DEAR Editor,-
On the night of May 11, we received news of the death of a family member and had to make an overnight trip to Stanger for the funeral the next morning. I called the Oslo Beach Lodge and requested accommodation for two nights. Upon arrival, we found the person in charge, Peter Pieters was inebriated, but nevertheless, since it was late and we were tired, we honoured our reservation.
Mr Pieters insisted that we settle the bill in cash and my husband explained that since we do not travel with cash, we would transfer the money electronically as soon as we got to our room if he gave us the banking details. He told us that he does not accept this method of payment and preferred cash. My husband asked if he could swipe his debit card as we were not about to drive around looking for an ATM. Mr Pieters agreed, but my husband needed to transfer funds from one account to another in order to effect payment, so we took the keys and went to the room to do this.
When we got to our room, we found the condition to be uninhabitable. I called Mr Pieters and asked whether he had another room for us because as tired as I was, I would not be able to lay my head on that filthy pillow.
The room was dirty, the towels in the bathroom were old and dried, the grime on the tiles could be scratched off with a fingernail and the whole room stank of perspiration. It was then that Mr Pieters became really hostile toward us.
He began insulting my husband and I, saying that when we arrived and failed to pay in cash, he had already decided that we were suspect, calling us a ‘fly-by-night liability’.
He went on to say that he has seen ‘our type’ many times and all we want to do is use the room and not pay. He further informed us that, ‘actually, he has many nice rooms, but decided that he does not want us as guests there anymore and if we didn’t like the room he gave us, we were welcome to pack up our stuff and get out’.
He then stormed into the room we were in and literally ushered us out, following us all the way to the car park and telling his security guard to write down our registration number because he will ‘list us’ and make sure that no one gives us accommodation.
We were disgusted at his behaviour and find it unacceptable that he could treat us in this fashion and get away with it.
Establishments providing second or third-grade accommodation have to be taken to task to at least provide suitable, fresh, clean rooms for travellers. When you travel like we did and were as tired as we were, dealing with a death in the family, the least we could expect is a nice hot shower and fresh, clean linen. This establishment failed to provide either. Instead of apologising and sorting out the situation, Mr Pieters insulted us personally, made assumptions about our financial situation and kicked us out in the middle of the night.
INSULTED
Eastern Cape
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