HK tourist swears off Singapore after D'Resort experience
A tourist from Hong Kong, who wants to be known only as Jojo, claimed she had such a bad experience at D'Resort @ Downtown East that she does not want to come to Singapore any more.
"No water and no power for the whole night. No refund. No apology. Only poor hospitality," she told Stomp.
"When l checked in at night on April 1, the staff told me there would be no power from 2am to 5am because of an annual maintenance.
"The staff was aware of my concerns and assured me the shutdown would not last too long, maybe around 15 to 20 minutes. 'No worries.' l thought several minutes was acceptable. It was too late and expensive to change to another hotel."
Ms Jojo showed Stomp a photo of a notice informing guests of the power disruptions but claimed she was not informed about the disruption to the water supply.
"Unfortunately, there was no water from around midnight and no power until next morning," she claimed.
"I couldn't sleep with a sweaty body, having just landed. The weather was super hot, almost 40 deg C. No air-conditioning and no windows could be opened,. l could hardly breathe! l wanted to open the door but the corridor was super hot, too! I almost fainted in that terrible, dark, hot room.
"My hair was full of shampoo and body was covered with shower gel. I felt ill and had allergic reaction on my skin after that awful night," she said.
"It totally ruined my holiday! I cancelled all meetings in the following days.
"I saw the doctor twice after the trip. The doctor said l had heatstroke that night and the shower gel caused the reaction. I am still seeing the doctor and taking medicine."
Ms Jojo told Stomp that another guest shared a similar experience on Trip.com, complaining about waking up from the heat as there was no air-conditioning despite being informed there would be back-up power.
In response to a Stomp query, a spokesperson for D'Resort @ Downtown East said: "The guest arrived at 5.50pm on April 1 to check in, and the front desk staff duly informed her regarding the shutdown scheduled from 2am to 5am on April 2.
"They explained that there would be intermittent disruptions to the power supply due to the maintenance being conducted in time blocks"
Guests could choose not to check in and get a full refund, according to the spokesperson.
Ms Jojo claimed she was not given this option when she asked the staff what she could do.
The spokesperson continued: "The shutdown for the guest's block commenced at 3.29am, and the power was restored at 4.12am.
"Separately, when the guest called at 12.40am on April 2 to inform the resort of the low water pressure, the staff apologised to her, mentioning that we would check immediately.
"A technician was immediately dispatched, and it was found that the water pump on level five had tripped. The technician was instructed to fix it and the water supply was restored to normal shortly after."
Ms Jojo claimed there was no water from 12.30am to 1am and again from 1.40am to 4am.
"The resort has responded to the guest's emails and apologised to her for the inconvenience caused, as well as extended a 50 per cent discount for her next visit, valid for a year," said the spokesperson.
Ms Jojo, who has filed a report with the Consumer Association of Singapore and Singapore Tourism Board, is unlikely to take up the offer.
"l have stayed at many hotels in different countries and never had such a terrible experience, even in developing countries," she said.
"I liked Singapore before, even wanted to move to Singapore, but l have changed my mind. It seems to have no consumer protection, which is very basic in civilised countries.
"I won't go to Singapore any more!"
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