Humbertico
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Plan 2018
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I am going to take it up with the French tourist bureau to take a look at this incident the way we Americans were treated at this facility.
I am going to take it up with the French tourist bureau to take a look at this incident the way we Americans were treated at this facility.
I'm American. And I have experienced the whole range of treatment. It's not anything to do with my nationality. And just because I'm American doesn't mean the world owes me anything, Rather the opposite, I would think.Have you any reason to believe that the treatment that you are complaining about had anything to do with your nationality? If not why do you feel the need to mention it here?
Why drag the experience along behind you as you climb the hill? Things are as they are. Taking impersonal things personally, and to letting them eat at you makes for a long and suffering road.True but not a great way to start.
If there is a fire or a heart attack dial 112 and ask for either the fire service or ambulance, don't call the owner, he is probably not qualified for fire and cardiac arrest.He needs to have better accountability of people that work for him or else it’s going to affect his business. This girls attitude was totally out of line. I asked her what would happen if there’s an emergency or someone had a heart attack or there was a fire how could you get a hold of the owner she just shrugged her shoulders like if she didn’t care and said well He never answer his phone calls when I tried to call him. This is totally unacceptable. I would never offer any family member or my worst enemy recommendations to stay there. I am going to take it up with the French tourist bureau to take a look at this incident the way we Americans were treated at this facility.
Hi! My advice would be not to take it personally and forget it asapTrue but not a great way to start. .
Love your reply and reassessmentOn reflection I take back my initial response,we can all have a bad day or part of one and perhaps I was too quick to judge.in light of other experiences at this hostal I could be there late October,if the cook is still cranky I'll buy her flowers
Thanks for this reassessment. I just don't believe that the person I met twice deserves to be fired for a bit of perceived abruptness!On reflection I take back my initial response,we can all have a bad day or part of one and perhaps I was too quick to judge.in light of other experiences at this hostal I could be there late October,if the cook is still cranky I'll buy her flowers
I am going to take it up with the French tourist bureau to take a look at this incident the way we Americans were treated at this facility.
It was the same young girl from San Francisco
Bad attitude like she didn’t give a s__t!
she should be fired or else it will hurt their business
He needs to have better accountability of people that work for him or else it’s going to affect his business
I disagree. If we post our good experiences on this forum and are discouraged or forbidden to post our bad experiences, then the forum becomes meaningless as a place to share our camino experiences with each other. As the OP's bad experience is more than outweighed by the many favourable reviews of Beilari, that should be adequate to cause readers to sympathize with him on the first day of his camino, while accepting that we shall make our own conclusions, based on the balance of the postings which we have read and our personal experiences, if any.Please keep this sort of post to Tripadviser - Beilari and especially Joseph, was for me a wonderful start to my Camino in March - this site is not for personal grievances.
Would anyone recommend a place to stay in St Jean on October 31st 2018
Would anyone recommend a place to stay in St Jean on October 31st 2018
I am sorry that this happened to you. Unfortunately (fortunately, IMO), things don't always go "as planned" on the Camino. That is one reason, on my second Camino, I had NO plans. Some of my best and favorite memories are from totally unplanned circumstances and foibles. These are beautiful Camino gifts. Buen Camino!!I want to warn future pilgrims about our experience at the Beilari Albuergue in St Jean Pied de Port. We were left out of our reserved room when we showed up. I had made a reservation by phone and email six months prior and called them the day before arrival. I told them we would be there by dinner time st 6. We showed up st 4:30 because of the train strike and the only person working there was cooking and told us to come back because she was busy and could not check us in. We went to the store to pick up supply and when we returned she gave up our room stating we had not called to confirm and our name was in the reservation book. I asked her to please call the owner and she stated he never answers her calls. She was rude and aggressive and demeaning. My wife felt so humiliated.I would not recommend anyone staying in this Albuergue. I am going to report this to the French Tourism Authorities.
Humbertico, we Americans are a grumpy lot right now. I'm sorry you encountered one of us Californians in a bad mood cooking at the lovely Beilari albergue.
