Hi there,
I want to tell you about a surreal experience that I had with the Colivers Hotel in Polanco.
For the first 20 days in Mexico City, we booked an apartment on Airbnb and for the last 12 days, we saw on booking.com that this hotel seemed to have very good value for money.
On October 7th we personally went to the property to see the rooms and ask if they would store our bags for 4 days. Since we were going to Holbox from the 26th to the 30th, we needed to leave the rest of the luggage at the hotel since we would return to the same place.
The woman who answered the door showed us the rooms and confirmed that there would be no problem in storing the luggage. Due to this, we proceeded to make the two reservations through booking.com.
On October 20, we arrived at the hotel and since we had already found out that they did not have parking for all the guests nor was there a 24-hour reception as indicated on the website, we decided to confirm that they were really going to store our luggage since there was a different receptionist.
The man told us that they would not keep our bags for us and that it was a service that was not offered. We were in shock as it was the only thing that made us decide to book there.
The receptionist said that he did not know who that woman was, then that she was a security officer who had given the wrong information, and finally, that they had fired her because she did a bad job.
Since it’s not my problem or my fault that they have employees who don’t know how to do their jobs and since we needed to leave our luggage somewhere when we went to Holbox, I demanded that the receptionist cancel both reservations and give us a full refund. The clerk called the property owner, who refused to refund.
I told Diego that we were not moving from there until the matter was resolved. I called booking.com and the agent who answered me told me that since they didn’t have anything written, they couldn’t do anything for us and that they offered us a “Good Will Gesture” of 25 euros to see if with that we could solve the problem of the suitcases.
Those of us who have worked in “customer service” of a company know that there are different procedures and guidelines to follow for the different things that happen with the client. In general, all companies have this “Good Will Gesture” which is a gift that they give you of money or company items so that you are happy after the problem they have caused you.
I refused this solution because with 25 euros I was not doing anything and because what I wanted was the money from my reservations to go to another place.
The incredible thing was also that in almost two hours that I was talking with people from booking.com, the receptionist was using his cell phone without even looking up to see us. The normal thing, in a situation like this, is that the person facing the client goes out of their way to ask for your forgiveness (even though inside they hate you to death).
As those from booking.com had hung up on me for a moment to try to mediate with the property, I told Diego that in the meantime I was going to the police station to file the complaint. Walking there, I wrote to a Venezuelan friend who lives in Mexico City to tell him what was happening to me.
I arrived at an auxiliary police station, but it was closed. I went back to the hotel and on the way my friend called me terrified to tell me that the Mexicans were very aggressive and to be careful. I was a bit surprised because it is not what I had perceived of the character of the Mexicans until now.
I found two policemen and told them everything, they advised me to call 911. I did and they immediately sent a support patrol to the hotel.
We spoke to the policeman who very cordially explained to me what the procedures were like and that they really couldn’t do much. That if there was anything in writing, they could still enter the property and make an arrest. While he was explaining to me where I should go to report, the receptionist came out with the phone in his hand telling me that the owner wanted to talk.
I answered the phone next to the policeman and the owner was in a frenzy asking what the police was doing on his property. He told me to get out of there or “that he was going to come and get me out with his guards.”
The policeman laughed and told me nonchalantly that they couldn’t do anything like that, to calm down.
The receptionist came out again, this time to tell me that the owner agreed to make a full refund and that they would write me a letter in which they promised to return the money.
I called booking.com again to get them to confirm that the property was indeed agreeing to make the refund with no penalty. They told me that I could leave because they would manage it and at night, we received emails confirming that the reservations had been canceled free of charge.
We continue to complain since the new reservations we made plus the taxis we had to pay for cost us around 85 euros more than what we had initially organized. After several days we managed to obtain a “Good Will Gesture” from booking.com of 100 euros, but it does not compensate in any way for the anger, the time lost and all the change of plans.
The money from the canceled reservations, $430, supposedly took up to 14 days to reach the account. Knowing how everything works, I kept sending several emails every day asking for the money. 20 days after what happened and without even having the refund of the money, we continue fighting with booking.com since in the end, they are the ones who must show their faces for this situation.
The latest information we had is that after saying they canceled free of charge, the property backed down and said they no longer refunded anything.
Then, Booking.com told us that if the property does not send them proof of payment within 24 hours, they will transfer the money. It took a lot more than 24 hours, but they returned the money.
I continued posting negative reviews and complained with all existing organizations in Mexico.
What positively surprised me is that an organization called PROFECO listened to us and assisted us with our problem. In fact, the hotel was taken to court, and we had a lawyer representing us since we were in Spain. On the day of the trial, we made the statements by telephone. In the end, the hotel had to pay Booking.com the money and they were fined.
The truth is that for me it was impressive how well everything worked and the attention we received even when we were already outside of Mexico.
The positive thing to note from this ordeal is that the Mexico City police function well. Being sent a patrol car in less than 5 minutes is unimaginable in Spain. It is amazing to have these organizations that take care of the tourist and solve the problem even if you have already returned to your country of residence.