First of all, I would like to say that I came to reception today and said, that there were a lot of problems, but I would not like to write anything in the internet and would like to talk to the manager with decision power, who can change all these things for the future, so it does not happen to anyone else.
When the manager arrived, he told me, that he is not interested in what I want to tell him and that he will not listen, because I died for him as a guest, when I compained about the fact that I was refused to be given a bath gown to the room by the reception and for giving a suggestion, that it is a pity that the room is large and well built but very plain and nobody has put any effort to make it cozy and that I was refused to book a stay for four days including spa access and had to either make 4 different bookings each for one night with spa package or make a booking for bed and breakfast and pay full price entrance for the spa each day. It did not feel comfortable for me as a guest, who is coming for spa experience mainly.
The manager, a man in his 50s, had s screaming monologue at me, woman in her 30s, for I would say about 15 - 30 minutes, where he told me, that he has the best hotel on the coast and that nothing is good for my level of expectation and I will not find a better hotel on sicily. He told .e
I tried interrupting him and asked: "So you don't mind that a woman has to walk naked in your spa area with other man standing and watching her?" He answered: Did someone from our staff watch you? I said no. He answered "Well then I don't care"
I tried to explain that the only thing that I wanted is that they place a hanger just across the shower, because in order to get your towel when you leave the shower in the changing cabin, you have to walk past a completely open door. Man were standing at the door watching women pass by it naked. I told the reception that I know that not all men are the same and probably there is not always someone watching. But it does not feel nice for the women and it is very easy to place a hanger or something just across the shower, there is space for it. Reception has answered, that it is not their fault, that someone was standing there and that some women are not closing the door. Well it is not, but a simple hanger will prevent that situation from happening again and instead of a" thank you " for poiting that out I got screamed at by the manager. If they place an authomatic closing system to the door, they will prevent women leaving it constantly open.
I was also told that I should have taken the gown which was provided on the first floor and should have changed and showered in my room which is on the 3rd floor (at the end of the hall) and thus it is my fault that this situation happened. But why do I need to go 3 floors down, 3 floors up and walk the hotel halls? So that reception can refuse to provide me with a simple gown? I did ask the gown a day or two before, but is it such a problem? What would the hotel lose if they just provided tge gown?
What I did not manage to tell the reception and the manager, because I could no longer interrupt his screaming monologue and his flow of insults, is, that when you lay down in the sauna, you can choose from which side can men watch the area between your legs. Sauna has a clear completely see through glass on both of its ends, so any time you lay down, someone has a view. On one end it is male workers of the hotel who are taking care of a fountain and plants, on the other side it is visitors of the spa.
I need to point out, that the hotel has no control over who is entering the spa, as it is open for the general public. The level of the visitors of the spa looks accordingly - not the people you would expect in a 4* hotel, but the people you would find in a public spa accessible for everyone.
It is very easy to get rid of the problem in that the hotel would put a barrier on one end of the spa, so its workers and everyone who is using the staircase does not have a good vision of the bottom part of the visitors of the sauna. I approached reception to make sure they know about this problem and can solve it, but I got only screamed at. I still managed to say, that I would like to prevent other women from experiencing being forced into walking naked in front other man and if they don't listen, I will write a public review. The manager answered, that I am only one in 30000 guests he has per year and he does not care what I write or say. He told me that it is his house and I am ONLY a guest and I have to "play by his rules".
I also told the receptionist that they should make sure that salt is on every table during breakfast. Today, me and my mum wanted to eat boiled eggs, so we asked for salt, which was not present. It took the breakfast worker 15 minutes to bring salt, as it was not present in the breakfast room at all. After my mum finished her egg, breakfast worker took it away from our table. When I decided to eat one egg as well, I had to take salt from somebody elses table and wait till they finish using it. About 30 tables share one salt. The receptionist answered to me: "It is just salt, what is your problem? You are on a holiday, you have time". I don't have time. I had 4 days of a holiday in the last 5 years because I am running hotels myself. I wanted to enjoy my last day in a different way then going around people's tables and taking away salt from them. Even the 15 mins waiting for the first time we asked for salt we could have spent eating gelato.
I also cleaned my own table to be able to eat at all. The table I have placed the dirty dishes at has stayed disgusting for( I have looked at my watch) - exactly 40 minutes. It was not a busy time. Workers have just watched the time fly, stood and did nothing.
I was told by reception it is my fault, as I am supposed to be seated. In 4 days nobody seated us though. Reception said well then you should have looked for your room no at the tables and should have found your table. There was something hand written at the tables, that I could not read at all. Maybe they meant that. But I will not walk around a large hall checking all the tables trying to read some hand written notes.
I don't think its the fault of breakfast staff though. Nobody has ever instructed them what to do, which was clear from the conversation I had with them. When it was already clear that I am upset, they did their best to make us happy. Especially one lady with red lipstick was smiling, super nice, pretty and did her best to search for salt all over the hotel.
Everything I tried to point out was turned against me at reception and I was held guilty for saying anything at all.
There were many little things in the hotel, which are so easy to change to make it perfect. The hotel has a careless arrogant manager, who has made clear he has been born perfect.
To be fair, cleaning staff did perfect job. Staff at the bar was amazing. One male receptionist was very nice. Most of the hotel staff was very friendly and when they saw that I was not happy they tried to help. Coffee is amazing. Spa staff is nice, but some of them not trained. One of the lady from the staff approached me in the changing cabin, while I was naked and instead of appologizing and coming back later, she asked for my room no. But my hotel card with room no was at spa reception desk all the time. The same lady handed over a super small towel, which would cover up absolutely nothing, to use in the sauna and I had to fight to get a proper towel. But I don't think it is her fault either. As somebody was supposed to train her how to behave.
This experience helped me understand why people are leaving 1* reviews after they leave without trying to sort anything at reception. I would never think that a 50 year old male hotel manager would scream at a 30 year old female guest or any guest at all, that a guest means nothing to him, because he/she is just one 30.000 guests and he will not to listen to anything the guest wants to say.
The building is expensive and meets technical requirements. Its careless attitude to guests is very sad.
Sicily is extremely beautiful, all other people except reception and manager were friendly , definitely all outside of the hotel. On our last day, this hotel manager has brought me to tears, which is very difficult to achieve. I felt humiliated to the core of my soul.
Hours later, I am still shaking when writing this review. Nevertheless, we would like to thank the girl at the bar for for doing the best coffee, lightening up our days with the nice talk and her opinion about surrounding places. I am very sorry that our trip had to end this way.
339blbost2024-04-21
