Is it just me or is AlWatan newspaper acting like totally cheap prostitute?!
For the past week or two, nonstop, the exact same issue of the 50 KD salary increase has been repeated every day in the biggest font on the top of the front page!!
I have never seen a newspaper be so enthusiastic about an issue! The problem is that AlWatan has suddenly adopted an issue beyond anything else and that this issue in the end revolves around personal gain and might actually be something bad for Kuwait in the long term!
The issue was rejected by the finance committee in the parliament, but that doesn’t stop AlWatan, they went as far as asking people (actually begging) to get in touch with their members of parliament to get them to meet and approve the issue even though the parliament is on a break right now!
I keep trying to convince myself that the same newspaper would take one fifth of the effort spent in this campaign in adopting real issues like improving the education system of fixing our outdated hospitals or the Northern oil fields situation or something like that!!
Im not saying the 50KD is a trivial matter, but if you read the newspaper, you would think that this 50KD will help solve all Kuwait’s problems!
They are acting like a cheap prostitute who’s mouth has been watering since they heard about the 50KD!
And today they went beyond all reason and even human decency!
As a newspaper, they are supposed to cover the news, the main issues happening in the world today….right??
The world was shocked yesterday at the Israeli destruction of Qana a second time in recent years, killing many children and wounding many more. The Lebanese war has been going on for a while now, and yesterday was a significant day in the fighting and diplomatic efforts, but the Qana massacre is a black mark in our recent history without a doubt….
How did the Kuwaiti papers cover it?
This is the front page from the 3 other papers I have next to me -
All the papers have the Lebanon issue on the front page, what did AlWatan do for their front page?
You see the red circle??? That’s where they mention Qana - مجزرة قانا الثانية تدخل المنطقة إلى المجهول
Thats it!
They talk about Israel pulling out later….but look at the main issue!! 50KD salary increase, 200KD min7a….. 6raaara!
Disgusting!
When I wrote about my experience at the Kempinski Kuwait this past weekend, I was obviously very angry, but more than being angry, I was very disappointed because of the high expectations I had.
These high expectation don’t come out of nowhere. The reason for the high expectations is because of the good reputation that the place has built up in such a little time and because all I ever heard from people was great feedback!
If I went to a 3 star hotel and recieved that service, I wouldnt have complained because it should be in line with my expectations.
One of the most important factors in the success of any organization is its management, and earlier today, I got calls
from the hotel’s management and owners.
There were five main messages that I got from the phone call -
- They apologized more than once for any inconvenience I have encountered during my stay.
- They are very pleased that they got to read about this from a customer, since it was an honest review (no bias, and no reason to be biased) by someone with a bad experience.
- They promised that this was probably a one-off and that they will do their best so that this does not get repeated with anyone else and that their high standards need to be met at all time even if they were at full occupancy.
- The manager of the resort said he wanted to meet with me in person to get more details about my experience and discuss the problems.
- They offered me some sort compensation for my weekend.
As a person who works in PR and marketing, I don’t think there was a better way to handle this situation. You couldn’t ask for more in such a short time!
An email with an apology would’ve been good, a phone call personally from the hotel wouldve been better, a call from the top manager and requesting a meeting to apologize is excellent!
Im a sucker for customer service, if a place treats me well, I’m loyal regardless of any competition or anything and spread the good word, if a place treats me as a customer in a bad way and doesnt care, I obviously avoid that place and I also spread the word! If a place treats me bad, but then apologizes and goes out of its way to try and win me back, obviously the bad service is still on my mind, but I respect the place alot more and would definitely give them another shot.
Overall, Im very pleased with the response and the speed of it and Im glad that companies like that realize the importance of word of mouth and want to keep their good image as it is.
Will update more after the meeting sometime this week.
Since its summer, and I have no travel plans at the moment but getting bored, I booked a room at the Kempinski hotel this past weekend, from Wednesday to Friday, for me and my wife.
To make a long story short, it was the worst weekend possible!!!
And now for the details…
We arrived late, around 10:30 pm on Wednesday, and earlier in the day they asked if we still coming, and I confirmed to the person on the phone. Anyway, before we arrived, I called to ask if the room service is available at that hour (I was starving and was considering just grabbing anything from outside if no room service), it took the person on the phone around 5 mins to understand my question, then he asked me if I have a room, and I said Im on my way to check in, he said no more checkins today, everybody already came!! After a small argument, and me telling him that Im less than 5 mins away, he said ooh ok yes we found ur reservation…..not the best start!
It was both my first and my wife’s first visit to the Kempinski. As soon as we arrived, all we could see is shabaab, and the small road they have inside the resort barely fits one car, and it was actually a two side road!! So we get down and go to the reception for check in, I ask if we get a parking spot, he said no, so I told him ok where is the valet guy, he said we dont have one! Ok, what am I supposed to do? The guy explains to me that I have to drive my car and leave the resort, and park it outside there and walk back…. 5 star hotel?!?
