Вонючая ночлежка Smelly rooming house

Once, a few years ago, in the opening year, I stayed at this "Portoss" hotel for 2 days - other hotels in the city were sold out. Then I liked it: although very, very poor, but hospitable. In addition, I have not yet had the experience of living in hotels in the old Europe. I almost did not pay attention to the hypertrophied economy of the hostess: 15-watt light bulbs, and the twilight not only in the room, but also in the bathroom - it is impossible to shave. The hair dryer is not a hotel one, but a cheap portable one from the sale. A thin trickle of water ("screwed" inlet valves) from the tap. The flush tank is adjusted so that only 2 cups of water are drawn into it. The complete absence of centralized (at least for the hotel) hot water and heating. Instead of the first one, an electric boiler of insufficient capacity was installed in the bathroom to take a shower for three - the second person ran out of warm water in the boiler, and instead of heating the room there was one household oil radiator, suitable, as you know, for additional heating, but not as the main and the only source of heat. I lived in the summer, and the problem of heat did not touch me - later on Booking. com, I read the reviews of the guests of the autumn-winter season: this same radiator had to be turned on by the guest himself, moving into a cold room, and waiting for heat for half a day. No one was going to warm up the room by the arrival of the guest! Here is such a savings. Accordingly, the furniture and linen were also borrowed, probably from the orphanage. But the accessibility of the hotel, when the rest were sold out (apparently for a reason), its cheapness and friendliness of the hostess to a certain extent smoothed out the impression of an orphan's almshouse. In addition, pancakes were baked for breakfast - a rare occurrence (I now understand that this is also a way to save on sausages, etc. ), and the hotel's cuisine was not bad - although you still have to look for bad cuisine in Latvia - and you will not find it. And going to Ventspils once again, in March I booked on the Booking website. com for August triple family room "with separate sleeping and living areas, three beds and a washing machine. " I planned to spend the night with my family just one night on the way from Germany to Riga. The ferry from the German Lü beck arrives in Ventspils at midnight, and you have to spend the night in a hotel in order to continue the journey to Riga by bus the next day. Since the arrival at the hotel was scheduled after midnight, I considered it my duty to warn about a late check-in and called the hotel 10 days in advance. I spoke with the owner herself, who assured me that they would be waiting for us, according to her experience, we will arrive at about 2 am from the ferry, and she noted this at home. And what? At about half past one in the morning we arrived by taxi to the hotel, they were waiting for us: the watchman took us to the room from one room, the entire area of ​ ​ u200bu200bwhich was occupied by a double bed, and in the only passage along the wall a broken folding bed was squeezed close to the wall and the bed, in which the headboard was 20 cm below the legs. My 13-year-old daughter was supposed to sleep on this bed, as tall as an adult. There was a terrible musty smell of dampness and mold in the room - years without heating had taken their toll. Towels were only for two - apparently, the hostess considered that since there was not enough warm water for the third, then her daughter’s towels were not needed. When I unfolded my towel, I found that no one had washed it for a long time - it was all in brown and black spots, an earthy color. Towels and bed linen simply never saw hot water and a sufficient amount of good powder - they were washed, apparently, in a quick wash with cold water without powder - saving... The light in the room reminded me of the times when we lived with a torch. To our bewilderment, the watchman said that this room was for us, everyone else was busy. I immediately called another hotel ("Ribiye Logs"), called a taxi, and we left such a "hospitable" dump-almshouse. Of course, I told the caretaker that I would immediately inform Booking. com. However, for the purpose of not paying Booking commissions. com and charge me 100% of the cost of the room for a no-show, at 6 am the hostess noted in the booking system that I just didn’t check into the hotel. With further disassembly with Booking. com, the hostess stated that since I didn't arrive until 9 pm, she thought I wouldn't come at all (blatant lie) and sold my room. What for? After all, with my no-show, she receives 100% of the cost of the first night - and does not lose anything. The same greedy toad tried to get the cost of this room from other guests, and a fine from me, and not pay the commission. And the reason for changing the room is clear: knowing for sure that I will arrive in the middle of the night and I will have nowhere to go, and there will be no one to ask, she rented my triple family room to a more profitable client (for several nights) - after all, I booked only for one night. And thank God that this happened - I spent the night in an excellent hotel, and not in a smelly beggarly almshouse-garbage dump.