2 days ago
I checked in the hotel at late night to see there was only one lady receptionist, Ms Youn, at the counter attending to an Indian couple. We stood behind them in queue. The couple registration took so long that I decided to move forward to see a stack of pamphlets on the dining arrangements in the hotel for Ramadhan. At this juncture, Ms Youn sharply told me to have a sit without politely saying “Excuse me, please have a sit first.” I then acknowledged her instruction and said okay. I then took a piece of the pamphlet and brought it to my wife who was already seated at the vacant guest relations counter. I told my wife that the *suhoor* arrangement is in-room dining which was fine she responded. Finally the couple registration was done and it was my turn then. I provided Ms Youn with our IDs and told her that I had booked through Agoda platform. She asked me by what name that I registered and asked me if I booked the hotel personally. This was asked repeatedly and at this juncture I was starting to feel agitated. She then started the registration and assigned a room, 523. I enquired if there was a higher floor which she initially responded sharply with a “No” answer. When I responded no higher floor then she replied that with a “No” and later said yes but with twin beds but not King sized bed. She then handed over the key cards and said it was done. I then asked her about the breakfast arrangement as I did opted for room with breakfast. I specifically told her requesting to know about the suhoor timing. She then said she would check if my room came with breakfast. After checking the system, she told us that the suhoor timing was from 2 am to 4 am at the restaurant, pointing towards the direction of the restaurant opposite the reception. This contradicted what was stipulated in the pamphlet and I raised that to Ms Youn. Sternly she responded that pamphlet information was wrong. She said suhoor will be served at the restaurant and not in-room dining as stated in the pamphlet. I then told why avail wrong information on the pamphlet. Speechless, she just looked at me. I woke up at 3 am and got ready to go to the restaurant at the lobby for my suhoor. To my surprise, the restaurant was dark and it gave me the impression like the suhoor time was already over. I went to the reception counter to enquire, this time a male staff. He told me to wait and called the restaurant instead of informing me that the suhoor will be in-room dining. Finally the Restaurant Manager, Mr Ahmed, appeared at the restaurant and told us that the suhoor will be sent to my room. I told him that the receptionist, Ms Youn, told us that suhoor would be served at the restaurant. Mr Ahmed corrected and pointed to the pamphlet. However, he was not only nice but very professional and told us that since we were already down, he would serve us in the restaurant. That was the least he could do to rectify the matter noticing I was very angry. Mr Ahmed was calm and invited me and my wife to sit in the restaurant and switched on the lights. Though Mr Ahmed managed us nicely, however my experience at the hotel had already been damaged by Ms Youn incompetency and attitude. I wonder why did the hotel deployed an incompetent staff alone at the front desk. If she is an intern, therefore she should not be deployed alone without supervision or mentor.