Chilling Out
This is likely my most lengthy post sorry I am sorry about that. This is also the fifth posting in as many days but I have been asked to post more.
Be careful what you wish for...
I was going to post something light about the Shabbat we spent at the Dan Caesarea. It started off great and I was going to write bout how on friday night, before we went back to the room, we heard someone playing guitar and singing California Dreaming. We went to sit down to listen ( we can discuss the halacha of that another time). He played several songs in Hebrew and then the Beatles Let It Be. I thought that was a good time to retire so we got up to leave and the guys says "Shabbat Shalom" to us. Some may disagree, but it is those kinds of things that remind me how lucky I am to be in a Jewish state.
Anyway I did end up having a problem and for one of the only times in my life I felt compelled to post a review. This is all true and please feel free to send to friends or family or the owners of the Dan hotel chain, if you know them
SABBATH OBSERVERS BEWARE
I want to start off by saying this was all my fault but if you are sabbath observant it will pay for you to read this long review. I was looking to get away for a Shabbat to visit friends that just moved to Caesarea. For several weeks I looked to book the Dan Caesarea but they required a minimum two night stay for the weekend. Many hotels do this because they do not feel like filling the hotel with people who will stay just Friday and then check out after the sabbath. This used to be standard for all hotels in Israel, but I sort of get it I like my friend but at over $700 USD a night I passed on the second night. I decided to look one more time on Thursday and happily found that I was able to book just Friday night. This led to my first mistake. I assumed that since they allowed me to book one night and my checkout was 4pm and the sabbath ended at 5:25 pm, that it would not be a problem.
I was wrong.
My second mistake was that when I checked in I mentioned that I would need the extra 85 min. The person checking in said that it would be difficult, and I should check again in the morning. I have stayed in many hotels of different quality levels all over the world, and I have found this to mean that the person working the desk doesn’t want to deal with it, but I figured since it was only 85 min it would be ok. Also, If you live in Israel, you know that the first answer is always no.
My wife checked on it in the morning and they told her there was nothing they could do. We needed to be out by 4pm because someone was coming FOR THIS PARTICULAR ROOM at 5pm. I couldn’t believe it. I went to the desk and asked for the manager. I was told she would not be in until noon and I decided to wait the 30 min. I own a hotel and understand how they work. I figured that if I reason with the manager I could explain why what I was being told didn’t really make sense and , mistake number three, thought she would be sensitive to the sabbath issue, since I was in Israel. I sat in the lobby and a nice woman came to ask me if she could help. I asked if she was the manager and she said no but she would try to help. The first thing she did was offer me a drink which was the proper thing to do. After I told her my story she went to see what she could do. She came back and said that they cannot do anything and that I was told that when I checked in. I corrected her and told her I was told to check in the morning. If I would have been given a definitive no, I would have gone home. We went to the desk and the person who checked me in confirmed that is what she said but reiterated that they need that room to be ready at 5 pm. I asked if someone had specifically requested that room and she said YES.
I was sitting in the lobby, waiting for the manager, when a couple came to check in. They were told that their room was not ready and that they had been informed that check in on Saturday night is 6PM. I could not believe it . It seems check in was 6 pm but of all the rooms in the hotel , mine needed to be ready at 5 PM.
By 12:30 the manager had not come to see me and I saw the nice woman from across the room and shrugged, like what is going on? She looked into the office and I hear her tell someone that I have been waiting to speak with her. I did not hear the managers answer but the next thing she said was, no, he is waiting to speak with you, you need to speak with him.
It seems she had been there for 30 min. but didn’t want to deal with it. We spoke and she explained how they had a large group coming in and needed the room empty to get ready. I mentioned that if checkout is at 4pm and check in is 6 pm , I find it hard to believe they needed to clean my room first and could not let me stay for the extra 85 min. I mentioned how I was told that someone had requested this particular room, but I also told her I did not really believe it. She admitted that was not the case. I told her it is bad policy to lie to guests. I mentioned that I understand the hotel business, and knew that letting me keep my room would need to be worked on but that with close to 200 rooms,
on a Saturday night,
in the off season,
she should be able to figure out some way to let me stay the 85 min.
She said that if she was able to do anything it would take her the next 40 min to look over all the rooms and see what she can do. Since my wife had left to my friends an hour before, I said I would be back before 4 and would really appreciate her help. I knew when I left, I would not get it.
When we returned, I asked my wife to deal with it because, for health reasons I need to make sure not to get too upset. She was told there was nothing that could be done. She was to go to the room and since we are sabbath observant, wait for someone to come up, clean out the safe, pack our things and send us out. My wife waited 30 minutes, and no one arrived. She actually had to go downstairs to the desk to see why she was waiting to get removed from our room. A short time later someone came up to take care of our things.
It was now 430 pm.
We went downstairs and waited for the sabbath to end. Out of curiosity, my wife went back to the room and as we both suspected there was no one cleaning.
As I mentioned from the start. This was all my fault. I assumed that in the Jewish state that an 85 min request would not be a problem especially since they were willing to sell one night instead of two. It was also a mistake to mention anything when I checked in. Most Israelis wouldn’t have, but since I understand the business, I understand that this could have caused a problem if they were not notified (for the same reason, I also booked the room through their website to save them the 25% booking.com fee). I also should have raised my voice and made a stink in the lobby in front of all the guests. I have been living in Israel for six years and it seems that is a very effective method to get people to do the things they should have done to begin with. I refrained from doing this because I know the job is hard and thought talking calmly would work better. I posted this review, which I almost never do, as a warning to other sabbath observant Jews who might be looking to stay at this hotel in the future because as I mentioned, this was my fault.