Not only that, but then another guy who works there said that they do valet, so I said good, why say you didnt have that service?? So the first guy looks at the second guy and says “what? you’re going to drive the car?” and laughs!! I swear its like a small baqaala! So I get pissed off, but still remain calm because im hungry and need food! So he gives me the key and room number and thats it! Again, its my first time there, so I ask him where the room is, he says its on the right (which basically means it could be anywhere on the right half of the place), so I tell him I want someone to take us to the room and show us the way, he says we dont have anybody and its easy! Im starting to get more pissed off….I walk around trying to find the room, two rounds later without finding the room, I find a person who works there and ask him where the room is, and he just points in a general direction….I get real angry, scream at him, and tell him to come and take me to the room!
We got there, the room number is seen only once u actually reach the door, which is annoying. Anyway, we get in, put our stuff in the room, and then take our car outside. By now Im really not liking this place! My idea of a relaxing weekend is going down the drain, so I decide that since they have shown me 0 respect since coming in, why should I show any respect? So instead of parking outside the room or outside the resort, I find a reserved parking place which is covered, inside the resort, so I go in and park, at least my car wont be boiling!
We walk back to the room, and by now the number of kids cycling around and running around are also bothering me, all I want is food and quiet! We reach the room and I order a club sandwich, a bottle of water and an orange juice, very simple! 30 mins later I call them and ask how much longer it will take, the response I get is “we’re busy, it will be late”!! Now I stopped getting annoyed and its all starting to be funny! No “sorry for the delay sir”, no “we’ll get there as soon as we can”, only a “we’re busy, it will be late”!! And they weren’t kidding! An HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES later, I get my food, and the forgot the water!!
I heard so much about the Kempinski, I had high expectations, the service is sooo bad its incredible that they are even above a 2 star hotel! The room from the inside was really really nice! Its a shame everything else ruined it!
After that day, I decided to avoid the resort on Thursday, but I did call to ask them to deliver a coffee from Second Cup (they have flyers inside every room that says that they deliver coffee to all rooms), I got the exact same response, we’re busy, come and get it yourself. This obviously isnt the hotel’s fault, its a seperate thing, but it is still part of the whole experience! Anyway, we get our coffee and try to waste time, thank God we had plans for the evening! The pool and the beach are absolutely full of people, not a place you feel comfortable in at all. Anyway, we decided that since we’re bored, we want to at least play cards or something, so I go to the reception and ask them where their gift shop or grocery place is, the lady there tells me that I have to leave the resort, go to the next resort and ill find a grocery shop there!! I shouldve expected it actually and I wasnt surprised….
Anyway, we leave for the evening and come back late at night, around 1AM after going to a friend’s shalaih, and the key for our room doesnt work. So I call them and tell them that my key isnt working, so plz send someone to open the door for us. The guy says “come to reception to get a key!!”, I told him again (calmly) that I want someone to come and open, he says, “we’re busy there’s noone to come”, by now I lose my temper and start yelling at him telling him thats its 1AM, how can everyone be busy at 1AM??? Its HOT, the room is far from the reception, and the key not working is your fault and not mine, so send someone!! ….. what did he respond? “maybe the key was next to a phone so it wont work!” LOL!! I start yelling more and telling him that i dont give a shit why its not working, and that both keys were not working even though neither was near a phone! Finally I just told him im waiting, send someone now, and closed the phone. Guess what? less than 2 mins later, someone came in their little golf cart and opened the door! I realized that this is the only way to get any kind of service in this place!
Checkout is at 12, but since I had no respect left for that place anymore, I overslept on purpose, I got a call from them at 1 telling me that checkout is at 12 and we need to leave, and that they will send someone over now to check the room. I wait, and wait, and wait….nobody came, so we carried our stuff ourselves to the reception to checkout, and its a zoo! Sooo many people waiting at the reception area! So I get to the lady and tell her I want to check out, she says ok but we’re waiting for the person to check the room! I tell her I took 2 bottles of water from the minibar, and she says ok but we still need to wait, which basically means they think everyone is lying!! 45 mins later, I get really angry and start yelling, and people start joining in the yelling at the reception, they tell us the system is down!! What the hell does the system have to do with waiting for the person to check the rooms?!?!?! They printed our reciept quickly, so the system is definitely not down! I tell the guy at the recpetion that I have NEVER been to a hotel that keeps the guests waiting to check if they’re saying the truth or lying about the freakin minibar!! His response, “we are not a hotel”!! LOL! I explain to them the idea of having my credit card info, which means that if I was lying, they can deduct anything they want from it later….I really start making a fuss and getting loud and causing problems, so they finished me without checking the room just to stop me from causing a riot! I checked out 1 hour later!!
Again, the lesson was, screaming and yelling gets your work done at the Kempinski Kuwait, being polite doesn’t!
WORST experience ever!!
Never again!
And the excuse that they were full because of summer is not good enough, they should be prepared to serve their customers at full capacity!
Its definitely summer, very hot, no motivation to work, slow and boring wordays…..anyway, dont feel like thinking, so I’ll just link something.
This is old news, sometime last week, but still its very cool …
Basically, this guy started a blog with the intent of trading up from a red paper clip, and one year later, he actually got a house!!
More details
The blog
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