My current hotel, Protea Hotel Samrand is perfect. My colleague described the room as “Huge. There are two beds in each room – One for me and one for my boyfriend. And no one has to sleep on the wet spot.”
The hotel was a far cry from Villa Via, Midrand.
“You should have seen the hotel that work put me up in. My towel had a hole in it. There were stains on the sheets. I think it was blood. I couldn’t be sure. The water damage … extensive. The bedroom window wouldn’t open. And I’m not that fussy. I mean, I wore YOUR socks even after you’d already worn them for an hour.
And on the morning that we checked out, I filled out the hotel’s evaluation form. Except I didn’t list ALL of my complaints, there simply wasn’t enough space on the form.
After I’d packed all my belongings, I carry my bags down to the car. And the receptionist sees me. And he offers to help. At first I decline, but he’s pretty insistent. Says that he’s here and he has nothing better to do. So I relent. I’m nice like that.
We then head to the checkout desk. But before I hand over my hotel key, I hand in the evaluation form. This is a pretty dumb move on my part. And he then proceeds to READ the form, right then and there. Can you say awkward? And when he is done, he smiles, it looks slightly forced, and he says, “We need this type of feedback.”
And then, and this is the best part, he proceeds to hand me his number. Says that I’m really nice and that I should call or Facebook him whenever I’m lonely.”
It must be noted that Villa Via’s response to my written complaints was very professional. They apologised profusely, promised to fix up the room and returned 25% of the hotel fee.
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My flights have been booked. I’ll be heading to the Golden Gate Highlands National Park soon. I’m so excited.
