I don't think expecting to be able to get on the internet is asking too much in a hotel nowadays. In fact, when I booked two nights at the Best Western Anglo Swiss Hotel in Bournemouth I specifically asked about it. I was told all rooms had WiFi and what's more, there would be no charge. Excellent, I thought, exactly as it should be.
Except that it isn't. They can't connect me. They can't even really be bothered to try. So I've said that I will be checking out after one night instead of two and I'll drive home tomorrow night instead of on Monday. Then they tried to be difficult about a refund until I gently pointed out that it was they who had failed to deliver the promised facilities. Even then they tried to say I'd have to ask Best Western for a refund as they couldn't pay it directly from the hotel.
At that point I started to see red. To cut a long story short I will be getting my refund.
This sort of experience happens far too often in British hotels. Too often the phrase 'customer service' means little. I recognise that from time to time things go wrong. That's life. But when the customer is made to feel as if it is he who is being unreasonable in asking for what he was promised then something somewhere isn't right.
50 comments:
British Hotels are one of the most compelling arguments against free markets I've ever seen. Until I think of what British Government Hotels would be like.
Same thing happened to me in Blackpool last year. Another reason to only hold conferences in London...
Best Western is essentially a marketing group and centralised booking facility for independent hotels, many of which are decidedly iffy.
I stayed in one in Sheffield this week and it reminded me why I tend to avoid Best Western hotels.
Time to buy yourself a mini notebook and a broadband dongle.
In my experience, too many British hotels - including multinational chains - are still run with all the courtesy and finesse of a 1950s boarding-house landlady. It really is unacceptable and some sort of cultural issue in the hospitality industry that simply does not exist in most other countries.
I hope you didn't one of those "Do you know who I am" moments iain?
Is the early departure perhaps a comment on the LibDem conference? As in, it's irrelevant?
Was in US recently on touring holiday, stayed in 5 Best Westerns, all had standard BW stuff for US (WiFi, breakfast included, pool, etc). Pretty basic and cheap- as expected, nothing wrong with the chain.
In Britain I have stayed in everything from B&Bs to 5* hotels and generally service is poor, as are facilities- indeed the best service has been in some B&Bs, not the 5* hotels.
Sorry....but I'm still laughing....cherish these memories because they might one day change things (God forbid!)and it'll all work. Oh how dull that will be...
Travelling as much as I do I have found there are 2 sorts of UK hotel:
a) It does not work (as you have found to your cost)
b) They rip you off. I have access through my Employer to IPASS and a BT openzone account and I found that recently Hotels have installed almost private systems from second tier suppliers that do not take IPass or BT Openzone..
Basil Fawlty has the right idea, but my employer thinks otherwise thus I have athe dreaded Crackberry, until I can find a user friendly wifi zone.
I'm a fussy b*stard when having to resort to booking hotel rooms/holiday cottages. I'm not joking- i check EVERYTHING. Ages ago i checked the towels on offer in a hotel room- specks of god knows what on one of 'em. I just went down to the reception, with said towel, and asked whether specks on towels were an extra. They were changed straight away. Booked a holiday cottage ( Stanford in the Vale btw)- got the keys, and me f'n jaw dropped when i had a close look at cottage. Dried piss on the toilet, and somebody else's body hair in the bed!!! To say i was not happy was an understatement. I got the cottage cleaned by the wifey with the keys and a third of me money back. Sh*te service/standards is endemic in the UK.
Its institutionalised `Hotel employee` incompetence Iain.
Just not up to your standard.
The person at the desk (coal face) is obviously the problem.
You're probably expecting too much from Best Western. Stayed with Best Western for a week whilst on business in Boulder, Colorado. Not a very good move. It was very so-so. But the town and the people made up for the disappointment somewhat.
I can't think of many (any) chains which really live up to their promise. The Hilton in Phoenix, Arizona, being truly awful.
Wherever possible I try to book small hotels or B&Bs just a few miles out of town. Some are so quirky as to be entertaining. The Copper Queen in Bisbee, Arizona, down by the Mexican border is a truly fine example of rickety American frontier town kitsch. But they tend to work harder for their money, are often quite human, and are usually quieter.
