Night Terrors: Mercure Bendigo Schaller

[kangarooflyer88]

You ordered room service on six nights and the food never arrived?

I meant to say housekeeping. I'll chalk that one up to my jet lagged brain still recovering from all this travel.

Yes changed names many times. The same hotel when after I checked in I asked for a room change because there blood stains on walls of the bathroom and there was something sticky on the carpet - yet I booked there because of 5* reviews

First and last time stayed in that place.

That was 5 Stars out of how many stars though? If it's a 5 star scale then that's pretty good. OTOH if it's a ten point scale, then you are creeping into Motel 6 territory there. With that being said, if you travel enough you will eventually encounter a hotel whose ratings do not meet the actual experience.

Last year near Frankfurt airport we had 2 maintenance workers enter our room without knocking. Checking on water pressure and knocking from taps due to water pressure issues …….

Speaking of German stuff ups at hotels, it sort of reminds me of a hotel I was staying at last year in Hamburg (an Accor hotel nonetheless). Tried checking in at 5 PM only to be told their computer was down and to try checking in, in about an hour. An hour passes, the computer is still down so they had to manually check me in, which involved a guess and check approach to finding a room that is not in use to assign to me. We ended up visiting about a dozen rooms before we found one not in use.

-RooFlyer88

 

[Muppet501st]

I had worse at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. About an hour after checking in and half naked, another guest used her card to enter my room. They had checked her into my room and given her access with a card.

Had similar experience, Novotel Canberra.
Wife and i, partially nekkid, a couple out of 4 people, use their card to enter the room.
Call to reception, upgraded to another room, and they comped the 4 nights at a future booking at the previous Grand Mercure Melbourne.

 

[Rugby]

Devil’s advocate - I’m sure there’s people out there sleeping in unlocked hotel rooms, naked, just waiting and hoping some rando will try opening their door…

 

[randompunter]

Happened to us in Tashkent, in a relatively flash hotel too. They had stuffed the dates up on our booking and their system had us arriving a day later than what our paperwork said. After pfaffing around for ages they found us a room but when we opened the door we saw a suitcase on the floor and we could hear a shower running . Quietly backed out and returned to reception and scored an upgrade to a suite.

20+ years ago I worked the front desk at a hotel in Melbourne but we had physical keys that hung on hooks and I can't recall any issues with guests checking into an occupied room. Seems a pretty common issue though with "smart" cards!

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Devil’s advocate - I’m sure there’s people out there sleeping in unlocked hotel rooms, naked, just waiting and hoping some rando will try opening their door…

I think that raises an important question and one for which I don't have the answer. At most hotels there is a deadbolt you can engage. I'm wondering if you were to engage the deadbolt, would the keycard work on the other side of the door or would entry be denied since the deadbolt is engaged? Most of the time I go into my hotel room, I don't engage the deadbolt because it's easy to forget and quite frankly if you are staying at a reputable hotel you shouldn't need to worry about psychos entering your room.

 

[yachty]

One of those things that comes with travel isn't it... cough happens sometimes. I've been given a key for someone elses room at a Hilton before, though in their defence there was just a power outage and they were still doing things manually. Quickly backed out and got another room from the front desk. Have been on the other side of it a few times when people have tried or gotten into my room as well.

20+ years ago I worked the front desk at a hotel in Melbourne but we had physical keys that hung on hooks and I can't recall any issues with guests checking into an occupied room. Seems a pretty common issue though with "smart" cards!

Forget about 20 years ago, stayed at the Regent Taipei recently and they still have physical keys! Was briefly entertained, and then annoyed at having to carry it around.

At most hotels there is a deadbolt you can engage. I'm wondering if you were to engage the deadbolt, would the keycard work on the other side of the door or would entry be denied since the deadbolt is engaged? Most of the time I go into my hotel room, I don't engage the deadbolt because it's easy to forget and quite frankly if you are staying at a reputable hotel you shouldn't need to worry about psychos entering your room.

For another guest with a key for your room, no it wouldn't work. But for staff it's a bit different. When I worked at a big hotel I recall we had a normal 'all access' key for housekeeping that wouldn't work when the deadbolt was on, but another 'firemans key' for managers etc which would still open the door if the deadbolt was engaged. Obviously lots of different types of doors around so not sure how universal that is.

Latches were a different matter... the chains are trivially easy to bypass, but we didn't have the other styles at the hotel I worked at. Nonetheless it has become a habit of mine to deadbolt and latch the door whenever I'm in a hotel room.

 

[Mercure Schaller]

For those who care to follow, this is what I've just issued to them formally through the Accor website's contact us page.

