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work stories
May. 21st, 2005 09:34 amMan, yesterday was the day of b*$chy customers at work.
* I get a phone call from a lady who had a five-night reservation earlier this month, and had _forgotten_ to call and cancel it. The charge showed up on her credit card. I explain to her that it's standard hotel policy to charge the credit card used in a reservation if it ends up being a no-show. We did, after all, hold the room for her all night, and were unable to rent the room to anyone else. "Well, you can't do this to me!" Umm, yes, we can. That's why we have a cancellation policy, and why we get credit cards when making reservations. "You just can't do this to me, it isn't fair. I forgot to call you; my conference was canceled." So I sent her back to our manager who does Accounts. She calls back a few minutes later, "The person you sent me to didn't answer their phone." Did you leave a voicemail? "Well, yes." Then they'll call you back when they get your message. "I just can't believe you're doing this to me, this is unbelievable." And she hung up. Sheesh. How do you _forget_ that you were planning on staying out-of-town for almost a whole week?
* Lots of wedding parties this month (surprise), and for some reason, wedding guests tend to want to check in early. Real early. As in, like, eleven thirty in the morning (check-out isn't until _noon_). I had a family try to do this yesterday. "When would we be able to get into the room?" I explained to them that we had a full house the night before, and the housekeepers were working as quickly as they could, but since check-in is at 3pm, the _earliest_ I could hazard to guess for them was 2:30, maaaybe 2 o'clock. They seemed to be okay with that, so they left and it seemed like that was the end of it. They came back at 2:15 (right during the shift change) and their room was still not ready. They were kind of miffed. "We were told it would be ready." Thankfully, my relief went to bat for me. "No, check-in is at 3 pm. That is the only time we can guarantee that rooms will be ready. If we can get you in earlier than that, that's a special favor that should not be expected." Oooh, they didn't like that. They got very vocal and demanded that she give them her name; that they'd be "speaking to Customer Relations about this." _Very_ scary scene in the lobby.
* A lady walks up, wanting a room for four nights. Okay, it's a Friday, and Memorial Day weekend at that. We have been booked solid for _weeks_. Apparently that's not an acceptable answer. "Well, I'm in town on business this week, and I need a place to stay." I'm sorry, ma'am, we're sold out. "Well, where do you suggest I go, then?" So I make several phone calls for her, during which time a line is forming at the desk and the phones are going crazy. My General Manager comes out of the back to help out while I can't do anything but pander to this one unreasonable woman. And it wasn't just a matter of finding somewhere with availability (which no one had, anyway). She _had_ to have a continental breakfast, and she _had_ to have maid service every morning. "I'm a very busy person and I don't have time to be making the bed in the morning." (So sleep in an unmade bed, like you do at home!) So I can't find _anywhere_ for her, which she still doesn't seem able to understand. "Well, I need somewhere to stay, so what am I supposed to do?" (Umm, call ahead next time? You had to have known in advance if this was indeed a "business trip.") I give her the list of area hotels that we regularly call for rate and availability, and suggest she call the ones she thinks she'd be interested in, and finally get back to helping everyone else at the desk. A couple minutes later, she comes back to the desk, but this time goes to the other desk agent working with me, who was about to force-sell her a room, just to get her out of our faces. When the woman hands over her ID, though, we realize that this is the woman we received a phone call about earlier in the day. She apparently had been kicked out of another hotel in our area for "inflicting damage," and the police had been called, but she'd left before they could get there. Yikes. No way we want this woman on our property, either. So my colleague tells her the computer won't let her book the reservation. "Fine, call me a cab." Ooh, with pleasure. Five minutes later, a cab shows up and she heads outside. Big sigh of relief. But then she comes back in! "He says he can't take me downtown." Umm, bull$#!7. That's the cab company we call for _everybody_, no matter where they're going. Unless she was wanting him to take her up to _Nebraska_ or something, there shouldn't have been a problem. So, just to be safe, though, we call a _different_ cab company, which takes TWO AND A HALF HOURS to arrive. Having her in the lobby was like waiting for a bomb to go off. I just wanted her the heck off my property before she caused a major incident. _Finally_, right as the shift was changing, the cab came to get her, and I held my breath while I watched him drive away, then I frantically called the hotels she had said she'd try, to warn them about her. I almost felt bad for conspiring, but _dang_, some people...
But wait, there's more! The next shift got a call from the hotel this woman had tried to get into. They said that she claimed she had a reservation with us (why she'd tell them that, I have no iea), and were calling to verify. So our girls set them straight, and then the guest started saying that she had left her debit card here, which she hadn't. So she comes _back_ to our property, claiming to be looking for her card (one of the guests who had been in the lobby the first time she was here remembered watching her put her card back into her purse, and was willing to testify if it came to that), and even saying that we had kept it. So she calls the police to report her stolen card and ha!! They have an outstanding warrant for her arrest, for the damages inflicted to the hotel that called me at the beginning of this whole thing. So they come and get her, and wherever she is right now, it's rent-free and courtesy of the county (wink).
