4
Omar Saif -
2 days ago
We stayed at Mercure Düsseldorf City Center last weekend for the second time since a couple of months. The hotel is within proximity to the central station. The overall impression of the hotel and the rooms is underwhelming, unlike other Mercure hotels I stayed in. The rooms and furniture are in need of a revamp and refurbishment.
Now the highlight of the stay, was the very well poised, gracious, friendly front desk staff member Nikita Daniels. Which I had the pleasure of encountering at check-in on both stays. I must point out I felt welcomed back, had a quick seamless check-in and was given an excellent recommendation by Nikita on where to go eat for dinner just around the corner. So, usually the staff makes all the difference and improve the overall picture of the stay with their personalities and customer service skills. We are grateful for Nikita for making our weekend in Düsseldorf wonderful, so thank you!
Finally, I have to point out the truly negative observation of the stay unfortunately caused by a different staff member, the manager Mr. Essam Labib. The day before checkout, I went down to reception to extend my keys to 5pm for the day of checkout, as this a benefit offered to Accor members. It was done no problem as a silver Accor member (former Gold here and reclaiming it status after this stay). On the day of the checkout my keys expired at noon, so I went down again to activate the keys again. I explained the situation to Mr. Labib (front desk manager) he said a late check out fee would incur as a result. To my surprise I thought he was joking and said to him are you aware I’m an Accor member and a regular customer and a complimentary late checkout is one of the benefits of the Accor membership. Mr. Labib did not answer, and I had thought the matter was settled.
Sadly, the notion of customer loyalty/valuing regular customers is often lost with some people/organizations working in a customer-oriented roles. On the day of the checkout, upon settling the bill I was astonished to find out a late checkout has been indeed incurred. The amount of the extra charges did not matter to me and the charges were eventually waived off, but the principal idea behind was very disappointing and thanks to Mr. Essam Labib a wonderful weekend has been spoiled by him and over something that is so silly and trivial. Issues like this prompt me to look for stays elsewhere when your regular customers are not appreciated. I am looking forward to a response and an explanation from higher management and rest assured this concern will be escalated to somebody at Accor offices.