Friday, May 29, 2009

Microtel Cavite - My Bad Experience with Microtel Cavite

This is not an online scam but I just would like to chronicle about my bad experience in Microtel Cavite.

I and my wife celebrated our 19th anniversary and we decided to go out of town to celebrate that occasion. We are residing in Paranaque so we searched the Internet for potential places to stay. Microtel caught my attention because of their reasonable price and beautiful facade. I called up the Microtel Manila office to inquire about their Cavite branch. I spoke to a female voice with the name Vicky. To be fair with Vicky, she was very accomodating, she even explained to me how to get there. So on we went to Cavite.

We had no difficulty going there. From Paranaque, we traversed South Superhighway and exited Carmona. My wife was so excited to get to Microtel Cavite. Looking at their website, http://www.microtel-cavite.com/, Microtel appears to be an international hotel chain with several branches around the Philippines. To make this clear, I am only sharing my experience in Microtel Cavite. Other branches may offer better services. In fact, I and my family are planning to go to Microtel Mactan whenever my time permits.

So we arrived in Microtel Cavite at around 2:30pm and told the receptionist (who turned out to be Mam Vivian), that we are checking in. Advised by Vicky (from the Manila office) regarding extending their promo rate of Php 2129, I promptly told Vivian that we are getting a single room for two. Vivian then informed me that they also have a promo of Php 3400 with extras like free entrance to Eagle Ridge, free swimming pool, free massage, and UNLIMITED internet access.

Being an internet entrepreneur, I agreed to get the Php 3400 just because of the internet access. So we were given our room in the 3rd floor of the hotel. When we checked in, I immediately set up my laptop to test if I can access the internet. It turned out that the internet access is not yet activated so I called up reception to report this. Mam Vivian said she will call me back to check. I waited for around 20 - 30 minutes without any feedback from Mam Vivian. So I decided to call again the reception. Vivian then told me that I need to buy internet access for P100 per hour. I understand that P100 per hour is standard in Microtel.

P100 per hour is ok with me for P2129 as adviced by Vicky of the Manila office. But Vivian offered me a better deal (I thought) because of other freebies (unlimited internet access, free massage, access to Eagle Ridge pool, etc.). That's why I agreed to go for Php 3400.

When I asked Vivian that this is not what we agreed, she insisted that she did not commit to me to give me unlimited internet access. Instead, to appease me, she offered me to give me one hour free. I said to Vivian that we will just check out if she will continue to deny what we agreed. Then she offered again that she will give me 2 hours free. So I countered that I want unlimited access as previously agreed. She even proposed that she can only give me access the next morning. WTF, do you understand what you are saying? Why the next morning when we are checking out in the next few hours? If she only knew that I am online 50-60 hours a week, she would probably understand.

This went on for a few minutes so I and my wife decided to leave the hotel. But before doing that, my wife scolded Vivian for what she is doing. She should not be in the front desk especially for an international hotel chain like Microtel. She does not know how to appease her clients. In fact, we proceeded to Island Cove and got ourselves our room for Php 3000 with all the amenities like unlimited access, excellent customer service, nice bath tub. Microtel Cavite was offering us Php 3400 for one room with one bed and one comfort room without internet access.

People like Vivian is a disgrace to the Microtel organization. People, especially those front desk personnel, should be trained to handle customers properly and not promise things they can't give. We felt offended by her attitude. We don't mind paying Php 3400 for a simple room as long as she keeps on her promise about the unlimited internet access. But she kept her position even it meant losing us as a customer, when in fact she promised everything to us in the first place.

Microtel Cavite I hope you retrain your people. You are losing customers because of Mam Vivian.