Lala Grand Hotel in Erzurum

My experience with the hotel's laundry service was extremely disappointing.

I handed in a small bag of clothes (including a linen shirt and pants, both almost new) to be washed through the hotel's laundry service. When the clothes were returned to my room the same day, both the shirt and pants had shrunk so much that they became unusable. These were 100% linen items with clear international washing instructions (cold wash, no drying) - something any professional laundry should understand.

I immediately reported the issue at the reception. Unfortunately, the staff kept giving contradictory explanations (first that they used a third party, then that they did it themselves, then that they don't check the laundry items, etc.). Despite several attempts, the hotel manager refused to meet me in person and only communicated through the receptionist. They also refused to provide any written statement, invoice, or even an acknowledgment of the incident.

In the end, they denied any responsibility, did not offer even a basic apology, and left me with ruined clothes worth around €100. The whole experience was frustrating and unprofessional, especially for a 4-star hotel.

Update after hotel's public reply:

Dear Hotel Management,

Your reply contains incorrect information. The linen trousers were purchased on June 7, 2025, and the linen shirt on June 17, 2025 (receipts available). Both items were nearly new and in excellent condition - not "2-3 years old" as you claim.

At no point during our conversations at the hotel did you question my statement that the clothes were nearly new, which makes it rather surprising that such a claim is only being raised now in your public reply. If this issue had been mentioned earlier, I could have easily provided the receipt as proof, as the receipts are in my phone.

The fact remains: the laundry service returned both items shrunk beyond use, despite the clear international washing instructions on their labels. Instead of taking responsibility, the hotel manager refused to meet me, and the reception staff confirmed you would not compensate or even provide a written statement.

I leave this clarification so that future guests can decide for themselves how trustworthy the hotel management really is.

My friend wanted to use the laundry service, we asked about the prices since the paper for laundry was not so clear. They asked the items to be washed and we shared as underwear, socks, shirt, pants. We were told to put everything to be washed in a laundry bag they had in the rooms and left at the reception. They didn’t know exact pricing but had an estimate and told us that they would take care of everything and drop washed clothes in our room.

Everything was good until we came to room and my friend realized that the pants and shirt are shrunk due to mistreatment(wrong washing or machine drying).

We went to make a complaint and informed them immediately after the incident. The receptionist went to ask to their managers, and words kept changing as if we asked for dry cleaning cos they don’t do it, or if we didn’t give any details of the items, or how what we learnt about the laundry service. At first saying they don’t do laundry but give it to another 3rd party place or someone they are not taking responsibility for that they are intermediary between, then saying they do laundry themselves not 3rd party.. then claiming they do not check bags content just put in the machine, but at the same time saying they also washed many expensive/valuable clothes and no problem occurred. So quite many mismatching claims and accusations to avoid any responsibility as if it’s our responsibility not knowing what we wanted from laundry service. It’s ridiculous to say that they don’t check items, there are clear signs on clothes that are universal like temperature and no drying no softener etc and a laundry maker should know very much all type of clothing materials and how to handle them. It’s pity a 4 star hotel was not so clear about their laundry service, and claim that they don’t check clothes to be washed. even while taking things out of bag it’s clear there is a shirt and pant thus they should be separate or if everything together low temperature to be used. On top of their mistake, it was terrible for their manager to not show up and don’t even apologise for anything. They didn’t give us any papers for our loss and the laundry service which makes things difficult to claim later from any authority. Overall, we lost our time arguing with them and 100€ worth clothes that ruined all our travel experience. Very disappointing service and experience.