UBC October - Hotel Trouble

Welcome back to October's UBC.

Today I'm gonna tell you about our Annecy hotel experience I hinted on yesterday. 

From my first visit two decades ago I remembered that I wasn't too thrilled about the standard of the local hotels. Remember it is an old town, and many buildings have remained at the old standard. Outdated shower and sink installations, no a/c, worn out carpets and this slightly musty smell. The more central they are, the further you have to walk with your suitcases from the outside public parking lot over cobble stones.

For this reason I had asked around and googled a great deal to find a nice accommodation. Of course, we were late in making a reservation, and many hotels were already fully booked, especially the rare triple rooms. I was all the happier when I found accommodation that met my criteria: Modern furnishings, central location, available parking, air conditioning, breakfast included and a somewhat reasonable price.

Even if you don't speak French, you will see that this is a written confirmation for my room:

So after exploring the town we were ready to get to our accommodation and chill. 

You know the parking garages that are closed and you need a hotel key card, and if you don't have one, you need to press the button and wait for a receptionist to open it for you? Well, nobody opened, and nobody talked to us over the intercom. We rang the bell a couple of times, and nothing happened. I got out of the car and walked back  up the entrance ramp intended for cars and entered the hotel lobby. The reception desk was not manned. We had already noticed that. I looked around and asked at the nearby bar. 

After a while, a lady came and I asked her to open the garage door. “There's no car there,” she claimed. Of course there was a car, my husband and son were in there! She turned the screen towards me, and sure enough, you couldn't see anyone there.

They had probably blocked the driveway for someone who had a key and they had to drive back.

I asked her to stay at reception now and let us in as soon as she saw us. I ran back to the parking garage, and sure enough, my family was waiting out of range of the security camera. We drove up again and rang the bell. Nothing. I couldn't believe it. I got out again and marched to the lobby, already pretty exasperated. 

Of course, the desk was unmanned again. Why did she run off, hadn't we agreed that she would let us in?

I considered dialing the hotel's phone number, but then I realized that we were in France and my phone subscription was limited to Switzerland. 

Eventually she came shuffling back and opened the garage door for my husband. 

I tried not to let on that I was annoyed and suggested that we use the waiting time until my family arrived with the luggage to check in. 

“Name?”

Gerber, G-E-R-B-E-R, spelled out in my best French. handed her my ID and credit card.

“I don't see it”

Confirmation code NRVDBNLL

“You don't have a reservation here.”

Of course I have a reservation here, I've just given you the confirmation code!!!

I showed her the e-mail on my phone and she continued clicking around on her computer. 

“I'm sorry, but you don't have a reservation. Even though you got a confirmation, I'm telling you, you don't have a reservation in my system.”

Well, that's not nice, but as long as you have a room for us, it can be solved. 

I started to sweat. I knew how fully booked the hotels in the city were. 

I stood at reception for the longest time and watched her facial expressions while she clicked away at her computer. In the meantime, a queue of other hotel guests had formed behind me. 

You have a room for us, don't you?

“Certainly, madam”

My husband and son came in with suitcases and jackets and looked at me questioningly.

One guest pushed his way in and took the receptionist to task. 

“Would you mind taking a seat over there while I help this gentleman for a moment, then I'll get back to you” 

We reluctantly sat down in the lobby. 

Of course, she didn't stop at serving the one gentleman. A whole bunch of people got their room keys until I approached the desk again to confirm that she had a room for us?

“Certainly Madame, and in the meantime I would like to offer you drinks on the house. Here's a coupon for all three of you.”

The coupon said “Room number 320”, which gave me hope. Surely she would give us the keys shortly.

Instead, she left the desk and went God knows where. I didn't trust the situation. What if this was the end of the shift for the lady? What if she just went home and left us sitting there?

When she fortunately came back, I approached her again and demanded the room keys. 

“I might not have a room available for you after all,” she admitted. 

I was about to explode. What was that supposed to mean? 

She told me stories of computer crashes and lost reservations (no shit), and that she was expecting a larger group she needed to accommodate. She told me to be patient.

Patience is not my strong point on a normal day, but on this particular day we were already below zero. 

Madame, I've been patient for a good hour now. we've been driving here for several hours, we're hungry, we're tired, we need to use the restroom, and I need to know from you now whether you can give us a room. I don't want to waste any more time, and then at 7am I have to look for a hotel in a hurry.

She assured me that if it came to that, she would personally make sure that we had a suitable alternative. By now I was aware that she was telling me whatever she thought I wanted to hear. She would also obligingly waive the parking costs. Of course she could, especially if we ended up not needing a parking space with her!!!

Have you seen the movie “Terminal”? Tom Hanks' character Viktor Navorski, who was stranded in an airport terminal because he no longer had a nationality due to a coup in his home country? He lived there for nine months, slept in the waiting area, washed himself in the public toilet and fed on leftover food from passengers. 

That's how I felt. 

I was beyond hangry but managed to keep cool, I even made jokes. We're going to make ourselves comfortable here in the hotel lobby. We charge our phones at the public socket and enjoy our free drinks. When they're empty, we ask for a refill (something that's totally unusual in Europe. So I had reached gallows humor). It looks like breakfast is served over there. I'm sure we can sneak in there and steal some cereal for dinner.

Fast forward another hour, during which the receptionist repeatedly left her place at the desk for long periods of time, she approached us.

"I have a room for you. Actually it's a suite. You will only pay the original price from your booking, I guess you can call it an upgrade. Give me five more minutes, and I'll have your keys ready."

Time is on your side??? 

Good things come to those who wait, is this what you're saying?

Needless to say, the five minutes turned into fifteen minutes, but then we got our key cards, grabbed our stuff and took the elevator to the top floor. 

This was the main room, and there was another corner with Colin's bed and his own TV, which made him quite happy. 

As it turned out the next morning, this suite had another catch. Or perhaps this applied to the entire building? The water pressure in the shower was very, very, very low. Just imagine a sad trickle, no matter how hard you turn on the tap. 

Breakfast was OK, and since we had already paid for our stay the night before, all we had to do on departure was drop the key cards in the box provided. That was good, because the person working at reception in the morning didn't give us a second glance, he was too busy pressing away on his cell phone. 

Interesting work ethic. 

Of course I was grateful to have ended up with a nice room, but this whole situation still makes me scratch my head. Have you experiences anything like this?