I stay at Thistle every time I visit JB because of its close proximity to where I need to go. So I know it is not the best when it comes to facilities and amenities.
However, they could at least maintain what they have well. The gym is terrible with half the machines out of order. The restaurant is mostly unavailable with events and the wait staff is barely available. I saw one poor guy being turned away for dinner on a couple of occasions. I guess he wanted to try the food no matter what.
I get that the hotel is old and it is currently going through renovation. However what it lacks in amenities should be made up by good service. Unfortunately this was the worst part of my experience at Thistle. After my numerous stays, it is obvious that service has gone downhill. I’m ok with indifferent service but rudeness is not acceptable. Most of the front desk staff were just plain rude. They were condescending and their immediate responses were alway no, not possible or no, not available. Even asking for an iron was an immediate rejection. Which by the way, isn’t an iron sort of an expected amenity?
Anyway, I’m not sure if I will continue staying there even if the location is convenient for me. It may be more worth it to pay the extra Grab cost to stay at a more decent hotel at a slightly higher cost.