Merry X'Mas!!!

Here's wishing everyone a Merry X'Mas!!

So where did I celebrate my X'Mas this year with my close friends???

Well, the lucky place goes to... a 6-star Hotel at Raffles Ave!!

Ahem... it didn't really ended up that good initially during the check-in on 24/12/06 cos there was some cocking-up issues by the staff. We had expected the high-rated Hotel to deal with the various situation in an exemplary way, but the answer was NO. Allow me to share with you a few issues:

Issue #1

The Check-In

It was an unusual long queue, mainly due to the promotional packages offered by the Hotel for the festive season. There were about 5 counters with its respective staff. Adrian and I had slowly progressed to the 1st 2 in the queue after waiting patiently for 15-20mins. There were also about 2-3 mobile staff near the queue, who seemed like they were trying to help ease the long queue.

A while later, a lady staff approached Adrian and offered her help by asking for his reservation number. After walking away and came back again, she directed him, me and another couple behind us to follow her. All of us thought that we would be served at that instant or soon... but guess what!! We were brought to another queue with a guy in front and another guy still being served at the counter!! Could somebody tell me if the lady was helping us or... just trying to be funny?

The four of us were so pissed... and I then went over to observe the previous queue we were in, to see if the originally 4th customer (who was now 1st) had been served before us. And yes it did... I then asked the lady staff over and asked her what help had she offered to us earlier, since she had now prolonged our waiting time. Of course she apologised and immediately processed our check-in personally.

Well, we thought that the poor handling issue would stop with us but then another male customer was also directed to our queue while all 4 of us were being served. The man made such a loud unhappy comment when he saw us and angrily walked back to his previous queue. Hey old man... as if you were the only one being "ill-treated" here.

Issue #2

The Silent Wait

We were told by the counter staff that our rooms were not ready yet as the housekeeping was still in the process. We then left behind our contact numbers as she said she would call once the rooms were ready (estimated duration - 1 hr). So we waited... and waited... then Baoli and Shir went over to check after about 35-40 mins of boredom at the lobby sofas. Another disappointment: one room had actually been ready but no calls were received from them. This pissed us further but Baoli and Shir managed to get a late check-out at 2pm for our rooms to compensate for the long wait as well as issue #1. Hahaha... girl power!!

Issue #3

The Incomplete Room

Finally when the other room was ready, it was yet again another disappointment. The toiletries tray was incomplete with missing combs, shaver, bath scrub, and some shower necessities. The two small cushions which were supposed to be displayed on the bed was absent and ended up playing hide-and-seek in the closed plasma TV rack. Furthermore, there was a yellowish stain on one of the cushion cover! Omg... who would believe this is the standard of a 6-star Hotel??

When Baoli called the Housekeeping to top up the toiletries rack, the staff even asked her what was missing so that those could be replenished. If a person who had checked-in to the room on the 1st day, do you think he/she know what was supposed to be in the tray?

Issue #4

The Check-Out

There's always an end to a beginning~ but why couldn't it get better? During the check-out, Adrian was wrongly billed for 2 extra chargeable breakfasts, which were supposed to be complimentary for MY room. I had actually written both our room numbers on the charged slip during the breakfast and they could still make the mistake *sigh*...

Well I dunno if Adrian was unlucky or what... cos after that, he was wrongly billed again for his room package. He was being charged an extra $30+ for the same room package as us and when we informed the staff about the matter, we were told to go back and wait for the amendments to be reflected in the creditcard statement. Hmm... I thought they could cancel the overcharged amount instantly and let Adrian signed on the amended charged slip? Well, just hope they are not "pushing us around".

Finally The Good Stuff

That's all for the bad experiences we encountered during our 1-day stay. Putting the unhappy moments aside, the room itself was great! It was big... especially the bathroom (which is almost twice as big as my bedroom) with the famous octagon window beside the bathtub.

The view was fantastic from the room and Adrian, being a photo-shooting fanatic, and a really great one, had fully utilised his newly bought camera lens which costed him $900+. He had taken some great shots and I had attached some of it below.

My X'Mas Presents

I had always like the gift exchanging segment during X'Mas~ This year I got a "aslurpingape" T-shirt, a "Crumpler" laptop slingbag and a "Philips" blender (it's part of my wish-list towards healthier lifestyle with higher possibilities of drinking self-made fresh fruit juices). Here are some shots of "Happy Sze & Her Gifts"...