Holiday of a Lifetime - Extended unwillingly 1

It was strange that after you have touched ground safely in one piece after being stranded for seven days in London, suddenly there was no urge to complain in papers to SIA and Singapore Embassy. Can it be tiredness ? Can it be over-whelming happiness to be back in familiar grounds ? Or we are too busy picking up the pieces where we have left behind ? I think it was a mixture of all points plus Laziness !

It was definitely devastating that no help was rendered to affected passengers by our national air craft. We were just handed a piece of paper outside the closed departure hall in the cold ! Helpful tips or suggestions were not given voluntarily. They suggested that we could proceed to the Arrival Hall which was still opened to enquire about booking a hotel. Yes, we went and was shocked that the hotel rates was 300 plus pounds per night! Anyhow, we called our Insurer and lodged a case of travel delay. There were many passengers who looked as helpless as us and walking around aimlessly !


This is the miserable piece of paper which was handed out to passenger who turned up outside the close airspace ! Yes, we were told by the Ah Moh SIA Representative that the telephone number for re-booking of flights was a local number ! We thought that a local number must be relatively cheap. Therefore, we decided to call from Best Western hotel room. Guess what ? It costs us 40 pounds ! About SGD82 dollars just to rebook a flight which got canceled the next day !


We discussed and decided to head back to London. We booked a room for a night at Best Western, Cromwell for 99 pounds via a travel agent. We liked the hotel and decided to extend our stay since the flight was canceled the next day. We went down to the reception the next morning to express our interests to extend one more night. Yes, they have raised the price from 99 pounds to 141 pounds ! The most "inhumane" gesture was that breakfast was not included for the 141 pounds stay !

Best Western, Cromwell

So angry Diana has written a feedback to Best Western Chain when she got her hand on her laptop in Singapore.

MY FEEDBACK
We have chosen to stay in Best Western Hotel in London because of our
wonderful stay in The Best Western Hotel Butterfly in
Zermatt/Switzerland. The room charge on 15/04/10 was 99 pounds per night
with breakfast. Unfortunately, the airspace was still closed the next
day and we have to extend our stay for one more night. The price has
gone up from 99 pounds to 140 pounds over night ! However, we have
accepted the offer as we had a tiring and stressful day without having
to think where we should stay for another night. After making payment,
the reception told us that the breakfast was not included! I could not
accept this arrangement. Being a strander was bad enough with increased
rates overnight and taking away the breakfast. Was there no compassion
shown to your guests for their unfortunate plight and making their stay
more pleasant ? We were very disappointed with one of our favourite
chain of hotels. It would take us quite a while to book our stay with
Best Western again.



BEST WESTERN'S REPLY
From:
"Fairchild, Kaitlyn"
...
View Contact
To: BABYTAI20042003@YAHOO.COM.SG

Dear Diana Tai:

Our office received the following response from the management of the Best Western The Cromwell in London, England:

DEAR MS DIANA TAI

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR EMAIL THAT WE RECEIVED VIA BEST WESTERN.

THE ROOM RATE OF £99-00 FOR YOUR FIRST NIGHT STAY WAS A RATE THAT YOU BOOKED IN ADVANCE VIA A TRAVEL AGENT.

ANY ADVANCE BOOKINGS ARE NORMALLY CHEAPER THAN A BOOKING MADE ON THE DAY. THE ROOM RATE OF £140-00 THAT YOU PAID FOR THE SECOND NIGHT WAS THE BEST AVAILABLE RATE OF THE DAY ON OUR BEST WESTERN WEBSITE.

I TRUST THAT THIS SITUATION WILL NOT KEEP YOU FROM STAYING WITH US AGAIN IN THE FUTURE.

KIND REGARDS
ANDRE BOTHA
DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER
Best Regards,
Kaitlyn Fairchild | Customer Care Representative
Best Western International | The World’s Largest Hotel Chain®
20400 N 29th Avenue | Phoenix | AZ | 85027
1 800 528-1238 or 623.780-6093 • www.bestwestern.com





MY 2nd FEEDBACK
I think they are not getting the idea ! Noted that they used CAPITAL letters to reply a complaint ??

