The Rotana

So we've been staying at the Rotana Beach Hotel here in Abu Dhabi. It's a beautiful hotel and the service has been excellent. However, we're at the point where we feel the need to lock our hotel room door with a deadbolt and the chain lock, along with our Do Not Disturb Sign! Our housekeeper are a little over-zealous in their work. At least 3 times a day, Angelo, our housekeeper, asks do we need anything. It's not common to us to have a male housekeeper, but either way he's been great. The first few days, we simply smiled and responded accordingly, "yes, 2 towels would be nice", "a few more water bottles", or "no, we're fine, thank you".

Unfortunately, after a few days, his persistence has gotten a little uncomfortable. If we're leaving our hotel room, he often seems to be right there, at our door or very near, with the same questions, "can I do anything for you? do you need more towels, water bottles, ice, apples, etc". If we tell him we're fine, he wants to know when he can clean our room, what items have we used, what time can he get in and he won't take "we don't need anything" for a final answer. We absolutely need to need something...so we usually make up some random thing we can ask for, "yes, another face towel, or another shampoo". Even if we have the do not disturb sign on the door, it means nothing, he knocks, he even comes in. I mean, this is hospitality at its finest I guess.

It's so hard to get direct and say, "no Angelo, we don't need anything". Because he's so sweet, he's so patient and he's simply trying to make sure we're taken care of. It's just gotten to the point to where we rush to our room once we've gotten off the elevator, or look through the peep hole and both ways down the hall before we exit our hotel room. If he sees us walking in or out, we better have our request ready. Even if we have 10 water bottles just sitting on the desk, we can always use another. We use to just leave the chain lock on the door with our do not disturb sign on the door. We assumed it would be enough to get the message that we don't want to be disturbed. But the knocking persists. If he knows we're in there, then we better acknowledge his presence and answer the door.

It's become such a major joke with us, today we laughed so hard because if Mallori tells him we don't need anything, it only means, we don't need anything right now. So he'll come back and hope that David answers, and the same vice versa. Tonight, he came by again and Mallori tried to make it clear that our room was great, we had everything we needed. And he assured her that David NEEDED another face towel. So he gave us three. He tried to peak in and look around for what else we needed. Mallori told him again, that we're great. We have everything we need. He told her, "well, what time do you want me to come tomorrow?" LOL

I'm sure once we're in our "home" we'll miss Angelo!