Dear Best Western Customer Care Team @BestWesternGB, Thank you very much for your response to my tweet last Sunday to @jamesjwalsh I am writing as I was wholly disappointed with my experience of Best Western - The Brighton, staying both Friday and Saturday nights with you last weekend in room 416. My initial issue on arrival was car parking. I was unable to park in the car park (a small forecourt almost impossible to negotiate with vehicles larger in size than a childs toy coupé car) due to it being full, but taking this initial minor issue in my stride I parked on the sea front; paid the exorbitant fee, I know this isnt your fault, unless you, the recipient, both chose to live in Brighton and stupidly voted Green (then yes this is your fault and shame on you, what did you expect when their leader is named after confection!); and returned to the hotel some 10min walk away. On my return I booked my car in to said car park for Saturday, being told I would have a space from 9AM. This solution not ideal, was however adequate as I had parking paid for on the sea front until 0930AM, I would be able to just make the swap over, and be at the conference I was in your fair city for, before it started - Perfect. In the conversation I had with the Receptionist on my return, I asked about breakfast and was told it was served until 1030AM on the weekend, but my accommodation, booked as part of a group booking, didnt have this included in the room rate. I didnt question this further, thinking the Admin who made the booking at my end hadnt requested it. Cest la vie I thought, I would try the local fayre. I then got to my room... Room 416 is a treat... If you like bijou (tiny), acoustically challenging (noisy), and of course uniquely appointed (badly decorated/finished & furnished). The room, like the majority of the hotel, has seen better days; cracking of paint and plaster; bad finishing throughout; and the shabby-chic (aged) carpets, which I guess at least proved to be a talking point the next day. Settling into the room, as one does on arrival, I tested the bed and thought Id catch up with the latest headlines, well the Ruskies were at this point about to invade the Ukraine, this was after all an issue of global importance and significance, akin to the build up to what happened at the beginning of WWII, and that (fascist) leader had too held an Olympics before starting his atrocities, anyways I digress and feel sure you dont need to know about how WWII started, but if you would, I could pen you another email, perhaps we could be history pen pals #excited... Anyway where was I, ah yes the news - I wanted to watch the news... The 18/19in TV located at the far end of the room from where the bed, and my head was, was a let down, but remembering the comforting words of my partner the first night that we spent together, that size isnt everything I tried to apply this learning to my televisual experience, there was one small snag, I havent as yet managed to see around corners, a necessity when staying in room 416 as the wardrobe almost wholly obliterates the view of the aforementioned TV. Ah well cest la vie (I thought again), Id change and get ready for dinner, it was at this point I was surprised, but not as much as your residential neighbours, when I went into the bathroom, and realised the window was both large and not opaque. Somewhat flustered and blushing I scrambled for the roller-blind, it was as if time couldnt move any slower as it inched lower to cover my modesty. I finished my preparation and went out in search of food - as apparently it was ambitious to think The Brighton could serve anything more than a Panini after breakfast. Returning from dinner to the delight of room 416, I was struck by the warmth... Well Ive always been of the opinion its better to have a room too warm because you can always open a window, or so I thought, it was at this point I realised the window in the bedroom does not open, making the room a relative hot box of delight (sense the sarcasm). Hoisting the roller blind from earlier, and opening the bathroom window I returned to the living quarters to try and sleep. The bed (a single), sadly didnt have a duvet to match its opulent size. Im not quite sure how you located a smaller than single duvet, but you did, as a former rugby player, the duvet in this circumstance was akin to a flannel, thankfully the room was toasty warm, well until 2/3AM when the heating from the hotel went off and cooled down (aided by the open bathroom window admittedly) meaning I mercifully got 2.5hrs sleep before waking up with cold legs and a goose pimpled bottom, not a common occurrence - Id like to assure you. I am at this point however unsure whether it was the chill in the air or the cacophony of drumming and rattle from the ill fitted windows, blowing in the wind that did stir me - but I do know it was the latter that kept me up that night. I put on some jogging bottom to return to bed and rearranged my bijou blanket. This appeared to be a common occurrence, the smaller than single duvet, Im not sure whether a goose pimpled bottom was also a commonality amongst the group, we arent that close knit, and even if we were when does one raise it, over breakfast? But yes I understand I was booked into a single room, but didnt realise this meant duvet was rationed. Saturday Morning Im up and at-um at 8AM, with the thought a nice shower would warm me up, I headed for it. Waving somewhat nonchalantly to the neighbours in the adjacent building, after-all they had after all seen me in my birthday suit the evening before so I felt it almost rude not to. My gesticulated salutation to the onlookers over, I turned to the shower... Hitting the power on button, the near-deafening whir of the motor jumping into life was even more shrill than the alarm clocks you supply. I knew I was awake now. The shower itself was fine, I have after all never personally cared much for a hot shower, always best to play it safe with tepid (sense the sarcasm), plus whod want to stick around in a shower that sounded like a high powered drill boring into a blackboard. Personal grooming aside I was now ready for my day... Id move my car at 0855 to the forecourt... After all my booked space was now available. Heading off of the seafront parking I had secured the evening before, I found I actually enjoyed the 10 min walk along the seafront it was a glorious yet brisk day. Walk over I picked up my car and I drove to the the thing you call a car park. Arriving there, there was no