We checked into the hotel on Friday 14th August 2009. The room we were given was a disgusting excuse for a standard room, which was not only tiny, but also not very clean. When we asked for an upgrade, we were told that it would be impossible as there were no available rooms and the manageress was unavailable until the next day. We were told that a request would be left in the system for an upgrade and if anything became available, we would be informed. Needless to say, we were not.
On Monday 17th August 2009, I received a phone call from my fiancé at 8.30pm local time where he informed me that our room had been flooded and everything was soaking wet (Please note that before he left the hotel on the 17th, my fiancé had told reception at 12.45pm that there was a problem with the toilet in our room and that it was not flushing so could someone please go upstairs and check it. He was assured that someone will be sent in the next ten minutes or so). Our suitcases had been put on the windowsill to dry but one was not seen and left on the floor. My fiancé then went down to reception to find out what had happened and what was going to happen with all our things, etc. He was given another room (which was even worse than the first one) and told to move all our suitcases and other personal items into the new room by himself. The person at the desk told him that the flood occurred due to the toilet overflowing and also hinted that we were to blame for this. So not only were our personal belongings soaking wet, they were wet with toilet water plus the employee had accused us! I returned to the hotel about an hour later and demanded to speak to the manageress. First I was accused of shouting (which I was most definitely not) and then I was told that the manageress had left for the day and would not be back until the following morning between 8am and 9am. Apparently the manageress' hours are only until 5pm, regardless of whether or not there is a problem that they would need to deal with. I asked the employee to call her so I can speak to her about this flood but she was unavailable. I found this utterly despicable as I personally believe that if someone is put in the responsible position of a manager, they do not leave work at 5pm regardless of what's going on around them, and forget about everything until the next day, leaving their customers extremely unhappy and annoyed. Ms Katia (the manageress) should have at least picked up the phone or phoned back to speak to me (not to her colleagues) and explain to me what will be done about the situation. Anyway, needless to say, I got no answers that evening and just returned to the (even worse) room that we were given due to the flood.
The next morning, I woke up and went down to reception to speak to Ms Katia. I asked her to tell me what had happened and she barely opened her mouth to explain anything. She was not very aware of the situation and basically gave me the impression that she didn't particularly care. I briefly told her what I was told the previous evening and asked if they would be covering our laundry bills so we can at least get a few bits of clothes cleaned so we can wear them. She said that they do not normally cover laundry bills but will check with her higher manager to confirm this. I again explained to her that all our belongings were wet with toilet water and we could not wear them. I also mentioned that the room we were given was even worse than the first one and she offered to give us an upgrade, plus one night of the whole stay of the hotel for free. I said that's fine but that does not really help me with my laundry, and that was what was the most important thing for me. She said she would see what she can do about the laundry bills, arrange our upgrade for when we returned that night, and let me know. She then called down the plumber and the head of the cleaning service of the hotel so they can tell me what had happened and how they found our room. They told me that they were called to the hotel because the room below our one had called the reception to tell them that their ceiling was leaking (so basically no-one was sent when my fiancé informed them about the toilet issue at 12.45 pm). They also told me that our room had about 10cm of toilet water all over the room. They mentioned that the overflow may have occurred due to baby wipes being thrown in the toilet, where Ms Katia said that this means it is our fault. I proceeded to tell them that we live in Cyprus which is a tiny island in the Mediterranean and have never had a problem with doing this, and the New Yorkers, who are so technologically advanced in everything else, have a problem with this. Even so, if the sewage system in New York cannot take the baby wipes, it was the hotels duty, in my opinion, to have a sign stating this in every hotel room. Plus, there was no dustbin in the toilet, so where exactly were we supposed to put them?
Anyway, I finished speaking to the plumber and told Ms Katia that we would return to the hotel at about 9 or 10 pm, and would approach the desk for our upgrade and an answer as to whether the hotel would be covering the laundry bills, but we did not return until 1am. We went to the hotel desk and asked for the employee to check the system for our upgrade so we can quickly move all our things into the new room and go to bed. We were informed that there was no mention of an upgrade on the system anywhere for us, therefore he could not give us one. So I then asked if Katia had left me a message concerning our laundry to which I was told that she had not, or mentioned anything to any of the employees. I was fuming. Not only had she not bothered to show the slightest bit of understanding towards the whole situation, she basically ignored my requests. I decided not to mention anything to her again (not that I ever saw her at the hotel). On our last day there, my key (for the even worse room we were given) was not working, so I had to go to the reception and get a new one. There I found Ms Katia. She was cold, rude and basically very unpleasant and sarcastic. She said that she thought we were leaving on that day, to which I informed her that we were. She then asked why we had not left yet and that check-out was at 11am (it was 1pm by now), and whether or not we had asked for a late check out. Firstly, I was unaware of the 11 am checkout, but had I known that I would have requested a late check out. Secondly, shouldn’t Ms Katia have been able to see whether or not we had a late check out, since she was standing right in front of the computer screen sorting out my room key? Is this the polite way of dealing with customers? I proceeded to tell her that we could leave right at that point if she wanted and that it would make absolutely no difference to me due to the terrible experience we had at that hotel, to which she did not even look up from her computer screen and basically ignored me. For 200 dollars per night, I didn’t expect too much class, but what I did expect was cleanliness, a decent sized room and much better customer service as well as politeness. I received none of these.