An Edinburgh hotel has hit back at a guest after they compared their breakfast service to something out of Faulty Towers.
The Novotel at Edinburgh Park were quick to respond on TripAdvisor after a customer had left them a two-star review following their stay in July. Speaking on the reviewing platform, the guest had explained they felt there were a number of good factors to the hotel, such as location and the interior.
However, going into further detail, they said "based on the service" they would not return, and even compared breakfast staff to the character Basil from Faulty Towers.
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The full review read: "Overall the hotel is pretty nice. The location wise its a good base when you are attending an event in the area and wanting to be near the airport or trains. The town is 15-20 min away by tram.
"Some of us arrived at night with young kids and all they could have were crisps. Some staff working during the breakfast reminded me of Basil from Fawlty Towers. The employee shouting how and where to leave the serving spoons, moving them around in an angry manner asking people within our party for their room numbers repeatedly when they already provided them earlier and asking the other ones to go outside of the dining area.
"She even came over to prove her point that there was a sign to wait while we were waiting for somebody to attend to us and walked off like if she was managing US defence department. On two occasions they told us the breakfast is not included in our board when it was included...so they left us waiting while they check with somebody at the hotel.
"I used to work in a hospitality sector and none of the establishments would tolerate that kind of attitude towards customers. If you don't have anyone available to check as people walk in than walk to the table and politely ask the customer what the room number is and let them enjoy their breakfast not chasing people around splitting the group for 15 minutes and shout around where the spoons should be left etc. Customers pay your bills so treat them that way.
"When we provided feedback to the person who seated us she just said thanks and walked off ... on another occasion we were waiting for 15 min at the bar trying to order a coffee but nobody was around so we left. The same day while eating dinner we asked for some parmesan never to see that person again...based on the service I would not recommend this hotel hence the two stars."
Quickly responding to the claims, the hotel apologised for the guests unfortunate stay, however staff were fast to hit back and defend some of the rules they have in place.
A response from management read: Thank you for taking the time to send us the feedback regarding your recent stay with us and I am sorry to hear that your stay didn't meet your expectations.
"I hope you kindly understand that we do have some clear procedures on welcoming and checking the guests at breakfast and the person who is doing the welcome might not be present at the welcome desk all the time as they might show other guests their table and explain about the buffet options.
"Regarding the spoons and tongues at the buffet, we have to make sure that each one of them are used for one type of food only in order to avoid cross contamination and for the health and safety off all the guests.
Please rest assure that I will address all you concerns with our Restaurant Manager and the staff to make sure this will not happen again in the future."
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