A couple of smetterlinge (butterflies) escaped me today.
I'll get back to those butterflies escaping later because I want to start with a complaint like it will suit me as a westerner travelling in the other part of the world where the standards might not just be like we are used to.
But, first a disclaimer; PLEASE do see this as a kind of joke and a writing experiment. Normally I do not complain about my accommodation or much else when I travel to parts of the world where life conditions and the mindset is so much different from our western "know it all better attitude" and I do not agree with the right to complain if something isn't up to a standard we could await -in our own life setting, that is. I know I am a guest in another country and are honoured to be able to look into another culture and the truth is many of the problems we face when travelling is so called problems for the privileged also known as "1. World Problems". Frankly expressed, the problems mostly arise because we compare to our own culture and expectations within our settings rather than the the actual thing we face just in front of us.
Anyway, I'm gonna do this and start rant about the hotel I stayed at in Nizwa and at the same time try to make a comparison to a similar hotel I stayed at in Sur.
Safari Hotel. A mid sized Omani hotel at the outskirts of Nizwa. I found it on Booking.com and reserved a room prior to my arrival. Admitted, it wasn't the hotel of my first choice, but it was a hotel where I could reserve a room without involving a credit card.
I did the same with Al Ayjah Plaza Hotel in Sur, which , seen in the back mirror, probably turn out to be the best hotel I have stayed at on this Easter trip through Oman.
Maybe this could also be a reason I want to rant, I mean when one hotel in the same category get's it, why wouldn't another one be similar?
It Started ok. The room was ok. Clean enough for me. Not perfect or fancy, a fine little Omani culture kind of hotel, like the other one in Sur had been it. And see, that one wasn't a picture perfect one either, it had the same two stars, however, it had some character and charm and I feelt it as soon I entered the reception and encountered the receptionist.
Safari also had it's own style, but not the same charm and straight from the beginning I had a feeling something was missing. I just couldn't pinpoint it. Yet.
At Al Ayjah Plaza in Sur, the lady behind the counter was Thai and she radiated confidence and positivity and made me immediately feel welcome because I could feel she cared about her guests and her hotel.
At Safari hotel there was a bloke at the reception. He wasn't an Omani. Probably from India like so many other people in the service sector in the sultanate. So what was it about him that was different, other than he was a bloke from India and not a lady from Thailand? At that point I couldn't tell but I had a feeling he was in a defensive position from the very beginning.
I got my room-key and all the instructions to get there in the lift and the code to wifi, what more could a man wish for????
Did I say room-key? Yes I did. And, it was a good old fashioned key on a cheap plastic key ring.
Me into the lift and got up to my floor to find my room. As the lift door slit open at my floor, I saw in front of me a couch arrangement and on their another bloke lying down with a phone glued to his ear. As I came out he changed position and sat up straight, still continuing the conversation on the phone. First I considerate him as another guest but I'll get back to that later.
The room was nice and spacious. Not so big like the one in Sur, but it was al right.
Got settled in and as a normal gesture as a traveller in those days I wanted to check out the safe and set it with my passcode.
In Sur, the safe had not played ball with me from the very beginning either. I needed assistance to set my code. What exactly was the problem, I can't recall just now.
Here in Safari Hotel, the safe was locked from the very beginning.
Not the biggest problem, I would go and talk to them later, as I did it in Al Ayjah Plaza.
There was another person at the front desk when I finally got to go find out. I explained the problem with the safe and she called the "boy". Yes, I really think she said that. And a wee bit later the lift arrived and out came the guy I'd seen lounging at the sofas on the 3rd floor on his phone. The lady explained the issue and he came with me up to the room. He typed some numbers into the display on the safe, but nothing happened. It was locked. He tried again. Nothing. Now he didn't know what, so he said "sorry, safe doesn't work.
As I asked him if he had a key or could fix it somehow, he just said no.
That was it. Not that I couldn't take all my valuables with me, sure I could and in times before I have done so, but now I got a bit cross and stubborn because it seemed he didn't care the least.
Back at Al Ayjah Plaze, a guy had come with me to the room and we had fixed it. He cared and so did the manager.
Now I demanded we should go down to see the manager at Safari Hotel and if they couldn't fix it, I would have another room.