Anyway, here goes my 2nd feedback hot from the oven !

From:
Diana Tai
...
View Contact
To: "Fairchild, Kaitlyn"
Cc: babytai20042003@yahoo.com.sg
Dear Kaitlyn

Thank you for your reply.

I would like to highlight that my feedback is not so much of accepting a higher priced room but was told by the reception that breakfast was not included the next day. This might seem like making a fuss out of a mole hole, but as a tired stranded passenger, we felt worst by such a gesture.

Anyhow, we managed to find a smaller established hotel which really empathized with us and made us feel very welcome.

I felt that I need to stress on non-monetary aspect of such an encounter even though losing 1 customer might not be much of an effect to a big chain like Best Western.

Regards
Diana



Okie, most likely my email is going to be marked as a trash, but I felt that there is a need for me to put my point across. Hahaha ....


Feeling really "cheated" at Best Western, we decided to check out the next day. As Best Western Hotel has free Wifi access, we booked another hotel, The Royal Norfolk hotel, near Paddington Station.

We lung 4 luggages, took a train to Paddington. The Royal Norfolk hotel sounded like a posh hotel ? To our horror, it was a small hotel and looked rather run-down. This hotel has no lifts and we have to carry our stuff to our room. Anyhow, we have been pretty well-trained in Switzerland to London for carrying luggages whenever we were on the move. The room was rather big and basic but the bath room looked like something out of a TV murder scene ! Yes, I did not dare to take a shower that night and bugged CK to move to another hotel. Ok, I don't smell because it was cold, therefore did not perspire at all. By the way, the hotel room door has a key hole which people could also peep in if they wanted to ! Another reason for moving is the fire-hazard issue. Our room was tucked in a corner of a strange-structured labyrinth hotel.

As we walked around the estate, we realised that there were many small hotels near The Royal Norfolk hotel. Finally, we found Turdor Court Hotel which was ran by Indian immigrants. It was a family-ran business hotel and the boss's son, Krishna showed us an unoccupied room upon my request. The newly-renovated room looked clean and cosy and we booked a room from him. We moved to Tudor Court which was just a stone-throw away from The Royal Norfolk hotel. However, Tudor Court got no lifts too but we did not mind that much! We stayed at Tudor Court for the rest of our extra stay in London, extending day by day till the airspace was opened again. It was a blessing that we do not need to move from one place to another place again.


Tudor Court, Paddington. Before we checked out, Krishna has asked us to write a review for them in "Trip Advisor" which I did when I got back.



Here's the review I have written:
“A hotel with a heart”
Tudor Court Hotel
Save Review
5 of 5 stars
babytai20042003 1 contribution
Singapore
Apr 27, 2010 | Trip type: Couples

We were so glad to find Tudor Court Hotel due to the unfortunate closure of the airspace recently ! The owners were helpful and friendly to us. Unlike other bigger chain of hotels who took this opportunity to increase the room rates (yes, it happened to us before we found Tudor Court!), they did not resort to such act. The hotel has been renovated last year and it was clean and pleasant. The English breakfast was nice and they do not mind you asking for more toasts etc or refill of your beverages. We have extended our stay day by day due we were able to rebook a flight home. The owners have tried to match our requirement and we were very grateful for that. As many who have mentioned, the excellent location at close proximity to the underground is indeed a plus point. A hotel with a heart, is there no reason to stay in such a hotel ?

* My ratings for this hotel
o 4 of 5 stars Value
o 4 of 5 stars Rooms
o 5 of 5 stars Location
o 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
o 5 of 5 stars Service
o 5 of 5 stars Sleep Quality

* Date of stay April 2010
* Visit was for Leisure
* Traveled with With Spouse/Partner
* Member since December 14, 2007

* Would you recommend this hotel to a friend? Yes

This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Was this review helpful? Yes