Falsely ads room category! Untrained staff with customer service
Our business partner gave us several gift vouchers to stay at Comwell. This isn't the first time we've stayed at a Comwell hotel. We enjoyed our wine tasting. We appreciated the chef's ability to prepare medium rare steaks to perfection. Everything seemed to be going well until the very last moment at the hotel, when it was time to check out.
We received an email from Comwell Sorø prior to our stay asking if we wanted to upgrade to a Superior room with vineyard view. Why not, right? After looking at the photo on the website, we agreed and paid for it.
After a long trip, we arrived at the hotel at 3:10 p.m. and immediately signed up for a wine tasting at 5 p.m. and a dinner table at 6 p.m. When we arrived in the room, our view was of another building. The ONLY WAY you can see the wine yard was go to the windows, turn yourself all the way to the left and you will see a wine garden faraway. If you lie on your bed, the view would be again the building. There is only 1 chair by the window. So only 1 person can sit and enjoy the wine yard, the other would have to stand. And yeah, you should be able to enjoy the wine yard filed if you just stay sitting at that chair and turn yourself at the exact angle the whole time. This is not what we signed up for. And It is definitely not the picture we saw on the website. But we were not upset at all. Things happened. We had a tight schedule, and we came to enjoy the holiday, so we did not want to make such a big deal. We stayed where we got located and went on with our schedule.
The next day, we checked out at 10am, so we came to the reception to check out. And we informed the receptionist about our room view and upgrading situation.
Instead of being treated with respect, we were repeatedly criticized for not reporting to them last night. We kept telling her that we were on a tight schedule and would only be staying for one night, so we didn't want to make a big deal about changing rooms. It's okay; we were in the wrong room. All we ask is for the upgrading price to be paid. She was continually berating us, accusing us that it was our fault.
She (around 40s, blonde, straight hair up to shoulder) didn’t mind raising her voice to us and arguing with us for a good 15 minutes in the middle of the lobby, making us suspect she was the Manager here. She said she knows the room and that if you look to your left, you can see the vineyard. Yes, but it is NOT what we saw on the website. We then showed her a snapshot on the website and compared it with the photo we took at the exact angle. The view of the winery is right in front of you on the website image (you don't have to stand in the corner and turn very left to see it like in reality). She told us that not every hotel room has the same view!! Oh well, we don’t care what it is like in hotel’s business. We want what the hotel is advertising on the website and what the staff has promised us for the upgrade.
All of this should be easily handled by some basic hospitality 101 skills: actively listening and attempting to understand guests' points of view, being cautious with the tone of voice used toward guests, not treating guests as stupid people, and believing that you know best, especially at the very last moment that we stayed at the hotel, because you would undo all of your colleagues' hard work (house-keeping repaired a nice room, wine tasting staffs, chef, waiters at the restaurant gave your guest a beautiful dinner). Everything is gone to dust because of a receptionist who does not get training how to handle customer's complaint
Then she said she will give us 100kr back at most, as if this was such a huge favor for which we should be grateful. We aren't coming here to argue about 200 or 100 kr. We came here for a relaxing vacation. That is why it is no longer about money at this point. The way she looked down on us, raised her voice to educate us, and treated us like a bunch of children who had no idea what a hotel was, ruined our mood for the rest of the day, ruined our lovely memories of our autumn holiday at Comwell. That is something for which money cannot make up. We have serious doubts about Comwell's entire hiring and training procedure. We will certainly avoid giving Comwell's gift cards to friends, family, and business partners in the future. And it's because of this story that we'll never forget our time at Comwell. Our point is that this could be easily handled if the staff got trained how to handle customers’ complaints. It's basic hospitality 101! It's not that difficult!
P.S: Please change the image of superior room on the website or don’t assign guest to room 220 as superior. Also, you need to inform your guests that you will get a view of vineyard on very left side of the windows. Everyone expect a view which is in front of you, not standing in the corner and turn to very left or very right to see it!
October 19, 2021
Unprompted review
