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Why can't we be friends?
It’s story time! Let me regale you of the tale of Mr. Asshole, the man who is brother to NO MAN!
First, a little more background. I work for a hotel under <Major Hospitality Conglomerate>, but at one of their select service/economy class hotels. While we are in fact, an awesome brand, we only provide certain amenities. Our Brand is geared towards the everyday traveler, and while we do provide quite a bit of great stuff (free hot breakfast, wi-fi, comfy rooms) we are NOT a full service property. My staff here is great and we compete with the best of them, because we are good at what we do. Keeping this in mind, I do sometimes play it “loose” with the guests. We are on first name basis with pretty much all our regulars, we joke, we laugh, and we have fun. So the “friendly Dray” personality tends to be kind of casual, but I can pull off “professional Dray” just as easily. My inclination towards being personable got me in trouble today. Having said that…on with our story.
Guest calls today inquiring about On-site spa treatments. As we are a select service property, this is not something we do. There are no facilities or staff for personal rub downs/pampering. However, there is Full Service property under the same <Corporate Flag> as us that do! We often refer people there. It’s what we do really. Don’t have something you want? Bet I can find it for you within rock throwing distance. So, I’m thinking maybe dude has his wires crossed and is calling the wrong place. I attempt to give him the correct number, he declines and hangs up. I figure all is well…
…not so much. Guest calls back about 20 minutes later extremely agitated. He insists we offer that service and then tells me that I “made him feel like an asshole.” He wants to send me a screenshot of where he saw this feature on the internet. I attempt to apologize for making him feel bad, and because I am still in friendly fix it mode and I don’t know his name, I called him…wait for it…”Bro.”
He then summons SHIVA and casts ICE 9. My handset freezes over as he informs me, “I am not BRO; I am MR. ASSHOLE.” I’m floored, he’s pissed off, and I want to figure out how to help this guy, so I offer him up my corporate email, so I can take a look the screen shot. He does, I look, and yes, he is right! It does say that, only that’s not our corporate website. Other hotel front desk minions can relate to this. With all those FREAKING dot com booking sites out there, it’s easy for someone to make a typo somewhere and we experience the fall out. Ironically, the guy took a picture with his phone, and the shot didn’t show me the offending websites URL.
All right, at least I have a direction to move in now; PROGRESS! So, I email the dude back, explain what I see, and ask if can get me the URL so I can track down the booking site and get this corrected. I again apologize for causing offence and tell him I look forward to hearing back from him and to offer further assistance. I’m in the process of typing up a recount of this tale to pass on to my general manager, when I get a phone call.
It’s our <Corporate Office> guest relations department. They are calling to let me know that we have received a complaint that will need to be dealt with. I ask the agent if it’s Mr. A, and she informs me it is. I then proceed to let her know what was happening and how we should handle it. During this conversation she tells me he is on hold with her. I think this is great! Because, I did slip and did say something unprofessional (Bro), and I would like to apologize again, offer compensation, and try to fix this! I tell her as such; wherein she puts me on hold for about a minute. When she comes back I am informed that Mr. A doesn’t want to talk to me and doesn’t want compensation. He just wanted to lodge a complaint. Because our complaint system works the way it does, even though he doesn’t want anything, there is still an open issue that has to be resolved. And because he won’t talk to me about it, it has to be elevated to my GM.
As an added bonus, Mr. A will be checking in tomorrow. Guess who will be working the front desk? I’m thinking I might just keep “why can’t we be friends” playing on repeat in the lobby tomorrow.
I tried, I really did. If you don’t want people to make you feel like an asshole, maybe you shouldn’t act like one.
First, a little more background. I work for a hotel under <Major Hospitality Conglomerate>, but at one of their select service/economy class hotels. While we are in fact, an awesome brand, we only provide certain amenities. Our Brand is geared towards the everyday traveler, and while we do provide quite a bit of great stuff (free hot breakfast, wi-fi, comfy rooms) we are NOT a full service property. My staff here is great and we compete with the best of them, because we are good at what we do. Keeping this in mind, I do sometimes play it “loose” with the guests. We are on first name basis with pretty much all our regulars, we joke, we laugh, and we have fun. So the “friendly Dray” personality tends to be kind of casual, but I can pull off “professional Dray” just as easily. My inclination towards being personable got me in trouble today. Having said that…on with our story.
Guest calls today inquiring about On-site spa treatments. As we are a select service property, this is not something we do. There are no facilities or staff for personal rub downs/pampering. However, there is Full Service property under the same <Corporate Flag> as us that do! We often refer people there. It’s what we do really. Don’t have something you want? Bet I can find it for you within rock throwing distance. So, I’m thinking maybe dude has his wires crossed and is calling the wrong place. I attempt to give him the correct number, he declines and hangs up. I figure all is well…
…not so much. Guest calls back about 20 minutes later extremely agitated. He insists we offer that service and then tells me that I “made him feel like an asshole.” He wants to send me a screenshot of where he saw this feature on the internet. I attempt to apologize for making him feel bad, and because I am still in friendly fix it mode and I don’t know his name, I called him…wait for it…”Bro.”
He then summons SHIVA and casts ICE 9. My handset freezes over as he informs me, “I am not BRO; I am MR. ASSHOLE.” I’m floored, he’s pissed off, and I want to figure out how to help this guy, so I offer him up my corporate email, so I can take a look the screen shot. He does, I look, and yes, he is right! It does say that, only that’s not our corporate website. Other hotel front desk minions can relate to this. With all those FREAKING dot com booking sites out there, it’s easy for someone to make a typo somewhere and we experience the fall out. Ironically, the guy took a picture with his phone, and the shot didn’t show me the offending websites URL.
All right, at least I have a direction to move in now; PROGRESS! So, I email the dude back, explain what I see, and ask if can get me the URL so I can track down the booking site and get this corrected. I again apologize for causing offence and tell him I look forward to hearing back from him and to offer further assistance. I’m in the process of typing up a recount of this tale to pass on to my general manager, when I get a phone call.
It’s our <Corporate Office> guest relations department. They are calling to let me know that we have received a complaint that will need to be dealt with. I ask the agent if it’s Mr. A, and she informs me it is. I then proceed to let her know what was happening and how we should handle it. During this conversation she tells me he is on hold with her. I think this is great! Because, I did slip and did say something unprofessional (Bro), and I would like to apologize again, offer compensation, and try to fix this! I tell her as such; wherein she puts me on hold for about a minute. When she comes back I am informed that Mr. A doesn’t want to talk to me and doesn’t want compensation. He just wanted to lodge a complaint. Because our complaint system works the way it does, even though he doesn’t want anything, there is still an open issue that has to be resolved. And because he won’t talk to me about it, it has to be elevated to my GM.
As an added bonus, Mr. A will be checking in tomorrow. Guess who will be working the front desk? I’m thinking I might just keep “why can’t we be friends” playing on repeat in the lobby tomorrow.
I tried, I really did. If you don’t want people to make you feel like an asshole, maybe you shouldn’t act like one.
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