We have re-learnt a few important lessons during this sad stay-cation.
1. Man plans, Allah decides.
2. If you have made a plan, said your bismillah through it all, and still something bad happens, it is qadar.
3. If still frustrated, re-assure self with No.1.
How did we learn those lessons? Well. Get a cup of warm drink or set up your breast-pump and get going because this is a long rant.
**start**
We had booked and paid for two nights at this supposedly/reputedly iconic hotel via the ever reliable Agoda but left after only one night.
What happened, many asked.
1. The open season for flies.
Concurrent with our visit, unfortunately. We had to endure flies at lunch and breakfast at the buffet hall. It did not even matter anymore that the Deepavali buffet spread was a huge disappointment. No rezeki.
We even had one dinner in the room via room service just to avoid those pesky flies. The Other Half and I had a mild case of food poisoning for a few days.
2. The Bad Room Service.
The waiter who brought our cart wasn't too happy to serve us our dinner. Grumpy service is not good. Burnt kiddie chicken hot dog is even worse. The Little Girl refused to eat it, good for her! Which left her to drinking her fresh milk from home and pinching our food. Hungry in an isolated hotel is not good. we should have packed a bigger loaf of bread, whaddaya know.
3. The Children Playroom.
There was no one manning the Playroom save for one boy about 6 or 7 years old who seemed to be the resident soccer player there. This young Ronaldo wannabe kept aiming the ball to hit against the grubby glass door and there wasn't any hotel staff to warn him of the danger in so doing. Glass door? Breakage? Children Playroom? Danger to paying customers of the hotel? Hello?
There wasn't anyone else other than us at the Playroom so we left the dirty, dusty, sticky place after an uncomfortable conversation with the boy.
Boy: Akak ni dari mana?
Me: Malaysia.
Boy: Akak ni orang apa?
Me: *why is this boy so racist?! Felt like replying "manusia"* Orang Malaysia. Kenapa?
Boy: Kalau orang Cina kenapa pakai macam ni? *he pointed at my headscarf*
Me: I am Chinese Muslim. Kenapa?
Boy: Bukan orang Melayu kah? Akak masuk Islam ke?
Me: I am Muslim, orang Muslim dari macam-macam tempat, some Europe, some Arab, some Asia. *malas nak explain panjang lebar about everyone being born Muslim, and that I am a revert/ I need to come up with a script for this defence since I am faced with this all the time*
Boy: Anak you orang apa?
Me: Malaysia.
Boy: Dia Cina kah? Tak pandai cakap Melayu kah?
Me: *lost my cool slightly and just wanted to get out quickly* Dia cakap English.
By this point I was quite annoyed and left the boy to continue hitting the glass door with his ball. The Other Half had quietly and cleverly taken The Little Girl out of the Playroom, put their shoes on and went out for a walk. Under the hot sun! with no sunscreen on!
I sat on one of the two toddler beds to quickly nurse Bean.
The Other Half was so mad at this incident he had wanted to leave Pullman before our room was even assigned to us! However, our patience set in and thought we'd give it a shot. This is the part we learnt and reinforced the lessons learnt. Sabar!
4. The un-welcoming Welcomer.
When I brought up the playroom incident to the "Welcomer" during check-in at 2pm, not only he did not quite comprehend what I was saying, he had this aura of "I cannot do anything about it." He didn't even offer an apology or seek to remedy the guest complaint. No, the Guest Manager/Manager on Duty was nowhere to be found.
5. The Room Service
Dare I dial Room Service? Absolutely dislike having to repeat my order and not have it repeated to me. Manners? English? Customer service? Sigh.
6. The Housekeeping
I am sorry I had to trouble them for extra towels. I am sorry for the previous occupant who needed his/her left side reading lamp light bulb changed. We answered a call asking us if we still wanted it fixed. Hello? Your guests have checked out, Pullman...maybe they were as unhappy as we were? Only too happy to leave?
7. The Porch
No proper signage to inform new guests as to where to go upon arrival, or where to park the car. Located at a somewhat basement level, it looked like we were arriving from a back lane of someplace dodgy.
8. The Carpark
Dark, dirty, dusty. Scary!
9. The Concierge
Did not offer my luggage tag until after I had asked for it. Shame.
10. The Check Out
Please wish me a safe journey home at the very least? Thank me for my visit? No? Why, shame again.
Dear Pullman Putrajaya,
Nice architecture without good decent service mean nothing.
Please hold a good trouble-shoot and follow-up action meeting.
Put aside your pride and ego, re-look at your beautiful property with some dignity and sense of ownership.
Be proud of your "soft" key deliveries. Make manners your staff KPI.
Pull up your socks, step up to your Accor service promise and maybe, just maybe, I'd come back with my family.
**end**
**end**
On a happier note, thank you so much for reaffirming my faith via The Little Girl through her sense of adventure. She truly created happiness out of the fresh air and big blue skies that Allah s.w.t. created.
Hope to see Pullman Putrajaya polished to its "former glory", and make us proud of being Malaysians who keep the tourist RM within the country.
Thank you for having us.
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