FREE! A EXTRA NIGHT IN HOTEL HELL - CUSTOMER SERVICE FAIL

We have documented our appalling experience at what we have dubbed Hotel Hell. The bed bug ridden, filthy, Wellington hotel Silver Oaks on Thorndon.

Well we lodged a complaint with the Hotel at the time and all we got were shrugs from the staff who reckoned that they could do nothing. So we went to Wotif as we booked it through their website.

Anyway we are getting compo of sorts - a free night back on the same floor of the same Hotel Hell.. !!!!!! Yess siree ! For some reason Wotif thinks that a free night in the same shithole is going to make me feel better!

We will not be taking up that offer.

And as for Wotif we wont use them again - we will use Trademes Travel bug or Ezibed.

Here is the correspondence.

To Wotif

RE BOOKINGS #193273## & #193273## As described on Wotif Silver Oaks Hotel on Thorndon Business Rooms contain a queen bed & a single bed. All rooms come with Freeview TV, fridge and mini bar.

HI, I would like to make a complaint about this hotel. It falls a long way short of expectations and is not accurately described in the brochure

List of Failings

No milk
No Mini Bar
No TV remotes
No cups
Continuously pouring hot water in the shower -bath that had rotted the boards around the bath and consequently the bathroom smelled bad. ( I did complain to the manager and the did give us another room - that did not have milk or a minibar. )
On request I was given milk. The young man on reception was fantastic - When I asked him why there was no TV remote - he said that " there had been lots of theft and head office was not giving them any money to fund some"
He did go out of his way to find one for my elderly parents.
The place is best described as "grubby"
I would not have booked this hotel at all if I had known how bad it was - it falls short on many levels and I would like to know what I do as I think that it it is not accurately described in the Wotif Advert ( no milk, no minibar ) and its grubby.

On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 4:46 PM, Admin <admin@wotif.com> wrote:

Hi

Thank you for your patience.

We have contacted the SilverOaks Hotel on Thorndon with regards to the feedback you have provided our office. The property has sent the below response.

We are greatly disappointed to receive this feedback.

We are pleased to head that our Receptionist was helpful and friendly, the Receptionist is a full time Receptionist and is not actually a student.

We appreciate that the guest did enjoy their breakfast, and I am sure you appreciate the fact the tea bag broke was beyond the control of the Hotel.

I am surprised to hear that you could not find the coffee cups in the room, I do assure you that there are coffee mugs on the shelves above the fridge.

I am most concerned that your father had a fall in the shower, that is certainly of great concern to us, and we are relieved to hear that it was only minor.

You are certainly correct the shower is above the bath, and the shower is fitted with hand rails to hold on to, in addition the base of the bath has a non slip base, so it should not in effect require an additional rubber bath mat, but we do appreciate your comments and will invest in rubber mats as an extra precaution as we certainly do not want our valued guests having a fall in the shower.

I understand you made the assumption the TV was a 15in, I assure you all TV’S in the Hotel are 24 inch, we do not have any 15 in tv’s

We do offer uht milk, and this is normally found in the fridge, I do apologise if the room attendant did not replenish the uht milk.

For some reason in Hotels the remote controls do seem to walk on a regular basis, we do replace all missing remote controls every month, it is amazing how often we do need to do this.

We now have our mini bars on the 3^rd and 4^th floor, in the guest compendiums we advise guests that if they would like a mini bar to the room they just need to ring 0 and it will be delivered to the room

The guest is correct the sheets are cream, we do not have any brown sheets. The sheets were purchased as a cream colour and they do remain a cream colour.

We do believe the rooms are very clean, and we do agree with the client that if the Hotel is an older Hotel is must be clean, and we do agree with that principal.

If you are not totally satisfied with the outcome from the property or you wish to comment further regarding your booking please do not hesitate to contact our customer service team for further assistance.

Kind Regards,

Kylie Morris

Customer Liason Officer

Hi, This is the most outrageous reply I have seen. Its a very sophisticated way of calling me a liar. It is extremely clear that a search of the internet shows very clearly that this hotel is not as it is described and its substandard and its filthy. This is a comment repeated time and time again by people who have had the misfortune to stay there. what was worse is that I also ended up with bed bugs.

It would not have been acceptable at half the price let alone the $135 we paid. I want to know what one has to do to get their money back. I have had one experience with Lastminute.com where I was not given the room as described in my booking - yet I was offered an immediate room change and the owners were also happy to inform Lastminute that a refund was warranted.

It is obvious that Wotif is happy to list this type of hotel with out any regard to it being honest about its rooms. Some listing sites have actually refused to book this hotel for what are obvious reasons.

I made it very clear to the hotel that I was appalled yet they would do nothing ( in fact there were three other elderly guests who were also upset with the filth they had encountered)

So I want to know how I go about getting some compensation for an appalling experience.

And the outcome????

Thank you for your reply email.

It is disappointing that you do not feel that the property has been honest and fair regarding your feedback and subsequent request for a refund on your booking.
On this occasion Wotif.com has exhausted all avenues with the accommodation provider to secure a refund as per your request without success. Any refunds for a reservation must be authorised by the accommodation provider that has advertised and sold the accommodation as this has not been gained we will be unable to offer any refund on this occasion.
In light of your recent experience the SilverOaks Hotel on Thorndon would like to offer you one free nights accommodation at the SilverOaks Hotel On Thorndon, room only, in a business room on the 4^th floor, valid to the 31 August 2011, or from the 1 November 2011 to the 31 December 2011.
Please note that Wotif.com is a booking agent. As we are an accommodation booking agent and not a travel agent, we are not offering recommendations towards properties. Our website lists available accommodation for guests to compare and contrast the different options available to them before proceeding with a booking that best suits their requirements.
Wotif.com is unable to guarantee that the information on the website reflects a true representation of the accommodation advertised. Our office makes every effort to ensure that the information is accurate and that the accommodation providers are providing sufficient information to assist our customers in making an informed decision however as per our terms and conditions we do not guarantee or offer any warranty for the services rendered by the accommodation providers.
Unfortunately we will be unable to offer any further compensation pertaining to your booking.
So for putting up with a NIGHT IN HOTEL HELL YOU GET A FREE NIGHT IN HOTEL HELL! and the rooms we stayed at was on the 4th floor and was a "business room" The only business that would be conducted in these rooms would be drug deals and prostitution.