days.
«Parking available» is a promising assertion for mobile clients, and can be the deciding factor in my choice of hotels. However, when you arrive travel-weary, to hear that the ten parking spaces are taken, you may find your only option is 300 meters away at a surplus cost of 25€ a night. We stayed in a hotel in Santander this summer, where a diligent young man was engaged to shuttle clients’ cars around until he found a parking space. From our balcony, we saw him accomplish 13 lengthy rounds before – BINGO – he managed to park our dizzy car.
The baffling matter of awarding 4 or 5 stars to some hotels remains unfathomed. We stayed in a 4-star hotel in Gijón, Asturias, which was utterly miraculous for its complete lack of anything. Having paid extra for a sea view, that was about all. No balcony, no mini-bar, no tea-making equipment, no bar or drinks at all anywhere on the premises, no parking and no amenities, and in the middle of summer, no air conditioning. There must be some majestic cohesion of interests to achieve so many stars, for an establishment that is at best, a hostel. Talking of sea views, we paid extra in San Sebastian for a sea view, but as the hotel was very low, and there was traffic on the level of our bedroom, we had to go outside, to take a photo of the sea. I don’t even think we are particularly pedantic by nature, but the hotels know that by and large, they can get away with a shortfall in amenities for short stay visitors.
By far the biggest rip-off was in Montreux, Switzerland, in July this year. We paid the princely sum of CHF 625.34/ € 556 for two nights at the Hotel Eden Palace au Lac for a twin room with a view of the Lake of Geneva. They claimed this already had a 10% reduction from CHF 637.20 for «booking in advance». I booked online and the amount was immediately charged to my MasterCard, with the statement on the booking confirmation that no reimbursement is permitted. I had recently undergone major surgery and I looked forward to a short break with a view over the Lake of Geneva on a relaxing weekend. According to their own advert, every room has a view of the Lake or the City and mountains. When we finally received the key to our room, we were degraded to a little back bedroom, with a view into the nearby building opposite. By definition, that building also had a bird’s eye view into our room. The advertised air conditioning was a small appliance in the room with pipe wedged through the open window. It was obviously a staff room, but the reception was powerless to upgrade us to the room we had booked and paid for, with the consoling advice, to complain by letter to the management upon our return home. This converted our aspired beautiful weekend to the feeling of being the poor relatives, shacked up in the servants’ quarters for CHF 625.34/556 € for two nights.
I subsequently received an email with the request to share my opinion of the hotel, which I did! However, far from the hotel being interested in justified criticism, my text was apparently redirected to Google. It became obvious that the hotel was too elite to bother with such trivia, after all, they had harvested my money weeks beforehand.
Feeling very outraged by this time, I wrote a letter by registered post to the hotel, to insure they were in receipt of my grievance and awarded a fair chance to respond. Nearly two months later, there is still no echo from the hotel which regrettably reflects the arrogance and pure indifference to the customers who they treat with utter disdain.
There are presumably thousands of customers who stay regularly at the Hotel Eden Palace au Lac in Montreux and are enchanted with the rooms they booked and are treated like kings. However, when a hotel of this caliber thinks they can overbook, collect the money and then decanter clients to their humble standby rooms, they are not doing the Swiss Hotelier industry any favours. I may have a very British name, which I presume disqualifies me from their area of interest. I have lived in Switzerland for decades as a Swiss citizen, and for the money I wasted at their hotel to finance the shoddy treatment we experienced, they should hang their heads in shame.
Photo: Pexels.com / Tim Savage