Did you have to pay in advance? I usually settle up on the last day when I go to a conference.
I was injured and am on a tight budget. Someone suggested Aldi and my two small children helped me shop but as one is only 8 and the other wasn't yet 6 yrs old we were slow in getting round, made slower by asking a question about some goods. In fact we were some minutes over the alloted time you are allowed in the Aldi car park. Not that I was aware there was a time limit but Aldi have fined me £70.
They are intending to send the baliffs in.
I don't have £70 to pay them. I just don't have it.
Their website says this of their 'Team'.
"The cheerful backbone of the staff have gelled into a stable squad whose dedication and enthusiasm for customer service is second to none in the area. We are proud of the management team who strive to ensure that all our customers are comfortable in every respect and enjoy their visit to the hotel whether on business or pleasure."
Maybe the 'cheerful' team reckoned you were neither on a business nor a pleasure trip so their high standards do not apply to you?
But then again perhaps there is no penalty for failure so they simply do give a toss?
When in Britain, I often use B&Bs when staying in the UK (usually Oxford and around) and sofar that experience has generally been flawless with regard to offered internet facilities - contrary to most hotels, which either don't provide promised facilities or charge substantial (and unverifiable) fees for them.
I'm sorry to say that I've never had this problem in Holland, Germany or Switzerland, and only rarely in Italy and France.
basil fawlty said @ 7:01 PM
"Time to buy yourself a mini notebook and a broadband dongle."
Yes well - I did that for exactly the reason you state.
Unfortunately, you will find that outside London/Birmingham/Leeds and other major cities the mobile broadband companies tend to be a bit sparse with their coverage for anything but occassional leisure use. It just cannot be relied upon so I just returned mine to whence it came for a full refund. In fact, WiFi is a better service outside the main cities.
I lived in North America for 25 years where hotels and motels offer twice the lvele of amenities and service for generally half the price. It has always staggered me that British hotels have been so expensive and offer such indifferent service. Somehow they manage to stay in business.
Service has generally improved over the last decade, but as your post suggests, not enough.
Well done for posting this story.
I lived in North America for 25 years where hotels and motels offer twice the lvele of amenities and service for generally half the price. It has always staggered me that British hotels have been so expensive and offer such indifferent service. Somehow they manage to stay in business.
Service has generally improved over the last decade, but as your post suggests, not enough.
Well done for posting this story.
Best Western are franchises, aren't they.
Each one is run by an entrepreneur who doesn't necessarily buy into the whole deal.
Might be worth approaching their corporate PR with your problem. They could be tempted to bung you a week or two anywhere of your own choosing. A result, possibly.
Best Western Bad,
Dongle Good
Hotel WiFi is not to be trusted.
Its very difficult to recruit fluent thinkers at low wages.
Always always check the hotel on tripadvisor
I used to go to Bournemouth University as an external examiner, and the University always booked a room for me in one of the good hotels and let me know about the confirmation reference etc..
Each time I arrived at the hotel concerned, I used to be told that no room was reserved, and I was made to wait for an hour or two. Once it became so bad that I contacted the VCs office and the VC kindly let me stay in one of the spare rooms (as it was getting late in the evening) in his house after he failed to convince the hotel that my room reservation was indeed confirmed a few days earlier.
The hotels do very much better in the continent and even in Brussels I never had any difficulties about my room reservation.
Well done, Iain, on naming the actual hotel. Too many people make complaints (about other things as well as hotels) without namimg them, which means they have no incentive to improve.
...and British hotels are bloody expensive, well actually wildly overpriced, when compared with continental hotels.
Well Iain at least they gave you a room!! Unlike the Britannia in Bolton last May. Booked 2 weeks ahead, arrived and they had given my room away. Aranged for another hotel in Manchester, but wanted tp charge an extra 25 quid for parking. Spent the night on my brother's floor.
British customer service is a joke ... Heathrow, banks, hotels, trains, etc, etc. Makes me proud I became an American!!
