By: Andrea Ross
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Brandon says when it comes to hotels I’m spoiled, and he’s right, I am, but I don’t think I’m a hotel snob. I’ll admit that nothing makes me happier than walking into a stunning hotel room that has every detail covered and a view to boot! With that said, I don’t demand five star accommodation, in fact some of my favorite hotels…4 Rivers Ecolodge, Koh Kong; Fern Resort, Mae Hong Son; and Topas Ecolodge, Sapa, definitely aren’t five star standard, but they are beautiful properties with views and ambiance to spare.
All this is to set up that I am not a complete snob and that I don’t need ridiculous amounts of luxury so when I say it’s bad…it is bad! And let me just tell you, Spring Valley Resort in Kep, Cambodia is bad!
The bizarre thing is that I didn’t book Spring Valley on a whim. In fact it was recommended by clients who stayed there. I thought since they liked it I should check it out and since the kids and I were heading down that way it was the perfect excuse. The booking process went fine and they were very understanding that we needed to have a room for two adults and four kids since we all needed to be together. The problems all started when we tried to get there.
We hadn’t been given great directions so we attempted to call when we arrived in Kep…no answer…to either number. A tuk-tuk driver pointed us in the right direction and after wandering around for a while we found it. We pulled into the driveway and a few construction workers gathered to watch us unpack.
At this point I must say that the hotel had warned us they were building another building on the property so there would be some construction during our stay, that was no problem at all with me. They also said that their restaurant wasn’t yet up and running so no breakfast, again, no problem, I came armed with cereal and milk.
So upon our arrival a young man did come out and show us to our room. I took one look at the bathroom and realized they had forgotten to clean it. I explained this to him and he sent in a construction worker with a dirty rag who wiped it around a little and left. There were no extra beds and only two towels. I explained that there were 6 of us and that we had been told that a mattress would be provided…one was brought up, I then asked for sheets for the mattress…they were brought up, I then asked for some extra pillows, those finally arrived. I was starting to get the idea…if you want it, you need to ask for it, nothing just shows up around here!
Right away my main pet peeve was the name. Branding 101 people, don’t call a pig a unicorn, you’ll disappoint people! Spring Valley Guesthouse would have prepared us much better for the room we were given! Drop the resort and call a spade a spade my friends!
Luckily the pool was completed so we all headed down for a swim. And what a show we were. Such a great show in fact that the construction workers stopped their work and sat along the wall watching us! Now I know that life can be boring and a bunch of Farang swimming in a pool is a good mid-day entertainment, but I had three young girls with me and it was highly uncomfortable and off-putting. We headed back to our room. Since there had been no towels at the pool we asked for some extra towels for the room, they brought us two and informed us that if they gave us more they wouldn’t have any for the other guests. Either these guests were ghosts or they just didn’t feel we were worthy of more towels because I never saw a single other guest on the premises!
The next day we headed out to Rabbit Island to enjoy the ocean. It was a long and fantastic day and when we got back to the hotel the kids were exhausted and ready for a little break in the cool of the room. Upon opening the door we realized that the room hadn’t been cleaned…not only that, but there were now ants all over the floor and wall because of a dead gecko and we were out of toilet paper. Needless to say, I was angry. All I think when things like this happen is what if this was our guests, not us! What if I had booked this for our travelers and THEY had received this kind of service! I stormed down to the main house/reception to figure out what was going on only to have reception be completely locked with not a soul around. I flagged down some construction workers and asked them for help, but they didn’t know the phone number for the boss and had no idea where anyone was either. Frustrated I got everyone showered and headed out to dinner, but not before leaving a note at reception asking someone to please clean our room and give us new toilet paper and towels.
Thankfully on return from dinner we found a cleanish room and two clean towels (the “other” guests clearly were hogging the rest!), but no toilet paper and the dead gecko remained where he lay!
The next day the kid from the first day was at reception and I got a half-hearted apology for his not being there…I asked for some toilet paper and was given one roll, a small victory! We again went out for the day and on return at 4pm we pulled into the driveway and literally saw a few guys running to our room, when we got up there they were hurriedly cleaning it…I guess our return reminded them that they were supposed to get that done? We put on the swimming show for the construction workers again while they finished “cleaning”. Once we were back in the room Callie rightly stated, “Mommy, they didn’t really clean the bathroom, not like at our house.” Well said little one!
Our departure the next morning was uneventful, no apology, no explanation, just a wave goodbye as we thankfully headed home.
The bottom line is, nothing was stolen, no one was hurt and we all managed to sleep and swim, but we felt more like squatters than hotel guests.
I’m still waiting for an explanation from the hotel…a family emergency? They forgot we were there? They hated us?! In the end, it wasn’t a terrible experience because after the first day it was so bad it just got funny and thankfully, because I went through it, none of my guests will ever have to!