"We spent three nights at Balkan Palace and had the most disappointing experience. The staff was incompetent and unprofessional in all the departments we encountered.
Since we were a bit early for check in, we went to the bar area to wait for our room. The bartender took our order and started making our drinks consulting a recipe book. That took us by surprise considering we just ordered a classic Cosmopolitan and a simple rum cocktail at a 5-star hotel’s bar. The drinks arrived after 20 minutes which is way too long given that we could see her working only on our order. And the ice for our daughter’s juice was forgotten. Not a big deal at all but, again, this level of service is not very good for the one and only order in an almost empty bar at this kind of hotel.
When we entered our room (the Deluxe Suite… which did not look nor feel like 40 m2) we saw they provided us with a baby crib. Since we did not request it (it would have been too small for our daughter) and it was taking all the free space, we asked for it to be removed. Dialling the “concierge” button did not work. We tried several times to get the line but with no luck. Thankfully, the front desk manager called herself to check on us and we asked her how to call them if needed. That was immediately clarified but these things need to be mentioned at check in or to be written on the phone’s instructions. Anyhow, we asked kindly to take away the crib and to bring us more towels (they were provided for two people, not three) and another robe because there was only one. She said she’ll send someone right away and told us to call the Reception and not Housekeeping for any request. We waited and waited, unpacked, took showers and still nobody came. Upon closer look, it was clear the room was not very clean. Dust everywhere, the walls had some stains, the surfaces were not cleaned properly, the coasters were old and dirty. Exhausted by the trip, we turned on the privacy light on the door and took a nap. We were woken up over two hours after the manager’s call by a man loudly announcing “housekeeping“ while entering our room. We said we were sleeping and he left. We called the front desk, mentioning this, and said we’d be going out soon so they could send someone again when we were not there. Also, we asked for an iron and ironing board. While we were leaving, two housekeepers came into the room holding the requested items. They didn’t speak any English but we tried to explain again we didn’t need the crib so they could take it away. We left them there. When we came back, we saw the new robe had a huge hole and a ripped belt loop and the baby crib was still in the room. This was the moment we understood we probably chose the wrong hotel. We called to know what was going on and asked to replace the robe. We moved the crib ourselves to the door so when the same two women came we handed them over the things.
The next morning housekeeping tried to enter our room twice with a little knock followed right away by opening the door despite the “do not disturb” red sign was still displayed. When we later left our room, we turned on the green sign (which means “please clean”). We spent the whole day out sightseeing and when we returned we saw there were fresh towels on our bed and the trash can was emptied. That’s all. Nothing else was done. We called the front desk and asked if requesting to clean the room does not include the change of linens and the rest. They apologized and said they would send someone right away to do that. Our baby needed to rest so we declined, but requested extra toilet paper and coffee pods (neither of which were restocked). The same two housekeepers from the first day showed up empty handed and gestured us to leave the room. We tried to explain we didn’t want a change of bed at that moment, toilet paper and coffee would be enough. After trying in 3 languages and showing them what we needed, they understood our request. One woman went to take the toilet paper (… but “no coffee” they said) and the other one put her foot on the doorstep to keep the door open. My wife spent 10-15 minutes at the door like this. After this extremely awkward episode, we decided to place our dinner order with Room Service. Being New Year’s Eve we made sure about the operating hours. The previous day we called Room Service to ask their schedule but they were not sure yet, they speculated hours could be the usual (until 10:30PM) but suggested to ask next day to make sure. This is unheard of but we still didn’t get worried. So on the 31st morning we went to the front desk and inquired about it. We were told the kitchen would be open until 9PM. At 6:55PM we started calling Room Service. Nobody was picking up and at 7PM, after several attempts, it stopped ringing, signal being substituted by a message saying the number was out of reach. We called the Reception, they tried to contact them and redirect us but with the same result, and told us to keep trying. After half hour it turned out we had to go downstairs to place the order. My wife went to the bar and was told the room service was actually closed. She then addressed the issue to the front desk, one of them went somewhere and came back pointing the bar and saying with an attitude that we had to actually eat there. At my wife’s grievance he said irritated that she could place the order and he would bring it upstairs himself. Which he did. Again, with an attitude.
On the third day, to no one’s surprise by then, the housekeeping tried to enter our room once again with the do not disturb sign on. We called the front desk and asked to notify the housekeeping department to leave us alone for good, to make them a note that we would not need their services for the rest of our stay. We planned to have a relaxing morning and have breakfast at the hotel but after all these misadventures we did not want to risk to get disappointed again and, instead, went out. In the night, just to complete this surreal stay, the safe fell on my wife’s legs. The heavy safe is placed below the sink, laying on the shelf without any screws to secure it. If you hit it by mistake, it moves around. While my wife was crying in pain, I called the concierge for some ice and disinfectant for her wound but they could provide only ice. They mentioned that the soap in the room is good enough to sanitise and offered to call the emergency. We agreed to just write this complaint in our room’s file. But next morning when we checked out, we were not even asked how was our stay, how was my wife’s leg, no apologies were offered. We had great expectations and it turned out to be the most disastrous stay."
