Zakkai
November 25, 2022
The power doesn't work for hours every day. When this happens, the elevator doesn't work. The bathroom smelled bad, the safe didn't work, and my room was lacking towels.
Some extenuating circumstances: it's not the hotel's fault the power goes out; this happens across the city. Also, there was a backup lighting system. However -- it is the hotel's responsibility to notify guests of the fact that the elevator doesn't work during high traffic times of day, particularly in that it makes it impossible to use the elevator in an 8-story building. Fancier hotels in Beirut have backup generators that address this problem. Many people might have been fine paying less for a building with no backup generator, but I didn't have the chance to make this choice bc the hotel was not upfront about the fact that they can't afford one.
I have a bad leg and didn't want to have to walk up to the eighth floor when the power went out, so I had them move me to the first floor. However, the room they moved me to was missing basic things like pillow cases and towels. When I complained, they brought me pillowcases, but I never got towels.
One of the most concerning features was that the safe did not work in either room. When I asked about this I was told a guy would come on Monday who had the key to set up the safe. The guy never came. It's inexcusable to not have the person with the key to the safe accessible when someone is getting settled in their room. It made me feel unsafe.