Pablo Maristany de las Casas
17 października 2022 r.
A two day vacation resulting in two disastrous days
- 1. Slow reception at Check-In
- 2. Breakfast denial and misinformation
- 3. Broken WIFI and slow response (Warning business people)
- 4. Other (Positives, Cleanliness, Location and Transport, Conclusions)
On our six day roadtrip across Eastern Europe, we decided to stay at the NH Gate One Hotel in Bratislava for two days, a four star hotel from the international hotel chain NH. We had, by far, the two most stressful days on our trip.
1. Slow reception at Check-In
The main problems happened during our Check-In. We had to pay for a 6€ city tax we were unaware of, the Check-In took 35 minutes when it was only us and another couple checking in, and we were told that breakfast happened every day from 6-12AM. This after having to ask because we had paid for said breakfast in our reservation. This led to a very unfortunate issue during our last day at the hotel, explained below.
2. Denial of breakfast after staff misinformation
Our surprise came on our second and last day, a Monday, after we discovered that breakfast was only served until 10AM. We were trying to access the breakfast hall at 9:58AM. After explaining to Silvia, a very friendly receptionist at the front desk, the misinformation we had gotten from another male receptionist the first day, she allowed us to have breakfast despite resistance from the catering service. However, we were shocked by the unpleasant behavior that followed by the catering staff. They collected the buffet platters when we were trying to serve ourselves, as well as the cutlery to be able to both serve and eat. Hence, we were denied of basically most foods despite been allowed entrance after the misinformation issue. We deeply regret our money gone to waste after paying a costly stay with breakfast.
2: Broken WiFi and slow response
Another issue we faced was the lack of WIFI on the last day before our departure. Our WIFI connection did not work in our room for the whole day since morning and, despite raising the issue at noon through the app and phone service, we didn't get a response and solution proposal until night. As a consequence, I had to take two business calls with my own mobile data, which was very costly. It wasn't until night that we got offered another room to be able to use WiFi at all. Despite the room being bigger as some sort of reward for what had happened, this made us pack up and change rooms at 10PM in our last night at the hotel. Hence, at that time there was little use for the WIFI or the bigger room.
3: Other
Once again we highlight Silvia's attitude, professionalism and assistance during our trip. For the breakfast incident and hostile attitude towards us, we got a voucher for two free drinks at the bar, which we couldn't use and just wasn't enough, given that we were leaving the hotel in a matter of minutes. For the rest of staff, we regrettably highlight a very rocky communication, as well as insufficient and late solution approaches.
The facilities were generally clean, however, we found the room floor and the bottom of the bed to be particularly dusty.
While we might see that the breakfast issue may have been, to an extent, caused due to a language barrier (given the staff's lacking English skills), we are surprised that this is the case with an internationally renowned, four star hotel. Additionally, the main problem in this case was that we just did not get any information that breakfast times differed from one day to the next.
The location of the hotel is great for international business travelers, as it next to the airport. For tourism purposes, the location is not particularly appealing, however the city is reachable in max. 15 minutes by car and 35-40mins by public transport. Be wary: the hotel's taxi service charges double or more than UBER or BOLT (15€ vs. 6€ to Old Town).
We sadly do not recommend this stay for business nor tourist travelers given the issues above.
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