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  • Hotel Policies

    I saw the thread about someone trying to claim unknown lost and found items, and it made me think that are a few hotel employees around here that might know if this is SOP, or I just had an encounter with a weird one.

    I stayed at a hotel last weekend, left a few of my kids books in the room, because I'm a dolt and forget to check the drawers before we left the room. Called the hotel Monday, housekeeping said that no, no books were found in our room, sorry, so sad.

    Housekeeper called me back yesterday, apologized profusely, said our books had been found. I guess we were the last people to rent the room before that whole block was closed for a remodel, so the housekeepers only stripped the sheets and towels, and didn't do a proper clean. Continued to apologize, said she would put the books in the mail (free, btw), apologized again, and said she would include a free night coupon at any hotel in the chain, and a free meal for two at any restaurant in said hotel. Apologized some more.

    While I am grateful that the books were found, and am thrilled that the hotel offered to pay the shipping to return them to me, I'm a little uncomfortable with this level of suck-up-edness, or 'customer service' as I'm sure it's called. I'm the idiot that left my things behind.

    Is this normal hotel policy? Or normal behaviour from hotel employee? It seems like a policy designed to encourage crap behaviour from customers really. Is it just because she didn't know on Monday that we had left books in our room, committing some sort of housekeeping sin I'm unaware of.

    The whole exchange just left me a little bewildered, really.
    Pain and suffering are inevitable...misery is optional.

  • #2
    Maybe it was just her going above and beyond? It could also just be that you were nice about it, and they're probably not used to that.
    "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
    "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
    "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
    "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
    "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
    "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
    Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
    "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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    • #3
      About a year ago I went to a conference out of town and left the power cord to my laptop. I called when I realized the error, and they did have it in their lost and found. They mailed it to me free, even though I offered to pay postage.

      I gave the hotel a VERY good review, needless to say
      They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

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      • #4
        honestly it probably happens enough for them to eat the cost because they get some sort of discount from the shipping service and you'll remember being happy with them and hopefully stay with them next time is the idea.
        Interviewer: What is your greatest weakness?
        Me: I expect competence from my coworkers.

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        • #5
          Even without the discounted shipping (although knowing HOW to ship can be priceless), having that extra-happy customer chattering about good service is great for revenue overall, even with the comped items/services.

          Also, those books, mailed through the postal service under Book Rate, didn't cost much at all.

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          • #6
            Nowadays? It's not a surprise, though I'm am surprised that the housekeeper would ever have the ability to send it for free and give out a free room night. You really need to call the chains headquarters and find out if it's valid. The front office manager, AGM or GM would have that power, but no hotel that I know of in the world would EVER allow a housekeeper to give out free rooms. MAYBE the housekeeping manager, but still. It seems very odd to me.

            Please understand that online reviews these days can seriously hurt a hotel. They live in terror of bad reviews. No other business relies so much on reviews, not even restaurants. The problem is that its only those that had a problem that go online to talk about it. Usually the good stays don't say a word even if they tell the front desk how great the stay is.

            At my hotel we've had thousands of good stays, and guests constantly tell us about how much they love staying here, but you wouldn't know it from the online reviews. Thats very common. Its why I have a serious problem if I google a hotel for reviews and there are 50 posted in a month and ALL of them are good ones save maybe one.

            Unfortunately people have started using the threat of a bad review to blackmail the hotels. I've actually had people say "If you don't give me what I want, I'm going to trip advisor. Trip Advisooorrrr, Trip Advisor" and do it in a sing song voice. We've even had reviews pulled from Trip Advisor when the person outright admitted they were doing it to blackmail us into giving them money. And that's AFTER we refunded their stay. Yes, that's right, they wanted additional money in cash. Why? Because the tv broke while they were there. It was immediately replaced but it didn't matter apparently.

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            • #7
              I guess that makes sense. I actually signed up for trip advisor specifically to leave a bad review for a hotel that was not only very dirty, but the staff did not seem to care at all, they threatened to throw me out if I continued to 'cause trouble' (I guess calling the front desk and asking either to be moved to a clean room or have a housekeeper sent is causing trouble). I even included pictures of some of the dirty I found (used q tips left on the bathroom floor, garbage still in the trash can, about an inch of dust under the bed when I moved it away from the wall to find a plug for my laptop, dark stains on the sheets). I've only left three reviews since, out of about 45 hotel rooms I've stayed in, just because I don't care enough, the rest met my expectations, given the price and location, didn't fail anywhere, but didn't wow me so...meh.

              So I guess it makes sense that there would be more bad reviews than good for most hotels. But I know that I didn't threaten this hotel with reviews, or say anything negative when I was first told that my books weren't found. When I got the call that they had been found I was extremely happy. So I hope she didn't feel intimidated.
              Pain and suffering are inevitable...misery is optional.

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              • #8
                As my dad -- and many others -- have put it in the past: "A really satisfied customer will tell their friends; a pissed-off customer will tell everybody they know, plus fifty people they don't!"
                "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

                Comment


                • #9
                  NecessaryCatharsis, it sounds like no one was bothering to do room inspections. I have a big problem with that too. We hire people and they do great for the first month they are there, then their work usually crashes and burns. It's very frustrating.

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                  • #10
                    My guess? The hotel had previously had at least one guest throw a fit about them not locating an item left behind. When the hotel did find it, the person continued to be belligerent and called a complaint in to corporate.

                    Depending on the way corporate handled this, led to the hotel doing whatever it could to avoid a bad review/complaint to corporate.

                    Thus they are falling all over themselves to make sure you aren't angry with them.

                    Just a theory,

                    SC
                    "...four of his five wits went halting off, and now is the whole man governed with one..." W. Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing Act I, Sc I

                    Do you like Shakespeare? Join us The Globe Theater!

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                    • #11
                      At all the places I've worked, we usually charge the guest for shipping unless it's something really small and cheap to ship. BroSC's theory is probably right.
                      Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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