The manager of an Irish hotel has hit back at a bad review it received online from one of its guests.
The Ashley Hotel in Cork was given a damning review on travel site TripAdvisor by a guest who had injured herself during her stay.
Under the heading of ‘Horrible Hotel’ the traveller, named as Demi1679, wrote:
“Usually not the type to write reviews but I have stayed in many hotels all over Ireland and never seen anything as bad as this hotel. We arrived and the bath was not clean it was still wet and full of hairs as well as the sink I rang reception they didn’t even let me finish what I was saying and they just said they’ll send someone up to clean it and hung up as if they knew it was never cleaned.
“The room had an awful smell in it and I said it to the girl that came to clean the bathroom she just said “Oh it must be from the street”. The walls were like paper you could hear everything. The shower wasn’t working it kept changing the water temperature on its own, so it was impossible to take a shower. The room looked nothing like the pictures.
“The kettle and the coffee station was on a shelf beside the bed way too high up and when you went to reach it you had to be leaning over the bed, which would be a health and safety hazard. Which actually resulted in me burning myself with boiling water. I reported it to reception and the girl from reception was extremely rude.
“It was only the two porters that were genuinely helpful and bringing up the ice to the room immediately after I requested it. The pain was that bad that I was actually in tears with pain. The next morning, I requested a copy of an accident report form for work purposes and had to wait for about an hour till the girl in reception actually made it.
“When she did it was full of statements that had never occurred the night before such as saying they were offering me cream for burns which was never the case. However, at first when I requested it they showed me a tiny report that had like two or three sentences. After I had read the report I went up to reception and confronted them saying that never happened and the girl last night was rude I was basically told that I’m lying that it wouldn’t be the case because she’s a head receptionist.
“I work in a hotel and the way I had been spoken to in there that would be never acceptable but I guess everyone has their own standards and I will never be returning to this place I wouldn’t even call a hotel.”
It sounds like a very upsetting ordeal for the guest, but the manager at Ashley Hotel clearly felt there was a different version of the incident and was not shy in his response. He wrote:
“Dear Anonymous, thank you for your opinion.
“In regard to your feedback about the room – the housekeeping has not confirmed the room as signed off before hanging in the bedroom key and this was due to miscommunication between reception and housekeeping service. However, the moment you rang the reception, the receptionist apologised about this misunderstanding and sent immediately the housekeeping to your bedroom to fix this issue.
“There was no smell identified in the bedroom or bathroom and no issue was found with the water temperature in the shower. The showers are thermostatically controlled with the temperature for the safety of the guests.
“In none of our hotel’s bedrooms we have a coffee station where the guest would need to lean over any furniture in order to reach it – THIS would be a health and safety hazard to the guests. There is space in front of the coffee station for the guests to use the facilities. The unit is not high and fixed secure on the wall, however inappropriate use of it (for example, leaning over the bed to reach it) would be then hazardous for the guests as so you’ve had experienced.
“In the future, especially when socialising and enjoying a couple of drinks, we recommend that you do not endanger yourself and stay away from boiling water.
“We did not intend to discuss your incident out in public, but since you brought it in your feedback we feel we need to respond to it.
“The report from your incident was presented by 4 members of staff who dealt with you during the night and morning. At night, a duty manager with medical experience attended your room in the presence of a night porter with a first aid kit and offered to call a doctor, offered a gel for burnt skin – Bepantiseptic, which you rejected and asked for ice only and insisted on it (which, for your information is not recommended on burns).
“You were asked if you required medical attention to which you replied NO. You did not follow any advice from our night staff. If you were in such pain as you are describing now in your review, the staff would have made their own decision to call a doctor. However, at first you did not even intend to come out of the bathroom to talk to them.
“They followed your incident with a call from reception again that night to check on you and your boyfriend confirmed there was no medical assistance needed, you were fine and there was no blisters and you asked for more ice again.
“Finally, in the morning, a receptionist on duty checked on you again during the breakfast time. Again, you responded that you were fine and no assistance was needed. When checking out you asked for a report and you did not mention it was for work purposes. There was a delay with handing in to you, since permission was needed from the general manager to issue it to you, after a full report was collected from 4 staff members involved in the events.
“We wish you the very best for the future.”
There were clearly two sides to this particular story.
The response from the manager at the Ashley Hotel follows a trend in recent years of service providers hitting back at what they deem to be unfair criticism from their customers. Click the links below to read more similar stories about hotel managers hitting back.
Holiday cottage owner hits back at online reviewer who called their home ‘dirty’ and ‘basic’
Hotel manager defends his staff and their conduct after injured guest writes bad review
Top Irish chef hits out at ‘brass neck reviewers’ demanding free meals
Irish hotel owner hits out at 2019 ‘outrage culture’ – and receives a furious backlash