Good Afternoon

First and foremost, I invite you to review the details of the issue I write to you regarding, as I have posted on Australian Frequent Flyer: https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/threads/night-terrors-mercure-bendigo-schaller.114734/#post-2732158

I was awakened at around 340am, this morning, by someone attempting to enter my room. The door was tried for over a minute before I challenged the individual on the other side to back off as the room was occupied. The individual concerned said that they had been issued a key for the room I was in.

This left me considerably distressed, and I dressed and immediately went to reception to lodge a concern. Reception was unmanned. I tried the out of hours phone number. It was unanswered and went to voicemail. I left a voicemail detailing what had happened.

At just after 11am, I was telephoned by the Room Division Manager for the Bendigo Schaller hotel. She understood that I had been "disturbed" in the night; however, she was unaware that I contacted out of hours, and that the call went unanswered. She similarly was unaware that I had left a voicemail. I was offered little more than an apology for the inconvenience.

I have, subsequently, left reviews on Google and TripAdvisor as well as my forum thread with Australian Frequent Flyer.

This is - frankly - categorically unacceptable in terms of service provision. Having recently decided to move to Accor from a competitor's loyalty programme, I can only say that this experience makes me regret doing so entirely.

I offer Accor an opportunity to investigate, respond, and try to put right what has been an absolutely egregious and invidious experience.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course. Please be advised that this message will be added to the thread on Australian Frequent Flyer with only my name redacted for privacy reasons.

Regards
Cloud9

Dear Mr. <redacted>,

First and foremost, I would like to extend our sincerest apologies for the distressing experience you encountered during your stay. Your report of someone attempting to enter your room at 3:40 AM is deeply concerning, and we understand the significant distress this would cause. The safety and comfort of our guests are our highest priorities, and we are taking this matter very seriously.

We have conducted a thorough investigation to understand how this incident occurred. As briefed over the phone call yesterday (24-07-2024) by our Hotel Manager, <redacted>, it was a genuine human error where the wrong room number was written on the key wallet of an after-hours late-arriving guest. The actual room key was meant for another room, and hence it did not open your room door.

We would also like to assure you that our whole front office team was made aware of the incident via internal email at 3:50 AM from myself as after hours security made me aware of the incident . The reason our Rooms Division Manager called you after 11 AM was because, at the time of check-out in the morning, our systems were undergoing an upgrade. We were collecting keys manually, and as soon as she came across the key for your room while processing check outs, she called you straight away to apologise.

We are reviewing our out-of-hours communication processes to ensure that such an incident does not happen again.

To address your concerns and make amends, we would like to offer you the following:

1. A detailed investigation into the key issuance error to prevent future occurrences.
2. An assurance that our out-of-hours communication processes will be reviewed and improved.
3. Compensation for the inconvenience and distress caused during your stay. We are crediting <redacted> loyalty points to your Accor Live Limitless account which will reflect within 3 to 5 working days.

We understand that this experience has led you to question your decision to switch to Accor's loyalty program, and we are committed to regaining your trust. We value your patronage and hope to demonstrate that your experience was an isolated incident, not reflective of the standard of service we strive to provide.

Please let us know if there is anything more we can do to address your concerns. You can contact me directly at <redacted> or <redacted> should you have any further issues or require immediate assistance.

Once again, we deeply regret the distress and inconvenience caused, and we are dedicated to ensuring a resolution that meets your satisfaction.

Kind regards,

<redacted>
General Manager
Mercure Bendigo Schaller
<redacted>
<redacted>

 

[Cossie]

A bit off topic, however, many years ago we hitched from Shigatse to Lhasa in Tibet, (not china imo, but anyway),got in very late, past 10 pm, there was no staff at the hotel we went to, so we just wandered around until we found a couple of empty beds in a dorm, tried to explain the next morning and pay, no one wanted to know, so we grabbed our backpacks and wandered off.

 

[Cloud9]

A bit off topic, however, many years ago we hitched from Shigatse to Lhasa in Tibet, (not china imo, but anyway),got in very late, past 10 pm, there was no staff at the hotel we went to, so we just wandered around until we found a couple of empty beds in a dorm, tried to explain the next morning and pay, no one wanted to know, so we grabbed our backpacks and wandered off.

As a tight fisted Scot, a freebie - even when you try to pay - is the best freebie of all. Good on ya!

