What would you do if you woke-up at Novotel with ants everywhere? Check-out in 45min.

[HarmonyNYC]

What would you do if you woke-up at Novotel with ants everywhere? I Check-out in 40min.

It is 12:20pm Saturday, May 2007... I check-out at 1pm.

I wake up and I have ants crawling everywhere. I am afraid they may have infested my luggage or extra shoes or laptop bag or whatever.

- How much will the Novotel acknowledge that the hotel has screwed me?
- How do they make-up for this?
- What should I demand?
- What are my rights?
- Can I call any kind of Montreal hotel commission or Montreal health commission?

 

[CaptRenault]

What would you do if you woke-up at Novotel with ants everywhere? I Check-out in 40min.

It is 12:20pm Saturday, May 2007... I check-out at 1pm.

I wake up and I have ants crawling everywhere. I am afraid they may have infested my luggage or extra shoes or laptop bag or whatever.

- How much will the Novotel acknowledge that the hotel has screwed me?
- How do they make-up for this?
- What should I demand?
- What are my rights?
- Can I call any kind of Montreal hotel commission or Montreal health commission?

Harmony, Yikes, what a nightmare. However, I wonder if you did the right thing by checking out right away, though I can certainly understand doing that.

Did you first complain to the management? If so, what did they say or offer to do?

Once you checked out, I think you lost some leverage with the hotel. You can and should file a complaint with the general manager of the hotel and the parent company, but I think the most you can expect is an apology and maybe a voucher for a free night. I think it will be hard to get more than that unless you are willing to hire an attorney and sue them...but the costs in time and money would surely not be worth it.

In a case like this, I would try to keep my cool (not an easy thing to do in this case) and report the problem to the front desk and ask to speak to the manager on duty (obviously, I would get my stuff out of the room as fast as I could too). I would hope that they would offer me something like a free night and a switch to an ant-free (perhaps upgraded room). If I wasn't satisfied with whatever they offered, I would raise a stink at the front desk, hoping to embarass them in front other guests.

Once the situation was resolved one way or another, to my satisfaction or not, I would file a report on tripadvisor.com...and on MERB, of course.

Again, sorry to hear about your misfortune and I hope you found another hotel OK.

 

[voyageur11]

i am trying to understand at 3.07 am no ants. at 10.05 am no ants 12.27 pm no ants at 12.36 pm you just woke up and find your room infested From the time of your post today look to me that you can sleep and post on merb at the same time

 

[wilko26]

i am trying to understand at 3.07 am no ants. at 10.05 am no ants 12.27 pm no ants at 12.36 pm you just woke up and find your room infested From the time of your post today look to me that you can sleep and post on merb at the same time

exactly... this sound bs... David Copperfield in town?

 

[NYClimber]

Shill

Yes, this is total BS. He must be a shill for the other hotels and is just doing this to spread bad reviews of this hotel. What should the community do about this? I say burn him at the stake.

Give it a break with the conspiracy theories guys.

 

[HarmonyNYC]

I did not say I "you just woke up"...

i am trying to understand at 3.07 am no ants. at 10.05 am no ants 12.27 pm no ants at 12.36 pm you just woke up and find your room infested From the time of your post today look to me that you can sleep and post on merb at the same time

I did not say I "you just woke up"...

I was dealing with the situation from about 10am, I only posted on merb about it when I was almost ready to leave. It was most important to me to be ready to go when I called the front desk about the issue.

I give more details below in the my next post.


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[HarmonyNYC]

When I woke up just before 10am I noticed a few ants in one corner of my room, I had not turned any lights on I just went to my computer thinking it was no big deal because I would be checking-out soon. As unreasonable or illogical as this may seam for the average person in is normal for me to be extremely passive about the world around me, even when it may be crashing down on me. I was also more concerned with cleaning-up any used condoms or food that may have given some reason to try and shift any blame away from the hotel. I wanted to be ready to go before I called the front desk. Don't try to apply logic as I am not very logical.

The one difference that existed after I went to sleep was the fact that I left a can of sliced pineapples (after eating the contents) on my dresser-top that was connected to my desk (but it was a step down from the desk height). This is what attracted them to the open areas of my room. I only noticed this after I got out of the shower.

When I went to take a shower I saw four more in the bathroom. Again I was passive to a fault. The only thing I did was go back to my computer and check that they had not reached my computer, then I went back to take my shower.

The shower as is usual for me, consumed allot of time. I like to be slow and I like to waste time. When I got out of the shower I returned to my computer and after a while I noticed an ant crawling up my leg. At this point I checked everywhere. The lower dresser that had the pineapple can had about maybe 30 to 40 ants (?). I could see they traveled from the floor and that this rout moved towards the chair I was sitting it. I moved all of my belongings onto my bed. My bed was safe ground but all along the desk and dresser base was a trail of ants with random off-shoots.

