HK tourist swears off S'pore after bad experience in Downtown East hotel: 'No water, no power'

She called it the worst hotel in the world.

Stomper Jojo, who is from Hong Kong, had such a bad experience at D'Resort @ Downtown East that she does not want to come to Singapore any more.

"No water and no power for the whole night," alleged the Stomper. "No refund. No apology. Only poor hospitality."

She recounted: "When l checked in at night on April 1, the staff told me there would be no power from 2am to 5am because of an annual check.

"The staff knew my worries and told me the shutdown would not last for such long time, not exactly for three hours from 2am to 5am. Maybe around 15 to 20 minutes. No worries. l thought a few minutes was acceptable. It was too late and expensive to change hotel."

The Stomper shared a photo of a notice informing guests of the power interruptions but claimed she was not informed about the lack of water.

"Unfortunately, the fact was there no water from around midnight, then no power until next morning," alleged the Stomper.

"I couldn't sleep with a sweaty body, having just landed. The weather was super hot, almost 40 deg C. No air conditioning and no windows could be opened,. l couldn't breathe! l wanted to open the door, but the corridor was super hot too! I almost fainted in that terrible dark, hot room."

She pointed out that another guest who stayed at D'Resort on the same night also complained in a review of the hotel on Trip.com about waking up from the heat because of the lack of air-conditioning even though the guest was told there would be back-up power.

But she told Stomp that having no water was worse.

"My hair was full of shampoo and body was full of shower gel, but no water to wash. I felt sick and had skin allergy after that awful night," said the Stomper.

"It totally ruined my holiday! I cancelled all meetings in the following days.

"I had already seen the doctor twice after the trip. The doctor said l got heatstroke that night and the shower gel caused skin allergy. I am still seeing the doctor and taking medicine now."

In response to a Stomp query, a spokesperson for D'Resort @ Downtown East said: "The guest arrived at 5.50pm on April 1 to check in, and the front desk staff duly informed her regarding the notice of the shutdown scheduled from 2am to 5am on April 2.

"They explained that there would be intermittent disruptions to the power supply due to the maintenance being conducted in blocks of timing."

Guests can choose not to check in with the resort providing a full refund, according to the spokesperson. The Stomper claimed she was not given this option when she asked the staff what she could do.

She added: "The hotel said it was annual check. That meant they knew about it before my booking, but still rented out the room. They should inform guests before the booking confirmation, not when check-in.

"Normally, in civilised countries, hotels would block all bookings on the annual check day since they can't provide any service on that day."

The spokesperson responded: "Block-out dates are not required due to minimal interruption. The shutdown for the guest block commenced at 3.29am, and the power was restored at 4.12am."

"Separately, when the guest called at 12.40am on April 2 to inform the resort of the low water pressure, the staff apologised to her, mentioning that we would check immediately.

"A technician was immediately dispatched, and it was found that the water pump on level five had tripped. The technician was instructed to fix it, and the water supply was restored to normal shortly after."

The Stomper said there was no water from 12:30am to 1am and again from 1.40am to 4am.

The D'Resort spokesperson added: "The resort has responded to the guest's emails and apologised to her (again) for the inconvenience caused, as well as extended a 50 per cent discounted rate for her next visit, valid for one year."

The Stomper is unlikely to take up the offer.

"l stayed at many hotels in different countries and never had such a terrible experience, even in some developing countries.

"I liked Singapore before, even wanted to emigrate to Singapore, but l have changed my mind now. It seems to have no consumer protection which is very basic in civilised countries," said the Stomper who added that she had reported the hotel to the Consumer Association of Singapore and Singapore Tourism Board.

"I won't go to Singapore any more!"