25 replies to this topic

[Hils]

I'm just getting the word out there that if anyone had any problems with the hotel restaurant on the Sunday evening to get in touch with them and complain. I'm pretty sure it wasn't just us

Essentially when we got there we were told we couldn't order from the menu, it was buffet or nothing. When we asked about other people who were clearly eating menu food the guy in question (it later transpired the hotel duty manager) told us we could eat from the menu but we wouldn't get the 20% discount. That was absolutely fine and when we told him this he told us we couldn't all sit together (there were only six of us it wasn't like we were a massive group).

The whole of the conversation reeked of 'we don't want convention people in here now that the con is over'. The guy was incredibly rude and snooty with us so in the end we went to McDonalds.

Everyone else was wonderful though. The girl behind reception that we complained to was kind and helpful and offered to get the manager until it transpired that he WAS the manager. She gave us a load of takeaway menus and also gave me a feedback card so I could make an official complaint

If anyone else had this experience I would recommend contacting the hotel at www.thistlefeedback.com

Such a shame because the whole weekend was brilliant up until that point

[paul]

I think they should move the con to Northampton....  

Ok, yes,  so im a bit biased because I live there  

[Psychosis]

I disliked the restaurant during lunch. The woman who was running it kept accosting people for their money while they were still getting their food. She came running up to me while I was just putting a jacket potato on my plate. She demanded payment from another girl while she was just putting sauce and salad on her burger. I felt it both rude and inefficient.

[Cider]

We had exactly the same problem. He blatently lied to us and told us that they weren't serving until 9pm when there were clearly others eating from the menu. When we pointed this out and the fact that we were paying customers he said OK. We told him it was too late.

We found a different manager down at reception and made a complaint, he said it wasn't the first complaint and went off to speak to him.

I will still be writing a letter of complaint too.

[thedothatgirl]

Hils,  I had the same problem with the Restaurant on Sunday evening and was told that I could not order from the A La Carte until after 9pm which was clearly an effort to put me off, especially as there were other residents who were at that time eating from a la carte.

The buffet provided was poor (it appeared to be reheated left overs)  and clearly they do not consider Convention guest worthy of quality food or service.  The Thistle service has always been below par but this treatment was insulting to say the least. I shall be making a complaint to the headoffice - and thanks for the link.   It's a shame because MEvents did their very best with the Convention - but I can't say I am surprised as I have stayed at the Thistle many times.

[showmasters]

well i do think the hotel did try to work it for the fans , the discounts on food and drinks was offered by Hotel  and i think it worked well for most of the fans , the bars stayed open till very lat and we were able to run the party's till when ever we wanted to which was also very good for the fans wanting to party till the morning  

as to food i ate there twice and food was good and cheep which was great as there is not much around near by and they could have charged a lot more , but instead the prices were very fair so i do feel it was good value , staff were a little direct but that maybe because there were all busy as there was a lot of us there , i think we will have a chat with them and get that fixed for next time , but all in all for a 1st time i think it worked at this hotel

i think its a good hotel to use in the future as we cannot use the  Northampton hotel for every event as often there are not the Dates to run all the event we want to at just one hotel so we have to keep finding hotels that are happy to take a con and work with us and let us have the run of the hotel , so the more hotels we can work with the more chance we have to run great events  

i just thought i would let you know my thoughts

jason  

[Hils]

showmasters, on Nov 2 2009, 04:40 PM, said:

well i do think the hotel did try to work it for the fans , the discounts on food and drinks was offered by Hotel  and i think it worked well for most of the fans , the bars stayed open till very lat and we were able to run the party's till when ever we wanted to which was also very good for the fans wanting to party till the morning  

as to food i ate there twice and food was good and cheep which was great as there is not much around near by and they could have charged a lot more , but instead the prices were very fair so i do feel it was good value , staff were a little direct but that maybe because there were all busy as there was a lot of us there , i think we will have a chat with them and get that fixed for next time , but all in all for a 1st time i think it worked at this hotel

i think its a good hotel to use in the future as we cannot use the  Northampton hotel for every event as often there are not the Dates to run all the event we want to at just one hotel so we have to keep finding hotels that are happy to take a con and work with us and let us have the run of the hotel , so the more hotels we can work with the more chance we have to run great events  

i just thought i would let you know my thoughts

jason  

They were absolutely brilliant on the Saturday. We had a really lovely meal there and everyone was very helpful. I just got the distinct impression that once the con was over on the Sunday they weren't really interested anymore and in fact seemed to be going out of their way to put us off eating there.

[deadrobot]

A hotel in Glasgow hosted a massive worldwide manga con last year (or the year before) so there are willing hotels in Glasgow!

*hint hint*

[natfrog5]

We had problems on the Saturday night. There was just complete confusion over where we could sit and what food we could order, what was the bar, the restaurant and it seemed some tables were only for ppl who had made reservations.

We were eventually given menus and then told we couldnt order from those til after 8.30pm and could only have buffet food which tbh looked  awful. We got up and left and were then walked past by a waiter carrying 2 plates of burgers and chips to ppl who had clearly been allowed to order from the main menus!

We were told that it was because the kitchen had over 80 room service orders and basically there werent coping so they werent allowing ppl to order in the restaurant. Which makes the hotel look completely incompetant and that they cant cope when they are full.

I just didnt feel like any of the restaurant staff knew what was going on.

We got room service in the end and to be fair, it came alot quicker than we thought.

It's a great idea to get the hotel to do discounts and extra food for the attendees at lunch etc but I just think all the staff need to be better imformed about what's going on.

xxxx

[Neoshoegal]

I attended a guest encounter with Mark Lutz on Sunday afternoon, at a certain point an almightly row broke out in the kitchen which totally put me off eating there in the evening.  

