Holiday Inn Express-Bristol Central :(

shays_mum

I would love some advice on what to do next.....

Ok here goes, will keep it as brief as possible....

I recommended the above to loads of ppl for a stay as we had a family wedding across the road. Everyone stayed from Fri-Sun. I arrived on Sat @ 1.15. My little one who has no history of travelsickness, was sick all the way from London-Bristol (a terrible 4hr drive)

I arrived in reception with her covered in sick, stinking to high heaven as it was a hot day. I asked reception if i could check in early (checking was 2.00pm), i was informed the room was'nt ready. I asked if there was anywhere to change her, i was told no, i would be informed when my room would be ready at 2.00pm.

To cut a long story short, i was only asking for somewhere to change the poor baby as she was so distressed. I have a 20month old as well who was fretting as well. The staff could clearly see the situation i was in, in the end other members of the party who were already there took pity on me & showered my little one, changing her soiled clothes & looked after my other little one so i could shower as well. The call i was expecting to inform me the room was ready, never arrived. In the end i had to chase it, we got in there at 2.05, then left at 3.05 as we were extremly late for the wedding . In the end i could'nt bare to stay there the night as i was so distressed by the attitude of the staff.

I placed a call to guest relations the next day, i was told it would be looked into. For the last 3 weeks the lies that have come out of the mouths of the staff in Bristol Central was astounding!. They claimed they offered me water & clothes and had shown my facilites so i could take of my little one. Though there were 10 other ppl who were also at reception, i was told bascially everything was in my imagination & i would'nt receive any apology/refund.

If the slightest courtesy had been shown to me, one human being just helping out another in need, i would'nt have been worried. The absolute lies the staff felt the need to bandy about just took my breath away . My duty of care was to my kids, surly as a paying customer, the hotels duty of care should have been with me?

I am still awaiting a call from the senior case-manager at the holiday inn chain, but up till know, they are all banding together. Nothing i have said has made a difference, its really stressing me out & i would really apprecaite any help/advice. Thanks in advance

Willsnarf1983

maybe just maybe it is you? if the staff are all saying the same? maybe your expectations far outstretched what they should have been?

Will

rachaelc_2

Have you written to the hotel itself? If you go on https://www.ichotelgroup.com, and search for your hotel, there hould be a contact name (usually the hotel manager) send them a letter personally and send it recorded delivery. Include in it that you have been waiting x amount of time and you are not happy. Try that - you may have a result.

kuohu

Strange one this. Certainly sounds like terrible service, compounded by the fact that they are denying any wrong doing. Could it be that the staff are lying to their managers in order to avoid getting themselves in trouble? How old were the staff who you saw on the day - youngsters or did you see anyone senior?

On the lesser issue of check-in time, well if check-in is 2pm then it's 2pm. And personally I wouldn't complain too much about not getting a call from them within the four minutes after 2pm. (And similarly I'm not too sure about your comment about not being able to bear to stay the night because of being distressed by the attitude of the staff. Where did you stay then?!). But I guess if you hadn't been treated badly in the first place then perhaps you might not even have noticed the side issues.

Good luck with the complaint; it would at least be a relief to be told that there was a mistake (or perhaps a problem member of staff) and that it has been dealt with for the good of future customers. I wouldn't get too stressed about it now though, it's over and done with after all.

dmg24

Sorry to hear about your problems, sometimes it just seems that people are unwilling to bend the rules just to help others out. I can't believe that not one room was available in the hotel for you to use.

Very little consolation I know, but it doesn't just happen in budget hotels. I once stayed in a 4* hotel in Manchester. On the way I had been sick, very sick, and to make it worse (sorry to be graphic!) the sick was dark red (too many Cosmopolitans the night before!) so it looked like I actually had blood all down my white top! I arrived half an hour before check in time, explained the situation, and they were completely unwilling to let me check in early. So I sat in front of the reception desk for the next half hour with sick all down me ... did the hotel's reputation a lot of good!

How old were the staff who you saw on the day - youngsters or did you see anyone senior?

Does it really matter how old the staff were?!! I can't see why a fifty year old would be any more helpful than a twenty year old! Equally what is there to say that the most junior person in the hotel wasn't fifty, and the reception manager twenty five?!! I know what you mean about seniority, but that doesn't necessarily correspond to age.

kuohu

dmg24 wrote:

Does it really matter how old the staff were?!! I can't see why a fifty year old would be any more helpful than a twenty year old! Equally what is there to say that the most junior person in the hotel wasn't fifty, and the reception manager twenty five?!! I know what you mean about seniority, but that doesn't necessarily correspond to age.

To clarify, by youngsters I actually meant people under 16. Not necessarily a seniority issue but one of inexperience, lack of training, and a possible further reason for them to lie/cover-up the issue when questioned by management. That was my train of thought anyway, and of course you are absolutely right about 20 or 25 year olds. Plus, again to clarify further, the age/inexperience does not make the treatment any less wrong.

jamescredmond

definitely a cause for complaint. I've stayed in d/market ibis's and received better treatment. To match the staff denial, ask other people from the party who were present to confirm your story.
better I not talk about compensation. It'll only send dmg24 into one!

mrcow

There's no need for them to stretch this out is there?

Even putting the minor complaints aside, the OP has felt upset enough about their stay that they've felt the need to complain and escalate the complaint for the past three weeks.

Holiday Inn is a large enough company to have dealt with this complaint simply and quickly by:

a. refunding the night's stay
b. apologising (!) which I gather would go a long way to resolving this situation
c. offering some sort of token of that apology (even a simple bunch of flowers would have gone some way to resolving this?)

I don't get this with large companies. The OPs complaint sounds valid enough in that they were upset. Holiday Inn is nothing without good customer satisfaction. If I were the customer services manager, I'd want to know why the heck this wasn't sorted out three weeks ago!

They should then take the issue up wth the hotel in question separately (away from the customer!) and deal with it as they then see fit.

I'm not surprised you're frustrated!

shays_mum

Thanks all for your replies!, i wish i had stayed at the ibis now .

Will, i am offended by your remark, you obviously don't have kids that much is sure, because as a parent you would have been livid that she had to sit there in her sick while the staff were comparing cigarette brands & yes they were young!

In the end we drove back to London, i could'nt bare to go back there as i might have torn someones head off

It was the hotel who initally emailed me to say i was imagining it......customer services are not as unbiased as i would have liked. They basically said what ever the hotel says they have to abide by!!

My point is, what happened to the customer is usually right?. I have to call the next stage customer services today will see how it goes......

Again thanks ppl

shays_mum

update...apparantly though i have numerous independant witnesses to this, no refund/apology. I was basically told 'The staff have no reason to lie' the understatement of the year!!!. I suppose its no point in getting my blood pressure up, but these big chains really make me angry

hollydays

you could also put a review of the hotel on tripadviser.