Day 46
Today I'm in: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Today was kind of a bust. In yesterday's entry I mentioned I would be returning to my former hotel to try and get a refund on the two remaining nights. What an ordeal. I exchanged emails with the owner last night - in English - explaining the situation and he let me know he'd be at the hotel around 9:45am and we could try to clear things up.
After working for AB-InBev last summer, I know from experience that punctuality is not exactly the cornerstone of Brazilian culture. Given that, I padded my arrival by 30 minutes and got to the hotel at 10:15. The manager (of course) wasn't there yet, and I sat for another two-and-a-half hours before he finally rolled up. He announced he would only speak to me in Spanish or Portuguese, despite emailing me the previous night in perfect English. Jackass. I went ahead and said my piece in English (knowing he understood it) but had to parse out his responses in broken Spanish.
Long story short, I think he was insulted that I didn't find the property satisfactory. I explained tactfully - employing as many techniques from last year's Negotiations class as I could muster (thanks, Professor JSB!) - that I didn't notice a lot of the issues until after I'd paid for the room and spent the night, and that I wasn't expecting five-star service, just basic things like cleanliness and hot water and food without flies on it. Unfortunately for me, I didn't follow the cancellation policy (which required cancellation a day before check-in, something that was impossible given I'd already stayed a night) and we both knew this. He encouraged me to return for another two nights and he'd give me a better room. I explained that I had already paid for two more nights at a different hotel. He offered to give me a credit on two nights at the hotel in the future. I have no idea when or if I'll come back to Salvador, and given the extreme disconnect between the rooms depicted on the website and reality, I said I thought a refund was more appropriate. In the end I managed to get one of the nights refunded, which means I have to eat about 75 reais (roughly $45). Not ideal, but it was the best offer he was going to give me. He also refused to shake my hand at the end.
I've already registered my unhappiness with the good folks at Lonely Planet (this hotel is listed as a "top pick" for Salvador) who wrote back and told me they've received a number of other complaints from international travelers and will not be including the hotel in future editions of their Brazil guide (take THAT, jackass hotelier!) I made sure to share the experience on TripAdvisor as well. That's about all I can do at this point; I'm ready to get out of Salvador and put this unpleasantness behind me.
With most of my morning and the first hour of my afternoon eaten up by the hotel drama, I spent the rest of the day vegging out on the beach in Barra. You can rent chairs from vendors - who also sell coconuts, beer, soft drinks and will attempt to sell you marijuana if they think you seem interested (I wasn't; a Brazilian jail is not on my must-see list) - so I spent a few hours roasting in the sun, followed up by dinner at a restaurant on the Avenida Oceanica across the street.
Tomorrow I'm headed to Recife, the capital of Pernambuco state about an hour's flight north of here. Although I'm staying at what looks like a much nicer and more professional hotel, I'll make sure I see the room BEFORE putting any money down - apparently that's the way to do things here in Brazil.
Today I'm in: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Today was kind of a bust. In yesterday's entry I mentioned I would be returning to my former hotel to try and get a refund on the two remaining nights. What an ordeal. I exchanged emails with the owner last night - in English - explaining the situation and he let me know he'd be at the hotel around 9:45am and we could try to clear things up.
After working for AB-InBev last summer, I know from experience that punctuality is not exactly the cornerstone of Brazilian culture. Given that, I padded my arrival by 30 minutes and got to the hotel at 10:15. The manager (of course) wasn't there yet, and I sat for another two-and-a-half hours before he finally rolled up. He announced he would only speak to me in Spanish or Portuguese, despite emailing me the previous night in perfect English. Jackass. I went ahead and said my piece in English (knowing he understood it) but had to parse out his responses in broken Spanish. 
Long story short, I think he was insulted that I didn't find the property satisfactory. I explained tactfully - employing as many techniques from last year's Negotiations class as I could muster (thanks, Professor JSB!) - that I didn't notice a lot of the issues until after I'd paid for the room and spent the night, and that I wasn't expecting five-star service, just basic things like cleanliness and hot water and food without flies on it. Unfortunately for me, I didn't follow the cancellation policy (which required cancellation a day before check-in, something that was impossible given I'd already stayed a night) and we both knew this. He encouraged me to return for another two nights and he'd give me a better room. I explained that I had already paid for two more nights at a different hotel. He offered to give me a credit on two nights at the hotel in the future. I have no idea when or if I'll come back to Salvador, and given the extreme disconnect between the rooms depicted on the website and reality, I said I thought a refund was more appropriate. In the end I managed to get one of the nights refunded, which means I have to eat about 75 reais (roughly $45). Not ideal, but it was the best offer he was going to give me. He also refused to shake my hand at the end. I've already registered my unhappiness with the good folks at Lonely Planet (this hotel is listed as a "top pick" for Salvador) who wrote back and told me they've received a number of other complaints from international travelers and will not be including the hotel in future editions of their Brazil guide (take THAT, jackass hotelier!) I made sure to share the experience on TripAdvisor as well. That's about all I can do at this point; I'm ready to get out of Salvador and put this unpleasantness behind me.
With most of my morning and the first hour of my afternoon eaten up by the hotel drama, I spent the rest of the day vegging out on the beach in Barra. You can rent chairs from vendors - who also sell coconuts, beer, soft drinks and will attempt to sell you marijuana if they think you seem interested (I wasn't; a Brazilian jail is not on my must-see list) - so I spent a few hours roasting in the sun, followed up by dinner at a restaurant on the Avenida Oceanica across the street. Tomorrow I'm headed to Recife, the capital of Pernambuco state about an hour's flight north of here. Although I'm staying at what looks like a much nicer and more professional hotel, I'll make sure I see the room BEFORE putting any money down - apparently that's the way to do things here in Brazil.
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