evidently available space, and after parking across the entrance I went into the reception, to say my car was now ready to be parked. A very terse young white women was staffing reception, and she told me No. There was no space. I explained I had booked, even pointed out my name at the top of the list and she said there wasnt a parking space for me. I jovially reassured her no, no how could this be so - I had after all pre-booked and had been given reassurances from the overnight receptionist that my car could be booked in the morning again she said no and then went to some length to tell me to put in a formal complaint about the receptionist from the night before, as she didnt like him and was trying to get him fired. A real level of professionalism and colleague solidarity there I thought (sense the sarcasm for the third time in this letter).... And definitely the wrong approach to take with a customer, especially one who is an active trade unionist and there for a Union conference. This situation was saved in some part by another front of house staff a young man, who said I could park my car across the foyer entrance (a fire exit) and that they would move my car when a space became free. He himself however didnt have a licence, questioning who would then and who would be moving my car no one was immediately forthcoming, and as Im lucky enough to be afforded with a new 13 plate car currently, you may not be surprised to know that I was not best impressed by this proposition. So I waited and waited and it wasnt until 1030 that I was able to move and park my car, making me late to attend my conference, in fact so late that I couldnt join the initial workshops and had to wait until 2pm for the next session, imagine my fury that this issue had resulted in essentially a loss of 1/3 of my conference. Over the lunch break on Saturday, I managed to meet with the administrator who had booked my accommodation. I mentioned some of my gripes to her, but said I had found a nice cafe for breakfast. It was at this point she looked at me somewhat confused... ...did you not get up in time for the breakfast this morning at the hotel?. Ah again that rapid realisation that again your Front of House team had gotten something wrong, costing me £10 and my Union £10. Brilliant. The rest of Saturday went well, bar the post conference shower, and the cacophony of noise not only from the window rattle... But also the surrounding guest in my room... Thankfully I had almost managed to inebriate myself enough to be able to deal with it... It just required a pillow being wrapped tightly around my head, and the exhaustion from lack of sleep the night before.. Sunday. Breakfast. Skipping gleefully down to breakfast realising that I wouldnt have to spend another night in The Brighton and I would be soon off home to a decent sized duvet, and a level of environmental noise that doesnt require ear defenders, I thought Id line my stomach with a hearty breakfast. This is a sea side town after all, and you cant get much wrong with a fry up - or at least I thought. As I previously mentioned I am a former rugby player and I like a hearty meal, so imagine just how bad your cooked breakfast must have been for me to leave the majority of it. Sausages more rusk and gristly than meat, over cooked bacon, stewed coffee, and an apple juice that tasted off. Seeing my face screw up at the taste of this latter delicacy of The Brighton, and it being the first thing to be served to me at breakfast, an approach from a member of your waiting staff was made, asking if all was alright. I said no, this apple juice tastes weird, like its been watered down. She looked it and took the batch off to the kitchen, returning a little later saying that it had in fact been DILUTED properly and that it was a concentrate, and she didnt know why it tasted like it did and she thought it crap too - helpful. Pushing through I decided to order the coffee, not freshly made, but some that had been sitting in a thermos... yummy. Then the breakfast was served... I managed the scrambled eggs and the dry and hard bacon before giving up. As I said earlier Im a broader man Id genuinely eat most things, but this just wasnt edible. But this was bad produce, from your sausages to your ketchup - I just kept thinking to myself that this was overhead cutting that had gone too far. The male waiter who came to clear my plate asked me how my breakfast was. I asked him if he wanted me to be honest or nice, and he opted for honest. I listed the issues (loudly), and to his credit he offered me something else off of the menu to replace it - but at this point I just wasnt up for it. I was congratulated by other dinners for saying something, they werent saying anything as they were Groupon customers. This immediately tells me all I needed to know about The Brighton. I cleared the dining room and went to my room and packed away my stuff into the car, on check out I recounted my experience to the waiter now come check out staff, and he (Nick) apologised wholeheartedly and his customer care was actually the best I had from your team, he said he would of refunded me if I had made the booking, but if I do ever decide to return to The Brighton, I would be upgraded to the best available room available for free, all I had to do was name drop his (first) name. Sweet I thought, if neither practical nor realistic given the often quite heavy churn of staff in the hotel industry. Inching my car ever so slowly out of the car park negotiating the interlocking cars of other residents as I did, I was finally free of The Brighton. I really think you should look into the service standard at The Brighton, unless you are looking for Hotels with personality that include miserly and dysfunctional, there appears to be a need for some basic customer care training of your front of house team, as well as more practical refurbishment of your hotel rooms, and a look at your produce and procurement. I also dont think the promise of a free upgrade with a name drop is adequate compensation, and I think some form of financial recompense should be made here, we were after all paying full rate for 7 people in our group, when the rest of your residents were paying a bargain basement Groupon rate. I look forward to a swift reply and resolution. James-J Walsh ____________________ bestwestern.co.uk/hotels/brighton-hotel-brighton-83672/hotel-info/default.aspx
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 09:36:40 +0000
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