Helga and the Room of Doom (or Why do Inconsiderate People Always Have Money?)

[WishfulSpirit]

So there's a Cubic Zirconia member who comes in every few weeks. Most of my guests are nice, and this lady is cheerful enough until something bothers her. The problem is WHAT bothers her. I'm going to call her Helga because she looks like the captian of a women's Swedish lacrosse team. She's not unattractive, mind, just looks like a Nordic athlete you wouldn't want to mess with.

Helga was supposed to check out Friday. Helga sat her happy butt in her room until 2:30pm (checkout is 11am) and as per policy, we extended her reservation. She did it again on Saturday. She did it again today. Her card always clears, so we can't lock her out (Damn It!)

Today Helga called the front desk livid that someone had the nerve to knock on her door at noon even though she had a Do Not Disturb sign up. She gave me this snotty lecture about how the DND means "you are not to knock for any reason." Um...you were supposed to check out an hour ago, how do we know you didn't die in there? We DO start knocking on doors whenever someone isn't moving their kiester, it's an hour after they were supposed to be gone, and said person hasn't bothered to tell us they're staying longer.

Part of me wishes an emergency would happen just so I could skip her room during my evacuation procedures. When she bitches I'd sweetly tell her "oh, I'm sorry, you asked not to be disturbed for any reason." If I didn't know for a fact there's a keylogger on our software, I'd change her CC number so it would decline, giving us an excuse to kick her butt out.

We'll see what happens. I asked my more patient coworker to explain (in different terminology) the "GTFO knock" policy.

Part of me

[notalwaysright]

What would happen if she tried this during a busy time, when the hotel is booked solid? For example, she was supposed to have checked out, and another Cubic Zirconium member was booked to check in? Does she get to stay, and the other person gets told they can't have their reservation? Or maybe a person who is a "lower" member gets kicked...

I would never even consider just staying in a room and not telling anyone about it. But, you know, I'm not a SC.

[eltf177]

What would happen if she tried this during a busy time, when the hotel is booked solid? For example, she was supposed to have checked out, and another Cubic Zirconium member was booked to check in?

I'm wondering about this as well. Would a lower ranked person or someone off the street lose their room just because Helga won't leave? If I had a reservation and this happened I wouldn't be very happy.

And if it's another Cubic Zirconium member? I could see that getting VERY ugly VERY fast...

Management needs to come up with a policy for this, basically if you don't let anyone know you're not leaving too bad so sad, you must leave unless the room is available. And if I "misread" availability that's not my problem...

[WishfulSpirit]

What would happen if she tried this during a busy time, when the hotel is booked solid? For example, she was supposed to have checked out, and another Cubic Zirconium member was booked to check in? Does she get to stay, and the other person gets told they can't have their reservation? Or maybe a person who is a "lower" member gets kicked...

That actually DID happen. We were booked solid on Saturday night (Labor Day weekend + DU parents wanting to be tourists after dropping off Precious + Taste of Colorado + Taylor Swift concert at the Pepsi center + someone else playing at Fiddler's Green + Phish playing at Redrocks + Anime Convention in town = totally sold out, as is every other hotel in a 5 mile radius).

What happens in a sell-out scenario is someone who isn't a Hellton member gets "walked." Basically that means it falls on us to find them another hotel room. If the guest already paid us (which is usual if they book through Expedia or Orbiz), we pay for the "walked" guest's night at the other hotel, pay the difference in rate if there is one, AND pay for their cab to the new hotel if they need one. I have no idea how my evening coworker found a room for the guy at all given the above, but he pulled it off.

So Helga basically COST us money that night. She has no idea and probably wouldn't care if told.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Since Helga is such a valuable CZ member, and doesn't want to be disturbed for any reason, I think it would be accommodating of management to automatically charge her card for the next night if she doesn't check out by 11:00 a.m. Non-refundable, of course.

[eltf177]

So Helga basically COST us money that night. She has no idea and probably wouldn't care if told.

This just isn't right, but until management puts down its foot this will continue to happen.

And I am shocked with all that going on you could find someone another room in the area, any sort of room. Which reminds me of a story...

Many MANY moons ago a certain hotel chain (rhymes with Boliday Kin) had a policy where if they were full they would find you a room nearby. We'd been driving all day and I can't remember exactly where we were but we stopped for the night. No rooms. Guy makes two calls (or maybe just pretends to make two calls, I was never sure). Nothing available. "Sorry!" the clerk said.

