Was staying at the hotel because my Father is seriously ill at a nearby hospital. Was extending my stay day by day according to clinical progression. The hotel staff I interacted to were made fully aware of the situation with my Father, and the reason for my stay being extended day by day. This morning checkout was at 11am and I called reception several times to extend by another day starting at 9:30am but couldn't get an answer until around 10am.
I agreed with reception to extend my stay by another day, and to go to reception and pay after one hour after taking a shower.
After 45 minutes I received an upsetting call from reception during which I was threatened with a £20 additional charge if I didn't go down and pay "right away". I asked to speak to the manager, and another reception staff member spoke to me and quickly engaged in a shouting match when I asked them to stop speaking and listen to me.
I asked to speak to the hotel manager, and about fifteen minutes later, half way through my shave, I was interrupted by a knock at the door and found myself face to face with the duty hotel manager, the reception staff member who had engaged in a shouting match, and various other staff members nearby. I felt quite intimidated, but explained the situation, and unfortunately the reception staff member started losing their cool again and stormed off saying they felt disrespected. She explained that this feeling of disrespect was rooted in her identifying as a woman, her assumption that I am a man, along with some notions she held about the correct way for men to speak to women. It would appear she mis-gendered me as a male and holds to the idea that men and women should be treated differently at hotels.
To their credit, the duty manager did their best to calm the situation down. The duty manager seems to be an extremely pleasant, kind, person - the complete opposite to the reception staff I dealt with this morning.
After some reflection, I decided I didn't feel comfortable or safe to stay another night in the hotel, and so I called reception to tell them that I felt uncomfortable and unsafe and that I planned to return the access card and not pay for another night's stay. Unfortunately, the reception staff's response was to spend several minutes grilling me about how many minutes I thought it would take to get from my room to the reception, and threatening me again with additional charges.
After returning the access card, the duty manager came to me again and apologised profusely for the way I had been treated, and even offered me another night's stay for free. Unfortunately, I had to decline their kind offer because I still didn't feel comfortable or safe at the hotel after the way I had been treated by the reception staff, who, based upon my experience, appear to be a law unto themselves at this hotel.
In summary, I cannot fault the duty manager, but there is a serious problem with some of the reception staff.
I now have to search for and move to another hotel before going to the hospital to try and talk to my 77 year old Father's cardiologist about next steps. If the hotel's reception staff were better people I wouldn't be in this position.