Have a nice day! :)
If you appraised every hotel in the world on a consistent basis, then on a 5-star scale, I don't think any UK hotel would score more than 2. All the 5-stars would be in the Far East.
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I don't know why free wi-fi isn't standard in hotels. Two hotel groups that are very good in this respect are Jury's and City Inn, which both not only provide free wi-fi but free plug in broadband in their rooms.
Dear Iain,
Why are you so surprised? Have you just noticed that in this God-forsaken country the customer is always wrong? This is the land of the rip-off. Best Western would not dare pull that stunt in America because they know what would happen. Here, the sheep-like Brits, having been serfs and slaves for a thousand years, cannot get out of the habit of being grateful for what they get.
Did I mention that I'm emigrating? Sorry but I won't be able to vote for you sometime in the future. Do you know what the multi-national companies call this dump of a country?
Treasure Island.
They should know.
Best Western are a shower. Don't touch them with a bargepole.
Fergus
Anon 8.01 is quite right but for most of the time my field management spend their time in large towns and cities.
They also have Crackberries and can use them as modems when they're out of range of Broadband.
There's no foolproof method for staying online when you're away from home or the office.
But anything has to be better than the £7.50 per hour FFS! that one hotel "offered" me this week for WiFi access.
P.S. If you smoke, don't drop your cigarette ends on the pavement in Birmingham. Two of my staff did outside the Burlington Hotel this week and were fined £50 each. Probably something to do with climate change.
They are following on from when they all charged exorbitant charges for use of the telephone so everyone used mobile phones.
The same will happen with WiFi, most people will just get a mobile broadband dongle. I did but still can't get it to work with my laptop :=(
It is so much better in continental hotels. No problems any time. Once I checked into my Frankfurt Hotel past midnight when the plane arrived late. The desk staff was polite and quickly finished he formalities.
When I go to brussels on Business which is at least twice a year, i stay in a hotel called Hotel des Colonies, near place Rogier. During WW II, it was once Field Marshal Montgomery's headquaterters in Belgium, and we can still see one the typewriters used by his staff. He kicked the Nazis out of this hotel and commandeered it for himself and his staff! The hotel is modestly priced, has very good large rooms and provides good breakfast.
German hotels, those in Berlin have good plumbing, resonably priced, and are efficient in their reservation and providing Internet connection facility.
Get a vodafone datacard. And leave behind shabby treatment of wifi providers for ever. Into the same bin as ripoff hotel internet "services".
Also dump Best Western from your itinerary - they are a notoriously c*** chain in the UK.
As a seasoned hotel user I tend to find Novotel are the best these days - good standard facilities at not too bad prices.
I booked a hotel in Crewe when I was up there for the by-election. I was told by a journalist that the WiFi was rubbish; and so it was. How many people are there sick and tired of this type of service not working?
Oh Iain, you don't learn. Why do you stay in shitty chain hotels? You are relatively well off and drive a thirty grand plus car, and yet you make the same mistake over and over..remember the mattress in Blackpool?
I last stayed at something that described itself as a "B&B" in Switzerland. Oh no it wasn't. It was a luxury whole-floor apartment plus terrace, in a trad chalet with an unrestricted alpine view, with wi fi, of course. The owner picked us up from the station and returned us at the end of our stay. The fridge was stocked with beer, coffee, cheese, butter, milk etc.- all free. There was a kitchenette, sky telly, cd, and the place was spotless. Every morning, fresh bread was delivered to the lobby.
Seven nights cost the two of us CHF 650.(about £325)
It comes down to this: You have to do your research. Someone mentioned Trip Advisor, a very smart move.
Email in advance with silly, petty requests and see how they respond. Act stupid, and see if they treat you as stupid -or with respect. I make multiple enquiries on every trip I make. If proprietors do not respond within 24 hours they are not even in the running.
It took me three minutes to find this:
a gay friendly (actually gay only, but that's another topic) place in Sheffield for you..Brockett House.(http://www.brocketthouse.com) A trip advisor forum poster wrote..
"I think its quite possibly the nicest guest house I've ever stayed at in my life!
Beautifully decorated, themed, amazing service, so tranquil."
