The end of my day yesterday

[dekydrose]

This call ended my day yesterday....May I start off by saying that EVERYONE should read what they are booking online. It is NOT hard to pay attention to what is NOT in small print and what IS clearly pretty important stuff to know. This "should" increases a gazillion fold when you are an EMPLOYEE OF A HOTEL WITH OUR COMPANY and you GO ONLINE to book your reservation under the employee rate and DO NOT pay attention to the cancellation policy. I mean...for hell's sake! Do you not refuse person after person who books online but doesn't read? CANCELLATION DEADLINES are important things to know! fhgjkhdfiuhgbmfsnkj!!!
Let me also say that, if you are an employee booked at an employee rate, you are not supposed to call us or the hotel you have booked at unless it is an unhonored reservation situation or a billing issue. In addition, we do not contact the hotels with cancellation past deadline requests unless there is an extenuating circumstance or the member is Platinum.

Moving on...

Me: Supervisor, this is Dekydrose, what's up, co-worker?
CW: (mind you, this is not someone I am particularly fond of...but she has been with the company for 13 years, rarely escalates calls, and rarely shows emotion but is, at this point, almost in tears) I am sorry, I have a real jerk on the phone. Basically, the situation is that he is an employee who booked under the employee rate online and did not pay attention to the cancellation policy when booking online. The hotel he booked at has a 24 hour cancellation policy and he is wanting to cancel today, date of arrival. I told him we could not help him with that, he became very abusive to me. I made an exception in order to avoid escalating the call and called the hotel. They told me they could not cancel without penalty, and now he wants to talk to my supervisor to complain about me.

Me: Hold on...so this is an employee? Do you know where he works?

CW: No...

ME: I'll get that information from him. Send Mr. ****** through.

Me: Yes, is this Mr. *******?

SE: Yes it is, how are you doing today?

Me: I'm fine, thank you. My name is dekydrose, and I am a supervisor here, I understand you're requesting to cancel past the deadline for this hotel?

SE: Well, let me explain. You see, I was booking this online and I don't know if I just did not see it or if it wasn't there, but I was not aware that I had to cancel 24 hours in advance. Your co worker was EXTREMELY rude to me and gave me nothing but attitude. She kept saying "well I can't help you with this"

Me: Well, she's right..YOU, sir, are an employee. YOU are aware that you are not supposed to be contacting us. YOU booked this yourself and did not pay attention in the process. My co-worker is NOT supposed to contact the hotel on your behalf, yet she did...and now you want to complain about her attitude?

SE: Well, uh...you know...um...sometimes you should go above and beyond in customer service to make customers happy and..

Me: And my co-worker, sir, did just that. She called the hotel on your behalf.

SE: Well, it was just her attitude.

Me: Ok, well, then I'll be sure to bring this to the attention of her manager. (not.)

SE: Well I need the name and direct number to her manager so I can complain.

Me: Unfortunately, that is internal information and I am not going to be able to disclose that.

SE: Well, I already know it's ***, I need her number.

Me: Again, that is internal information and I will not provide that.

SE: Well, then I need an address to write in to *** and complain about your co-worker

Me: Sure. *provide our address*

SE: Ya, thanks.

Me: Mmmhmm, and, by the way, I'm going to need to know which hotel you work at, please...

SE: Um...why do you need to know that?

Me: Sir, your hotel please.

SE: Uh, it's the H.I. Express

Me: In what city, please.

SE: *Mumbles city*

Me: I'm sorry, sir, I could not hear you. Is it *insert hotel code*?

SE: *click*

And yes. I sent an email to that hotel alerting the General Manager to the crappiness of his employee.

[smileyeagle1021]

And yes. I sent an email to that hotel alerting the General Manager to the crappiness of his employee.

please oh please say that this was a macro hotel that this guy worked at? I'd like to hope that our hotel employees that I deal with are lazy and incompetent because being a member of macro allows them to be that way and not that all of our hotel employees are that way whether or not they belong to a program that encourages it.
(and yes, I don't like my job in macro... what gave it away).

[dekydrose]

I just checked for you....sadly it is not a MACRO hotel.

[smileyeagle1021]

I just checked for you....sadly it is not a MACRO hotel.

