Hotel LIS Batalha

My wife and I loved the hotel. It wasn't too large but had all the amenities. The room view was beautiful of the statue and monastery and surrounding plaza. The breakfast area and restaurant had the same view with full glass walls. You can park your car at the hotel and walk the city easily as it is ideally located. All of the above are important, but what we always rate important is the people associated with the hotel. Margarida greeted us when we arrived, explained everything about the hotel, and showed us our room. She is a gem! We spent time chatting with Camilla and Goncalves (sp), hotel management, who went out of their way to make sure we were having a good stay and made us feel at home. We appreciated the opportunity to stay here and would stay again.

We had a wonderful room over looking the breathtakingly beautiful cathedral – and indeed it is the most stunning cathedral I have ever seen - and a perfect room. We also had a delicious dinner and fine breakfast with charming and helpful waiters. However, an hour after we had checked out and as we were on our way South I received a frantic phone call from the front desk sounding quite aggressively accusatory and saying I had gone away with a bottle of water from our room and that either I must return to the hotel immediately or pay €25. We were by now more than an hour away so to turn around was impractical but equally to pay €25 for a plain glass bottle which I thought was complimentary seemed incredible, and as I was driving on the motorway- equally impractical. I told her that I would phone when we reached our destination in two hours time and that I had no idea that the bottle was part of the hotels property. In an unnecessarily rude and threatening tone she said if I did not phone back she would phone me. To explain the situation: we had arrived at the hotel the day before and there was a bottle of water on the table with a label beside it. I cannot remember if it was in English but I did recognise the words saying that it was a complimentary bottle of water. When we left in the morning we had drunk half the bottle and so I took it to the car, assuming that the word ‘complementary’ really meant complementary – and not just the plain water that had obviously filled and refilled it. I have to say that this episode and the very ungracious way it was handled really spoilt and left a bad impression of this Hotel. Especially as her tone of voice and vehemence seem to suggest that I had purposefully stolen the bottle. I had previously noted that the hotel had a twin hotel in Lisbon, so I paused my journey and telephoned that hotel. I explained that I had apparently misunderstood the word ‘complimentary’ and had walked off with a very plain glass bottle apparently worth €25. I asked if I could return it to them as it would be closer than Batalha and they sounded very puzzled by the whole situation, but agreed. When I arrived at my destination 45 minutes outside Lisbon, I called the hotel in Bethalha and explained that I would indeed return their precious bottle to their twin hotel in Lisbon. She reiterated that some people take the bottle as a souvenir - and that it was just the water (!) that was complimentary. I suppose I did not read the fine print. I told her I thought €25 would buy a really special memento rather than a small, very ordinary glass bottle with the name of the restaurant printed on it. When I told her what a bad impression this episode gave me of the hotel she answered “But you had a lovely room overlooking the cathedral!” Yes- this was true, and I truly appreciated it - and paid for it!! So tomorrow I am going to be spending an hour and a half of my holiday driving to Lisbon and back to return this bottle.