HotelChatter

In April 2006, I booked a 3 bedroom condominium with a roof spa. I was led to believe this was one of the best rooms in this hotel. This hotel likes to market itself as something special and often claims to be six star. I expected good things. When I arrived I found the spa did not work. I went to get a drink while it was fixed (for the first time-there were 2 more staff visits required for this fault) and found the refrigerator was not working properly either. I waited for that to be fixed. Like the spa it could not be brought back to full working order and was only mended on a temporary basis. I went to have a shower and found it would shoot a brief burst of scalding water at you, before returning to your previously selected temperature, in a cyle that repeated this action every 2-3 minutes. Not the most relaxing shower experience I have ever had, as you had to jump to avoid being scalded. By this time I was sick of the intrusion of maintenance staff, having spent the first hours of my stay in their company, so declined to advise them of the shower problem at that time and went for a nap, only to be woken shortly after by housekeeping staff loudly determined that I should have chocolate on my pillow. Now I understand every hotel can have a bad day now and then, but this was becoming Fawlty Towers in proportion. It's the response from management to my letter of complaint though, that really surprised and angered me. I had outlined the ridiculous number of appliance faults and other service issues not detailed here in full due to space constraints, in what is one of the most expensive rooms in the hotel. I had suggested that this kind of incompetence was not what I was paying for. I had said I didn't feel it was over-demanding to expect a room where everything actually worked. Instead of receiving any kind of apology at all, I was accused of lying by Sandra Tikal, the General Manager. Why I would lie or precisely what Sandra felt I was lying about, was not made clear in her ambiguous and grammatically mangled response.

Now I am a regular visitor to the Gold Coast and have also stayed across the road at the similarly priced Sheraton, which while now a little dated decor wise, is far superior in terms of service and offers actual beach views as opposed to the car park vista, which was the delightful view that greeted me from my non-functioning spa.

I do not mind at all paying premium rates for absolute luxury, but Versace is simply unable to deliver all it promises and is run by a General Manager so bereft of a clue as to think that, "I do hope you will consider to stay with us again", which was the final part of her letter, is appropriate either as English, or as an effort to appease a dissatisfied customer.

In an interview easily found on the net, Sandra, when questioned about complaint handling said it was, "an opportunity for us to turn this guest around and make them one of our greatest supporters". I would suggest to Sandra that accusing that customer of lying is perhaps not the best strategy with which to attain that result.

I also asked Sandra whether she felt she had, in this case, 'turned me around' and to advise me also why my accommodation dollars would not be better invested across the road at the Sheraton, and to date she has been unable to provide an answer to either question.

I read this review years ago and knew then that it was created to try and diminish the Versace Hotel and it staff.  I am appalled that it continues 6 years on.

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If you read all the comments about the Hotel you will  easily be able to draw your own conclusions