"That's it?" my father asked. We left and kept driving. He later wrote both that hotel and corporate, never heard a word from either. But that policy quickly disappeared...

[ComputerNecromancer]

That actually DID happen. We were booked solid on Saturday night (Labor Day weekend + DU parents wanting to be tourists after dropping off Precious + Taste of Colorado + Taylor Swift concert at the Pepsi center + someone else playing at Fiddler's Green + Phish playing at Redrocks + Anime Convention in town = totally sold out, as is every other hotel in a 5 mile radius).

What happens in a sell-out scenario is someone who isn't a Hellton member gets "walked." Basically that means it falls on us to find them another hotel room. If the guest already paid us (which is usual if they book through Expedia or Orbiz), we pay for the "walked" guest's night at the other hotel, pay the difference in rate if there is one, AND pay for their cab to the new hotel if they need one. I have no idea how my evening coworker found a room for the guy at all given the above, but he pulled it off.

So Helga basically COST us money that night. She has no idea and probably wouldn't care if told.

Corporate needs to change policy so that when someone does this *they* get charged for what it cost to find the person a room.

[MoonCat]

Seems to me that if you make a reservation for X number of nights, and then stay past that time, you are trespassing. Your reservation is expired, you no longer have a right to be there.

Of course I realize that the Speshul Snowflake level guests can't be just be told the above, but it's too bad that corporate doesn't take that view and issue a policy of GTFO.

[notalwaysright]

That actually DID happen.

What happens in a sell-out scenario is someone who isn't a Hellton member gets "walked." Basically that means it falls on us to find them another hotel room. If the guest already paid us (which is usual if they book through Expedia or Orbiz), we pay for the "walked" guest's night at the other hotel, pay the difference in rate if there is one, AND pay for their cab to the new hotel if they need one. I have no idea how my evening coworker found a room for the guy at all given the above, but he pulled it off.

That is amazingly horrible. If it was me, and I somehow knew that some spoiled whiner was sitting in the room I reserved and likely pre-paid for, I would be... Yeah, very angry. And moving me to another hotel might be okay, but might not. Why? Because most of the time when I book a hotel one of the main concerns is location. Price is up there, but I'd much rather pay a little more for a better spot. And now I get bumped, probably to a less desirable location? Arg. I realize it probably doesn't happen too often, but for the person it happens to once is enough to be irked.

[Tee]

Part of me

Missing a little bit at the end there?

Had an anime convention just this weekend, took a few minutes to figure out it wasn't the same one. Heh, thought one of you guys was near me for a sec. XD

So, she does this so that she can get the whole weekend right? Regardless of your booking?

[WishfulSpirit]

I dunno why she does it. As far as the location, Veridian, usually that's not a huge problem. There's another hotel in the Hellton family literally a few blocks away. There are also lots of other similar-priced places in the immediate area, as well as several slightly less and slightly more, so if someone had booked our area specifically for location, that should still be OK. Management at my location isn't spineless, per se, but we're not going to kick a high-level member out for an Expedia booking. If walking a guest costs us money (and to be fair that happens VERY rarely...our policy is to do everything we can to avoid overbooking), we chalk it up to the cost of doing business. We did note in the Hidden Notes section of her folio (I LOVE that text field) that she gets NO compensation or discounts for ANYTHING this stay.

There's NO WAY we are just going to tell someone who paid for a room that they're on their own. My GM would have all of our heads. We get them a cab to the new place, and provide them with a form that says their night is on us. We take care of our guests at my location.

[Seshat]

When Helga does this, she is charged the 'walk in' rate for her room for that night, I hope. As in, the price you'd be charging someone who showed up, based on availability and demand and all those nice things.

[otakuneko]

What happens in a sell-out scenario is someone who isn't a Hellton member gets "walked."

This makes me wonder if I should sign up even though I only stay once a year for the anime convention. Though, considering the size of that hotel it's unlikely to happen. I wouldn't want to be the "lucky" one being walked after holding a reservation for months (yes, months!).

[WishfulSpirit]

You should totally sign up. Being a member gives you higher priority when it comes to room upgrades and other perks. Plus membership is free, so there isn't any good reason not to. Yes Helga gets charged the walk in rate. Shame there us no PITA charge.

[Tash]

I work at the same brand and since we changed our cancellation policy, we wouldn't extend them at all. While it is a cost of business to pay for walking a guest, it's not worth making them mad. Especially if she's waiting every day. Of course, we're also sold out most nights of the week (especially now that college football has started), so we'd have to deal with that situation on a regular basis.