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!