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COLUMN
 Saturday Night Fever
What was meant to be a relaxing weekend at the
Twelve Apostles Hotel was made memorable for all the wrong reasons.
After checking in my partner and I were shown to
our room and waited for our luggage to arrive. And waited and waited until
we phoned the main desk to find out where it was.
Shortly after our phone call the luggage arrived
and we headed off to the Leopard Room for a drink before returning to our
room for our massages, which were wonderfully relaxing. Then we went to
the underground spa to spend some time in the plunge pools, which was a
truly great experience. There are three pools of varying depths and heats
within a natural cave and spending time there is a most tranquil
experience. Unfortunately the rest of our weekend bore a striking
resemblance to the ill-fated Zeppelin.
We headed back to the Leopard Room for drinks and
decided to order a snack, and picked a delicious potato bake with tomato,
melted cheese and cream. Earlier in the afternoon while having drinks we
had spotted a dog on the balcony on a leash. The Twelve Apostles,
incidentally, is a pet-friendly hotel, which I think is a great idea. Up
to a point. By now the dog had been let off its leash and had free reign
of the Leopard Room. It was particularly interested in our potato bake and
became increasingly annoying, repeatedly bumping into our legs before
finally placing its nose on the table right next to our food. We asked a
waiter to have the dog placed back on the leash. Nothing happened.
After heading back to our room to change we headed
to Azure for dinner. The food and service was faultless. The waiters were
extremely polite, knowledgeable and our food was served without any undue
delays. My partner settled on the mushroom starter and fish of the day,
while I had the vegetarian spring roll (undoubtedly the best spring roll
I’ve ever had) and roast duck. We had barely started eating our main
course when the dog from the Leopard Room came into the restaurant and
went for a canter around the room. We asked the restaurant manger to have
the dog removed and also pointed out that we had spoken to someone earlier
on. The manager was very polite and apologetic, but just did not get the
point. Staff in the hotel should have been proactive and taken the
initiative to put the dog put back on its’ lease before guests started
complaining. A few minutes later the manager returned and explained the
owner of the dog was inebriated and they were battling to get him off the
premises. Now in what way did that make it acceptable? He returned yet
again a few minutes later and assured us both dog and owner had left.
After dinner we headed back up to the Leopard Room for a nightcap. And
found both dog and owner still at the bar.
Afterwards we headed back to our room. The bed was
enormously comfortable and could easily accommodate four people, but left
precious little space for anything else. The bathroom was quite pleasant,
with high quality stainless steel finishes, towel warmer and a bath big
enough for a grown man to comfortably stretch out in. I was quite thankful
for that and a good night’s sleep, because the worst was yet to come.
The following morning we headed to the café for
breakfast. The service was appalling. We had to ask for coffee twice and
after our ordering our sandwiches (bearing in mind only three tables were
occupied) waited exactly and hour for our food to arrive. The waiter
burned my partner on the arm with a hot plate and gave me the wrong order.
After sending it back my toasted sandwich was delivered. Cold. With
blue-green mould on the side of the bread. Worst off all, the waiter
wasn’t particularly apologetic for burning my partner, or for serving me a
cold sandwich with mould on it. We had to ask the waiter twice to summons
a guest services manager. After voicing our displeasure to the manager we
left – we were not billed for the food – and went back up to the Leopard
Room for a cup of coffee. Which was served with sour milk. Granted the
situation was rectified before we complained – one of the staff members
obviously saw me smell the milk and the look on my face and immediately
came over, apologized profusely and went to get us fresh coffee. Is this
the kind of quality and service you would expect from a five star hotel?
The desk manager we dealt with was very polite and
apologetic. She immediately arranged complimentary massages in a suite,
and when we arrive also had a table set with a bottle of sparkling wine
and dessert buffet. The following day my partner was called and offered a
complimentary overnight stay at the Hotel. Great damage control. But when
you go to a five star hotel you expect them to get it right the first
time. If we take them up on their offer, I’ll let you know how it turned
out.
Your comments, as always, are most welcome.
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