Comfort Inn Morelia

“STRAIGHT ANSWERS OR SUGER-COATED REPLIES?”

Even though it was the holiday season, I had to attend to business in Morelia. I chose this hotel due to its location and because, as with other hotels, it advertised free internet. Serious mistake. From my room on the second floor I could connect to the hotel’s modem, but my equipment indicat... more

Even though it was the holiday season, I had to attend to business in Morelia. I chose this hotel due to its location and because, as with other hotels, it advertised free internet. Serious mistake. From my room on the second floor I could connect to the hotel’s modem, but my equipment indicated that the modem did not carry an internet signal. When I called down to the front desk the receptionist assured me that I would have a connection in a few minutes, because they would reset the system. During my entire four day stay I never had an internet connection in the room. I had to go down to the hotel restaurant to find a signal. Even the two computers in the so-called ‘business center’ lacked internet access. However, these problems were not what turned me off to this hotel. Rather, it was the staff attitude. In response to my queries about the internet, they reacted as if either the problem did not exist or if I were the problem. “No internet access? How can that be possible? We have modems on each floor.” They suggested that the problem must be with my cell phone. What they did not know was that I was using two cell phones and two computers. All four of them must have been having a bad day, but...only at their hotel. The next day when I insisted that the problem was not with the client side of the modem, but with the provider side, my hotel respondent replied that no one else was having problems. “Nonetheless,” she continued, “we just reset the system ten minutes ago.” “Did you reset the system ten minutes ago because someone else lacked internet access.” “Yes.” Sometimes this wishful thinking/magic realism attitude in Mexico is amusing. However, when it interferes with work and encroaches on the thin line between innocence and deception, it becomes worrisome. I’ve been living and working in Mexico for more than 40 years. During that time I have observed that the young folk in Mexico in general are better educated and have acquired a more sophisticated appreciation of the world. The staff attitudes and responses to customer queries at the Comfort Inn Morelia are the result of training and instruction. I’d barely give this hotel a three star rating (out of five) because of what the staff has been trained to do. If you are looking a business hotel in Morelia, this is not it.

less