An Edinburgh hotel have hit back at a group of guests who they claim were acting "suspicious" during their brief spell at reception.
Having taken to TripAdvisor to leave a negative review about the Ibis hotel at St Andrew Square, the hotel quickly snapped back to explain their reasoning after the guests called one of the hotel night porters "rude."
The group of three, arriving at 7am in the morning, attempted to secure a room for that evening, but were informed they could not check in until 3pm, which they say they already knew.
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After sitting down the charge their phone to book the hotel online, they said the night porter told them to "hurry up or leave." The group were then told that the hotel was fully booked and were forced to leave after being made to feel 'unwelcome' by the member of staff.
In the review, the customer wrote: "I came here early morning (7am) with two others to book a room for the night, we had travelled overnight and we liked the look of this hotel as it’s near the markets, we were greeted very rudely by a member of staff, who told us we can’t check in until 3pm, which we knew.
"All our luggage was in the car, we just wanted to secure a hotel room for the night to go about the day rather than doing it later and running out of time, so we asked to charge our phone to book online for this hotel, we were sat down for approximately 90 seconds if that! and then told to hurry up or leave.
"He then asked us when we needed a room for and continued to look for a room on the laptop in an agitated manner, which he said it’s fully booked, fair enough so we asked can we have a look for somewhere else as we didn’t have battery on our phones (we had been travelling all night)."
The disgruntled customer continued to say the night porter made them feel "uncomfortable" and only allowed them to sit for a few minutes. Following this, they were reportedly told that they could not put their rubbish in the bin situated in the reception area.
They added: "He said “two minutes!” he was circling us around the table making us feel uncomfortable, and two minutes were up so we were leaving and he was ready to tell us to leave, we needed to dispose of some rubbish which is said “no the bin is for our rubbish only”. This employee has no customer service and this has ruined our first hour in Edinburgh, and I hope this doesn’t reflect on how this hotel treat their potential guests.
"I have stayed at Ibis in many cities across the world and this has been the worst greeting I have encountered. I gave this a two star as for what I did see of the hotel it looked very nice and clean with a great location."
Following the review, the hotel's general manager hit back at the claims and made a case for the night porter, saying that the guests might have "misunderstood" his approach.
The manager added that insisting to charge your phone without consuming any food or drink during breakfast hours was "suspicious."
They replied: "Thank you for your feedback from your 15 minutes experience with us.
"I am sorry that you had the impression of our Night Auditor to be rude with you, I do think you might have misunderstood his approach at 6.45am in the morning - I do believe he was respectful, however firm with you.
"As a night auditor, he and his colleagues duty is to secure our guests and staff safety. Three people showing up randomly at 6.45am without a reservation or any luggage, then being told we did not have triple room available for the day however the people insisting charging their phone without consuming anything for a long time during breakfast hours, is something we would think a little bit off and suspicious.
"Whist you were here, you were offered coffee and breakfast, but you declined both and I am sorry but during breakfast hours we need the availability for our paying guests. I am sorry that these actions left you unimpressed with us."
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