Unacceptable from a 4 star hotel

<p>My hsband and I stayed at the Fire and Ice Melrose Arch from the 30th of June to the 1st of July.</p> <p>I live in Alberton - about 50km away from Melrose Arch. The only reason we stayed at the hotel was because I had to work until 2am that night (I work less than 100m from the hotel in one of the offices). Because I knew I would be tired, I decided to make it into an evening at the hotel with my husband instead of driving back in the early hours of the morning.</p> <p>We checked in at the hotel and had no issue. It was not the first time we stayed there and we knew what we would be getting. The room 312 was standard but nice.</p> <p>Shortly after checking in, we went downstairs to have a meal. Because we are smokers, we decided to sit outside. We ordered drinks and asked for menus at the same time. <br />It was barely 6pm, so the whole place was quite empty. It took over 20 min to get drinks, so we thought it would take too long to get food and decided to go somewhere else. We asked for the bill and had to wait another 20 min to get it.</p> <p>We came back to the hotel just before 8pm and I decided to take a shower before going to work. <br />First thing - there was mould is the shower. The walls are not cleaned and the mould is growing in the corner or the shower.<br />Second thing, the water pressure is less than desirable. The water does not come out from off the shower head holes. <br />But that’s ok… I will do with what I have.</p> <p>When I got out of the shower, I wanted to dry my hair and this is when I really got upset.</p> <p>The hair dryer in my room did not blow any hot hair. It could be turned on but it was only cold air. So I called straight away to get a new hair dryer. I had just under an hour to get ready. Within a couple of minutes, someone knocked on the door. (I was indeed surprised at the speed…) But here was a maintenance guy with his tool box. When I asked for the hair dryer, he said he didn’t have one and he was here to fix the one is the room! I told him that I was not dressed - I only had a towel around me since I just came out of the shower!! He said he had to look at the hair dryer if I wanted to dry my hair. I told him that my husband was sleeping already and he repeated that he had to look at the hair dryer. So I reluctantly let him in. <br />So here he was in the room, next to my sleeping husband and me in my towel… Then, he started to look at the wall panel through which the hair dryer is plugged. I asked him what he was doing and he rep**** that he had to check if the hair dryer was plugged in properly. I explained to him that the hair dryer was working fine - it was plugged in but there was no hot air coming out. So he put on the hair dryer and checked… Then he told me that he would have to get another hair dryer, then come back to the room and change it. I told him that I had to be at work in 45 minutes but he rep**** that because it was late, he didn’t know how long it would take to get a new hair dryer and change mine. <br />So, he called the front desk to find out what he should do. By then I was getting not only angry but also worried that I would be late for my 9pm phone call. <br />The maintenance guy was told that they didn’t have any other hair dryers so I would have to change room. My husband was already sleeping, our luggage was already unpacked, I was still not dressed and I had to be at the office in 45 minutes. There was no way I would change room so late! I just wanted a spare hair dryer to get ready. <br />I was then told: Please go to room 320 (I think that was the number) to go dry your hair!!!!!! <br />So, I had to get dressed quickly and walk to another room to go dry my hair.</p> <p>This is unacceptable. <br />I do understand that sometimes electrics will stop working but not to have a plan in place if this happen is unacceptable.</p> <p>When I go dressed and hair dried, I walked to the reception and spoke to one of the front desk lady. I explained that I was not happy at all. she then called the manager on shift. They again asked me if they could change my room but I explained once again that my husband was sleeping already. They assured me that when I would be back, there would be a hair dryer waiting for me to use the following morning.</p> <p>When I came back to the hotel at around 1:30am, I stopped at the front desk to ask for my hair dryer and they initially had no idea what I was talking about. I explained what happened and they said that unfortunately, they did not have any and someone would come later during the day to fix the one in the room. The lady at reception even asked “but are you going to wash your hair again in the morning??”.</p> <p>Eventually I gave up and just went back to the room frustrated.</p> <p>There was a letter under the door with a breakfast voucher for 2. This is a nice gesture but was this supposed to make up for the situation??</p> <p>What most of the staff tend to forget while I spoke to them was that there is another hotel less than 100m away - The African Pride hotel. I do feel that even staying in a B&B around the corner would have been a more pleasant stay than the one I had. <br />We paid over R2500 for the one night and got breakfast for free - so that’s the same as saying “Here is a 15% discount on your stay for the inconvenience”.</p> <p>I am really not happy with what happened. I just cannot understand how a 4 star hotel cannot have other amenities such as a hair dryer at hand in those cases. I am gobsmacked that anyone think it is ok to send a maintenance person in the room while the guest are sleeping / only wearing a towel. I am frustrated that the front desk staff kept on passing the bucket to each other.</p> <p>I was really hoping to make the best of a late night working - staying in a nice hotel and enjoying my time there. I left more frustrated than ever.</p> <p>I hope that someone will take the time to respond and address the situation.</p>