Two of our travelers had a bad experience last night just as they were about to check in to a hotel – it was in Melrose Park, a suburb of Chicago. They complained to our overnight service desk, and as one of the many hats I wear is following up on the service calls in the morning, I looked at the record to see what needed to be done.
This one was documented very carefully – the agent spelled it out so there’d be no misunderstanding. The male traveler was approached by a prostitute as soon as he got out of the car, so he and the female traveler got right back in the car and drove to another, higher quality hotel nearby. The agent documented that she couldn’t get the night clerk to agree to waive the no-show penalty, so she got the name of the day manager for me to follow up.
I left a message this morning, which he didn’t return. Called him back late in the afternoon and spoke to the guy. He was not sympathetic, or prepared to refund for just any little old complaint, you see. He sounded suspicious and wary, and not at all like a professional hotel manager, but more like a franchisee at a sandwich shop hoarding expensive ingredients.
Tact Is The New Tactic
I tried tact first, but “they had a bad experience when they arrived” didn’t convince him. Usually, that’s all I have to say to get the negotiations going. Some managers will ask for more information – was the clerk rude, was there no non-smoking room available – but I got a flat refusal.
So I restated it as “they felt there was a safety issue when they tried to check in” didn’t cut it, either. Which surprised me – most hotel managers scramble to make good at this point. They might ask for details in order to correct the problem, but they’re ready to credit the traveler’s card back.
Not this guy. He said “They didn’t even check in, and there was no problem.” Did he mean the local flooding? That there was no structural failure of the lobby? No power outage? Whatever. So much for saving him the embarassment – it’s not a preferred hotel, and I have no idea why we even booked these people at that chain in that location in the first place. And they were newbie travelers, so they didn’t know any better, either.
Bluntly, and in a deeper, warning tone I said “Okay… The male traveler was accosted by a prostitute in the parking lot of your hotel as soon as he stepped out of the car, and he got right back in the car and drove himself and his female collegue to another hotel.”
[exasperated pause]
“Okay, okay, I refund. I refund.”
“Both travelers, [name] and [name]?
“okay, yes, goodbye.”
And that was it. So I documented the conversation in the record and started writing up the customer service ticket (well, we fill it out online). I was composing a very firmly worded report, and had added that I didn’t trust the manager to actually put the refund through, when I was interrupted by an international call.
Talky- talk Dubai to Bangalore yadda, but I wasn’t really thinking about the res, I was thinking about what happened and how I’d word the CS ticket. I kept asking the client to repeat herself, and we got on for a bit until finally I said:
“I’m sorry if I sound distracted, but at this moment my mind isn’t on this record, it’s in Melrose Park being approached by a prostitute.”
She laughed as hard as I did when I finally managed to give her the gist. Laughter, especially big, unfettered laughter, is very cathartic.
