HOTEL EXPERIENCE FRUSTRATING

On Jan. 1, I called Hotel VillasCaletas and made reservations for astandard room and two tickets for theconcert at the hotel’s amphitheater onJan. 8. The reservations clerk told meshe would contact me again during theweek to reconfirm. Since nobody fromthe hotel called me during the week, Icalled the hotel on Jan. 7 to reconfirmmy reservation.To my surprise, there was no reservationin my name, no manager availableat the time to take care of the problemand the only answer I was given was,“There is no reservation in your nameand there are no room available for the8th.”I asked for the name of the managerand was informed that it was Mr.Gabriel Roche. The next day, Mr.Mauricio Solano called me and told meMr. Roche was no longer the hotel manager…another example of the employees’lack of knowledge.Mr. Solano, front office director,apologized over the phone and offeredme a 20% discount on my next visit. Iam not interested in any discounts forthe inconveniences caused by the hotel’sincompetent employees. I suggest thehotel invest whatever funds it has availablein better training its staff.–Katherine Campabadal,Heredia.The Tico Times contacted MauricioSolano at the Hotel Villas Caletas, and heconfirmed the hotel had received a phonecall from Katherine Campabadal on Jan.7.“Unfortunately, she couldn’t provide uswith a confirmation number, nor the nameof the person who took her reservation tofollow up on it. I personally talked to herby phone and apologized for the misunderstanding,and told her that the general managerwasn’t working for the hotel anylonger. I explained to her that I was callingher to respond to her complaint, which wetried to do in the best way, including offeringher a special rate and complimentarytickets for the next concert,” Solano wrotein an e-mail to The Tico Times.He continued, “Villas Caletas Hotel hasalways stood out for its efforts to give goodservice to its guests. The number of guestswho visit us, not only once but severaltimes, confirms this. Many of those whovisit us do so on recommendations fromfriends. For these reasons, we cannot let asingle event darken the good service andattention that characterizes the hotel.“Again, I lament that our service andattention hasn’t fulfilled Mrs. Campabadal’sexpectations, but still I appreciate her suggestionthat we improve. I again offer her ourapologies and the invitation to visit us andenjoy the experience of staying at VillasCaletas.”