What a strange account. I know Beilari from several experiences and, honestly, this is totally at odds with every thing I know about this very special place. I consider my experiences there to be amongst the warmest, most humane memories of the many stops along the Camino Francés. I know their policy about confirming reservations is very serious. I have also met the woman you mention. She brings a roomful of light into a space. The more I think about this the less I understand .I want to warn future pilgrims about our experience at the Beilari Albuergue in St Jean Pied de Port. We were left out of our reserved room when we showed up. I had made a reservation by phone and email six months prior and called them the day before arrival. I told them we would be there by dinner time st 6. We showed up st 4:30 because of the train strike and the only person working there was cooking and told us to come back because she was busy and could not check us in. We went to the store to pick up supply and when we returned she gave up our room stating we had not called to confirm and our name was in the reservation book. I asked her to please call the owner and she stated he never answers her calls. She was rude and aggressive and demeaning. My wife felt so humiliated.I would not recommend anyone staying in this Albuergue. I am going to report this to the French Tourism Authorities.
I have stayed in Beilari twice and it has been an amazing experience on both occasionsThanks for posting this as I will the there shortly and will be giving this one a wide berth.Sorry for your experience.
Thank youI disagree. If we post our good experiences on this forum and are discouraged or forbidden to post our bad experiences, then the forum becomes meaningless as a place to share our camino experiences with each other. As the OP's bad experience is more than outweighed by the many favourable reviews of Beilari, that should be adequate to cause readers to sympathize with him on the first day of his camino, while accepting that we shall make our own conclusions, based on the balance of the postings which we have read and our personal experiences, if any.
How about the cost and inconvenience and humiliation my wife and I went through. Does this matter? Not a single response from the owner.So, at the risk of pointing out the obvious, you were upset about what you perceived to be poor service from a fellow American, with what you perceived to be a bad attitude. The fact that you mention your nationality puzzles me, or do you expect better treatment than others because of your nationality?
As other posters have pointed out, there may be any number of reasons for the staff member to act this way, stress, a bad day, personal issues etc etc.
While I understand that poor service can be very annoying, and it is easy to vent while angry, why are you posting this on a public forum and not contacting the owner of the facility directly, to sort out the issue?
Did you speak to the owner at any stage, to try to sort out the issue?
If the staff member was unhappy/angry/rude etc, have you not reacted in the same way by posting about the incident? The only person you can control is yourself.
As you mention the business, did you any any stage consider what your original post could potentially do to the business? As you can see from the replies, your isolated experience is not what has been experienced by others, so thankfully balance is being restored by the forum.
I sincerely hope that your experiences improve, that you enjoy your Camino, and that this incident will fade from memory, and seem less "big" as your journey unfolds. Lessons from the Camino come in various ways!!
Buen camino.
No apologies or response from the owner?..I am sorry that this happened to you. I suspect that you chose Bellari based on their reputation and reviews. It sounds as though you never were able to speak to the owner.
I don't know if the owner reads this forum, but he likely reads reviews on the websites people consult when choosing a place to stay (Bookings, Tripadviser, Expedia, Gronze, etc). I think you should post a review with your very low rating reflecting your experience. It is extremely likely that he will see it.
As for the employee, it isn't easy to fire a long time employee in France. Your documentation would be helpful to him. He may not be very accessible to his employees or perhaps they don't like to bother him when they screw up.
Don't mention being American. Your complaint in English with North American syntax will be obvious enough.
This place has a very good reputation and people rave about it. If more people have experiences similar to yours and post about their experiences, that will no longer be the case. I am sure the owner is aware of that, as well as the fact that there are other places to stay in SJPDP.
Again, I am sorry for the unpleasantness and I wish you a very Buen Camino.
Any place BellariWould anyone recommend a place to stay in St Jean on October 31st 2018
Inhumano regardless of nationalityHave you any reason to believe that the treatment that you are complaining about had anything to do with your nationality? If not why do you feel the need to mention it here?
I happen to be a trauma surgeon. You missed the whole point of my fraustration. Maybe you should read my original post!If there is a fire or a heart attack dial 112 and ask for either the fire service or ambulance, don't call the owner, he is probably not qualified for fire and cardiac arrest.
Thank you. A simple apology from the owner would suffice!I am sorry that this happened to you. I suspect that you chose Bellari based on their reputation and reviews. It sounds as though you never were able to speak to the owner.
I don't know if the owner reads this forum, but he likely reads reviews on the websites people consult when choosing a place to stay (Bookings, Tripadviser, Expedia, Gronze, etc). I think you should post a review with your very low rating reflecting your experience. It is extremely likely that he will see it.
As for the employee, it isn't easy to fire a long time employee in France. Your documentation would be helpful to him. He may not be very accessible to his employees or perhaps they don't like to bother him when they screw up.
Don't mention being American. Your complaint in English with North American syntax will be obvious enough.
This place has a very good reputation and people rave about it. If more people have experiences similar to yours and post about their experiences, that will no longer be the case. I am sure the owner is aware of that, as well as the fact that there are other places to stay in SJPDP.
