Review of The Ellison 4*

I am very disappointed by the customer service I received at the Harlequin. At 3:30am, after spending hours in A&E with a family member and hardly able to keep my eyes open, I called the hotel to see if they had any room available. I made my way down and was met by two pleasant members of staff. They explained, apologetically, that they would have to charge me the full room rate. The next day I went to get breakfast only to discover the rate was room only. I checked out before 8am to make my way up to the hospital again. I raised my disappointment with the reception staff and they assured me they would follow it up. Three days later, and without it being followed up, I made the call. I spoke with a manager named Martina. I explained my disappointment – that a room, which otherwise would not have been sold, was charged at full rate at 3:30am; that the price was exclusive of breakfast; and that some discretion on the price was not given. I was met with silence initially. All she had to say, and in a flippant tone, was that yes full rate is charged. The lack of empathy is what turned this bad experience into a really negative one and I will not use the hotel again. I was a regular visitor to the restaurant, as were my friends. I find myself telling anyone who will listen about the experience as I’m just so shocked at the way the situation was handled. The Manager had an opportunity to appease my feelings simply by offering empathy and the option to review their policy for others going forward or in fact go one step further and turn my experience into a positive one by offering a small discount of sorts on my next visit. Based on my experience I would advise future customers to not expect high quality customer service from management.