We took 2 rooms at the Hotel tower on the 5th floor and 11th floor plus 3 water chalets. Will not comment on the rooms as they were privately owned.
BUT,
The Hotel was something else. We were a group of 16 adults and 5 young children so you can imagine the amount of luggage we had. Upon arrival we asked if we could use their luggage trolley to transport our luggages to our respective rooms and the answer we got " We are sorry but we cannot lend you the trolley as you are not the Hotel guest"??? If you cannot lend your equipments to "private guest" then firstly why sell the units to private owners and secondly if you are really more concerned in making more money rather than providing service to clients then have a separate entrance for "private guest". We wouldnt have minded paying for the usage of their precious trolleys but they didnt have the decency to offer that to us!!!
Then comes the swimming pool. After struggling with our baggage and checking into our respective rooms, those with children decided to use the pool facilities as we had checked in relatively early and our next program was only at night for dinner. We asked for towels at the pool and as usual we got the same silly answer "only for Hotel guest." How pathetic!!! Again, charge a fee for "private guest" instead of turning them down!
The next day, we went down to the Coffee House for breakfast. Some of us who are not big eaters did not want to have the breakfast buffet and only wanted to have a la carte and the response given, " A la carte is only after 11am" Are you kidding me? Do you actually expect your clients to wait till 11am before being able to have breakfast? So we were forced to have the breakfast buffet and those who didnt want to have the breakfast buffet had to drive out to look for alternatives. If the Hotel wants to fill up their rooms, they must be prepared to accomodate the crowd and have sufficient personnel to cater for both the buffet set up as well as a la carte orders not obliging clients to consume the breakfast buffet. Even after obliging us to take the breakfast buffet, food was not replenished fast enough. We had to wait for a good 15 minutes before the Chicken dish was replenished. Yes the restaurant was full but that is not an excuse to make clients wait. There were bus loads of guests but if you are anticipating big groups, have a separate dining area for them instead of trying to accomodate all of them together in one dining area! Its a matter of getting the kitchen organised better.
So then we headed to the pool again. As usual we were not "qualified" to get pool towels so we brought our own. After a couple of hours the kids were hungry and we asked if we could order lunch, the reply given was "Sure as long as you do not spill food on the floor" Why? Did we look like uncivilised people who would eat and throw food all over the place? I was really beginning to loose it but I still kept my cool and proceeded to order. We ordered something simple, 4 plates of fried rice just for the children, which came nearly 45 minutes later. The food tasted good and was value for money but to our horror it was served in styrofoam containers. When asked why we were told that poolside guest were served in that manner. Why is that so? We paid as what was stated in the menu but why were we served differently? They could have served us on decent plastic plates if they were afraid that the plates might break and pose a danger to clients around the pool
The pool water was murky, a sign of not being properly or regularly cleaned. Some of us developed skin problems after swimming in the pool.
I understand that the Hotel needs to make money but making money at the expense of guest comfort is totally bad for business. Dont they realize that 1 unhappy customer = to 10 customers that they will not have? I travel a bit locally and abroad and I must say that I have never come across a situation like this in my previous travels. Being a hotelier myself, I find this to be totally unacceptable and for a chain like LEXIS, this is bad for business. One thing I know for sure I am never going back to this hotel and would never recommend it to my friends. I believe that there are other Hotel's that treat their clients, whether Hotel guest or "private guest" better than how we were treated.
Come on guys....this is not how clients should be treated!!!!!