Novotel Leicester — Hotel in Great Britain

This was absolutely the worst experience my family and I ever had. We were treated like second class citizens and were disrespected. I am warning all my friends and family to never, ever stay at this hotel. A drunk guest broke into my daughter’s room while her and her bridesmaid were asleep at about 3:00 AM on 12/16, the wee hours of the morning before her wedding reception. Upper management, Manpreet Singh, tried to blame my daughter instead of reassuring her and compensating us for the trauma induced by the experience. We were told that the incident was reported to the police but up until now, no police officer came to take a statement from any of us. The maintenance manager promised to review the use of the digital door locks throughout our stay and report their findings regarding the time the man entered my daughter’s hotel room but no one has called us. That was over a week ago. Any number of things could have happened to my daughters, her friend or myself, and instead of understanding and empathizing with us, Amman and Manpreet were condescending and rude. They never believed us and we were blamed for the incident. Manpreet told me that my daughter did not lock her room door and that was why the stranger entered my daughter’s room. She was a victim and he blamed her! How could he have said that??? No empathy for our fear and mental anguish!!! Even if the door was indeed not double locked, what right does it give a stranger to enter another guest’s room? As we were preparing to have our makeup done later that morning my daughter’s friend recognized the stranger as a guest who had been staying in the room across from my room. We informed management and none of them said they would look into it. Several friends and family members also stayed in Novotel Leicester and had their door locks malfunction which resulted in them having their keycards replaced at some point in time. We had a Polish housekeeper scream at us after we asked for towels. I was told to follow her to her trolley to get them from her, along with tea bags and sugar. I should never have to walk to get these items but I did and she handed me the fresh towels and tea bags, sugar, and creamer inside a small white paper bag and handed them to me. To my chagrin, it was communicated to the day shift manager, Manpreet Singh, that I had taken things off her trolley!!! When questioned about this, the same housekeeper told me in front of the supervisor, that she never told the manager that in a very disgruntled voice. This is the same housekeeper who I complimented on her dreadlocks and she rudely retorted, “Even white people can have dreadlocks too”. I had to walk away because the level of rudeness and disrespect was too much- we were made to feel like we were to be blamed for the negative responses and attitudes. So many different occasions we seem to have been targeted because we asked for services which were supposed to be provided with. It appears that anything outside of sleeping and eating were a bother and caused this negative attitude towards us. One night my sister, my friends and I were sitting and talking in the “ very empty” restaurant and a server came over and told us that if the restaurant gets busy we would have to leave. We were paying guests! I was flabbergasted! Needless to say, the restaurant never filled up. What made it worse is that the local Caucasian staff (except for the Polish housekeeper who seemed to be having a bad day) had no issues with us but the brown skinned foreigners like us did; I said as much to Manpreet and he never apologized but instead told me that it was my opinion and said he was leaving because I clearly did not want to hear anything from him. Really sad and shocking that hotel Managers could treat their guests in such a...

I had high hopes for this hotel and really looked forward to my stay there, however I leave this review with only few good things to say. The first few days I experienced the upmost hospitality, but that was truly the end of it. I will preface by saying several of my family members and friends booked this hotel as I was getting married and we all wanted to be close to each other and in the city center of Leicester. On our 3rd morning was when I noticed a stark shift in the treatment we received. Housecleaning came and with a hasty attitude told us if we wanted our rooms cleaned we needed to be out by 12. Now I understand this is the policy, however the morning before another cleaner came and cleaned and said it was okay if we stayed in the room. Regardless, those are the rules and I understand that, but theres no reason to be hasty. In between we asked for some additional things which I’m assuming frustrated her, and she began screaming at my friend and I stating “I can’t do a million things at once, fine if you want me to clean the room, I’ll do it !! Fine!” I left the room and went downstairs to decorate a cake, which I was then interrupted by Amman asking us what we were doing in this area of the hotel and who told us we could be there, even though the day prior we were given permission. When I approached Amman later to ask what was the issue and why there was such a change in treatment he explained that we had done several things wrong, and even accused us of stealing. When I pursued that, the “accuser” retracted her statement and Amman apologized. I was honesty going to leave it at that because the next morning they brought me flowers for my wedding. But it didn’t end there. On the morning of December 16th at roughly 3 am, a heavily intoxicated man unlocked our hotel room and stood in the walkway near the closets and the bathroom. The door opening woke my friend and I and we screamed and cursed at him asking why he was there. For the next minute he stood there before apologizing and walking back out. We phoned reception and a white woman with blonde hair came up. She apologized and said we would get free breakfast for the inconvenience. At the same time, the room across the hall, we could hear a commotion. We asked them to check the CCTV footage and they refused. We asked to check the elevator CCTV footage and cross reference the time we called reception, the management refused. I brought the matter up again to them in the morning and they assured us higher management was looking into the matter. I’ve received no information. Over the following days, my mother spoke with Manpreet and John. Manpreet suggested on more than one occasion, that this was our fault. That “nothing like this has happened in this hotel before, and it’s convenient that all of these things happened when you came.” I honestly could never have imagined such response. It’s clear that they have no intention of rectifying anything that has happened. I am just thankful I was not in the room alone, because I know that I wouldn’t have the hotel staff...

exceeded expectation..| |I cannot put into words, I am honestly beyond grateful to the team for the level of service, expertise, food, level of detail. I am lucky enough to have been taught 5star service in London and I can honestly, wholeheartedly say this is what the whole of H&B team received from the minute they entered the property to the minute they left.| |When we arrived at the hotel, we were looked after beyond words from the operations team helping with our equipment to helping with the screen and making changes for the morning. The team at reception were super helpful, Aman you have the most helpful team – please do thank them! Aman, thank you so much for all your help, helping us sort the wifi, helping us with our printing just so accommodating.|The dinner service by Rhian and team was faultless – the way she handled it from start to finish was a credit. We had no issues and complaints, and the food tasted incredible! – she had a real professional sense about her and made me feel calm. A real godsend to the team.| |The meeting itself went without a hitch – everything was set up and ready! – Luke who ran the day from the opps side in the morning was great, he ran around and made it look easy! The pastries, the teas, coffees had all arrived-on time, and he was always prepared ahead. The last-minute changes and switches, he did this without any fuss.| |The lunch was perfect – The chefs are amazing, Novotel you are lucky to have such an adaptable, professional, and talented chefs – the food prepared by the team just tasted perfect and no one complained the feedback received from lunch and dinner really was second to none. The way Chef adapted the menu for us, catered towards dietaries and made the food look presentable we are grateful for.| |As we headed into the evening, the energy from our team was electric and we felt a real buzz, Liv managed to organise our cocktail of choice and was super helpful before she left for the day. Cletus was all over it from the minute he started his shift and automatically made us feel that dinner in the evening was under control. He has such a calm approach, the way he led service from starters to desert was impeccable and seamless. HUGE thanks to Manpreet and Kerry who helped make it a great dinner.| |And finally…| |Thank you to you Maggie, you have been so helpful, and I really appreciate you helping with all our changes and the way you made me feel at ease you have been spot on! The last minute changes, the most detailed BEO you have been so amazing to work with, I have recommended the hotel to more friends and peers so hopefully they come your way. Maggie you captured every detail and working with you since January has been so easy.| |James, you have the most incredible team your team don’t just do their jobs, they go above and beyond. The whole team at Holland and Barrett saw this, the way they treat the hotel as if it is their home is priceless to see and that doesn’t happen by chance.| |All in all, I cannot fault the hotel, the service – the whole team...