[libra]

A friend and I were sitting having a drink in the Oak and Advocado on Sunday lunchtime and we watched the girl behind the bar get flustered trying to cope with people ordering room service and trying to fill the orders for people in the O and A. At one point a man complained he had been waiting for a roast beef sandwich for over an hour, the reply he got was 'we're trying to serve 700 people' The O and A only has 8 tables and this girl couldn't even remeber who had ordered what.

If the hotel is going to hold cons then they need to supply extra staff to cover the busy periods, its common sense and ME is not the only people to hold cons there so you would have thought the Thistle would have learnt by now.

Still a good con though.

[cookies41]

I gave the restaurant a miss when eating food at lunch at the evening choosing instead to got to McDonalds. When i got breakfast there however, it took a while for me to be seated. The bar staff did seem a little overwhelmed especially on the Saturday night when there was a lot of people at the bar.
Also the tuck shop was a good idea especially if you just want a snack but it was a tad over-priced. The Hilton at the Hub3 was cheaper at their discount food than at the thistle. £1 for a kit kat and other chocolate bars does seem a little overpriced when at the garage i got 2 big twix bars for £1.20
Also on a different note, did people also have the problem of their key cards continuously not working. It felt that every time i went to get it fixed at reception i then had to go back every other time after using it once. Quite an inconvenience when you have food in your hand.

[crippsy_99]

I cant help but lol at this thread. Its like you expected decent service from this p*ssle as many attendee's of other con organisers who use that hotel have grown to name it..
Having been staying there several times a year now for the last 9 years, I can say from what everyones been saying that it certainly doesnt sound like anything new.
Overpriced, barely edible food. Awful service. Rude staff. Then theres the useless ones..sounds about right for them! Not seeing anyone mention seeing the mice this time in the breakfast room upstairs yet, so they must have kept them under control this weekend!
But alas, while the events are still held there, then stay there I must, or risk staggering over the dual carriageway at 3am under the influence of alcohol to get to the sheraton across the road. Its fine as long as you dont want to eat there!

As a note for next time, there are several take aways in the area which deliver. There is a couple of pubs down the road serving food. McDonald's as everyone knows about. And the garage. At the other events I attend, people learnt long ago to use one of the alternatives than tempt fate at the hotel for anything other than sleeping in.

Btw, for those of you wanting to complain, fair enough, but im guessing you didnt realise their head office is the other side of the car park in the other wing! You could have complained in person if any bosses had been around. Unfortunatly its that reason that your complaints probably wont be taken notice of. They've not listened in a decade so doubt they'll start now!

Edited by crippsy_99, 02 November 2009 - 10:04 PM.

[Madeleine]

No mice. One cockroach.

[pez]

Madeleine, on Nov 2 2009, 10:05 PM, said:

No mice. One cockroach.

oh you should have taken it to the talks i'm sure it would have enjoyed them, then i would have liberated the poor thing, it probably didnt want to be there either

[Cider]

I absolutely agree with crippsy, I have been conning at that hotel since 2002 and the staff are horrendous. They just do not like convention attendees. And they still don't seem to have figured that when 500+ people are coming to a convention there, it's going to be a tad busy and they need to get extra staff.

This is an airport hotel, the only time it will be full is when there are events held there. Most people stay for one night before or after their flight. We come in droves, we clear out their bar and we spend lots of lots of money there. We are paying customers and deserve to be treated with respect like every other paying customer. The place is a disgrace to the Thistle chain (I have stayed in several Thistles elsewhere which are really nice).

I despise the place (even though it often feels like home) and the only reason I stay there is for the convenience.

[Psychosis]

Totally agreed with Cider and Crippsy. I groaned when I saw it was announced at that hotel, but for future reference, the Sheraton really is a fabulous alternative. Resign yourself to eating at McDonalds and out of a petrol station, try not to have a disability or have something stolen, and try your best to avoid any other problem, and you can keep your contact with Thistle staff to a minimum.

[paul]

pez, on Nov 2 2009, 10:29 PM, said:

Madeleine, on Nov 2 2009, 10:05 PM, said:

No mice. One cockroach.

oh you should have taken it to the talks i'm sure it would have enjoyed them, then i would have liberated the poor thing, it probably didnt want to be there either

Oh, if it had been a Heroes convention it couldve been a real talking point!?

[niffer]

Well me and my mum wanted to upgraded are room cause we were in a double not a twin so we went down to reception where we were told that we wont actually booked into the first room...even though we had been in it for like 5hours!

So we got our room upgraded (which we had to pay for, buts thats fine), whilst packing our stuff up to move room (5mins after we had been down to reception) 2 other guests came into the room! (They were convention attendees and very groovy:D but it could of been anyone who came into that room) They had over booked our room! My mum wasnt happy that the hotel had let this happen.

Then when my mum went to check out turns out the hotel had charged her for both rooms! and they wont refund her the money for like 2days

Lets just say my mum isnt a happy bunny!

But enjoyed Hallowhendon lol

[majorkennedy]

its always the same with the thistle the staff treat all the con ppl like crap there is no point in complaning to them they never listen to a thing we say been the same for years did my first con there in 2004 been complaning ever since then about the same stuff every con and still not a thing has been done  all they want is all the bussness ppl there with all there fancy suits i really dont know why most of the con org keep useing the place since there is so many hotels near buy that must have a hall the size we would need im sure the park inn  must have fin building the one there were doing buy now would be great to go to a con at heathrow and have a nice hotel to have it in for a change