Again, I am sorry for the unpleasantness and I wish you a very Buen Camino.
Inhumane regardless of nationality
I know that it's totally off topic, but I wouldn't fly internationally (or anywhere actually) with cannabis products!Interesting that you should mention grumpiness and Californians at the moment. Just yesterday I read an article from a San Diego news website on coping with the aches, pains and stress of the Camino in what I thought sounded like a very Californian style
http://sdcitybeat.com/culture/cannabitch/packing-the-essentials/
I am American and could not have been treated better at this Albergue. This is the first bad review I have read. I am sorry for your experience. This is my third week on the Camino and the sold out crowds have caused many an issue.He needs to have better accountability of people that work for him or else it’s going to affect his business. This girls attitude was totally out of line. I asked her what would happen if there’s an emergency or someone had a heart attack or there was a fire how could you get a hold of the owner she just shrugged her shoulders like if she didn’t care and said well He never answer his phone calls when I tried to call him. This is totally unacceptable. I would never offer any family member or my worst enemy recommendations to stay there. I am going to take it up with the French tourist bureau to take a look at this incident the way we Americans were treated at this facility.
Hi Humbertico,I am a trauma surgeon. You missed the point perhaps you need to re read my original post.
Well stated, kdespot. John, from two states further north...Humbertico, we Americans are a grumpy lot right now. I'm sorry you encountered one of us Californians in a bad mood cooking at the lovely Beilari albergue. Maybe she was having a rough day for reasons that had nothing to do with you. Could you see letting go of this incident and directing your energy toward one of the many critical issues that are confronting our country at this moment in history? We could sure use some passion like you have to put forth good causes on so many fronts.
We were left out of our reserved room when we showed up.
when we returned she gave up our room stating we had not called to confirm and our name was in the reservation book.
I hope you are feeling better now that you have copy-pasted this same message on Tripadvisor. I would suggest when you do write to the "French Tourism Authorities" to be more specific about the room/bed thing - it's not clear to me as I mentioned before. And I guess it should say "our name was NOT in the reservation book"? Or was it in the book but not confirmed? And I suppose you've not contacted the owners yourself and have no plans to do so? Bon courage et bonne chance en tout cas.I am going to report this to the French Tourism Authorities.
At first it sounded like a story of American visitor is treated badly in France. But from other messages I gather it was a verbal spat between compatriots ...I was simply asking if your nationality is relevant to your complaint since you make a very deliberate point of stating it. If it was not part of the problem then why mention it so emphatically? Should your nationality have any impact on the treatment you received or expected?
Sorry for your tribulations. I am a member of your club, being locked out on May 6. Fortunately, I was able to talk to the Volunteers at the Pilgrim Office just up the hill and he directed me to a place just over the bridge on the left, run by Eric. Wonderful man.I want to warn future pilgrims about our experience at the Beilari Albuergue in St Jean Pied de Port. We were left out of our reserved room when we showed up. I had made a reservation by phone and email six months prior and called them the day before arrival. I told them we would be there by dinner time st 6. We showed up st 4:30 because of the train strike and the only person working there was cooking and told us to come back because she was busy and could not check us in. We went to the store to pick up supply and when we returned she gave up our room stating we had not called to confirm and our name was in the reservation book. I asked her to please call the owner and she stated he never answers her calls. She was rude and aggressive and demeaning. My wife felt so humiliated.I would not recommend anyone staying in this Albuergue. I am going to report this to the French Tourism Authorities.
Thankfully, it is a very small club.Sorry for your tribulations. I am a member of your club, being locked out on May 6. Fortunately, I was able to talk to the Volunteers at the Pilgrim Office just up the hill and he directed me to a place just over the bridge on the left, run by Eric. Wonderful man.
One small addition:‘One American surgeon and his wife feeling humiliated by albergue cook’
Sorry...get a grip!
@VNwalkingOne small addition:
‘One American surgeon and his wife feeling humiliated by American albergue cook’
The Gendarmes definitely have more important things to deal with than that.
None of us are born entitled to anything.
People can be nice to us, or not.
People can respect us, or not.
There's no way to control that, but what goes around does come around.
The Camino is a wonderful teacher of how to transcend petty reactions, and the joy of just moving on when the inevitable disappointments happen, rather than taking it so personally.
This is not what I'd consider doing first, to be honest.he refers only to informing the tourist authorities. This seems to me to be a reasonable reaction to an apparent cancellation of his booking, combined with a rude response.
