Hotel Grand Stark

Flavio Affinito10 months ago

1/5

The overall stay was a thorough disappointment. The pictures look pretty and made for a promising stay but I guess we shouldn’t have believed some stock footage of the nicest room. I booked our room expecting a desk (as in the pictures) but there was none available in there. It was simply a small space big enough for the bed and a small seating cushion. From the moment I checked in, reception staff was disagreeable and unhelpful. I was given no information about the hotel when given my keys beyond the fact that my room was on the 4th floor and it was clear that giving me a smile would’ve pained the receptionist hugely. So I had no idea that there would be coffee in the morning nor what the wifi password might be. Everything got worse from there. I asked if I could be given a room with a desk as booked because I needed to work from there. I was told nonchalantly that they would let me know if one became available but that in the meantime I was welcome to work in the lobby (where there are no plugs by any of the tables by the way). It was clear from the tone of this second receptionist that I was not getting a different room even if I waited. I then asked to modify the card I had booked with but that created a great amount of confusion and the receptionist asked for help from what seemed like her manager who ended up charging me twice and billing the wrong card in the end. Suffice to say I was already quite unimpressed at this point. The rest of the stay was uneventful until the day before check out when I left for lunch for 1h and came back to find that my bins had been emptied and my iPhone charger plugged into the wall was gone. I went down to reception to notify staff of the theft and was met again with great apathy and little interest in the situation. I was told that the cleaner had been contacted and I would be updated soon. I went back later in the afternoon to find another receptionist who had no updates and just said she didn’t know about the situation and she was sorry. On the morning of checkout I enquired again and had to reexplain what had happened as the third receptionist also did not seem to know and was not able to help. Luckily the manager of cleaning staff overheard and came over to speak to me, took the matter seriously and gave me the contact of the hotel manager. When I contacted the hotel manager she was prompt and helpful, the only staff member besides the cleaners’ manager who seemed to care about the clients. I was sent a new charger that unfortunately turned out to be a knock off Amazon brand of the Apple charger that was stolen from me. A full 3 weeks later, I am still waiting for a satisfactory resolution to this mess. Overall, the experience was made terrible by the poor service and apathetic reception staff that was not enclined to do anything to make the stay more enjoyable, quite the contrary. I will not come back and pretty pictures are not enough to make up for awful treatment.