DISGUSTING!!!

Pathetic service! Below is the email I sent, on a Thursday, then I receive a call saying the GM will respond the next Tuesday, which never happened:

Good Morning,

I have checked out this morning, and for the first time I was ever so happy to leave! Myself and my fiance have been over there a few times, although this stay was very disappointing to say the least.

Upon arrival yesterday, we had already booked via the booking.com app, however, your front office clerk decided to argue that we had to pay more than the R2050 we had booked on via the app. After a manager came out, she confirmed that out booking was in fact on the system for an amount of R2050, so I am not sure what move the clerk was trying to pull.

After arriving in our room, we decided to order room service, we had not eaten the whole day due to work, our order was the misty hills snack platter to share. I only ordered this because Im pregnant and limited to certain fish, and I saw this specific platter had hake in it. When the platter arrived it was very different from the menu, there was no hake AT ALL, in fact there were chicken wings (which did not taste right) and what seemed like vegetable samoosas, items that were not mentioned on the menu. How does the kitchen think it is ok to just redo the platter without the guest’s permission and send it up. The lamb ribs that were on the platter upset both mine and my fiances stomachs. The waitress also forgot to bring the drinks and had to go back.

We then decided to go for a swim at the pool. 5 minutes AFTER I got in, your pool boy decides to start cleaning the pool with the net. There was nothing floating in the water to be netted, so why was he doing this? As a female this made me EXTREMELY uncomfortable!!!!!! Which manager instructed staff that it is ok in any world to clean a pool while a guest is in it????? This guy had upset my entire stay!

We then decided to get more cool drinks, but this time from the curio shop, as we were close by, just to learn that we were being charged double the price for the same drinks at the bar! I felt very **********.

This morning we thought breakfast would be the one thing that could possibly lighten up the horrible stay we had already, but to our dismay, not at all! To start off, the furniture constantly creaking in the coffee shop seems ancient, and is very distracting. When I arrived at the breakfast buffet I was mortified! Even so, I decided to take a range of items to my table in case I was wrong, but that seemed to be wishful thinking. The scones were rock hard and powdery, like they were frozen a weak ago and defrosted this morning. I asked the waitress when they were made, her response: “Im not sure”. The salmon was mushy, the cheese was rock hard, actually a little stale. The fruit was warm and old, the yoghurt was off with thick bits in them, like sour cream, (I took a photo of this for booking.com), and the beetroot juice had no sweet element to it, it tasted like salt water! I asked a slice of cheese from the kitchen for my croissant when I ordered my eggs, and only got told once my food arrived that the kitchen didn't have the cheese I wanted. By the time the slice of stale cheddar cheese came, my food was getting cold, so I was not impressed by the level of service I received either. One could say it was as bad as the food. I understand the place wasn’t busy at all, but that does NOT, in ANY establishment, mean the level of service and the food quality drops!!!

As a hotelier I know what’s acceptable and what shouldn’t even be allowed. I see all the fancy adverti*****ts and all the fancier pricing, but I dont feel I got my moneys worth, actually I feel ******, and extremely disappointed!

Regards, Yasmin

I then get the following defensive behavior and excuses from the front office manager who earlier on a call claimed to be guest relations manager:

Dear Yasmin

I would like to take the opportunity in thanking you for your valuable time in writing an email to us about your stay at Misty Hills Country Hotel & Spa.

Thank you for bringing to our attention the various issues you experienced at our Restaurant. Its is very unfortunate that you were unhappy with the service and with our breakfast spread even though there were numerous compliments from guests who had breakfast the same morning. I would like to convey my sincerest apologies for the disappointing experience. Please be assured that your comments have received the strictest attention of our Chef and the Food and Beverage Manager.

You mentioned on your email that you have been at Misty Hills a few time and I am sure that you must be aware of our cashless policy on the property. On your email and during our telephone conversation you mentioned that you have been paying by cash and you were not happy with how the staff handled the processed when you were paying. The cashless policy is more to protect our in-house guests and before collecting any cash form the guests, our staff must first get approval from Management.

We take note of the shortcomings and continuously strive for higher standards as we endeavour to exceed our guest's expectations. Please feel free to contact me when you next return to Misty Hills and I will gladly make arrangements for your reservations and ensure that all your expectations are seamlessly met.

With Kind Regards,

LAWRENCE MONA Front Office Manager | Recreation Africa Leisure Industries | E Mail *** | Tel *** Muldersdrift Estate, 69 Drift Boulevard (R114), Muldersdrift, 1747 | www.recreationafrica.co.za

Following is my response, to which I still have not, after 2 days received a response or heard from any GM:

Hi Lawrence,

I dont see all the issues addressed in your response, however I will clarify the 2 issues which you chose to respond to. These are the same points you phoned to discuss that upset my fiance, because he mentioned after the call that what he heard was a whole lot of excuses but no issues were addressed. When I called you back you only spoke about the environment being cashless, which was not at all the issue. However, you did mention that the staff do try help guests regarding the cashless rule if need be. (I thought you said over the phone that you were the Guest Relations manager?) In any case, I was told I would be hearing from your general manager, and I find the below response vague and extremely defensive.

The check in issue was not the fact that we paid cash, but the fact that your staff member argued about our RATE which we booked via booking.com. I was also unaware that it is a cashless environment as all other stays were full account prepaid.

Regarding the breakfast, please see attached photos (Brown warm fruit, clumpy yoghurt, mushy salmon, hard powdery scone, stale cheese). I also only saw one other guest in the restaurant, I would love to see that compliment, and I don’t believe you are actually suggesting that anything on that buffet was okay to be served to any guest. Hearing from the staff that they would not eat from there was shocking enough, and after complaining and hearing “please send an email”, I have to believe that perhaps the staff are desperate for somebody to wake up in the f&b department!

There are a few points I have chosen to leave out, like the fact that no guest can play a decent game of chess, due to mismatch and broken chess pieces, because I think the main issues Misty Hills has to deal with are ones I previously experienced. However, I don’t feel that you should be one to respond to guest complaints, because it sounds to me as if you make excuses for your team, and this can ultimately destroy a department, and negatively effect return guests.

Regards, Yasmin