Luxurious historic setting

       

Reviewed by: Charlotte from Austin, TX, USA on May 15, 2009



Bugs in Bed
My friend, a bed and breakfast owner in NM, and I (live outside of Austin, TX) were in town staying at this establishment in order to collaborate on a book. We arrived last Sunday, and everything seemed to be acceptable. The valet normally did a good job at retrieving the vehicle on a timely basis, and I attribute that to tipping $ 5 per service. The maid service was also good, and I tipped them $ 5 per day. We frequented the restaurant and bar, and I always tipped 20%. Further, I was ALWAYS cordial to the staff. We stayed at least two days longer than anticipated, as my friend had to be hospitalized overnight at St. Vincent's due to re-injury of her ribs suffered when someone rear-ended her vehicle last year. The doctors also suspected that she may have suffered a heart attack, but she is still waiting for the results of all tests. Last night, after dining at the hotel restaurant and spending $ 141 before the tip, my friend and I returned to the room. She jumped into her bed immediately, as she is still not in good condition after this health scare. I turned back the comforter cover to get ready for bed myself, as we planned to leave the hotel early and to have breakfast on the way back to drop off my friend at her place. I was shocked to find a small, round, brown bug under the cover!!! I took a drinking glass and showed it to my friend, who was familiar with the bedbug epidemic currently occurring throughout the U.S., as she is a bed and breakfast owner. She receives alerts via e-mail about various issues, including this one. We also looked at pictures of bedbugs online via my laptop. We were 100% certain that this was indeed a bedbug!!! I went downstairs immediately and showed it to the desk clerk, who was by herself, and there were at least two parties checking in. I requested to see the manager, and she advised me that there were NO managers on duty, which I find very strange, considering that this is a fairly large facility. I told her that I wanted a full refund, which she promised, but I told her that I needed to see a manager and also that I wanted someone to come to my room immediately to see the bugs crawling on the bed themselves. She advised me that there was no one who could come. I advised her that this was unacceptable. She told me that we could move to another room, and I tried to explain to her that my friend was already in bed and that she was still quite ill. Besides this point, it was already after 8 pm, and it would take us at least 30 minutes to move all of our belongings. On top of this, I told her that if this room had bedbugs, it was possible that the other rooms had them as well! I asked her if there was ANY manager on duty, and she advised me that there was just the restaurant manager on duty. I went back to the room, and I contacted this lady and requested that either she or one of her colleagues to come up. No one wanted to come up, even though we had just dined at the restaurant, and had complimented her personally on the food and the service. I told my friend that I was not sleeping in this bed, so I sat down in the leather chair next to the bed. My friend suggested that I take the comforter and to shake it out and to use that to cover up with. I started to do that, and I found THE NEXT BUG crawling on top of the comforter!!! I took a clean coffee cup and captured this bug and proceeded down to the restaurant, where I found the manager. She was becoming increasingly agitated when I told her that I wanted a full refund and that I wanted someone to come up to see for the bugs for themselves. I went back up to the room and called the front desk and told her that I wanted Security to come up when they come on shift at 11 pm. At 11:15 pm, there was a knock at my door. I opened the door, and a gentleman came storming in and introduced himself only as the General Manager. He did not even give his name. He told me that he was very upset that he had to come into the hotel just for this problem and that I had berated his employees for an hour. He told me that we could have moved to another room, and I advised HIM that my friend (now sleeping) was quite ill and had been hospitalized since we had stayed at his facility. Further, he told me that these were NOT bedbugs but "tree bugs." I asked him if he were an entomologist, and to this, I received NO reply. As we were at an impasse, he said that there was nothing else to discuss, and he stormed out. There was NO apology about the bugs, there was NO refund of any sort, etc. Consequently, I am calling every legal authority, etc. to make a formal complaint about this situation. I have traveled all over the world, and I have NEVER experienced anything like this. PLEASE DO NOT STAY IN THEIR HOTEL, AS THE GENERAL MANAGER APPARENTLY HAS NO RESPECT FOR THE CLIENTS!!!
Would you recommend this to a friend?
No

Why? / Why Not?
Who wants bedbugs???

Will not be back.
The outside of the hotel is lovely. The lobby and lounge are beautiful. The shops downstairs are g...
Reviewed by:kjcatjc from on Apr 02 2009

Not recommended, will never return.
Watch out. Buyer beware. While the location is great, the devil is in the details. We paid extra ...
Reviewed by:Jeffrey from on Sep 23 2008

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