Making do with an executive suite

Almost why me

I could almost declare it official; I seem to attract situations of unsatisfactory service.

Before that, at the airport, I finally found value with my frequent flyer card, I can now jump queues at boarding regardless of the looks I receive has I halt to the air steward.

However, I cannot seem to understand the glum idiot chairman of our apartment owners collective, we were on the same flight, he simply looked through me as I acknowledged him, the same has happened even when we have been in the same lift in our apartment block - such self-importance of peasant-made-good people is always amusing.

Lest I forget, someone at the airport must have read my blog, I wish, or some more perturbed English passenger must have complained, the signs have changed from "Please keep your passport ready" to "Please have your passport ready".

No room at the inn

Anyway, I finally got to my hotel in Berlin and was met with a rather interesting but inconvenient situation, the hotel was fully booked. I did not walk to the door looking for room in the inn; I had booked this room a good 11 days before.

I sniggered and listened as the excuse of problems with the reservation system got me quite incensed, well, I was too tired to muster anger, which was good.

What do you mean the hotel is fully booked? It was booked 11 days ago, I have stayed here at least 6 times before, it had to have been obvious that a regular customer should not be faced with this kind of shoddy arrangement. Besides, I have an Accor Favourite Guest Card which guarantees my booking, so quit messing about.

In the ensuing discourse, the receptionist had offered free drinks, a night in a hotel I suspected was not worthy of my custom and a free taxi ride to and from that hotel when I returned on the morrow.

As usual they were trying to make it appear as if they were doing me a favour, I was having none of it, and I was trying to make them realise I would brook no participation in covering their mistake.

I am no tramp

So, out came the manager, as if that matters to me, the core principle still is; I am not a vexatious customer, I am just one with a requirement which I generally expect to be met.

He introduced himself and was about to go through the sorry story I had already gotten enough of again, I could not bear to hear it twice, so I told him so.

Switching to mildly aggressive negotiation mode, I told them, I would not be sleep round Berlin hotels like some tramp, I had come on holiday for four nights and I expect to spend four nights in one hotel in a very accessible part of Berlin; fix that, and peace will come upon ye all.

I advised the manager to do what he had to do and reconciled myself to the bar drowning my displeasure with a glass of orange juice - never do alcohol when you are fuming. Well, in fact, my card entitles me to a free complimentary drink anyhow.

That would do nicely

He probably had to phone round Berlin to all the hotels in the Accor group - he took his time and it was coming to 23:00 - I keep myself to Sofitel, Dorint, Novotel and Mercure preferring 4-stars or better - from my reckoning it means they bend over backwards to sort out your every issue without you having to go down to the reception desk.

He finally came up with a Dorint Novotel in the centre not far from the zoo; see, I knew these people were capable with properly persuaded and given the chance after a discussion.

I acquiesced and ended up in an executive suite for the same price, much as I could have exacted more, suffice it to say that the manager would be getting a severe reprimand from his superiors and more so, if I am of the inclination to make a complaint about how my card privileges were invalidated because of incompetence in the hotel chain.

Remember, I once had my room triple booked and one guest walked into my room as I pranced around in indecent poise.

Sometimes things just crawl

As the taxi driver opined through a journey that felt like I was riding in Fred Flintstone's car, the hotel was useless with over-bookings; since it was my first bad experience, I did not say much since I am not averse to opulence as barely acceptable compensation. The final insult was when the bell-boy gave me some discount voucher for another stay, I would get it for cheaper - I told him as I threw the voucher in the bin, I book hotels for convenience not for cheapness.

Roll over - sleep, dream and snore - zzz ZZZ!

Numbers on lifts and people

Which floor please? 13

You probably have heard it many times before; there usually is no 13^th Floor in hotels, well, you do need to be in such a building to see that for sure.

Basically, superstition and irrational thinking is the not the exclusive reserve of uncivilized Barbarians or savages in the deep jungles of some faraway land, ever-present in the hub of the lands of liberty, freedom and godlessness, builders would not deign to number a floor 13.

In fact, One Canada Square, one of the somewhat imposing business offices in London does have a thirteenth floor, but it is uninhabited, rather it contains only air-conditioning equipment.

Well, I happen to be lodged on the 14^th Floor of the Novotel Hotel beside the British Library and there is no 13^th Floor. Oops! I let the cat out of the bag, I'm in London till tomorrow.

One of the lifts at Novotel Euston

Numbered people

This use of numbers also applies to another interesting but disturbing scenario; the Time Magazine takes us on a journey through a counter-insurgency raid just outside Baghdad where they had once cleared out insurgents but failed to keep free.

It transpires that they divided the village into numbered sectors and then issued a curfew or clampdown on the village; however, after they had written the sector numbers on the backhands of the women and the back of the necks of the men.

One would suppose this came out of the doctoral thesis of General Dr. David Petraeus on counter-insurgency measures.

The pictures did show distress amongst the family depicted, though, they sensibly did not append the numbers to the ladies necks because that would have involved undressing them by taking off their scarves. The indignity of it all was still evident.

History returning nicely

It is probably essential and expedient to ensure that none of the villagers are caught in other sectors of the town when there is a clampdown.

The writing is probably in indelible ink which would wash off, if the water supply is there in a few days since it would have been an overkill to hire Halliburton to tattoo the numbers on the people.

One cannot help but realize that numbers were part of the game in Holocaust Germany, the victims can still show you the number identifiers - amazing how history just creeps up on you without warning and because this is the War on Terror, it is not the same, only very different; thus, will go the argument.