So DH and I are just back from a lovely little break in a romantic European capital as DS is on a school trip.
I booked a 4 star hotel, but got a great rate on their official website. When we arrived the room was very small - but that was as expected because of location and just a standard room- furnishings were plush though. Room was absolutely boiling, but we assumed this was due to aircon temperature being set too high, so we put it down and went out to explore.
When we came back at night time the room was still stiflingly hot. We called up the concierge - who took some time as only member of staff- and he advised us to switch it off. We struggled to sleep as we were facing on to a noisy road and had to keep the window open. We also had light streaming through as top floor so curtains were a billowy side type that actually left quite a lot of the window exposed.
No matter- we went out for a day and the receptionist assured us they would look at the aircon for us.
When we came back late afternoon for a relax before going out she cheerfully assured us that the heating had been put up just like we wanted! Got to our room and it was like a blinking sauna. She managed to help us a bit by supplying a fan and some ice, but it was far from perfect. Apparently the whole of the hotel is either on aircon or heating and there is no way for clients to choose different settings in their room.
I decided to have a shower before we left for a drink - final straw no hot water at 6 pm! DH complained quite vociferously to the staff at this point and they gave us a different room.
The new room was gorgeous- nice temperature, faced the courtyard, proper curtains- everything the old room wasn't. So therefore you coukd say that the hotel rectified the situation and gave us a much more room than we had paid for. On the other hand in a 4 star hotel I'd expect the temperature to be acceptable, hot water available when I needed it and curtains to exclude light. So question is what should I give them on trip advisor or indeed not post at all ?
There were a couple of other niggly things- no list of minibar prices in either room. For the nice room I would have loved to have had breakfast in bed which apparently was available but the sheet to fill in for it was not there and I didn't want to trouble reception staff any further. I'd like the hotel to know that these things should be in place but given our free upgrade I don't want to seem churlish.