P.S. we are in agreement on Tibet

 

[Cloud9]

Dear Mr. <redacted>,

First and foremost, I would like to extend our sincerest apologies for the distressing experience you encountered during your stay. Your report of someone attempting to enter your room at 3:40 AM is deeply concerning, and we understand the significant distress this would cause. The safety and comfort of our guests are our highest priorities, and we are taking this matter very seriously.

We have conducted a thorough investigation to understand how this incident occurred. As briefed over the phone call yesterday (24-07-2024) by our Hotel Manager, <redacted>, it was a genuine human error where the wrong room number was written on the key wallet of an after-hours late-arriving guest. The actual room key was meant for another room, and hence it did not open your room door.

We would also like to assure you that our whole front office team was made aware of the incident via internal email at 3:50 AM from myself as after hours security made me aware of the incident . The reason our Rooms Division Manager called you after 11 AM was because, at the time of check-out in the morning, our systems were undergoing an upgrade. We were collecting keys manually, and as soon as she came across the key for your room while processing check outs, she called you straight away to apologise.

We are reviewing our out-of-hours communication processes to ensure that such an incident does not happen again.

To address your concerns and make amends, we would like to offer you the following:

1. A detailed investigation into the key issuance error to prevent future occurrences.
2. An assurance that our out-of-hours communication processes will be reviewed and improved.
3. Compensation for the inconvenience and distress caused during your stay. We are crediting <redacted> loyalty points to your Accor Live Limitless account which will reflect within 3 to 5 working days.

We understand that this experience has led you to question your decision to switch to Accor's loyalty program, and we are committed to regaining your trust. We value your patronage and hope to demonstrate that your experience was an isolated incident, not reflective of the standard of service we strive to provide.

Please let us know if there is anything more we can do to address your concerns. You can contact me directly at <redacted> or <redacted> should you have any further issues or require immediate assistance.

Once again, we deeply regret the distress and inconvenience caused, and we are dedicated to ensuring a resolution that meets your satisfaction.

Kind regards,

<redacted>
General Manager
Mercure Bendigo Schaller
<redacted>
<redacted>

Thanks for the redact, moderator.
I can confirm this is the email I have received from them. I have responded with a counter offer requesting a full refund of the third night's stay.
Posted below for transparency.

Dear <redacted>

Thank you for your email. Thank you, in particular, for a very clear reflection on the events that occurred. I am grateful that you have acknowledged that my experience was distressing, rather than an “inconvenience” as was conveyed to me by the hotel manager and Accor in their correspondence previously.

The terms that you outline are - in the main - reasonable and acceptable to me. However, given that I was unable to reach anyone on the out of hours number, given that my call was not returned, and given the fact that the hotel was unable to meet my needs at the time required, I must politely yet insistently request a full refund of my third night’s stay.

If you are willing to agree to this, then based on the rest of what you outline as how you intend to make amends for this extremely unfortunate incident, I - on my part - am happy to consider the matter closed.

I should like to thank you, very genuinely, for treating this matter with the gravity that it deserves. Your speed of response is admirable.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course as to whether we can strike an accord (pun intended) on resolving this issue fully and finally to our mutual satisfaction.

Kind Regards
Cloud9

Post automatically merged: Jul 25, 2024

For those wondering about the pun, how do you pronounce "d'accord" (as in, OK?) in French?

 

[Denali]

Had similar experience, Novotel Canberra.
Wife and i, partially nekkid, a couple out of 4 people, use their card to enter the room.
Call to reception, upgraded to another room, and they comped the 4 nights at a future booking at the previous Grand Mercure Melbourne.

One of my CPAs is still traumatised after seeing our CFO in only his undies when she was given the wrong room key at the Fairmont Blue Mountains.

 

[Cloud9]

One of my CPAs is still traumatised after seeing our CFO in only his undies when she was given the wrong room key at the Fairmont Blue Mountains.

My wife was like that when she saw me in Calvin Kleins, once upon a time...

 

[I love to travel]

Yep happened to me too. Crowne Plaza DCA. About 10pm at night, maintenance come in to fix a faulty door lock. Ended up only paying 18 USD for that night once they took off the discount as service recovery!!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for the redact, moderator.
I can confirm this is the email I have received from them. I have responded with a counter offer requesting a full refund of the third night's stay.
Posted below for transparency.

Dear <redacted>

Thank you for your email. Thank you, in particular, for a very clear reflection on the events that occurred. I am grateful that you have acknowledged that my experience was distressing, rather than an “inconvenience” as was conveyed to me by the hotel manager and Accor in their correspondence previously.

