Christoph W.
I’m using an alias, as I always do for reviews. What happened here was so far outside my experience that I’ve never written a story like this before. I won’t be going back to this rundown place, and it isn’t worth the 85 € it costs now. Everything below can be verified by email, except for two phone calls. I’m not writing about the building’s worn areas or the noisy, smelly rooms, since those have already been described at length. This is about the way the man handling hostel check-in treated someone who needed help, and what I saw as a complete lack of customer care, basic respect for an international guest, and humanity from someone working in hospitality. A similar story was posted here recently, though mine was more extreme. I’m sharing it so readers can decide whether they want to deal with someone I found aggressive, brutal, and disrespectful. A couple of days ago, I was travelling to Groningen, with a reservation at Hostel Tivoli. My train was delayed, as happens when travelling, and the new arrival time wasn’t announced straight away. Once I knew it, I called the hostel to say I’d be late. The check-in was run by a man who had once told me he lived there and was always around for safety reasons, except on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. I only dared call the receptionist at 8:45 pm because I knew he’d be there. Check-in closed at 8 pm. We’d met before and chatted pleasantly a number of times, but this evening he sounded grumpy and unfriendly, mumbling and muttering. I wondered if I’d interrupted something, whatever someone does at 8:45 pm while living in a hostel. I apologized several times, said Deutsche Bahn was responsible for the delay, and told him I was sure I’d arrive at 10:30 pm. I asked if that was okay. First he said it was too late, then changed his mind and told me to call him when I got there. He hung up, and I was relieved. At 10:30 pm on the dot, two days before Christmas, I was outside in the freezing cold and called once, then again. He didn’t answer or come down to open the door, even though, as I understood it, he lived one flight up and it would have taken him a minute. He left me outside for 30 minutes, tired after a long journey, cold, sad, angry, and disappointed. Still, I assumed he’d fallen asleep and hoped he’d be friendly and apologetic the next day. The next morning, I emailed him to explain how disappointed I was. I said travel delays can happen internationally and, in professional terms, I thought it was wrong to promise something and then leave me waiting outside instead. I kept the email friendly. Rather than acknowledge how he’d contributed to the problem or respond with understanding, as I expected from someone doing a professional service job, he insulted me. He asked who I thought I was, a king without respect, then called me stupid. He also phoned and called me “idiot” twice. He sent six emails in all, rambling and insulting me repeatedly. Their tone made me consider going to the police, but I decided it wasn’t worth my time. It was just a receptionist gone mad, and there are more serious problems in the world.
