Wales - Day 2 (Part 1)

6:45 am came abruptly as the smoke alarm jolted us out of our slumber. A dazed Rick struggled to find a light switch and was just about to hop onto our bed to try and deactivate the blaring Boop...OMG Boop...Bloody heck Boop, when it suddenly stopped as oddly as it had began. Chan groaned and yanked the duvet over his head, and Rick slumped back onto the bed and we were all wondering what the hell had just hit us.

“So much for sleeping in,” I said remaining under the warm covers. “We need to call the front desk and complain.”

Funny thing is last night when we checked in the gal gave us a card and said they have a goodnight guarantee. I pictured a bunch of marketing guys trying to come up with promotional ideas for the Premier Inn. After ditching the “if your towels smell like burnt paper, you get an extra facecloth for free” and the “if the hand soap is so small it washes down the drain before you had chance to wipe your knees” then some young buckshot blurts out the “you sleep or we’re in deep” concept and voila brochures are printed by the thousands. Then along came the Robbins-Teather clan (more Teather than Robbins, when it comes to outspokenness, really) Anyway, pretty sure they are going to rethink their policy after Rick was done with the manager. The offer of a free breakfast was not enough to pacify this bleary-eyed your policy is your policy customer and a refund on my credit card was promptly issued.

When Rick returned and told us how the conversation with the suited fellow went, I actually felt sorry for the employee. He was probably thinking, cool, gotta job managing a brand new hotel. What could customers possibly complain about?

“It most certainly was not the phone that woke us up,” clarified Rick when the manager struggled with the concept that a fire alarm would engage without well, a fire (smoke actually). And Rick continued, “Does the phone sound like this?” And in his loudest voice (and anyone that knows Rick knows what loud truly means) made the sound of the alarm that snapped us out of bed. “Boop...Boop...Boop!” he called out in the hotel lobby at 7 am. Nope, free breakfast was not gonna cut it.

Back to the drawing board, buckshot.