Rome - Anonymous. Date of travel: Apr 2006
My wife and I were staying in this hotel from Sunday, February 19, 2006 until Thursday, February 23, 2006. We had made a reservation with Hostelpoint.com to stay in a double room at this hotel from Monday, February 20, 2006 until Thursday, February 23, 2006. The reservation stated that we were to pay a 2 Euro booking fee, a non-refundable 15 Euro deposit, and a daily rate of 50 Euros for the room (left to pay: 135 Euros). We were unable to make a reservation for the first night (Sunday, February 19, 2006), so we chose to look for a hotel upon arrival in Rome just for the first night. Upon arrival at the Rome central train station, we asked the hotel reservation desk there to call Hotel Galeno in case they had some availability for our first night. The hotel informed us over the telephone that we could stay there for all four nights, and that the charge would be 45 Euros per night. Upon arrival at the hotel, we were confirmed by the hotel front desk once again that our daily rate would be 45 Euros, and that our 15 Euro deposit would be credited to the final sum. Therefore, we were to be charged 4 nights times 45 Euros minus 15 Euro deposit, payable upon departure. However, when we departed on the morning of the Thursday, February 23, 2006 we were surprised to be informed by the woman at the front desk that we were to pay the entire amount and the deposit was going to be ignored. When we politely informed her that we were informed otherwise by the front desk, then she became aggressive and began to violently argue with us. My wife, who is in the end of her 6th month of pregnancy, stated to her that stress is not healthy for her, and asked her to lower her tone of voice. She did not do so. I asked my wife to sit down, and tried to convince the belligerent woman at the front desk that to argue was not a solution, and that we should seek one. However, she continued to rant and doubled her efforts to show us her reasoning, finally insulting me by stating that she believed, “I did not understand English well (and that is why I did not understand their policy�. I could only inform her that the reservation information in dispute was actually written in Polish (!), which I am also proficient with. It was not of any use to argue with this woman any more, so I reluctantly paid the disputed bill with my credit card, with the hope that customer service may be able to appropriately rectify the situation. I would also like to request that Hotel Galeno write a written apology regarding their insult to my wife and myself. Tour Operator: Private