I don't know if that makes me feel better or not... so we have retards at all of our hotels, not just the macro ones (you would be shocked at how often I have people calling from our hotels asking if I can cancel a reservation past deadline because they don't know how to).
Maybe now I realize it's a good thing that the guest services manager at SLCUT gave me the wrong number to call for an interview.
and yes, i am one of the about 100 macro agents that applied to fill like 5 GR positions because we are tired of being the hotels whipping boys and having to deal with hotels just about as much as GR but not having the authority to do shit... and in a spark of brilliance the company said my transfer was denied because my sales stats are too low, even though GR has nothing to do with sales, and then my TM is shocked, just shocked when I tell her I will need to go on call soon because I'm looking for another job...
anyway, sorry bout the thread jack.

[Evil Queen]

Maybe you should work for a different CRS, Smiley. I heard Crowne Plaza is really nice.

Don't know why an employee wouldn't know the stupid rules. You get drilled trained on them in the three month probation period. What an idiot.

[smileyeagle1021]

Maybe you should work for a different CRS, Smiley. I heard Crowne Plaza is really nice.

I already work for crowne plaza
(Holiday Inn is owned by the same company as Crowne Plaza)

... the department I'm in differentiates calls based on location not brand... to take calls based on brand rather than location would involve a pay cut... that and I'd lose San Diego and Minneapolis, and I actually like the callers for those cities (mostly)... I wouldn't miss New York though (God I hate the people calling into New York...)

[Evil Queen]

I already work for crowne plaza
(Holiday Inn is owned by the same company as Crowne Plaza)

Holy -ing Batman! Maybe you should just get another desk job then.

Do you take any calls from Houston?

[Leopardmadcat]

And yes. I sent an email to that hotel alerting the General Manager to the crappiness of his employee.

*CHUNK-CLICK* **BOOM!** And another one bites the dust!

[smileyeagle1021]

Holy -ing Batman! Maybe you should just get another desk job then.

Do you take any calls from Houston?

occasionally... my primary markets are NYC, Detroit, Minneapolis, and San Diego... but I do take overflow calls from Houston quite often.

[thehippie777]

I have had some issues with sister properties employees. You'd think they would know?? lol

Oh and I have even had a HOTEL MANAGER just randomly come in off the street & DEMAND the employee rate. When I told him that it wasn't available (two weeks notice, or hell any notice might have been better) he proceeded to freak out & I happily called my manager who then spoke with him on the phone about the bi-laws of the company itself which he should have been aware of. He was, but his property was apparently newly opened & thought it made him the King of all of the chain. She made me demand his card. She gave him the rate, but told him to get his crap together. He was a bit of a dick. Haven't seen him since.

Oh, another thing. Our company's employees are not allowed to be members of the frequent stayers program...but I have come past MANY that are like, "Here is my number..." Uh! You aren't allowed to have one!!! urg

[smileyeagle1021]

Oh, another thing. Our company's employees are not allowed to be members of the frequent stayers program...but I have come past MANY that are like, "Here is my number..." Uh! You aren't allowed to have one!!! urg

really... that is weird, where I'm at all reservations agents are required to enroll during training... we don't earn any points on our stays but we're all members... now can any of us tell you our number *snicker*

[Evil Queen]

I have had some issues with sister properties employees. You'd think they would know?? lol

Oh and I have even had a HOTEL MANAGER just randomly come in off the street & DEMAND the employee rate. When I told him that it wasn't available (two weeks notice, or hell any notice might have been better) he proceeded to freak out & I happily called my manager who then spoke with him on the phone about the bi-laws of the company itself which he should have been aware of. He was, but his property was apparently newly opened & thought it made him the King of all of the chain. She made me demand his card. She gave him the rate, but told him to get his crap together. He was a bit of a dick. Haven't seen him since.

Oh, another thing. Our company's employees are not allowed to be members of the frequent stayers program...but I have come past MANY that are like, "Here is my number..." Uh! You aren't allowed to have one!!! urg

In my company, the hotel managers (and owners) can't even get the employee rate. Why? Because they can stay for free in their own hotels, even put their friends and family up for free.
Doesn't that Manager Off the Street also have to have a special piece of paper that has his work info on it? (like the person who authorized the stay, work location, phone numbers and the name of which location they intend on visiting, ect.)
And, yes, I have membership with my company. We obviously don't get any points for stays either, but supposedly we do get some for taking stupid quizes online.

[thehippie777]

Well, maybe they can enroll but not get points. All of the employees who have given me their member numbers also mention points...so I dunno. I was always told we couldn't but that doesn't mean that info might be wrong.

If Mr. Walk off the Street Manager had booked a room ahead of time, yes he would have what our hotel refers to as a "hotel passport", but he seemed to think flashing his "I am a manager of a hotel that has barely been built" business card was gonna get me to care. lol He had a big head and my manager put him in his place.