When we arrived at the counter the receptionist co...

When we arrived at the counter the receptionist could not find our
booking confirmation. They don't keep track of their bookings! I
showed her a copy of the pre-paid receipt and she said it was no where
in their system. She then proceeded to rudely tell me to call the
travel agency where I booked the hotel and didn't even offer to let me
use their phone. Hotwire called them with the confirmation and their
manager came out and said that they have no access to their fax
machine after 5:30pm so they had no way of confirming the booking.
What front office of a large hotel has no access to their fax machine
after 5:30pm? I heard the manager get rude on the phone with Hotwire.
Although we had the receipt and Hotwire called them and said they
faxed the pre-paid confirmation they offered no assistance to help us
at 10pm at night. The manager and staff ignored us while we tried to
sort this out over an hour with Hotwire and their hotel. The staff
probably saw us come into their "golf club" hotel looking tired worn
with my back pack and decided we were not worthy of great customer
service. During this Europe trip, I stayed in nearly 20 different
hotels, I have never felt so uncomfortable and rejected by a hotel
staff. Most hotels would offer to book you at their normal rate until
they got their confirmation in the morning. Especially a guest who is
arriving at 10pm and has no option. They clearly thought we were
unworthy of staying in their property. They didn't even offer to book
us at their current rate. If I could, I would give this hotel a zero
rating. Do not stay here unless you want to be automatically judged
by the rude staff. This is obviously an elitist hotel. They need
lessons from a real 4 or 5 star hotel. That is the reason they have to
sell their empty rooms on Hotwire and Priceline. This is the worst
hotel in Croydon London. Luckily, we ended up booking at the Double
Tree 4 star in Islington and that hotel and staff were incredible!
Big difference.