We reached France. We were staying a night at one of the hotels around the airport before moving on to our next destination. Although it was stated that a bus passes by every 15 minutes for pickup to the hotel, which is in this case RelaiSpa Hotel, we waited from 10:45pm and were picked up (by coincidence) at 11:45pm, with a few phone calls and unprofessional answers in between! I knew we were in for a treat... A bad experience that started at the airport and continued until 1am... Reserving at RelaiSpa, supposedly a 4 star hotel was a choice for its pictures posted on Booking.com. Although the reviews on TripAdvisor are not very positive, I still wanted to try it for myself and see what this hotel can provide considering that its the only non international brand near the French capital's airport.
The hotel's website states very clearly that their buses pass by every 20 minutes and in only one location and that is the TGV terminal. The receptionist later on informed us that their shuttles pass by another terminal as well; bizarre. Nothing was making sense. At the hotels gathering spot, many signs show clearly that the Relais Spa buses pass on the left side with The Hilton, Pullman and other hotels that respect this rule. We saw the Hilton buss pass 4 times, Pullman passed 3 times and the Radisson two times... We waited more and ours didn't pass at all. Calling the hotel, and after more than three calls (each ring at least three minutes before pick up) an employee with the least knowledge of how he should deal with customers and hotel guests. Nothing at all! He didn't know where the buses pass from and at what time, he didn't ask us for our names to follow up on the reservation, he didn't try to make us feel comfortable by promising to inquire about the problem...Nothing at all: we simply felt alone in the dark. Pre-booking this night was the only reason that kept me going there and not changing to another more professional hotel - anything would have been more decent that this low class room provider.
At 11:45pm, I glanced to the other lane where the Accor hotels group and the public buses pass, I saw a bus pass by with a screen alerting a list of destinations it stops at, one of which was our hotel. The airport bus and not our hotel's private shuttle? We rode on this bus which was the last bus for the night and were dropped on the main road, twenty meters away from the main entrance of the hotel. The employee - I don't know what his role is- who saw us coming, turned his back as if we were not there. We had to walk with four pieces of 25kgs luggage each to the reception.
I thought: maybe the rooms would be better and the experience more pleasant and we'll forget about this mistake but unfortunately more was yet to come.
Arriving at the reception we unpleasantly expressed our unhappiness by informing the receptionist about the problem- the same guy that answered the phone- the only unprofessional thing he had to answer was: Sorry but I am not the driver! And when asking for an upgrade: Sorry I don't have the authority! No way! No authority, no apologies, nothing to fix the problems? I asked by pure curiosity: how are you planning to make up for our dissatisfaction? He replied: "Sorry I don't know"! Who is in charge here?
After searching for couple of minutes on his system and not finding our reservation, we were given room 320.
A "great" room with the following details: - Three pillows instead of four - An unorganized bed like someone had taken a nap on it - Broken electricity plugs - Dirty walls and doors - Only one complementary water bottle - Dirty bed covers - An air conditioning unit that doesn't work
The hotel:
- The most unprofessional staff ever
- The receipt handed to us on a simple open paper without an envelop
- Dirty corridors
- Dirty elevator buttons
- Hand written menu in the lobby
- Newspapers left unorganized
- A dirty reception with hand written papers from previous guests left around
- The hotel has no spa as the name suggests.
Two years of operations with no SPA yet in this Relais Spa? After discovering that the air-conditioning unit was not working I called the reception and the same guy answered again, a trainee I presume. He promised to send assistance the soonest possible. Five minutes later, I called again, extremely angry as he answers stupidly: I am sure it works, try closing the balcony door or maybe try turning the control buttons. Is he for real? No way! He was not even thinking of sending a technician as they surely don't have one. This time, with all my patience drained, I asked for a manager to change our room and discovered that there is no manager on duty! Yes a four stars hotel with no manager on duty -if the French government knows about such a place they will surely close it down. Here the receptionist asked me to come down to take the keys to a new room.
We were moved to 348, an executive room with additional "nice" features:
- A broken mirror
- The same disgusting huge trash bin they have in the middle of all rooms
- One towel for two persons
- One complementary water bottle only
- Disastrous green sofas
- A kitchenette for cooking! In an airport hotel? What for?
The worst four stars I have ever visited so far:
- Nobody even proposed helping us with the luggage to the room and than moving it from the first room to the other
- Eildon the receptionist called me "the guy from Lebanon". Mr. or Sir are not part of his dictionary.
- Internet reception in the room is very bad and cuts continuously
- Most TV channels are on and off with bad signal message shown on the screen
Breakfast:
- The staff is not even trained to welcome the guests and greet them with a proper good morning. The staff at fast food chains like McDonalds are a hundred times better.
- Plates on the buffet are majorly empty
- The breakfast buffet and floors around are too dirty
- Cutlery on tables is left unfixed
- Choices are really pathetic
- A staff of three people all sharing one single pen!
- Internet doesn't work in the breakfast area
- Tables and chairs are dirty
- I have to say it again: The staff is very unprofessional
Checking out: The only thing said at the reception: Please return your magnetic keys! Come on! Is this all you're interested in, the return of the keys. One shock after the other... Leaving the hotel for the bus, an employee who was still asleep didn't even propose to help us with the luggage or to open the door for us considering we had heavy pieces of luggage.
A very bad experience -With clear pictures to prove- I don't think anyone should try...
Avoid booking your stay at the "Relais without a SPA"
