An excerpt from my travel blog after my night at Green Grove Guesthouse 24.3.18: ‘Although the noisy party going on downstairs finished at 2.30am, I still couldn’t sleep. Crinkly sweaty plastic sheet combined with the cold night air, made an unpleasant experience. Also, the room started leaking. Drip drip drip. Chinese water torture sprung to mind. To add insult to injury....workmen 8.30am. Bang bang, drill drill. I get up to have a shower. No shower gel or shampoo. Arghhhhh! We go downstairs and I explain to our lovely host Maria, that this has been the worst night in paid accommodation I have ever experienced, and fill her in. She apologised and suggested we have breakfast. We do, and it is underwhelming average. Maria tells us this is a one off and the rain was particularly heavy, and just a leaving party, and workmen are allowed to start after 8.30am by law etc. I couldn’t care less. I need sleep. I tell her, we are the guests, and you are not listening. I do not want to stay here another night, so yes, it will definitely be a one off! We have stayed in hostels and air BNBs on our world tour cheaper and way better than this, in comfort and amenities. So off we drive to explore, luggage in the boot & no idea where to go.’ To explain, the guesthouse had a large undisclosed party on our first night there. The noise was such that I didn’t get to sleep until 3.30am. The room leaked from a heavy rain shower & the bed sheets were plastic and sweaty. The cigarette smoke came under the bedroom door from the party and affected my asthma. We did not address it at the time as I was unsure of the safety in approaching a large rowdy group of people, of whom I did not speak the same language. It could have caused a big arguement, especially if they were as drunk as they sounded. The next day, we were woken at 8.30am by workmen, which really added insult to injury. I went downstairs to explain my complaint and Maria, our host apologised. I went back up to my room and upon exiting the room 10 minutes later, the workmen have placed their tools all around the entrance to my room, and I had to pick my way through it all. This made me lose faith in the Green Grove Guesthouse’s ability to look after us to a good standard and I didn not want to waste any further of our time, as a day had already been spoilt. While another room was offered, I had actually had enough of the place, and was not willing to give further chances to a catalogue of issues in our first night/ morning. I requested my money back for the nights we did not stay, (which I consider reasonable, and I thought it was nice of me not to ask for all the money back! ). I have video evidence of the massive racket from the party and the workmen, but still my complaint is not seen as valid, as they want to keep my money, even though they have not earned it. After emails back and forth, we have come to no conclusion, and Maria has unfairly withheld our money, as she thinks we should have stayed and given them a chance. That is not to them to decide. If it was only 1 problem, of course I would have done. The whole ordeal with how Maria handled my complaint, really spoilt our holiday, as she was so unnecessarily awkward and unhelpful about our situation, and seemed to think we were in the wrong. I used Expedia for most things on our recent round the world trip, and I have never felt the need to complain, it really makes me very unhappy having to do so. I really wished it had have been the case that we could have felt we could stay at Green Grove, but the room was not fit for purpose, and they perhaps should have opened a week later when the party had taken place and the ‘finishing touches’ to their renovation had been fully completed. At least they should have explained to us, so it wasn’t such a shock. I am really disappointed in the lack of customer care, especially as we had read all the reviews online, which are largely positive. But if you can’t rely on a business putting things right again when things go wrong, that is a massive failure on their behalf. We found the Maritim Antoine Hotel and spa in Melihia heights. It is far superior, with comfy beds, pool, gym, & hot breakfast all included, at a similar price. I would recommend anyone to stay there instead. Quiet and lots of local amenities. I normally prefer local small family run businesses, but if they can’t handle complaints properly, that is enough to change my mind.…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.