I needed to be in the Ortigas Center for a succession of business meetings, and a colleague told me she saw a new hotel just recently inaugurated behind Robinson's Galleria. So I searched for it via google maps, and long story short here I am!
This is some kind of a 'budget hotel' venture by the owners of, yes you guessed it, Robinson Land - y'know, the owners of Robinson's Galleria, Cebu Pacific etc., etc.
But...There are weird things!
Like: 'no food or drinks in the rooms' - you can do it though at a designated 'dining area' of 2 'tables for two' at a hallway. I noticed there are at least two of these on each floor - therefore tables for 8 people in the entire floor. So happy ka na?! Don't rejoice yet hehe. There are more than about 60 rooms on each floor, so how many are you na mag-aagawan mag-uunahan to those dalawang good-for-two tables?!
There is breakfast that you have to pre-book either online or the day before with the front desk, and it comes from outside the building (take-out nila). You must indicate what time of the morning your breakfast should be delivered. But you say 8AM, it will be there at 630AM to 7AM! And, 'no food and drinks in the room', right?! So how is this?! It is delivered to the 2 tables for two! Sometimes a staff would knock at your door to tell you so, sometimes he won't. And when you arrive at that table... good luck! Sometimes you find a crowd of people, other times just a crowd of breakfasts occupying every inch of the 2 tables.
And here is more... sometimes other guests may have had food during the night. They (of course) dump their food waste and wrappers on the trash bin beside the two tables. Then you come in the morning to have your breakfast to find that the trash bin is brimming full and the whole place (even the hallway) stinks. It does not even have to be wastes from last night. Sometimes it is from those who had breakfast ahead of you. Oh did I mention food stains and other dirt on the table? Ahrg!
So, kasalanan ng other guests dahil burara sila? Nope, the management, and their crews should know there are obvious and easy solutions to these. The question is... have they been trained for this? Have they even been trained to think? It does not need an HRM degree, mygaaash!
Check-out is at 11AM. Bakit? Others are 12NN, di ba? It is way to early. Or way too much of a money grab. You check-in at 2PM but must check-out at 11AM the following day. Oeh, di hindi isang araw! Budget Hotel daw kasi. The meaning of that word is really actually changing rapidly to mean either mediocrity or poor service. OMG!
The key cards (others call them "card key") are so erratic - and that when you find it won't open your room, you have to walk all the way back to the elevators and down to front desk. This last one was so irritatingly tiring that it depletedmy patience and composure.
This is where the 'being new' becomes 'abhorable'. Those kids who man the front desk are newbies themselves, their brains are just focused on that counter and nothing else. Something like "you have a problem, come to us at front desk no matter how far you walk, and we do not care how tired you were the whole day out there in the world". That is the message implied.
Let's elaborate that latter issue. You have to know that the front area (and reception) are at Garnet Road where the sole pair of elevators are, and the rooms form a rectangular fashion that some of them are over at Sapphire Road. Example: if your room is #426, you will have walked a whole city block to find the elevators before you can even go down!
Oh, there are so many rooms that do not have windows,about half of all the rooms on your floor, so if you are claustrophobic, beware. And you may not reserve in advance since it is not in their system - but be aware that those windows are tiny anyway!
Still related to that, here is a wonderful scenario: I checked-in at 4PM. About 8PM, after dinner at Galleria, I passed by front desk and said I have decided to extend for another day. The reply: Only the morning manager can decide on that tomorrow at about 9AM, even so I must send an email to their email address right now.
Eh I was to go out of the hotel for my business meeting at 7:30AM tomorrow and would only be back at 5 or 6PM. I asked again why the manager for the night can't decide on the extension - because the later this decision is had, the chances that no more rooms will be available. Their decision was: I have to go online and book a room for my intended extension, so I did.
When I was done booking ONLINE in front of them (there is a PC right at the counter), the girl told me, "but you will have to vacate your room at 11AM sir, and we can give you a new room at 2PM. I asked why since the booking is already confirmed and I am already here, so they'll just have to re-assign to me the same room I already have. The idiotic reply was "because it cannot be continued by the computer system". Tangina ano ito, system error lang po?
I was telling the girl to do something because she understood that my booking is now supposed to be 2 nights. I remember saying "tao ka, computer lang yan, wag kang magpa-alila sa computer. Ikaw ang masusunod. The manager said "its okay sir, we'll see that it is done tomorrow. 'Di na kayo kelangan mag-check-out".
Fast track to tomorrow... 7:00AM I went out for my meetings. As I passed by front desk, the manager and the front desk girl were still on duty, both greeting me good morning and they told me '"okay na sir, that will still be your room until check-out"! So I said thank you!
My meetings lasted all the way until dinner, and I was back to the hotel only at 930PM. Passing by front desk, it was still the same staff who were there (or they were back for another day's shift), and they greeted me good evening. I smiled, bowed and said good evening too!
Voila! Problem with the card again! It won't fucking open my room. A housekeeping staff by chance passed, so he got my initial ire as I said "bakit ba ayaw nanaman magbukas ito? He said "please check with front desk". I said "wala ba kayong house phone dito that I can use? Ang layo kaya ng lalakarin ko, bakit di nalang ikaw magdala nito dun sa front desk mo?" And he replied with "bawal eh".
To the lobby I traveled again, with all heavy laptop, brochures and books. Of course I was seething mad. And that fat girl (yes lumalabas ang saloobin ko pag galit ako - mataba talaga siya, therefore pangit na, boba pa!) told me I should have checked with them because the card had to be reprogrammed as it was a new booking. My voice already went out of bounds, I guess those praying at Greenhills Christian Fellowship would have heard me when I said... you had so many chances to reprogram that card - kagabi when I talked to you, kaninang umaga when you said good morning to me and ngayong gabi when you said good evening to me. Bakit di mo ginawa? When did you tell me that I should have it re-programmed, kailan? She was about to reply (lumalaban si taba) when the manager intervened by letting her move aside with an obvious bump 'hips-to-hips' to face me and said we are very sorry sir, here, your card has been reprogrammed already.
You can just imagine how hot my head was that I was notable to that easily sleep that night.
If there's any consolation, the lobby is 'maaliwalas' - and the only place where the wifi is reliable! But you will not easily realize that because of palpak, defensive, unhelpful newbie front desk staff.
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