I don't know if it does wi fi, but I bet they would tell you the truth and welcome you.
Iain
Quite right. When in the USA last year I got used to the fact than even the most humble $40 a night motel would have free WiFi. Here you're lucky if they only want to charge you a fiver for an hour. How on earth can they justify that cost? The cost to them of providing WiFi is absolute peanuts.
I was staying in a hotel with a quite spectacular view and wanted to open the window for some fresh sea air. I was told that all the windows had to be kept locked because of Health and Safety regulations (and they were not the sort you could just fall out of). After a long and tedious argument I finally got my own way, but it wasn't the best start to my stay after a 200-mile drive.
What baffles me is why hotel staff make things so difficult for themselves? In most cases their lives would actually be easier if they just did things properly in the first place: less hassle from annoyed customers, more job satisfaction and more business.
People who drop cigarette butts on the pavement - no doubt within feet of a fag bin - deserve everything they get - and more.
Why do all smokers chuck their butts as an instinctive reaction.
This thread is about couldn't-give-a-damn attitudes in the UK. Has the penny dropped?
So glad you raised a stink - I always feel like the 'ugly American' because I do complain about a bad meal or service although I also praise when praise is due.
I just came back from my annual holiday in American and for most part the service is still great with the exception of one of the rudest servers ever at a chain restaurant in Florida - maybe it is a 'chain' thing. I also had a less than happy experience at Diane Von Furstenberg where the first saleswoman (actually girl) was incredibly offhand and was more interested in serving some social skeleton whose husband was buying her a dress. I guess as a UK size 16 (American size 12) she considered me not the right shape for DVF's creations. After this I was about to walk out when another took over and she was incredibly nice and helpful. Unfortunately, my friend who lives in NYC tells me that with the gentrification of places like the far West Village (where DVF is now used to be the site of 'the trucks' where transvestite hookers used to serve family guys on the way back to New Jersey)that kind of additude is increasingly prevalent. Hopefully the credit crunch will knock their asses back to reality.
Best Western is just a badge. I only found that out with a bad experience. No hot water and being thrown out of the bar due to a wedding. Vapid excuse from the manager who looked about 18. Got free night but still have bad taste. Previously had been BWtolerable in other places. Not been back since - recommended action.
Nice pool though!
In this country it is not just the hotels that give poor service.
I would name and shame (except they are un-shamable)
Curries
Commet
PC world
Virgin Rail
B & Q
BT
British Gas
In no particular order since it would be too hard to pick out the one that has annoyed me the most.
On the positive side I have always had good service at Woolworths.
If any of the political partys promised to enforce a very basic minimum level of customer service they might get a few extra votes.
basil fawlty said @ 10.07 - if you thought wifi access at £7.50 per hour was dear then avoid the premier inn in leeds city centre where the charge is 20p /minute or £12 per hour and you don't even get a complimentary tube of tooth paste or mini bar of soap in the room.
'the only thing cheap is the price'
on the plus side the rooms were ok (nothing special but clean) and the staff were all pleasant
Best Western - only a marketing group for a very mixed bag of hotels, some very dodgy indeed -
When on my trips to the US I always stay at Marriott Courtyard - never had a bad one yet - in fact that's not fair - every one has been perfect - West Western - NO WAY
Good customer service is difficult to maintain in a socialist system with all the employment regulations etc.
The hotels in the far east have a large and willing labour force, and if someone doesn't pull their weight they're out.
In the UK you just can't lure workers away from their benefits and plasma TVs. They can't even look after their own homes, anything needs fixing and they're straight on the phone to the council.
Last week, I was staying in the Hyatt in Long Beach, California, for an international air transport conference. WiFi connectivity was availble, at a cost per 24 hours. And to buy that, you needed a US billing address. Bear in mind this hotel is attached to what is meant to be an international conference centre. British hotels might not be the best, but others in the world have reason to complain as well
So true.
I think that the whole situation in regard to internet access in the UK is awful. I travel for a living and in many places around the world wifi is both free and fast throughout cities. All too often in the UK you have to buy expensive coffee and spend £5 in a cafe to get online.
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