Batam resort responds after guest's disappointing stay, "worms" in cot and biscuit chunks in baby chair

HARRIS Resort Barelang Batam has responded after a guest shared about her recent disappointing stay over Jan 1 to Jan 3. 

Stomper Sharon contributed photos from her short holiday there and said: "There were seven adults and one baby. Two of my friends had joined me on this trip.

"We reached the resort at about 3pm because that's the check-in time, but the receptionist told us our rooms weren't ready. 

"We waited at the lobby until about 3.45pm but they still weren't ready, so we decided to leave our luggage with the concierge and go out for dinner.

"When we came back to the resort, it was 9pm. 

"I went into my villa and a baby cot was already there, but then I noticed some worms crawling. 

"I thought it was just a one-off incident, so I didn't think about taking a video of the worms.

"It was horrible. My baby's only nine-months-old and I didn't dare to let her sleep in it even though my friend had already removed the sheet to throw the worms out.

"We called housekeeping immediately and waited till it was past 11 but no one came.

"We also noticed that there weren't any toilet rolls in the washroom. When we called housekeeping, someone came in about five minutes."

Sharon's friends also didn't have a good experience.

Sharon said: "My friends were staying in another room and when they entered their room after dinner, they noticed that the floor was very sandy.

"They had to wear their slippers everywhere and the floor was only cleaned the next day."

Their nightmare didn't end there.

She added: "The next two days when we had breakfast, we saw a lot of houseflies flying around the buffet line and at our tables. 

"I even saw houseflies on the bread and the selection available was very bad. 

"The pot of porridge was empty and I had to wait 10 minutes for it. When I managed to get a serving, I realised that the porridge was cold.

"On day two, when we were halfway through our meal, a staffer placed a candle at our table to 'shoo' the houseflies away."

It wasn't just the food and the houseflies that Sharon was displeased with.

She told Stomp: "When we had breakfast the day after we checked in, we requested a high chair for my daughter.

"The staffer brought one over and we noticed that there were huge biscuit chunks in it.

"He didn't even bother to remove them. If they're crumbs then I'd understand since it'll be difficult to remove, but they're such big pieces!"

"As a service staff, one should make things presentable for the next customer. It's the least he could do. We ended up removing the pieces ourselves."

Sharon said she left feedback about her trip through Tripadvisor, to which the resort did reply.

They said to Sharon: "I am deeply saddened to learn that you had an unpleasant experience with your stay here.

"Please accept my sincere apologies on behalf of our team. After investigation, it appears that, effectively, severe shortage occurs in our services to you and we must face full responsibility for it.

"Please be certain that immediate action has been taken.

"Again, please forgive us as I hope that you will be able to look at your experience as an isolated incident and that you will give us an opportunity to reassure you of our commitment to serve you properly and to make amended during a future visit."

Sharon told Stomp: "When we were checking out, we were offered a complimentary one-night stay for two rooms but we rejected the offer because we didn't want to go back again.

"I just want to share with fellow mummies to be careful with items given when they're staying in hotels or resorts."

In response to a Stomp query, General Manager of HARRIS Resort Barelang Batam Hugues Hervier de Courtisigny said: "We duly noted the comments of Mrs Eng towards the disappointing experience she faced during her stay with us.

"As expressed to her, we do face our responsibility as effectively, some short in service clearly took place."

Hugues told Stomp that many clients were refusing to check out on time and had fully overwhelmed the housekeeping department.

He added: "I genuinely hope that Mrs. Eng would consider to return to Harris Barelang in order for us to be able to present to her a better face of our operation and if she is willing to do so, please ask her to contact me directly as I will personally make sure that the whole team will save no energy to make her forget this incident."