Hotel Tales: "Too Little, Too Late" Edition, Vol. 2

[BroSCFischer]

I got a call last night at approximately 330 AM. They were calling to say that they were part of a group of three reservations, but that they hadn't been able to make it to the hotel due to car trouble.

I got their name, and find out that all three reservations were checked in at ~5:15PM the previous day. I let them know that at this point there was nothing I could do as it was well past our cancellation policy (4PM day, and I had already run the audit. She said she understood, but insisted that they were not able to make it and shouldn't be charged for a room that they didn't use.

We went back and forth on this a few times, with me getting more and more annoyed, and letting said annoyance creep into my voice. She eventually asked to speak to a manager, which I informed her was not available at that time of night. I told her that he wouldn't be available in the morning wither (even though he will be here, he has been working extra hours this weekend, has a nearly full house of check outs, and probably won't be out here for more than a few hours before going back to HK to help them, so he doesn't need the aggravation).

She asked for his name, and I gave it, and she asked for my name, and I gave her my first name, but refused when she asked for my last name.

SC

[Pixilated]

What part of 'deadline' do some people not understand ...

[Amina516]

I never give my last name either.

"Deadline"...is that in aramaic?

[catcul]

"Deadline"...is that in aramaic?

It might as well be in Sanskrit.

[bhskittykatt]

I'm reminded of a Gabriel Iglesias sketch.

SC: "But we're not even using the room!"
BroSCFisher: "And it would have been fine if you had cancelled yesterday, but it's tomorrow. You lucky I'm even talking to you!"

[BroSCFischer]

I never give my last name either.

My mom couldn't understand that. She thinks that if you don't willingly give your name, it looks like you're hiding something, or that you are afraid of a reprimand. I told her that it was a standard in the Service industry not to do so, and that with that information far too many people can find out far too much information. She still couldn't understand my point.

When she talked to my sister about it, my sister backed me up.

On top of that, my family has very unusual names, and therefore we are likely to be the only ones with those names at any particular employment.

SC

[AccountingDrone]

My mom couldn't understand that. She thinks that if you don't willingly give your name, it looks like you're hiding something, or that you are afraid of a reprimand. I told her that it was a standard in the Service industry not to do so, and that with that information far too many people can find out far too much information. She still couldn't understand my point.

When she talked to my sister about it, my sister backed me up.

On top of that, my family has very unusual names, and therefore we are likely to be the only ones with those names at any particular employment.

SC

There are fewer than 1000 people [adult and children] with my last name, and about 100 with my first initial, 5 with my first name, and one with my particular middle name or initial in the US. There are 3 people in this state with my surname, the other 2 are my cousins.

I don't willingly give out my surname ...

[smileyeagle1021]

My mom couldn't understand that. She thinks that if you don't willingly give your name, it looks like you're hiding something, or that you are afraid of a reprimand.
SC

Of course... it couldn't be about personal safety at all
I will gladly give out my first name, last initial (sometimes, but not often), and my employee ID.
There is only three people in the county with the same last name as me... one is my mother, and the other has no relation and spells it differently, so really one other person in the county with the same last name, if a guest decides to make it personal, those are odds I'm not willing to play, I'm a gambler, not an idiot.

Also, the reservation history said that they had checked in at 5:15... what exactly do they mean that they won't make it if they already checked in

[KhirasHY]

I never give my last name either.

"Deadline"...is that in aramaic?

To quote the great Mr. Adams:

"I love deadlines. I especially love that 'whooshing' noise they make as they fly past."

[Arcus]

No way will I ever give out my last name unless it's a police officer or other such person. I have a common first and last name for this area. I'm not listed in the phone book anywhere, but I'm not willing to set some nutcase out after one of the others that are. I just tell people that all they need is the date, time, location and first name. That will tell management who it was.

[BroSCFischer]

Also, the reservation history said that they had checked in at 5:15... what exactly do they mean that they won't make it if they already checked in

There were 3 reservations under the same name. Someone came in and checked them all in, and signed for them, and had keys issued to them.

Apparently, one portion of this trio was still on the road, and got stranded, so they couldn't make it.

SC

[MrSunshineState]

I don't even use my real last name on Facebook, there is no way I'd give it to a customer.

[mathnerd]

When I worked for MajorBank, in a back shop area, we were instructed to provide our "last names" as determined by a combination of the site we worked at and who our manager was. Because I was at X city site and worked for Y manager, my "last name" was "Frost". The gal sitting next to me worked for Z manager so her last name was "Baker". The system actually worked very well for the company to identify the employee in question, should a complaint be logged, but protected us from having to give out too much personal information.

[sms001]

provide our "last names" as determined by a combination of the site we worked at and who our manager was.

Great idea. (Provided co-irkers can remember it. )
And in our wonderful information age, name scarcity has little to do with an understandable reluctance to give out more information than necessary. Huge international call center type operations are one thing, but I'm pretty sure I could track down a John Smith working at X location at Z hours of the day given enough incentive.

Hey LateLady! Your beef is with whoever checked you in, not the hotel. But in my head, I'm thinking it goes down like this:
"hmmm. Car broke down. Should I call the other couples and let them know we're running late and tell them to not check us in? nah, I'll get there and have a room waiting or I'll weasel out of it...."