Too late for that request

[bhskittykatt]

So, it seems like SCs were in force to greet me back from my vacation. Most were just generally tired, cranky travelers, but one stood out.

This woman came in at 9:30pm, and was my third-to-last reservation to come in. By the time she came in, I did not have any extras of her room type. I had two open nonsmoking rooms downstairs, which were only one full-size bed a piece, and a small handful of a variety of smoking rooms upstairs. Everything else downstairs wasn't just booked, it was occupied.

So, when a woman came hobbling into my lobby saying she had a reservation, and the only reservations I had were assigned to upstairs rooms, I quickly sensed it was going to be a problem.

SC: "My name is SC and I have a reservation, and I hope to hell it's downstairs."
Me: "Unfortunately, I am out of queen beds downstairs."
SC: "Oh no, I forgot to ask for downstairs, didn't I?"
Me: "There's no request on the reservation for downstairs. I do have a handicapped room downstairs, but it only has one full size bed in it." *aside: SC's res was for two people*
SC: "That won't do."
Me: "That's all I have downstairs."
SC: "I assume you have elevators though, correct?"
Me: "I'm sorry, we do not have elevators."
SC: "I can't handle stairs! Well, let me go ask him." *goes out to confer with her husband* "We will have to take the upstairs room."
Me: *starts check-in procedures*
SC: "I assume you have good security? Because we won't be able to take much from our car since we can't go upstairs. I'm disabled."
Me: "We don't have security, but in the seven years I've worked here we haven't had any car prowls."
SC: *sees room is in the middle of the motel, not near the stairs* "It's so far from the stairs!"
Me: "Unfortunately, you are the third-to-last reservation I have, and I'm full. I don't have any other room to move you to."
SC: "The stairs are just so hard! This is going to be hard for us!" *as if whining about it would magically make a downstairs room appear*
Me: "If you had made the request when you booked it, then we could have preassigned a room downstairs, but unfortunately they are all full..."
SC: *interrupting* "Well I booked two days ago, and I didn't think it would be a problem!"
Me: "We've been filling every night, and so..."
SC: "What does that have to do with it? I booked two days ago!"
Me: "And if you had requested downstairs back then, you could have gotten it, but right now it's too late, as we've filled all those rooms by now."
SC: "I hope you know it's going to be very hard for us to use the stairs! I'm disabled! I booked this two days ago! This is ridiculous!"

Lather, rinse, repeat, until I finally got her out the door.

I love how she initially acknowledged that she had forgotten the request, and that somehow "booked two days ago" equals "psychically know customer is disabled and needs ground floor".

[AccountingDrone]

?!

I use a wheelchair at least 70% of the time and if I absolutely have to I can just barely make it upstairs and while we do prefer kings, we will take a double [we have been married for 20 odd years] and if I forgot to specify handicapped access or ground level, I suck it up and deal with it, I don't whinge about it.

[eltf177]

I hope this will teach you to _not_ leave your psychic helmet at home!

[Desk clerk knows all]

Don't you know you should have offered to carry them up the stairs!

[EvilEmpryss]

I use a wheelchair at least 70% of the time and if I absolutely have to I can just barely make it upstairs and while we do prefer kings, we will take a double [we have been married for 20 odd years] and if I forgot to specify handicapped access or ground level, I suck it up and deal with it, I don't whinge about it.

I'm right there with you. If I forget to make it clear I needed handicapped access, I will shut up and drag my butt up the stairs. Even if I DID make a reservation with a request for ground floor room and something gets fouled up (and thanks to third party hotel booking sites, this happens almost every time if I don't call the hotel directly to verify the request) as long as I have a nonsmoking room with the right number of clean beds I'm good to go.

[Oniontears]

Don't you know you should have offered to carry them up the stairs!

And then all of their stuff. Or stand guard by the car all night.

I do NOT understand people who think whining is going to change facts. Or who think that staff will lie to them and that badgering them will make "the truth" come out. I can't think of any actual reasons staff would tell you something is out of stock, or fully booked etc etc if it actually isn't. It's their JOB to provide you with goods and services, why the hell wouldn't they?!

[Catwoman2965]

My mom is in a wheelchair, and when we/she travels, she calls the hotel directly, and a. finds out what their accessible rooms are, as some have roll in showers, some do not, etc. And if they don't have the accomodations she needs, she'll thank them, and look elsewhere. And once she's made a reservation, as she tends to do this well in advance, she will call the day before to CONFIRM what she's booked, and what she needs etc. We've never had an issue.

