A female solo traveller has told how she had to switch her hotel on holiday after a member of staff made her feel uncomfortable. The woman, in her late 20s ,was in West Africa when problems started to arise on the first night of the trip.
A waiter tried to slip her his number while she was having a drink at the hotel's beach bar. But after writing the incident off as a one-off the woman, returned to her room only to receive a sinister call through the hotel phone from the waiter.
Taking to Reddit, the user asked for advice after she was bombarded by a member of staff.
She said: "I’m (late 20s/F) staying in West Africa and I’m travelling by myself. I bought a drink at the beach bar and the waiter tried slipping his number in my bill. I pretended I didn’t see it.
"I [then] got a call from the waiter to my bedroom - he not only knows the room number (I charged my drinks to my room), but obviously felt secure enough to call. He said “hi, I’m going to be at XYZ bar tonight can I see you?” I told him to not call again and hung up."
"I’m at this hotel for four more nights, and I’m pretty uncomfortable. The staff seem to be pretty tight knit, and I don’t know whether to go to reception and complain - as I’ll likely bump into him again."
She ended the post by asking Reddit users what she should do, with many suggesting her to change hotels for her own safety.
User lh123456789 wrote: "Honestly, I would switch hotels. I wouldn't feel safe."
SarahSilversomething added: "Absolutely agreed. Call corporate and ask them to find you a new (better) option to stay at. It’s not worth risking your safety."
iluvadamdriver said: "I am also a woman who would absolutely switch. You are not being over dramatic or hypersensitive, as we women are often made to feel when things make us uncomfortable. Listen to your gut."
Other travellers shared their experiences from receiving unwanted advances.
accidentalchai wrote: "I would switch. I had this happen to me in Nepal where one of the staff members got trashed, groped me in the lobby, and the other one laughed about it and didn't help. I ran to my room, locked the door, and still stayed overnight in my room but I barely got any sleep. Seriously, switch hotels! It's not worth losing sleep over and worrying."
After receiving hundreds of comments urging the young traveller to leave the hotel. She posted an update a day later stating that she had decided to confront hotel management.
She wrote: "I left the hotel and have checked into another. Front desk was somewhat apologetic but didn’t seem to understand why I was so annoyed. He seemed more annoyed by me causing a scene at the front desk, but a couple of the porters outside seemed disgusted by the behaviour as they asked why I left so early.
"They refunded me for the remainder of my trip. They’ve not refunded the 1 night already paid for, which wasn’t cheap, but I’ll be sure to chase it up. Not sure if they’ll cover the new hotel fees but I’m going to 100% state my case."
The solo traveller expressed her 'disappointment' at the response she received from both the management and from representatives of the international hotel chain.
She continued: "Overall really disappointed by the representatives on the phone.. They were the worst as they all called it “an inconvenience” - which sounded a bit scripted given how often they repeated it."
Finishing the update she thanked users for their advice before answering a question about why she chose to travel West Africa.
"For those asking why travel to West Africa. I spent the day walking around the city, drinking and swimming and it’s a very international touristy destination and not once did I feel unsafe," she concluded.
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