Lifts and Stairs

There are only two working lifts in this hotel.  The other(s) are out of action.   This makes for a lot of waiting around for a lift to arrive and, occasionally, when travelling down you can find yourself unexpectedly heading back up again.

I had to get something from our room earlier and waited and waited and waited for a lift but decided in the end that it would be quicker and easier to use the stairs.   This proved not to be the case.  On entering the stairwell I discovered, much to my surprise, that I could only travel downwards.  The up door was locked and the door I had just came through turned out to be a one way door only.  So down I went and found myself in a strange part of the building with no way to get back to the hotel area.  In fact, I had to exit the building, walk down the street, around the corner and back in via the main entrance.

This is obviously a security precaution to prevent stair-dancers but it is bloody inconvenient when the lifts aren't all functioning as they should.

Wellington

There are few things more ineffectual in life than cleaning one's teeth manually with an electric toothbrush.  Somewhere between home and the hotel it had somehow managed to turn itself on and drain the battery.  Let's hope that this is not an indication of how the day is going to be.

When we arrived here yesterday I had to shoot off to see some people while Camille booked in.  Apparently our room wasn't ready and they were to call her when it was.  Unfortunately nobody informed me of this and when I arrived back at the hotel some hours later and headed to reception to pick up my keycard I succeeded in changing our room from a superior suite to a standard suite at an extra cost of $100 per day.  Don't ask me how I did this but I will say I won't be taking advice on hotels from Camille's brother any time soon.

I went up to the room that had been assigned to me and lay around in it thinking, "Well this is a pretty crap upgrade" until Camille arrived back to sort everything out. I don't know where I would be with out her. However, I am  with her and we are in the room we should be in.   Relief all round.

Off to Wellington

Camille and I are off to Wellington today.  One of our clients is having their annual conference at the Intercontinental Hotel which I have to say looks quite good.  Here's hoping it lives up to its looks.  While we are there I will endeavour not to

Lock my self out of the hotel room

Get locked inside the hotel room

Get stuck in one of the lifts or almost stuck in one of the lifts.

It's pissing down with rain so its likely to be a long, slow trip.  The car is already loaded up with conference bound boxes and other bits and pieces and everything else is basically packed and ready to go.  Just need to add the two laptops, two netbooks and the data projector and we should be able to swan off around 8:00am.

Waipuna Hotel, Auckland

Waipuna Hotel staff have a bad practice of knocking on your door in the morning and shouting out, "Mini Bar!" as they have come around to check to see if you have used the mini bar at all.  This morning, a Saturday, a staff member was at our door around 8:00am.  What if we had wanted a sleep in? 


This pales in to insignifance compared to the experience of a friend of ours who came out of her shower at 7:30 in the morning to find a male staff member, having had no answer to his shout of "Mini Bar", had come into her room to check it!


Chain your doors in the Waipuna Hotel.

Hotel Hotel III

I requested Dominion Post to be delivered each morning I have stayed in this hotel. So far I have received a New Zealand Herald, a Weekend Herald and a Sunday Star Times.

Breakfast

Last night when ordering breakfast I decided to have something different. Any ideas on what it is? None?

Seared salmon, pickled ginger, steamed rice and nori. Quite a tasty wee dish though the stock was a little salty for me.

Hotel Hotel

In Auckland again and in the Sky City Hotel, not the Sky Grand Hotel. Back in June we stayed in the Sky Grand and I wondered at the difference between the two hotels, the SG being a 5 star and the SC a 4 star. We are staying in an executive suite in Hotel 5 which puts us on the top floor. We have a large living area and large separate bedroom, both larger than most people's living rooms/bedrooms. The bathroom is separate from the toilet and shower and there is a dressing room. Not too bad.

However the 4 star rating kicks in with

1. No bathrobes!
   
2. No bottle opener
3. No utensils of any type at all except for 3 teaspoons
4. Lots of other small bits

The one that really gets me is the lack of bathrobes. You get used to things like this in hotels. Even the Jimmy Cook provides them in their standard rooms. Yes; one gets used to them and so fails to pack them. This can cause embarrasment in the morning when breakfast arrives - so I made Camille get up and answer the door.

I'm pretty suprised by the lack of various items in this suite. Have they forgotten to stock it or did they deliberately remove everything just in case we decided to pack our bags with extras? Either way, it's been noted down along with a fairly long list of other things about Sky City Hotel which I won't go into here - suffice to say we won't be organising any more conferences here unless they buck their ideas up.

Another Hotel Experience

Not mine this time. My wee hotel corridor episode brought back memories to a friend. He writes:

"had a similar experience a good 25 years ago...New Plymouth...woke up naked....no clothes in my room....opened door to find them slung off down the hall way - all the way to reception desk where this angry lady just shook her head."

A Hotel Experience

Something you read about or see in films: I have just had the interesting experience of standing in a hotel corridor dressed in nothing but a hotel dressing gown and realising the door has just shut behind me. Fortunately for me Camille was still on the room so I knocked. However she was on the phone and I was left out there until the conversation was finished which took a couple of minutes. I'm glad that no-one decided to leave their rooms during this time.

Disconcerting is how I describe the experience.