Wonderful Pools for Children — Appalling Customer Service and a Disturbing Safety Experience
I am a 70-year-old senior citizen who recently took my three-year-old granddaughter to Palatinus Bath. My granddaughter had a wonderful time swimming, playing in the waterfalls and shallow end of the wave pool, and especially enjoying the slides in the children's area. Thankfully, she was too young to realize how unnecessarily difficult and unpleasant our experience was because of the astonishingly poor customer service we encountered.
I arrived by Uber carrying my granddaughter's car seat and a backpack, as well as my own backpack. I had purchased my admission online in advance; there was no admission charge for my granddaughter.
At the entrance, I asked the employee whether the car seat could be stored in the front office. He simply said “no,” and told me I could rent a cabin upstairs. I, also, knew that I needed towels and water shoes, but when I asked where to obtain them, he merely pointed outside. He spoke little or no English and made virtually no effort to help me understand where I needed to go or what I needed to purchase.
I was given a wristband with a round electronic device for operating lockers and cabin doors. I also mistakenly believed it could be used to charge food and beverages; a misunderstanding that created another problem later.
With my three-year-old granddaughter, her car seat and two backpacks, I went outside, where another employee pointed me toward a spiral concrete staircase. There were approximately 20 steps, and they were difficult for my granddaughter to manage. I, therefore, carried her on one arm and hip while somehow carrying the car seat and two backpacks with my other hand. If there was an elevator or another accessible way upstairs, not one employee told me about it.
When I finally reached the changing area, I found a cabin, changed our clothes and attempted to lock the cabin using my wristband. It would not work. So back down the stairs I went—again with a toddler, car seat and two backpacks. The only entrance employee who spoke some English told me to return to the cabin and that someone would come upstairs to help me. I hauled everything back upstairs and waited nearly 30 minutes. When an employee finally arrived, he took one look at me, grimaced, rolled his eyes and walked away. I could hardly believe it.
Back down the stairs I went yet again with my granddaughter and all of our belongings. Eventually, with the help of the employee who spoke some English, I learned that my original admission did not include a cabin and that the cabin therefore could not be activated using my existing wristband. I ultimately paid approximately $60 for two towels, one pair of flip-flops and access to a cabin.
Then, once again, I carried my granddaughter, the car seat and both backpacks upstairs. I reached the cabin number I had been assigned, successfully opened it with my newly activated wristband and discovered that the cabin was already occupied and filled with another guest's personal belongings. By this point, I was nearly in tears.
Then, finally, I encountered the one employee who showed genuine initiative and compassion. A woman working in the laundry area saw me with my granddaughter, car seat and backpacks. Although she spoke no English, she understood immediately that something was wrong and took it upon herself to help me. I believe she had probably seen me making repeated trips up and down those stairs. She removed my wristband, found another employee and apparently made it clear that the problem needed to be fixed. Shortly thereafter, the employee returned with a new wristband and a new cabin assignment. This time, everything finally worked.
Exactly one hour had passed from the time we arrived until I was finally able to secure our belongings and begin enjoying the baths with my granddaughter. What disturbed me almost as much as the administrative incompetence was the lack of basic human consideration. During that hour, numerous employees and guests saw me, a 70-year-old woman, repeatedly struggling up and down concrete stairs carryinga three-year-old child, a car seat and two backpacks. Not one person offered to help me.
Unfortunately, our problems did not end there. My granddaughter and I finally went to the children's pool. It was clean, and she was having a marvelous time, particularly on one of the slides. About 30 minutes later, another mother arrived with her toddler. The little boy vomited over the slide and the steps leading up to it. His mother immediately picked him up and left without notifying anyone.
I went to find the lifeguard, who was not within my sightline of the children's pool, and tried to explain what had happened and that the area needed to be cleaned. His response was to scowl at me and yell, “No English.” He would not get up and allow me to show him the problem.
Obviously, I would no longer allow my granddaughter to use the children's pool.
While I was deciding where to take her next, another child's grandfather entered the pool and attempted to clean the vomit from the slide himself using water from the pool. The result was that the vomit was now dispersed into the children's pool water.
That was the end of the children's pool for us.
Fortunately, my granddaughter still managed to have fun in some of the other pools. Later, however, we encountered yet another unnecessary inconvenience. When we became hungry and thirsty, I went to the concession stand believing that purchases could be charged using the electronic device on my wristband. Only after ordering did I learn that payment required cash or a credit card. My credit card, of course, was securely stored in the cabin upstairs.
The irony was remarkable: throughout our visit, announcements were repeatedly made warning guests not to leave money or valuables unattended while swimming. Yet the facility provided me with no way to purchase food or drinks using my wristband. To do so, I would have had to climb those stairs again, retrieve my credit card, return to purchase the food, and then make yet another trip upstairs to secure the card before going back into the pools.
After everything that had already happened, I simply could not face those stairs again. We therefore went without food or drinks until we were completely finished swimming, changed into our clothes and were ready to leave. I purchased food only then because my three-year-old granddaughter was understandably very hungry.
The saddest part of this experience is that Palatinus itself has a lot to offer young children. My granddaughter loved the slides, pools, waterfalls and water activities. With competent organization and employees willing to provide even a basic level of assistance, this could have been a wonderful grandmother-granddaughter outing.
Instead, I left exhausted and deeply disappointed.
I understand that I was visiting Hungary and cannot expect every employee to speak English. My criticism is not that employees did not speak English. Kindness, initiative and a willingness to help do not require fluency in a common language; the wonderful laundry employee proved that perfectly. My criticism is the dismissive attitude we repeatedly encountered, the extraordinary amount of confusion surrounding something as simple as obtaining a cabin, and most seriously, the apparent lack of urgency when I reported vomit on a slide in a children's swimming area.
My bottom line: I would not recommend Palatinus Bath unless you have a particular reason to go there, such as traveling with a very young child who cannot visit some of Budapest's other thermal-bath facilities. The children's facilities themselves were enjoyable; unfortunately, our experience with the operation and customer service was anything but.
One practical transportation tip: Margaret Island has vehicle restrictions, so if you plan to arrive by Uber or another ride service, check beforehand that the vehicle is permitted to enter the island and reach Palatinus.