The only things we've encountered is when the accessible features don't quite work, such as the shower bench being at the back of the tub, and the hand held nozzle at the front. For someone traveling alone, that might be a problem, but she had me This plus a couple of other minor issues in one motel, so she called and spoke with the manager. Not to complain, but more to let him know, hey, you say you have accessible rooms, but in reality, this and that could be improved upon. The manager was very happy to get her feedback!

[Merriweather]

This plus a couple of other minor issues in one motel, so she called and spoke with the manager. Not to complain, but more to let him know, hey, you say you have accessible rooms, but in reality, this and that could be improved upon. The manager was very happy to get her feedback!

I think that's great that she does that, and not in a spirit of complaining. There are so many types of disabilities, it's very easy for someone not disabled, or even differently disabled, to simply not think of some small thing that could make a big difference.

As an example, we once lived in a house for several years, we rented it. The owner had originally had the house built for his elderly parents, who had since passed away. Both had had severe arthritis. One of the unique features of the house was that all electrical outlets were a foot or more above the baseboards, to make it easier to plug things in.

[taxguykarl]

I do NOT understand people who think whining is going to change facts.

That and raising voices. Talk about a massive failure to plan.

[bhskittykatt]

My mom is in a wheelchair, and when we/she travels, she calls the hotel directly, and a. finds out what their accessible rooms are, as some have roll in showers, some do not, etc. And if they don't have the accomodations she needs, she'll thank them, and look elsewhere. And once she's made a reservation, as she tends to do this well in advance, she will call the day before to CONFIRM what she's booked, and what she needs etc. We've never had an issue.

Funny you should mention that, because I forgot until you mentioned this that SC's husband DID call to confirm, and it went like this.

SCH: "Yeah, I'm calling to confirm that you have a reservation tonight for SC?"
Me: "Yes, I see it here, I...."
SCH: *interrupting* "Okaythanks" *click*

And at that time, I would have been able to assign a lower level room, if he'd taken a second longer to make sure that what I was confirming and what they needed matched up. And I'm not missing a space between "okay" and "thanks" up there...he said it quickly like it was one word and hung up that fast!

[Andara Bledin]

One of the unique features of the house was that all electrical outlets were a foot or more above the baseboards, to make it easier to plug things in.

Personally, I think most outlets should be about a foot up on general principal.

I've almost never encountered a situation where them being only a few inches above the floor was actually useful.

^-.-^

[Pixilated]

Personally, I think most outlets should be about a foot up on general principal.

I've almost never encountered a situation where them being only a few inches above the floor was actually useful.

^-.-^

I agree with you on that one. Funny how the older I get, the more sensible that seems ...


bhskittykat, don't you know you were supposed to call back as many times as necessary to ensure that everything was exactly to their specifications??

Oh, and the sun is out here ... aaaand it's raining ...

[manybellsdown]

Personally, I think most outlets should be about a foot up on general principal.

I've almost never encountered a situation where them being only a few inches above the floor was actually useful.

^-.-^

Higher outlets, and not having the only ones in the bathroom be right next to the sink. I have two large, double-sink bathrooms and both of them have the only outlet above the 3-inch wide counter next to the sink when they could as easily be in the middle of the counter.

[EricKei]

I love how she initially acknowledged that she had forgotten the request, and that somehow "booked two days ago" equals "psychically know customer is disabled and needs ground floor".

I love how she seemed to think that "booked 2 days ago" was NOT equivalent to "booking ten minutes before the eleventh hour" ~_~

Personally, I think most outlets should be about a foot up on general principal.

I recently had to contort my exceedingly unathletic body in uncomfortable ways to get to the only outlet in sight at a Golden Arches so I could charge my phone >_> The outlet was maybe 3 inches off of the floor, directly opposite the post holding up the booth-table. They couldn't have at least situated it in the gap between the immovable tables?

[XCashier]

I think that's great that she does that, and not in a spirit of complaining. There are so many types of disabilities, it's very easy for someone not disabled, or even differently disabled, to simply not think of some small thing that could make a big difference.

Absolutely! I think builders should hire handicapped people as testers and consultants, so they can learn what is the best angle for a wheelchair ramp, how high to make outlets, cupboards, etc. There are so many things the non-handicapped take for granted that the handicapped struggle with.

For example, a zoo I visited had a wheelchair ramp up to one of the exhibits. Great, right? Problem was, to get to the base of the ramp, you had to travel through a rather large area of loose gravel. Not good for wheelchair wheels, or the arms that have to push them! Somebody didn't think that one through!