the saga and how it ended...

I had it, and finally demanded to speak with the resident manager of the Westbury Hotel, Tim. He claimed that there was nothing he could do and insisted that any recourse I had would have to be with Luxurylink.com.

That afternoon, I decided to nap and put a do not disturb sign on my door. I hear a ring and the door was immediately opened by a housekeeper who semed surpirsed ot find me there. I checked and made sure the do not disturb sign was on the door, facing the right way. It was. I asked the housekeeper why she came in anyway, and she shrugged. I called housekeeping and Tim. He defended her, explaining that many people leave the DND sign on their door by mistake and then complain that their room wasn't cleaned. No wonder this hotel is a mess. The management is utterly out of touch. I suggested that if anyone is worried that a dnd sign is on by mistake, that someone in housekeeping should call instead of ignoring the sign. Why I should be trying to teach him how to manage a hotel is beyond me. :-( But someone should.

He called Luxurylink again, and informed me that the purchase was non-refundable. He offered to give me a visit at the hotel again, on him. Even free, I wouldn't stay there again. I insisted that he do something. So he asked luxurylink to call me. They were incredible. They were also embarassed with what had gone on. Eventually, they agreed to refund a portion of the purchase price themselves to accomodate me. Tim offered to credit me for the Internet access and offered me a car to the airport.

I couldn't wait to check out, a day early, and took him up on the offer. I thought he should have done more, but, as I said I was thrilled to get out of there.

I got into the car, a limousine that had seen its better years long ago. It smelled of fuel, but the window doesn't work. Then a piece of the separator between the driver and the passenger fell off entirely. I was getting used to this by now. Until the driver hit someone from behind and shrugged when the other driver got ot and started shouting. The driver took me to American Airlines, instead of Virgin. Then went to the wrong Virgin adn finally gave up, on the fifth go round at the airport, pointing to the general direction of the terminal and telling me to find it myself.

a fitting ending...

is there a blog where people can share nightmares for traveling, and warn others off of hotels and management who don't care? If there is, let me know. If not, maybe we should start one.

back home, happily.
Parry