"Anyway, at one of the floors our escort asks us to follow him through to the other side. We walk through a floor that is nowhere near being finished. There are no doors, no paint, no carpets, exposed cables, exposed wires, and tools hanging out everywhere. Basically it's just a cement hallway at this point. It actually looks like it would take them months, not just weeks, to finish. I'm not sure how many floors are actually completed, but they aren't even finished building the thing yet and they're already open?
"We get to the bottom floor and there is a 400 pound hotel employee sitting at the bottom of the steps blocking our way. You gotta be kidding me! You are escorting hotel guests down eight flights of stairs and through a construction zone and when we finally get to the bottom you have this 400 pound guy blocking our way? He didn't move either. We had to squeeze by him and walk through the kitchen to get into the lobby.
"Everyone is a little annoyed at this point. It took us 15 to 20 minutes to walk down eight flights of stairs. Our room has no A/C and we have no idea how long it'll be before the elevators are working again. We surely don't want to walk back up eight flights of stairs.
"What happens next is my whole motivation for writing this review.
"After waking up with no A/C in a hotel room in the middle of the Louisiana swamp (it's hot folks), and having to walk down eight flights of stairs (stopping for three minutes at each floor), walking through construction and the hotel's kitchen, we finally get to the lobby. We are met by a manager who tells us that the quickest way to get to the buffett is to cut through the casino. We walk to the casino and the groom-to-be and myself are randomly stopped by the security guard. He says:
"'I need to see your ID' (pointing at me) 'and your ID.' (pointing at the groom to be).
"Now, I understand that they have to randomly check people to make sure everyone is of age, and that they don't have some escaped convicts or something wandering around the casino. But ... in a service industry it not what you say, it's how you say it. Keep in mind, we're pretty pissed at this point. He didn't say:
"'Excuse me gentleman, I need to check your ID's. It will just take a second.'
"Basically, he just looked at the two scruffiest looking guys in our group and told us to show him ID. I was pissed. I tell him:
"I'm the guy who is staying in room 837. The room where the A/C doesn't work. We just walked down eight flights of stairs because the elevators also don't work. AND, your concierge hasn't answered the phone in two days.
"At this point, someone who is familiar with customer service would console me and apologize for all of the inconvenience. He doesn't. He smirks at me and instead of handing our IDs back to us and treating us as if we have just paid $129 a night to stay there, he pulls our IDs back and hands them to another security guard who begins entering our info into a computer.
Me - 'Thanks.' LdL security guy - 'For what?' Me - 'For being a dick.'
"He says nothing after that but gives me a look as if I am just a no good out-of-towner and I am inconvieniencing him by making him work. This was the feel of many of the employees I encountered. I probably over-reacted by saying that. But, after I just told him that I was a guest in the hotel and had numerous problems, he had absolutely nothing to say. Not a 'sorry' or a 'we're new and will get the kinks worked out,' NOTHING. Just a smirk.
"L'Auberge du Lac, you've got a lot of work to do. Customer service MUST be the most important factor when considering your business. Your business will thrive or fall based around how you treat the people who choose to stay there. Many people will drive for hours to get to your hotel/casino. They deserve respect. They deserve a little compassion and understanding. If they have a problem, your employees should make it a first priority to fix those problems."
