S1 mple klagade sig över hotellrummet — ESL löste konflikten

Hey ESL, wake up and tell your employees to be professional. Terrible communication with the teams and with this crappy hotel. <...> I don't want to complain, but if I wake up with ants and look at a moldy wall in a four-star hotel, I don't even know.

ESL Vice President Ultrich Schulze immediately responded to the situation. He said that s1mple had established contact with the organizers, but decided not to resolve the issue, but to immediately publicize the incident:

Providing players with the best accommodation is very important to us. We've been working on this for several weeks. This tweet [by s1mple] was sent before anyone at ESL received a request for help.

The VP of Product also said that s1mple was immediately moved to another room after the incident became known:

S1mple got a different number when he notified our staff of the issue (he didn't do this until after the tweet). We communicated with all the players and teams before the start of the tournament - there was an active communication channel. We are still investigating, but the hotel is of a high standard. None of the 24 EPL teams have mentioned mold so far. Since s1mple has been staying at this property since the group stage, we are trying to figure out the mold issue.

Ultrich does not deny the poor condition of the room, but he did make it clear that the organizers of the event were looking for a place for the players to stay that could meet their needs, and the hotel was recently renovated:

No one says that the mold appeared in the room overnight. The hotel has recently been refurbished with positive reviews and no mold complaints from the 24 EPL teams. It is unlikely that a room with so much mold would have been left unattended for a long time. We are studying this now. Although s1mple has decided to make this situation public, I'm not going to go into details.

The situation was summed up by ESL employee Alexander Inglot. He said that the organizers had the necessary conversation with both the hotel staff and the Natus Vincere player, and the problem was finally resolved:

Update on the situation with s1mple and the hotel. We sat down and spoke to the hotel management to clear things up. S1mple expressed his opinion on the latest events and media misrepresentation. The hotel accepted his point of view. We ended up with mutual respect. Thanks to both parties for solving the problem.

Natus Vincere made it to the first round of ESL Pro League Season 16, taking 3rd place in Group A in the previous stage. They will have to fight with representatives of Heroic for the right to reach the quarterfinals, where they will be expected by the G2 Esports team.