The $6000 refund

[bhskittykatt]

Ugh. Corporate has been calling me freaking out over this refund we did yesterday. I wasn't here, but I get to deal with the paperwork and the Corporate phone calls.

So, we had this group coming in. BIG group. 27 rooms, for over two months. We only have 60 rooms, so that's just about half our motel. They took all the double rooms we had, and we were having to turn away regulars who wanted to book rooms in advance because this group had already reserved them all!

So yesterday was their check-in. They paid for the first week up front, which came to over $6000.

Then, after about three hours, they checked right back out.

They had two complaints. The first one, they said one of the rooms smelled. We just deep-cleaned all the carpets and rooms to prevent this. One room. Out of 27.

But it's their second complaint that really irked me. We have a gentleman and his dog who regularly stay with us. The man...we'll say he lives in less than fortunate circumstances. He stays with us to get away from the group home from time to time. He's always polite, and has been an excellent guest with us many times in the past. But due to unfortunate circumstances, his appearance is a bit disheveled.

So, it's cold out, and his room wasn't ready since housekeeping was focusing on the large group checking in. So of course we allowed him to wait in the lobby while his room was being cleaned.

The group's second complaint was that we let homeless people hang out in the lobby, and they felt that was wrong and that we shouldn't let homeless people loiter.

That's right. They didn't like the looks of our regular guest. They just looked at him and judged. Our guest, who had paid money. Our guest was paying full price, while this group was getting a steep discount, and they want to judge him? Fuck 'em. Regular guest is welcome to stay with us any time. After that comment, this group can take their money and go suck it!

[vloglady]

Good luck to them going down the road and booking 27 rooms right away.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Knowing what I know of your chain, nobody should be surprised to see a homeless person in the lobby.

It's a low-price hotel chain.

[bhskittykatt]

Good luck to them going down the road and booking 27 rooms right away.

I can think of only one place right now that can probably accommodate that many rooms right off. They have a new manager who apparently is overpricing the rooms for the season, because they're only renting about 20 rooms on a good night, and they're about 2x the size of our little motel (they are also literally the only hotel in town with an indoor pool...so that low occupancy in the winter is saying something). The rack rates will cost 5-6x more than the discount we were giving these workers, too.

Basically, the workers weren't paying for the rooms. The shipyard was. So the workers want $150+ a night rooms, since it's free for them. Well, except for the workers who brought families who want to pay for separate rooms, since the shipyard won't cover the families. But I guess they're outnumbered.

[downforit2008]

Sad how they assume a gentleman that pays full price to get out of a group home sometimes is HOMELESS. So they wanted to judge the entire hotel off to bat because of ONE room and ONE guy? They can take their $6000 and shove it! Next time, they can stay at the Marriott.

[gremcint]

They reserve half your hotel, requiring you to turn clients away and then cancel upon arrival and you gave them a refund?

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

This is why your motel should require a nonrefundable deposit for large bookings, PERIOD.

That way, even if they are idiots and leave after a few hours, you at least aren't out all the money.

[An Haddock]

Reminds me of an urban legend... which is apparently true.

http://snopes.com/business/bank/barrier.asp

Older fellow who looked a bit dissheveled went to his bank to cash a check and asked to have his parking validated. The teller claimed that they only validated parking for customers who had completed a transaction and that cashing a check wasn't a transaction. When the fellow asked to see a manager, the manager gave him the same snooty look and backed up his teller.

So the dissheveled fellow immediately withdrew all his money from the bank and took it to another bank up the street. His first deposit was to the tune of around $1 million.

You never know who might have a chunk of change like that in the bank.

[AccountingDrone]

LOL. I was car shopping online, and spotted my current jetta at a carmax in New Haven [it was the only diesel VW within 100 miles] and being at home, I was kicked back in sweats and a scruffy tshirt, everything else being in the wash. Hubby came home, I dragged him right back out to the car, and drove the 75 miles down to that carmax. Walked in, test drove the jetta and immediately paid the full nick by check right then and there. The guy got his commission, and I drove off in my newish jetta that evening. If he had not wanted to deal with a fat scruffy broad in sweats, he would have missed out on an instant sale. Not many people can drop $16K on a whim [though not really a whim, I wanted a diesel vw, and had the money to do it at that point.]

[Redbeard]

I'm surprised that they were given teh refund as most hotels have a first night non refundable policy

[earl colby pottinger]

Seen it

So the dissheveled fellow immediately withdrew all his money from the bank and took it to another bank up the street. His first deposit was to the tune of around $1 million.

You never know who might have a chunk of change like that in the bank.

Amiga Developer's Group in Toronto during the 1980's, the one member who looked like a total bum (mind you most real computer nerds at that time looked like bums) owned a old house that he inherited. At the last time I heard from him developers were offering to him $1.5 million for the land and he was not selling then. I think he was holding out for $2mill.

[MoonCat]

You never know who might have a chunk of change like that in the bank.

This is true. There was an older gentleman here in the city who lived for many years in a modest house in a run-down part of town. He worked for many years and put his money in the stock market. Had no family. When he died, he left, IIRC, about 5 million bucks to (I believe) the University medical school. I'm fuzzy on the details but it's a true story. Nobody in the neighborhood had any clue that he had that kind of money.

[LillFilly]

Kinda reminds me of a friend who inherited a good bit of $ from a relative and had his heart set on a particular luxury car. So off he goes in cut-off jeans, blue hair, and a goatee at 22 or so years of age to a dealership. The jerk salesman kept steering him towards used/low-end models, constantly telling him that he should 'think within his means,' even recommending finance plans. My friend got fed up, told the guy to shove it because he wasn't getting a sale from him today and shouted out:

"Hey, I have XXX,XXX$ in the bank right now to buy a (Model Car) upfront TODAY; who would like to make a nice commission by NOT judging me!?"

Another salesman raced right over and won the sale with extreme politeness.

[Evandril]

When I worked retail, one of the places I did my time at was in a wealthy part of town. You quickly figured out that if someone was dressed a bit shabby, and held themselves well... You treated them with lots of respect. Quite a few self-made millionaires don't believe in dressing up to go shopping, and since they've *been* sneered at...Highly enjoy turning the tables Of course, you treat them right, you've got a customer for life!

It's fun to go into a Porchse dealership, and be treated very politely, since they know this principle well

[manybellsdown]

It happened to Mr. Bells too. He's a video game programmer, and as you can imagine the dress code is pretty lax. So on his lunch from work one day, he heads over to the mall to get me some jewelry for my birthday. Skinny guy, long ponytail, goatee, in jeans and a Nine Inch Nails t-shirt. Doesn't look like he can possibly be older than 19 or 20.

He said the guy was showing him $40 pieces of pink-heart-shaped junk. Finally he says:

MB: Do you have something a little ... nicer? It's for my girlfriend's birthday. (we weren't married yet)
Salesguy: Well how old is your girlfriend?
MB: ... 30.

Salesguy did a doubletake and immediately brought him to the real jewelry.

When I worked retail, one of the places I did my time at was in a wealthy part of town. You quickly figured out that if someone was dressed a bit shabby, and held themselves well... You treated them with lots of respect. Quite a few self-made millionaires don't believe in dressing up to go shopping, and since they've *been* sneered at...Highly enjoy turning the tables Of course, you treat them right, you've got a customer for life!

Here in Southern California, dress is very casual most of the time. And celebrities dress down when they go out. If that dude in the ratty sweatshirt and jeans looks like Dennis Miller, it probably is. (True story, he almost rear-ended me in a YMCA parking lot).