I put the post on merb. Then called a friend from a different room to come check it out. I then called the front desk and told them to send a manager to the room. They sent a maintenance guy. He looked and showed a shocked look on his face, then left the room. I called the front desk and explained this was a big problem and they needed to send a manager. The manager on staff came to the room and was "bugged-out", she was scarred to walk in the room or look further. She was "freaking-out" and wanted out of the room as soon as was possible.

They offered my a complimentary room that they said would be will be mailed to me (a voucher of gift card). I said that was not good enough because unknown damage may be done to my luggage, my clothing, maybe even my computer. After getting nowhere at the front desk with this lower level manager I finally got this manager and the kitchen manager (who had come to join in with the handling of the situation) to acknowledge to each other and to me that fact that it was understood that I was leaving the hotel only under protest still feeling the issue has not been resolved. They will send me a voucher for a free room but this does not mean I accepted this offer as a settlement of the issue. They both acknowledge that I was leaving still feeling the hotel has put my belongings is great danger of further damage that will only be known once I get home and any offer given to me was not a settlement of the issue.

I am not a lawyer of someone who needs to get "whatever I can" from the hotel, I just realize that I could go home and find that the ants had gotten into my computer. In such cases as mine bugs are only the first potential problems because of eggs rather then the stow-away bugs themselves. I may have to throw away my luggage or worse.

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[metoo4]

If you left without checking your stuff, in front of them of course, and in a different, non infested room, all you'll get is the voucher, unless they feel really sorry. You need to understand them too, once the customer is gone out of their sight, nothing could prevent a dishonest person to make all kind of false claims about presumed dammages.

Hopefully you insisted not to pay your "infested" night either?

I would still go with an official written complain, even if not asking more compensation, just in order to have the hotel act on the situation and find where the infestation came from. Your "sweet can" was a trigger to get the ants to your room but they weren't far to start with! Once one ant find the spot, others will follow quite fast!

And, to reassure you, ants need food. Your luggage isn't taht appealing to them. If you're really scared, leave your empty luggage outside for a while and the check if "it" moves, I mean if something move in it, after a few days.

Your laptop is quite safe, unless the keyboard is full of food! Even then, you'll notice quite fast!

 

[IamNY]

Ants in a computer:

http://getipm.com/answers/computer-ants.htm

http://ask.metafilter.com/45931/Ants-on-a-Computer

 

[Robert 21]

WHOA !

Did you hear the Music from the below Link ?
(Turn on your Speakers)

http://www.discoverynet.com/~ajsnead/allsongs_1/ppanther.html

no really, That SUCKS !


*** Fortune Cookie say, "You leave pineapple behind, Ants will come" ***

 

[metoo4]

Robert21, how does this relates to this thread?

 

[Robert 21]

Robert21, how does this relates to this thread?

well, my apologies.........as I was trying to add levity, to a bad situation

even you wrote

Your "sweet can" was a trigger to get the ants to your room but they weren't far to start with! Once one ant find the spot, others will follow quite fast!

did ya go to the Link?

WHOA !

Did you hear the Music from the below Link ?
(Turn on your Speakers)

http://www.discoverynet.com/~ajsnead/allsongs_1/ppanther.html

no really, That SUCKS !

The Panther Theme Song is sometimes translated as "Dead Ant, Dead Ant, Dead Ant Dead Ant Dead Ant, Dead Ant....."

oh well............

 

[IamNY]

Good one. Nobody in the Greek Girl thread got my reference to Spinal Tap and the `dense` minds (or just plain laziness) of some posters either...
https://merb.cc/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=26179
"These go to 11..."

As for the Novotel ant problem, this makes Priceline`s 3* range dubious at best. I can`t imagine getting one of the better 3* hotels during peak periods and wouldn`t want to pay the $90 or so it will take to win that bid and end up with ants (Novotel) or a worn-out bed (Doubletree) in my room.

Funny you would mention the worn out beds at the Doubletree, that is where I stayed this weekend, how tough would it be for them to get new beds?

 

[HarmonyNYC]

Funny you would mention the worn out beds at the Doubletree, that is where I stayed this weekend, how tough would it be for them to get new beds?

After checking-out of the Novotel I checked into the Doubletree. It has several minor flaws but I am loving it compared to the Novotel.

I will give a full review and comparison in a few days of both the Novotel and the Doubletree.

p.s. the bed is ok (not great) but both sets of sheets (two days) had something wrong with them... day one was a deep cigarette burn and day two was a big lipstick smudge.


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