ascott jakarta

last minute decision. yup, that was this ascott stay was all about. and i should have chosen the other option (le meridien).

i was already in bangkok when the admins asked me if staying in ascott jakarta was fine with me. since i stayed in this hotel/serviced apartment already (in september 2012), i thought that it should be ok. but to my horror, it was far from the pleasant stay that i expected. first, the front desk staff lacked that warm and welcoming attitude. when you just braved 2 hour traffic from soekarno-hatta to sudirman and you haven't had lunch yet, the last thing you want to meet is a front desk staff who would almost always give you negative lines such as, "we cannot; i don't think so; the hotel's policy is like this." at the very least, i expect her to give me some big bullshits such as "let me check or i'll see what i can do." granting that there were some mistakes in the reservation made, no front desk staff shall say that "i can't let you in." rather, make the guest feel that there are some things that can be done to rectify the problem. through this, the guest would feel wanted and that the hotel does value your presence. 

to make things worse, the phone in the room was not working. in order to request for flat iron and ironing board, you'd have to go all the way down to the main lobby. i stayed there for 3 nights and the phone was never repaired. i've given some feedback but there were zero notice from the management. the hotel itself isn't the most modern in jakarta. it has that very old feel, although they put me in the newly renovated wing. breakfast was basic but ok. 

all in all, there won't be another round for me in ascott jakarta. any hotel would do. not ascott.