Pain points
1) Booking: website is quite easy to understand. During booking process you can add a remark, which I did: "if possible hotelroom not on top floor due to high temperatures". Booking confirmation came instantly and a few seconds later the confirmation that my room would be on top floor, but could be changed to lower floor with additional costs of € 52,- by an added link in communication. Next day I was contacted by phone if I wanted to change to lower floor against payment. Upselling is normal in tourism, but this was the most unprofessional way ever seen.
2) Check-in: a link to open the gate was forwarded by phone and the night receptionist handed out the key card and explained how to get to the hotel building. Identity check was done upon MY request. Don't they care whom they are hosting???
3) Room: very comfortable, clean, lot of space, nice view and modern design
4) Cooling system in the room wasn’t working. This is probably a central operated system, which wasn’t turned on, to save costs.
5) Breakfast (at Humphrey's): price €19,50 p.p. for a breakfastbuffet with scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, etc. according the website. A staff member welcomed me in the restaurant, checked my room nr. and showed me the direction to the buffet. The buffet was very basic for the price, fresh fruit and eggs not available. Eggs couldn't be provided due to technical issues in the kitchen. After my complaint a baked egg was served within 15 minutes! Staff started shift 20 minutes before I arrived and is not up to date about technical issues and missing food on buffet.
6) MRT Shop & Bakery: a lot on offer, friendly staff, quick service and decent prices
7) Humphrey's: time to enjoy sunset on the terrace as recommended on the website, so I ordered a non-alcoholic beer which was served straight away on room temperature! On my request for an ashtray a dirty one was put on the table.
8) Environment: at the building entrance there is an ashtray but no place to sit. On the boulevard along the water there are places to sit, but no ashtrays...(therefore cigarettes on the ground)
9) Atmosphere: during the day and in the evenings it always felt like living in an open air museum. No flowers, grassfields that turned into straw due to lack of water. Two days in a row the gardener decided to start early mowing the grass, at 08.30 am which continued for hours. Nice for all guests enjoying breakfast on their balconies, but not being able to understand their own words because of the noice of the mowing machine.
10) Dog friendly: it was nice to see al those guests with big dogs walking around carriying a plastic bag, to clean up after their dog. The small dog owners probably thought differently, as small dog poop piles where along the promenade for several days. A dog friendly accommodation should at least pay attention and take care of the cleaning
11) Feedback: the first impression doesn’t have a second chance and when I think of your unprofessional upselling method, I still get so furious.
12) Complaint handling: when I mentioned my issues of complaint to the reception and Humphrey's staff the common answer was the lack of staff and that the resort opened shortly: one year ago. Shortage of staff is no excuse as guests shouldn't even get aware of internal problems and an accommodation that opened 1 year ago, had 365 days time to discover, improve and monitor shortcomings in service.
And no, my expectations are not to high as I worked in various destinations and hotels as trainer and quality manager for an international touroperator for 30 years, so I know what to expect from a hotel/resorts. Please be so kind and do not take my above mentioned shortcomings personally, but use it as
feedback and advice for improvement, so your future guests do enjoy an excellent stay at Parc Maasresidence Thorn and become loyal repeat guests. I wish the whole staff a successfull summer season! With kind regards, Monique Meens
June 13, 2023
Unprompted review