Never knew the hotel business could be so exciting, huh?
* I get a phone call from a lady who had a five-night reservation earlier this month, and had _forgotten_ to call and cancel it. The charge showed up on her credit card. I explain to her that it's standard hotel policy to charge the credit card used in a reservation if it ends up being a no-show. We did, after all, hold the room for her all night, and were unable to rent the room to anyone else. "Well, you can't do this to me!" Umm, yes, we can. That's why we have a cancellation policy, and why we get credit cards when making reservations. "You just can't do this to me, it isn't fair. I forgot to call you; my conference was canceled." So I sent her back to our manager who does Accounts. She calls back a few minutes later, "The person you sent me to didn't answer their phone." Did you leave a voicemail? "Well, yes." Then they'll call you back when they get your message. "I just can't believe you're doing this to me, this is unbelievable." And she hung up. Sheesh. How do you _forget_ that you were planning on staying out-of-town for almost a whole week?
* Lots of wedding parties this month (surprise), and for some reason, wedding guests tend to want to check in early. Real early. As in, like, eleven thirty in the morning (check-out isn't until _noon_). I had a family try to do this yesterday. "When would we be able to get into the room?" I explained to them that we had a full house the night before, and the housekeepers were working as quickly as they could, but since check-in is at 3pm, the _earliest_ I could hazard to guess for them was 2:30, maaaybe 2 o'clock. They seemed to be okay with that, so they left and it seemed like that was the end of it. They came back at 2:15 (right during the shift change) and their room was still not ready. They were kind of miffed. "We were told it would be ready." Thankfully, my relief went to bat for me. "No, check-in is at 3 pm. That is the only time we can guarantee that rooms will be ready. If we can get you in earlier than that, that's a special favor that should not be expected." Oooh, they didn't like that. They got very vocal and demanded that she give them her name; that they'd be "speaking to Customer Relations about this." _Very_ scary scene in the lobby.
* A lady walks up, wanting a room for four nights. Okay, it's a Friday, and Memorial Day weekend at that. We have been booked solid for _weeks_. Apparently that's not an acceptable answer. "Well, I'm in town on business this week, and I need a place to stay." I'm sorry, ma'am, we're sold out. "Well, where do you suggest I go, then?" So I make several phone calls for her, during which time a line is forming at the desk and the phones are going crazy. My General Manager comes out of the back to help out while I can't do anything but pander to this one unreasonable woman. And it wasn't just a matter of finding somewhere with availability (which no one had, anyway). She _had_ to have a continental breakfast, and she _had_ to have maid service every morning. "I'm a very busy person and I don't have time to be making the bed in the morning." (So sleep in an unmade bed, like you do at home!) So I can't find _anywhere_ for her, which she still doesn't seem able to understand. "Well, I need somewhere to stay, so what am I supposed to do?" (Umm, call ahead next time? You had to have known in advance if this was indeed a "business trip.") I give her the list of area hotels that we regularly call for rate and availability, and suggest she call the ones she thinks she'd be interested in, and finally get back to helping everyone else at the desk. A couple minutes later, she comes back to the desk, but this time goes to the other desk agent working with me, who was about to force-sell her a room, just to get her out of our faces. When the woman hands over her ID, though, we realize that this is the woman we received a phone call about earlier in the day. She apparently had been kicked out of another hotel in our area for "inflicting damage," and the police had been called, but she'd left before they could get there. Yikes. No way we want this woman on our property, either. So my colleague tells her the computer won't let her book the reservation. "Fine, call me a cab." Ooh, with pleasure. Five minutes later, a cab shows up and she heads outside. Big sigh of relief. But then she comes back in! "He says he can't take me downtown." Umm, bull$#!7. That's the cab company we call for _everybody_, no matter where they're going. Unless she was wanting him to take her up to _Nebraska_ or something, there shouldn't have been a problem. So, just to be safe, though, we call a _different_ cab company, which takes TWO AND A HALF HOURS to arrive. Having her in the lobby was like waiting for a bomb to go off. I just wanted her the heck off my property before she caused a major incident. _Finally_, right as the shift was changing, the cab came to get her, and I held my breath while I watched him drive away, then I frantically called the hotels she had said she'd try, to warn them about her. I almost felt bad for conspiring, but _dang_, some people...
But wait, there's more! The next shift got a call from the hotel this woman had tried to get into. They said that she claimed she had a reservation with us (why she'd tell them that, I have no iea), and were calling to verify. So our girls set them straight, and then the guest started saying that she had left her debit card here, which she hadn't. So she comes _back_ to our property, claiming to be looking for her card (one of the guests who had been in the lobby the first time she was here remembered watching her put her card back into her purse, and was willing to testify if it came to that), and even saying that we had kept it. So she calls the police to report her stolen card and ha!! They have an outstanding warrant for her arrest, for the damages inflicted to the hotel that called me at the beginning of this whole thing. So they come and get her, and wherever she is right now, it's rent-free and courtesy of the county (wink).
Never knew the hotel business could be so exciting, huh?
