Nobody was twisting your arm.

[figgyx]

It never ceases to amaze me how many people write poor reviews of the hotel I work at after the fact.

When you drive up and see what the hotel looks like and you choose to check in you have no right to make the following comments on our survey website:

I did not like the fact that the hotel only had outside access to rooms.
(really, did you not notice all the doors facing the parking lot?)

The highway traffic was annoying.
(so, the fact that we are right off the interstate off ramp did not give you a clue?)

There was a big garbage bin sitting in the parking lot.
(So, the fact that we are redoing our apartment suite and turning into a nice breakfast area is not a good thing?)

The breakfast area was too small.
(So when I stated that breakfast was here in the lobby from 6 to 10 gave you no real clue about the location of breakfast?)

There was no parking outside our room.
(The spots are not assigned and there are enough that you would have been able to park at least close to the room.)

I have no sympathy for people who can clearly see what the hotel looks like or have been told stuff and still choose to check in. You have no complaints if you ignore what you see and hear.

[blas]

That'll never stop people.

Some people always have to be the victim or have something to whine about.

[Comechatcha]

We get them complaining about the highway, the air force base on the next island (they do training exercises at odd hours sometimes), the weather, the fact that we aren't downtown (address is on the website AND I've also gotten that from walk-ins).

[Food Lady]

I'm about to post about some really ridiculous complaints. You can't win no matter what you do.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

Am I cynical for thinking many of these complaints are from folk wanting freebies or discounts?

There has been a big jump here (Australia) in reports of businesses being strong-armed into freebies by people threatening to leave bad reviews. Some of them are quite blatant about it: "So I'm gonna write a review on site.com - watcha gonna give me to make it a good one? And if you don't, it'll not be good at all..."

[Desk clerk knows all]

I've had a couple people make the comment about leaving a bad review, one was a legitimate complaint about a horrible noise that kept them up all night, I offered 50% off, they wanted the room free and said "social media is a powerful thing", so I went ahead and gave them the room free. The other one was some stupid thing and I didn't give in and they never did write a bad review anywhere. I had a lady one time who wasn't happy with her room claim that we must pay people to write good reviews for us because surely no one could be happy with our hotel.

[Ahbugger]

Am I cynical for thinking many of these complaints are from folk wanting freebies or discounts?

As far as I'm concerned any customer trying this is just doing a not very impressive, slightly more socially acceptable version of the classic "Until I get what I want I'm going to stand here and scream".

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

Man, I got a complaint (not hotel-related though) because the European service centre is not American...

[Catwoman2965]

When I read reviews of hotels, which I do before choosing where to stay, I take comments like that with a grain of salt. I've never ever stayed anywhere there was "assigned" parking. You come in, and you park where there is an available space. If its near the door or your room, fantastic, if not, STFU and park. Most aren't that big, so god forbid you have to walk an extra few feet.

the only time that was an issue for me was in a hotel near Wash. DC, after it had snowed. The lot at teh back of the hotel had not been plowed, and was completely iced over. VERY dangerous, and we really had to be careful parking and walking in.

As for highway noise, really? I must be an oddball, because it really doens't bother me at all. I actually find it kind of soothing, the whooshing of cars outside on the highway. Then again, I've lived on major roads, and in teh major flight path of airports, so I guess I get used to noise and block it out pretty well

[RealUnimportant]

Not wanting to protect douchebags, but if you've already made your booking without seeing the place, then I can understand some level of disappointment. I had a room in a place recently that I won't return to; although it wasn't bad enough to drive me to another location (with the attendant costs), it had enough odd little quirks to make me wish I'd known more before confirming. And I'd checked reviews beforehand, they were all glowing.

Still, there's nothing that would have stopped them saying anything at the time rather than waiting silently for the anonymity of internet comment threads.