At the desk again, the lady I'd talked to before listened to me and the explanation given from the "boy" and then said they had no other rooms similar to the one I was already occupying. They had smaller rooms.
When I asked to see the manager, she pointed at a younger Omani gentleman sitting in a sofa a bit aside being busy on his phone. The "boy" followed me like a puppy when I went straight to the guy on the phone who was supposed to be the manager. He looked up a bit irritated to be disturbed while he was on his phone and also maybe a bit surprised. I started to explain about the safe and I wanted to change the room, then the "boy" started talking and explaining and I making excuses. The manager looked from him to me back to him. Then he said the safe was broken and they couldn't fix it, but the hotel was safe and everything would be fine.
I am sure he could be right with this. I really feel Oman being a safe and honest country and I could leave valuables in the room and nothing would happen. But what if not?
So I said to him, " What if not?"
Then again they exchanged some words in Arabic and we went to the desk and the lady got down two keys. "We have these two rooms, but they are not the same size like the one you are in now". Mr. Omani Manager said.
Now I realised it with him also. He didn't care. Really. It was like he wasn't really in charge and the "boy" could explain him the safe didn't work. And then, well, then the safe doesn't work! That's it.
Ok the . Me and "boy" into the lift up to the 3rd floor into one room. No good. Next room. Could be? We looked at the safe and "boy did the same thing again jotting on the keys and "beep. the door opened and he told me the code being "000#" viola! Sorry, but I want to set my own code. He looked at me like "what?" Now I was pissed. "To freaking hell with it all". It's OK, I'll just stay in the room and take my valuables with me when I leave.
I could see the "boy" was pleased about it all, so they could continue the status quo in tha hotel, because now I understood. They didn't care at all. I am sure those guys are playing such a trick of doing easy on Mr. Omani Manager and he is not checking up because, frankly, I do not think he really cares. He is the manager of a two star hotel in the Second biggest city in Oman, and he thinks he is cool and running a hotel.
At Al Ayjah this little issue was done and dealt with in 15 minutes and here. Nothing had changed. And as I just decided to leave it be, I am sure that safe is still not working and they still do not care.
From now on I saw everything about the place with these eyes and I am sure I am right. No one really cared.
At the breakfast buffet, At first I saw no one from the staff in the room. There were one table along one wall to the side with a buffet. Some food was out in those buffet heaters. There was some sliced sausages, the typically middle eastern baked beans called "foul", some boiled eggs and then some supermarket packages of white bread just slammed onto the table in the plastic bags and some butter and those typical hotel and restaurant butter and jam portion containers. There was paper cups for the coffee and tea? I beg your pardon, paper cups for coffee and tea. Last time I think I had an experience in such a wasteful and not caring management of a hotel was in the United States.
Some other guests was sitting in the room but still no sign of any one from staff.
I took some foul and some sliced sausage. It looked a bit gross, but I gave it a try and actually the foul was alright, and I can quite happily eat that for breakfast every morning.
Some more guests came and picked something and suddenly from behind a counter appeared another young "boy". He went to the buffet and rearranged some plates and bread packages and then went back to his hiding place behind the counter, picking up his phone again.
Cross cut to Al Ayjah Plaza in Sur. They also had breakfast included.
When I came to breakfast, I was welcomed by someone from the kitchen. Sitting down at a table, someone came to me with the menu and explained the options. When it arrived, it was freshly made and very tasty.
They were helpful and they cared and I was really looking forward to going again the next morning.
At Safari Hotel, not really. Only the thought of the foul got me down there again the second morning. But man, the second morning it was gross. Like someone has been putting the whole salt pot into it.
I think I've never had anything this salty. And behind the counter, the same "boy" was hiding, occupied with his phone. Ever time I came to or left the 3rd floor, some one from "staff" we're lounging on the sofas up there, getting away from the eyes of the manager but busy on their phones. They just didn't care and the manager didn't care and so the Hotel was memorable bad experience and not any I would recommend to anyone. But Al Ayjah Plaza in Sur. Sure. Go there.
Smetterlinge. I promised you stories about the butterflies escaping. But the nature of butterflies escaping is that they are not there anymore because I can't remember what it was.
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