Mercure Napoli Garibaldi: Terrible treatment in Naples
Satisfaction:
By fwmching on April 21, 2008
I had a really nasty experience with the owner which stayed in my mind up till today. I booked this hostel on hostelbookers.com based on the feedback of the customers and I still can't figure out why anyone would write positive comments of the friendliness of the staff.
My partner and I arrived late by train from Milan and checked in. Thereceptionist at the counter was friendly enough then. My partner, a Chinese national and I (a Malaysian) were really hungry and most restaurants were closed by then. We decided to pack a pizza back to the hostel and eat at the hostel kitchen. However when we got there, the kitchen (with only 4 or 5 chairs) were totally occupied so instead of telling them to move (which we politely declined to as we didn't want to tell anyone to leave), decided to eat on the only available sitting place i.e. in the staircase landing of the hostel. Eating in the rooms was a no no as we didn't want to leave smells in the rooms either.
We were hungrily eating our pizza when a man came and told us off saying "What do you think you're doing here? Are you crazy? This is not the place to eat." We told him that there was no place in the kitchen and explained the situation. He was still cheezed off and went on and on about how we were spoiling the reputation of the hostel. We were dumbfounded as to who this hosteller was and later on to our amazement found out that this was the owner of the hostel.
I was already tired and irritable by then and told him that this was no way to show guests of the hostel this kind of treatment. If he were sincerely thinking of the guests comfort, he would have found a chair or two more for us. We were already trying to accomodate to the hostellers and hostels the best we could and instead was rudely treated in a condescending way. He went on to reply to me "I don't know what country you are from, China, Thailand or Vietnam but this is not what we do in our country , eating wherever we like"
This remark stank of racism and to this day I remember it. I was wondering if I should leave the hostel as the owner implied I should but I had to stay the night as it was already 12 midnight and the area around the hostel was quite dodgy due to being near the trains station and cheap motels.
Apparently this owner also runs another hostel in Napoli which I do not remember the name. If I did remember it I would warn all travellers of this hostel. Pensione Mancini is definitely not worth the money.