I wonder…. everything OK?

We have been in contact with the hotel on a fairly regular basis. My staff seems to be doing OK. They have been replying to emails with English that has been clear enough for the customers to understand, and have assured me that everything is going well. There have been a few glitches that I know about ( and probably many I do not) such as. We were having to turn guests away because the rooms they wanted were booked while unknowing to us, some a**h**le cab driver was busy giving reasons that our booked guests should not stay with us and instead go to a hotel he recommended. In the end, the guests believed the driver, and they were taken to a different hotel. The driver got paid his 1 dollar commission, and the guests were probably at some hotel inferior to what they had booked. I would like to find the scrawny con artist and wring his bloody neck. I am not so sore that I lost the revenue from the 3 rooms, but am angry that the tourists have been taken advantage of and their plans changed. We had their contact number and asked if their train or bus was late and should we hold their rooms. That is when we were informed that the Taxi driver said that we were too far away from the city and they would have nothing to do. We advised the guests at hoe they were scammed, and the hotel was exactly as described on the internet. Of course they were full of apologies and disappointed that they were taken advantage of. Oh well….. I hope they are able to get good nights sleep where they are. Hotels that rely on these cab drivers are usually empty for a reason. This happens way to often… I could probably take credit card inf or the like to insure that guests do not change their minds, but if they were so easily swayed, maybe they belonged where they ended up anyway.

Another thing I have been hearing is that there has been some trouble with my Air conditioners…. Yea right…..  I have always had trouble with them and it has not been because there is a problem… It has been because people can not figure out how to use the remote control. Yes they can turn it on and off, but have no idea what mode to switch it to. I have spent many hours running up to rooms to change the settings on the remote…. Even some of my own staff still cannot understand the simple 2 button push that activates the cool setting. Sheesh!! I understand that many people are not tech savvy, but c’mon…. a simple air conditioner?? Oh…… sometimes I have to run up those same stairs because of the TV. I simply push the on button…… and Voila!! Double Sheesh!!

Another little quirk… and so far it is a little one, is that I set up Skype as a way to contact the hotel as an alternative to phoning. It is enabled all the time, but no matter how many times I try to call or IM the hotel, I get no response. Hopefully no customers have been put off by the lack of a response

I am now sitting here in the western world wondering what I am going to do tomorrow. In Vietnam this is never a problem, as there is always some crisis or some enjoyable adventure laying in wait. Here it costs money…… a lot of money to do anything. Here is some examples for my Vietnamese readers of what I have spent in the last few days in VND.

A one way bus ride to downtown

Vietnam 3,000                                    Canada 55,000

Breakfast for Me and Mai

Vietnam 40,000          Canada    800,000

A 6 pack of beer

Vietnam 35,000                      Canada   285,000

Will I miss Victoria when I return to Vietnam?? I guess…. It is clean and quiet. Garbage is picked up from bins behind the businesses and not from large rotting piles in the street. There are things to love about both places, but for now, I choose Vietnam.