With the Eras tour coming to town, a Mothership reader, S, and his friends had the perfect birthday celebration lined up for a member of their group.

S and his friends decided to splurge on Taylor Swift concert ticket packages on Klook that each included a one-night stay at Swissôtel The Stamford and two Category 5 tickets (the tickets which would otherwise have cost S$168 each).

The group of four booked two packages, paying S$1,173 for each one, or S$2,346 in total.

It was indeed going to be a night to remember — but for all the wrong reasons.

Faulty room amenities

The first strike was an unusually late check-in. While Swissôtel The Stamford's check-in time begins at 3pm, the guests claim they were only let in to their rooms at 3:50pm. The group was given two separate rooms on different floors.

Looking at reviews online, it seems that the large crowds due to the Eras Tour led to issues with the check-in process for other guests as well — though some guests reported smooth check-ins on other Eras Tour dates.

The second strike was the state of the rooms. Apparently, the hair dryers were faulty, and there was a stain on a carpet.

The third strike came later that night when the guests returned from their concert at 2:30am. In one of the rooms, the shower was clogged. S said none of them had used the facilities before that.

They had to call a mechanic to fix the problem, who did so at 3:00am.

Soiled towels

Then came the coup de grâce. After showering, the guests discovered that the bath towels in both the rooms they had booked were soiled. In one of the rooms the towels had a brown stain, while in the other room, there was a towel with a red stain.

They suspected that the stains were from fecal matter and blood.

The group alerted hotel staff about the issue, who acknowledged that the towels were "dirty" and provided replacements.

To their dismay, the replacement towels in one of the rooms were soiled too.

Inadequate response

The group then decided to escalate the matter to management. They approached the Director of Front Desk and Duty Manager for answers but came away feeling that they did not care about the situation the group had faced.

They also say the director and manager did not acknowledge that there had been a hygiene lapse.

Although they offered S and his friends dining vouchers as compensation, the group declined, and decided to pursue the issue via email, looking for a full refund on their stay.

They got in contact with Swissôtel General Manager Theo Ocks, who responded to the group in an email seen by Mothership.

Ocks said he was sorry the group felt their stay did not live up to expectations, and mentioned various compensations offered, and then offered a complimentary room stay in the same room category for one night in lieu of a refund.

The group did not feel this was an adequate response either, and are following up with Swissôtel via email.

Swissôtel acknowledged the incident in a statement to Mothership, saying it had investigated the matter and found that it "appears to be isolated".

Here's their statement in full:

"At Swissôtel The Stamford, the care of our guests is our top priority, and we maintain rigorous standards of hygiene and safety. We take guest feedback very seriously and, following an internal investigation, this incident appears to be isolated.

We have been in continuous communication with the guest involved, both during and post their stay, to address their concerns. We remain committed to providing a comfortable and enjoyable stay for all our guests."   

Top photo from Mothership reader S