********* business practices.

<p>I didn't think that there was a Protea Hotel worse than the Balalaika until we stayed at the Landmark in Polokwane. We did an online booking where we retrieved a voucher for one night free and when we arrived the staff demanded more money despite the FREE night. After driving for four hours the last thing we needed was an ******** individual demanding payment for the FREE NIGHT. They served fruit that was off and as a result I became very ill. I discussed it with Tshego the chef on that day & at least she apologised and removed the rotten fruit before the other guests arrived or else it would have been a major PR disaster since the majority of the guests were a football team. The bath tub is very slippery & we almost fell because there is no non-slip mat for protection against a fall. Housekeeping took the whole day to clean our room & did not replenish the amenities properly. The safe & remote control were not working and the remote control was only replaced the following day. The staff in the dining hall didn't greet us & the cappuccino tasted horrible. They were hosting a football team & due to lack of proper planning the service in the dining hall was very slow as there was not enough staff to attend to the other guests who were severely compromised. It was a disaster at breakfast & they only separated us from the footballers the following day due to disatisfaction raised by other guests. There is no gym facility & the swimming pool is the size of a bath tub. The bottled water in the room tasted awful & they **** to us about serving an A la Carte menu. We were forced to have a buffet because they had catered that for the football team & they were not interested in the needs of the rest of the guests at the hotel who wanted an A La Carte menu which they had stated was available. Had they been honest about the menu we would have gladly gone somewhere else. The marketing manager Jienie Meiring contacted me on March 20 to find out if we would be interested in a corporate account and when I explained in detail our disatisfaction she then rep**** that: "Acccording to myselft there was no bad experience, I spoke to Karel from Patimo & according to him everyone was happy". It is totally disgusting that our concerns were not addressed at all and to use a mob pyschology conclusion that if EVERYONE is happy then the rest of the guests who were not happy must just suck it up. Clearly since ours was not a big account then our views do not matter. What kind of customer service is that? How ********* can you be after service food that causes illness, amongst other things, then conclude that all the points I mentioned in my complaint were a figment of my imagination? I have been a prokard member for many years and I have never experienced such. I am shocked at Jienie's lack of business sense and incosideration. What is the point of asking me about my experience if you are going to tell me that I'm imaging things since others said they were happy. I'm not interested in who claimed to be happy as they were not paying for my stay. I wasn't there on charity. This is unacceptable and I will NOT recommend this hotel at all. In terms of serving rotten food the health inspector should pay Landmark a visit and occupational health and saftey standards should be checked before someone gets injured in the slippery bath tub. This hotel is certainly not the usual standard of the Marriott Protea Hotel brand.</p>