*dimsumdolly* - the different morsels of the life of a foodie

A Rough Ride

So I have moved to Hotel #2. But things just don't get any easier.

Sorry, I just want to rant. So bear with me.

I switched hotels this morning...but that came with a lot of hiccups as well. When I told the hotel I wanted to check out, I was told I couldn't 'cos they had to consult the organisers first. Like wtf? You mean I'm being held hostage? Then as I'm packing up my stuff in my room, I get a call from the event organiser saying that if I want to move, I have to pay for the additional two nights which they had already paid to the hotel. I was supposed to stay for the duration of the conference you see. So if I move to another hotel that isn't designated by them, I lose that money and still have to pay at the new hotel.

Well, so it looks like I'm stuck with them. So I ask if there are three rooms available at the hotel in which the conference is held. She gets back to me five minutes later and says there are. And I'm thinking why the hell didn't you put us up there in the first place???? Earlier she asked me why I wanted to move and I very frustratedly told her it's because it's so bloody far from everything and it's so inconvenient to attend meetings. I don't know why it never occurred to them!

And her reply was that but they had comfort in mind for everybody and that they had arranged for shuttle buses to take us to and fro. I felt like telling her, Look, i've stayed in better hotels of about the same price range. This hotel doesn't even give boxed tissues. No complementary water either. And what's the use of a shuttle bus which comes and go what? Every four hours???? Your idea of comfort is obviously very different from mine lady!

It's so god-forsaken that no taxis go there and they had to hire illegal drivers to drive us to the hotel i'm at right now.

Then i got into a quarrel with the drivers as i thought they were trying to cheat us of our money. There were three of us and one car wasn't enough to take all of us and our luggage. So i got the hotel bellboy to get us two cars. And he told me i had to pay 100RMB. I thought it was 100RMB for each car. That's expensive for ONE car. But that was what i thought so when the driver asked me to pay for the toll (10RMB) at the expressway, i told him i won't be paying it as 100RMB was very expensive already and the toll fee should be included in it. And he agreed!

So upon reaching the hotel, they wanted us to pay 120RMB, 'cos toll fee for two cars will be 20RMB. I refused and said 100RMB 'cos that was what the bellboy told me. Anyway, i was very frustrated by then because of the whole hotel incident and said "NO!" to the 120RMB. They then drove off very angrily after taking the money. Later, i discovered they had meant 100RMB for both cars when my boss only gave 100RMB to the drivers. I was really losing it by then. Can you imagine me screaming at people??? I seldom do that OK.

But hotel #2 isn't very much better though.

It requires me to put a stupid deposit at the reception to get them to activate the phone lines. And they don't have an extension plug i can use to plug in my laptop and phone charger 'cos the Singapore plugs are different from the ones they use in China. All the hotels i've been to have the extension plug but this doesn't! What the f**k am I going to do about my laptop and phone charger??? I'm running my laptop on batteries as I type this! And I have to pay 50RMB/day for Internet! That's double the amount of last night! No complementary water either. But at least they have boxed tissues.

The only good thing about this hotel now is that the conference is held here so i don't have to wake up so early to go to the conference. Other than that, it's terrible. I wished i could go to the hotel i stayed in the past few times i came to Beijing. But it's too far from here.

This really hasn't been the smoothest of rides and i just can't wait for this to be over!!!! One lesson i've learnt is that i will NEVER allow anyone other than my colleague or myself to arrange accommodation for me again!!!

What's more, the food is awful. I didn't even have breakfast this morning. And lunch was crap.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by DSD at November 4, 2005 5:34 PM