White House Night Club (ex Merci)

seike | 10.06.2009 23:34:47 | user rated by: 1

Last month we were in Budapest to check out the nightlife a little. We weren’t originally going to go to a striptease bar, because we were sure we would be able to solve the problem by getting a girl in a club or somewhere else. Unfortunately that didn’t work out, so we asked the receptionist in our hotel (Kempinsky) to recommend a good striptease bar to us where would not be ripped off. We later found out that we hadn’t been convincing enough as the guy did send us to one of those places. The cabbie of the hotel took us to a bar called White House. After all the classy Budapest clubs we had seen by that point, both the club’s furniture and its staff looked suspicious, as if we had ended up in Romania or even Africa. The place was of the lowest quality, each one of the girls just plain ugly, so we didn’t stay long, we left after about half an hour. They brought us the bill which included the compulsory drinks, and even though we only had 1 beer each, they tried to have us pay over HUF 60,000. We got really upset and we wanted to call the police, but at the end we got away paying only about a third of that amount. If I’m frank I have to say it’s not the money that’s the most upsetting in this story, especially because we didn’t even pay the bill, but the fact that a hotel like Kempinsky can allow itself to have a guest brought to such an awful place ripping clients off. How is it possible for a receptionist, as I’ve read here and also in other places on the net, to have a deal with such low quality clubs surviving on ripping off unassuming clients? Besides publishing our story on the net, we decided to send a letter to the international centre of the hotel chain, because it is inadmissible for a five star hotel to be involved with putting their guests through such a negative experience as it happened to us.

cippi | 12.02.2008 12:02:22 | user rated by: 1

what was said earlier by others unfortunately happened to us as well. we also used the taxi of the hotel, and we were also badly deceived. beside compulsory consumption, consume drinks that we did not order were also charged - at unreal prices. I am not going to put down the exact invoice amount here… but I am warning everyone: NOT TO VISIT THIS PLACE, AND NOT TO USE THE TAXI SERVICES OF THE HOTELS!!!!

nono29 | 10.22.2008 21:58:55 | user rated by: 1

It is from a reliable source that hotels have started to take the concerted activity of taxi drivers and certain clubs against their guests seriously, and several taxi drivers working for hotels have already been fired. The problem is that the above places and the taxi drivers’ mafia have made the nightlife of Budapest disreputable, and the once flourishing nightlife of Budapest is merely a shadow of what it was formerly. The authority as well as the police started to deal with the above corrupt people after several years of delay. Now it is true that clubs are closed after one another, however, I think it is a bit too late. The truth is that the issue has been dealt in the wrong way. The real problem is the corrupt taxi drivers’ mafia. If the above phenomenon disappeared from the nightlife of Budapest, the bars founded on it would also disappear for ever. In my opinion the police, companies rendering taxi service, hotels, as well as consumer protection should form a united front in order to prevent the above persons from damaging a great number of businesses based on tourism. Because the above phenomenon affects the whole sector. Bad news travels fast, and it can only be stopped by more good news. Unfortunately, poor cheated tourists have spoken ill of Hungary for years (which is justified). The greatest losers thereof are those trying to get on in an honest way. Those working in catering who would never think of causing financial damage to anyone. The main point is that something good has already started and the nightlife of Budapest is starting to purify, which is also promoted by forums like this. I wish further success in the above process!

prinz01 | 10.20.2008 12:36:08

Having read Traveler Asia’s comments, they practically seem to describe what happened to us at the beginning of September. We also stayed in Hotel Kempinsky, and we were taken to a similar club by the local taxi-mafia as well, however, it was called Merci Club. I am warning everyone to avoid that place as well, because if they do not, they will pay a lot. It is a basic rule in Budapest that you should not visit the places offered by taxi drivers in any way, because it will end like above. Fair clubs do not work together with corrupt taxi drivers simply because that they cannot pay the “commission” that for example Merci or Sincity pays without causing financial damage to their guests. I simply cannot understand how the police or the local authority can let such places function, and how the reputable Kempinsky can employ taxi drivers who cause financial damage to the guests of the hotel????

strip | 09.23.2008 14:50:28 | user rated by: 1

I heard that the Merci Club will close soon as well by the same problems. There are a lot of scams in this club.

daddy | 10.06.2006 02:43:24 | user rated by: 2

very small club far enough from the city center.three girls i found there but i couldn't choose, because they were awful..don't go in to this nigh club!