We could start a conversation about What I did when I did not get the room I thought I had booked or thought I would get. It happened to me a few times. All memorable though not in a terribly negative way. My main reaction was usually, oh just give me a bed; it's just for one night.I would just [...]
They are sort of closed from the middle of October until the middle of March. October 24th is the last day for individual bookings this year. After that date, they only accept groups of 8 people or more. (Info from website of the regional Tourism Office; closing date also apparent in the Beilari online booking calendar).Beilari it is then
If they are accepting bookings for October 31st
BelariiWould anyone recommend a place to stay in St Jean on October 31st 2018
I am very sorry that you and your wife had this experience. I had a really wonderful experience at Beilari a year ago, many have reported similar experiences. That said, negative things happen to us along the way. So sorry that it was your first day, not a pleasant way of starting. I had a couple of lousy situations happen to me at albergues, one in Uterga and then later on closer to Santiago.I want to warn future pilgrims about our experience at the Beilari Albuergue in St Jean Pied de Port. We were left out of our reserved room when we showed up. I had made a reservation by phone and email six months prior and called them the day before arrival. I told them we would be there by dinner time st 6. We showed up st 4:30 because of the train strike and the only person working there was cooking and told us to come back because she was busy and could not check us in. We went to the store to pick up supply and when we returned she gave up our room stating we had not called to confirm and our name was in the reservation book. I asked her to please call the owner and she stated he never answers her calls. She was rude and aggressive and demeaning. My wife felt so humiliated.I would not recommend anyone staying in this Albuergue. I am going to report this to the French Tourism Authorities.
Please keep this sort of post to Tripadviser - Beilari and especially Joseph, was for me a wonderful start to my Camino in March - this site is not for personal grievances.
I was giving you the benefit of the doubt until this last post. You need not have to mention your nationality. You are giving yourself and others true meaning to the term "ugly Am------" SORRY! If the lady was rude, she needs to be addressed by the owner. Your nationality, unfortunately, is of no importance. My apologies.He needs to have better accountability of people that work for him or else it’s going to affect his business. This girls attitude was totally out of line. I asked her what would happen if there’s an emergency or someone had a heart attack or there was a fire how could you get a hold of the owner she just shrugged her shoulders like if she didn’t care and said well He never answer his phone calls when I tried to call him. This is totally unacceptable. I would never offer any family member or my worst enemy recommendations to stay there. I am going to take it up with the French tourist bureau to take a look at this incident the way we Americans were treated at this facility.
So true, Marian. I made my reservation at Beilari 2 1/2 months before arriving in SJPdP. I asked the front desk clerk of the hotel where I was staying in Bayonne to re-confirm my arrival 24 hours before I showed up at the Beilari. All good. And as noted in an earlier post above, Joseph and company were terrific.So, I stayed at Beilari in May of this year. It was a wonderful experience. When you look at their website and book they are extremely particular about confirming 24 hours in advance. If you are traveling to St Jean from far away (in my case from California), this means you have to remember to do it while you are en route. I found my hosts at Beilari to be very present and conscientious, and very dedicated to ensuring a good start to people’s Camino experience. I’m not sure all of what goes into making this magic happen night after night but their confirmation policy is stated and taken very seriously. That being said, it is a lovely establishment and I’d recommend it to anyone. The cook was kind, but busy and I suspect probably an introvert. My experiences with her were gracious enough.
Also had a problem not getting a bed I thought I had booked. Pellerin just down the street from Beliari took a booking from me at the end of November. Two days later they closed their site but informed no-one. Just days before arriving in Saint Jean,a fellow pilgrim posted on here that the place was closed. At short notice Beilari took me in. That night, another pilgrim was standing outside looking bewildered. Same problem. The lady working there, (from Donostia/San Sebastian) invited her in and gave her a bed. She said they always try to keep a spare bed or two for late comers. It was a great night and I still keep in touch with some of the folk I met that night. Would recommend Belari without hesitationWe could start a conversation about What I did when I did not get the room I thought I had booked or thought I would get. It happened to me a few times. All memorable though not in a terribly negative way. My main reaction was usually, oh just give me a bed; it's just for one night.
I loved Gite Ultreia. Nothing was too much trouble.Would anyone recommend a place to stay in St Jean on October 31st 2018
SO beautifully said, @easygoing. Thank you.I find it ironic that the people that expect always courtesy from other people are quick to respond with very little courtesy and kindness. Consider this incident as part of what the Camino is teaching you.
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