"I’m not a review poster. I just don’t get bothered enough or impressed enough to take the time to post reviews. Until now.
On Saturday, 30 May, my wife and I checked into a hotel in Mestre, Italy: Best Western Hotel Balogna. The hotel was just what we needed for one night prior to getting on a ship to cruise the Adriatic Sea.
At 2:30 AM, the overhead lights in our room began flashing on and off, accompanied by a clicking sound. A few minutes later, the bedside table lamp on my wife’s side started flashing as well. Another few minutes later, the table lamp on my side did the same. The clicking sound accompanied each on and off, of the lights. The flashing and sounds continued for an hour, during which we figured out that the source of the sound was a breaker tripping repeatedly on the electrical panel in the closet. Eventually we figured out how to turn off the overhead lights, and unplugged the bedside lamps, however, the clicking continued.
The next morning, on our way to breakfast in the hotel, we made the front desk staff aware of our late-night light and sound show, indicating that we would check back after breakfast to negotiate compensation for the event.
After breakfast, the desk staff said that they could comp us our breakfast – value about 35 Euros. And if we wanted, we could raid the minibar in the room (our cruise included all beverages). I then posed a hypothetical question: If they (current desk staff) had been checking into a hotel and were told at that time that they would be awakened at 2:30 AM for an hour with a light and sound show, but that they would get free breakfast, would they have agreed to continue with the check-in? Of course not.
They questioned why we hadn’t notified the desk at the time of the event. Us: would an electrician really have come to fix the problem? Would packing up and moving to a different room really have been the best solution?
They said that they couldn’t provide any additional compensation because we had prepaid via a third-party. Our confirmation has the Best Western logo and has reserv@cs.bestwestern.com on it. Regardless of how we made the reservation, we deserved more compensation. We asked if they had a cash drawer for when guests pay in cash or need change. Answer: yes, but we aren’t allowed to pay out any compensation.
I believed the desk clerks couldn’t go any further without upper management’s involvement. So, I informed them that I would wait a week for communication from their upper management. After that, I would tell my tale on several review websites.
We have received no communication from either Best Western or the hotel management. So here is my story. Other than a defect in the electric panel, the hotel was fine. The desk staff were sympathetic and did their best. Hotel management is tone deaf and apparently, have chosen to get toasted on social media but keep, say, 100 Euros."