The terms that you outline are - in the main - reasonable and acceptable to me. However, given that I was unable to reach anyone on the out of hours number, given that my call was not returned, and given the fact that the hotel was unable to meet my needs at the time required, I must politely yet insistently request a full refund of my third night’s stay.

If you are willing to agree to this, then based on the rest of what you outline as how you intend to make amends for this extremely unfortunate incident, I - on my part - am happy to consider the matter closed.

I should like to thank you, very genuinely, for treating this matter with the gravity that it deserves. Your speed of response is admirable.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course as to whether we can strike an accord (pun intended) on resolving this issue fully and finally to our mutual satisfaction.

Kind Regards
Cloud9

Post automatically merged: Jul 25, 2024

For those wondering about the pun, how do you pronounce "d'accord" (as in, OK?) in French?

What are you going to do if they don’t play ball? Your letter makes it sound like you have options to pursue. Have you checked those out, and confirmed you can use them?

 

[Cloud9]

What are you going to do if they don’t play ball? Your letter makes it sound like you have options to pursue. Have you checked those out, and confirmed you can use them?

1. I've made a counter offer, to what was an offer.
2. If that counter offer isn't accepted, then I'll investigate further recourse in formal settings where and how I can, more fully.
3. I have a bit of time kicking around to make sure my views are widely spread and widely known around the greater Bendigo region, if no further.

As they say: word of mouth is a marketing tool beyond dollar value.

 

[Mattg]

Speaking of German stuff ups at hotels, it sort of reminds me of a hotel I was staying at last year in Hamburg (an Accor hotel nonetheless). Tried checking in at 5 PM only to be told their computer was down and to try checking in, in about an hour. An hour passes, the computer is still down so they had to manually check me in, which involved a guess and check approach to finding a room that is not in use to assign to me. We ended up visiting about a dozen rooms before we found one not in use.

Was this the Ibis Styles in a suburb starting with B, by any chance?

 

[Cloud9]

We're *nearly* there. It's like trying to buy a new car, it really is.


Dear <Redacted>

I think we’re nearly there. I am disappointed to find that there has been a decision to reduce the loyalty points awarded to me to 1000, in exchange for a refund of the final night.

If we can meet at the 5000 points and the full refund of the final night, I will agree to removing negative reviews from Google and TripAdvisor, and will note the matter closed to my full satisfaction on Australian Frequent Flyer (I do not have authority or ability to remove the thread from that forum).

Unfortunately, if we find ourselves at an impasse, then I must unfortunately reject your counter-offer to my counter-offer entirely, and all reviews will stand in full.

Kind Regards
Cloud9

----

Dear Cloud9,

Thank you once again for your email and for sharing your thoughts on the matter. Rest assured, your concerns are taken seriously, and we strive hard to address them appropriately.

Regarding your request for a full refund of the third night's stay due to the inability to reach anyone on the out-of-hours number and the hotel's failure to meet your needs promptly, I completely understand your position.

Instead of crediting 5000 loyalty points as previously offered, I am glad to inform you that we will process a full refund to your Visa card on file. You should expect the refund to reflect on your credit card within 3-5 business days starting tomorrow. Additionally, as a token of apology, we will also credit 1000 points to your Accor loyalty account.

Furthermore, I humbly request that, if you feel comfortable, you consider removing any reviews left on different platforms. We strive to resolve issues directly with our guests, and your feedback is valuable to us in improving our services.

I am pleased that the terms outlined are acceptable to you, and I will work diligently to ensure we can bring this matter to a close promptly.

Thank you once again for your understanding and for giving me the opportunity to address this matter.

Kind regards,

<redacted>

 

[Happy Dude]

A better approach regarding the negative reviews, rather than removing them, would be to acknowledge the hotels response and the matter has been satisfactorily addressed. That way, the next reader can see a proactive response from a hotel and good outcome. Gives them a little more info about the hotel, as opposed to nothing.

 

[Cloud9]

A better approach regarding the negative reviews, rather than removing them, would be to acknowledge the hotels response and the matter has been satisfactorily addressed. That way, the next reader can see a proactive response from a hotel and good outcome. Gives them a little more info about the hotel, as opposed to nothing.

I don't disagree with you at all, but by the time this thread ends up dying down, I dare say it's still going to come up pretty high on the Google Rankings.

 

[Daver6]

A better approach regarding the negative reviews, rather than removing them, would be to acknowledge the hotels response and the matter has been satisfactorily addressed. That way, the next reader can see a proactive response from a hotel and good outcome. Gives them a little more info about the hotel, as opposed to nothing.

I totally agree with this. Things go wrong. I'd be much more inclined to give my business to an establishment that makes things right when they do.