When our Thalys got cancelled due to the strike, the Royal Madeleine delivered the worst service ever.
The thalys informed us on Thursday at 11 PM that our train got cancelled for the next day (6AM), so I called the hotel right away but had to call back the next day as the manager already left.. When I finally spoke to the manager (Claire) she simply told me we had to pay anyway. She could not refund me or move the reservation to another date..
Even in Hospitality there are certain circumstances in which a hotel has to be flexible to its customers - such as strikes and cancellations of transportation. I have worked in 5 star hotels and we have always refunded out guests when their flight/train got cancelled - even when their room was prepaid/non refundable.
We were already devastated that our 5 year anniversary weekend got cancelled - nevertheless were charged the full amount due to something that was totally out of our hands..
Besides, I found the "manager" really rude as she only apologized after 5 minutes - I have never experienced a front desk manager being that rude (she is the business card of your hotel..).
For a hotel that is claiming to provide high service, I was extremely dissapointed in their flexibility and hospitality.. Never again for us.