Today I got a reply from the Apex City Hotel London. It was a very pleasant letter from Yousif Al-Wagga the general manager of the Apex Hotels group giving hiis sincere apolgies for the problems I experienced with the Apex City of London Hotel.

They have taken appropriate action to ensure that such mistakes are not repeated… what ever that means, and have given me a complimentary stay including breakfast.

I am really pleased with this as it was quite expensive to stay there and was a shame that I had an unlucky series of events. I do honestly belive it was a one off and look forward to my second visit.

Thank you Apex

This weekend I went to London and stayed at the Apex City Hotel near Tower Bridge. The hotel looked fantastic.

But unfortunately from the moment of booking nothing went as expected from a four star hotel. A few of these issues are minor but over the course of the weekend just added up and fuelled my discontent.

The most influential event in writing a complaint letter to the Apex City Hotel in London, was early Sunday morning I was arguably awoken by the hotel fire alarm. This isn’t the reason I am ranting, I am frustrated by the way the incident occurred and the handling of this situation.

On this Sunday morning the fire alarm was set off. However in the room I was sleeping in, 318, this noise seemed to be coming from outside in the distance such as a car alarm. At not one moment did I think it was the fire alarm! It seemed too quiet. So after around thirty five minutes of the alarm ringing I decided to ring reception as I was starting to have second thoughts that maybe something indeed is wrong. Expecting to hear that it’s just a car alarm outside and the police have been informed. I was informed to leave the room immediately there is a risk of a fire.

After leaving the room I realised that the entrance I came through was now blocked off, and were puzzled on how to exit the building. These were the fire doors which had automatically shut, however there was no clear indication that this was indeed the way out, nor any sign saying to push the doors for exit. I always expected in times like this that it would be soo easy to find your way out but I was wrong.

After I realised how to get out of the building and quickly passed down the stairs I was bypassed the fire brigade coming up. I then went across the road and stood with all the other guests opposite the hotel.

At no point was I told what was happening and no head count took place. Seemingly I wasn’t the only guest with the problem of the volume of the alarm, as several other guests came down after I had.

All of us are extremely fortunate that this wasn’t a real fire, I honestly feel if it had have been there would have been a real disaster at hand and our lives would have been in danger.

I would like to know why there is not an automated phone call from the fire alarm system which is secondary to the alarm, with a recorded message to inform you of a potential risk?

Why staff members didn’t ensure that all guests were out of the rooms?
Why a headcount didn’t take place?
Why an explanation of what was happening was given?
And of course how such an alarm could be so quiet in certain rooms?
I am completely mesmerised by how the staff at this hotel could possibly be so unorganised in the event of a fire, it was obvious no one knew what to do.

After all of this I couldn’t have what I wanted for breakfast nor had any hot water, the fire alarm had tripped off the gas.

AND THEN… on checking out I was told by the girl at the reception desk when trying to settle my bill in these exact words, “You will need another method of paying as the credit card machine is not working”.

I felt this to be extremely rude and her entire attitude towards guests this day astonishing.

I explained to her that I had opened my account on my credit card and this being the only form of payment I have. Where she replied “well lets hope that your lucky” before snatching the card off me and trying it in the machine. I tried explaining to her that this is the only form of payment I have, and what am I supposed to do if the machine is out of order? She then starting moaning to me about how all the guests are unhappy this morning… this is not the kind of service I expect in a local bed and breakfast let alone a four star hotel in London.

I feel that no one should be spoken to like this, especially in front of other guests about myself not being able to pay the bill, which was very embarrassing.

I do feel that my experience at this hotel was probably a one off due to the situation, and maybe the extra stress the staff was under. But none the less the staff should be better trained to handle these situations.

Complaint letter on its way…

“coming on to the pitch as a substitute and getting put straight in goal for a penalty”, “doing all the work with the foreplay and not getting any actual sex”.

Argus interviews Stephen Grant.

It was fantastic and Milton Jones was the star of the show but of course the regular Stephen Grant was excellent too once he got warmed up. The other top comedians there were Rusell Howard and Ben Norris.

There was no compere and it was a totally new concept in stand up comic. Having four of the best UK circuit comedians on stage coming on and off the stage by tagging each other was excellent. It worked by quite simply one comedian doing his standup and as soon as another comedian thought of a link between what the other just said he would then get up and take over. So any act can bring on any other act, in any other order.<

The performance was a combination of their normal comedy routines and interactions with the crowds, but had no fixed time limits and no running order. So they could be up there for 2 minutes or 20!

The night was absolutely fantastic, the food was excellent and hope its on again soon!

Komedia, Brighton
From 8:30pm
Price: £8.00/£6.00
01273 647100

And to piss me off even more I found out yesterday that I didn’t get the converted church in Kemptown. The owner decided to take the lower offer which was £2000 less and I was able to pay cash. Apparently he is a very honest person and felt that he should take the other offer as they put it in first. But what really annoys me is that the girl from Kendrick Property Services couldn’t let me in the first time I went to see the place as the door was broken, so in fact I would have been the first person to make the offer.

Oh well shit happens I suppose.

Apart from pretending I was a designer for Clinton cards I spent the weekend looking at all sorts of strange Victorian conversions within the Brighton area. As i’m buying a flat in Brighton. The thing I just don’t understand is why the hell some flats have a massive bedroom and a tiny lounge. The others all have a massive lounge and a tiny bedroom. With every bathroom being the same size, ie the length of a bath and JUST wide enough to have a sink and toilet. This doesn’t bother me as I only need to wash and excrete in there. But all the bedrooms so far are only big enough for a bed, with no furniture. Or the the lounge will only fit one sofa and no where for a table…

Aghh… this has been driving me mad insane, until I saw a converted church in Kemptown. Its not a normal looking church as for some reason it’s been painted bright Yellow. But all the same it seems the nearest to perfect that I can get without spending almost quarter of a million on a flat! If only I lived in Newcastle. As everything is a quarter of the price.

I’ve ended up putting an offer in for the full asking price but I still don’t think that I will get it. I have to wait around all day today wondering if they will take it… I have a feeling that someone is going to gazump me.

The thing that really annoys me is that how the hell do I know if the estate agent is lying? I mean they say someone has put an offer in for ‘x’ amount and you put an offer in for ‘x+£1000′. The mysterious buyer puts an offer for ‘x+£2000′ and so on. But this other buyer may never exist, are there any laws for this?

Anyway lets wait and see what happens… whilst i’m still trying to buy a flat in Brighton.