cheapos, enjoy the roaches!

[HotelMinion]

A few examples of cheapos:

Me: Hello thank you for calling blah blah blah, how can I help you?
Guy: What’s your rate for tonight?
Me: It’s $149 plus tax.
Guy: ………………………………………….(I hate when they pause lengthily, thinking)……….I see. Well, can you recommend a place that is not (suddenly morphs into uber jerk) ReeeeeDICOUSLY OVERPRICED?!?!?!?
Me: Sure I can! The extended stay hotel five miles away has $79 a night! Want their number ?!?! They have internet and ROACHES FOR FREE!! (I love when potential cheapos call because I can be rude to them without being written up
Guy: (hangs up)

Of course, I dunno if that was their rate. Hotel rates never stay the same, at least ours don’t. Maybe motels have same prices. When I worked in a motel, I can’t remember the price ever changing. Of course, I only worked there two weeks, so…

Me: Hello, thank you for calling. How may I help?
Practically every customer that calls: WHY IS THE RATE CHANGING SO HIGH ?!?!?!?!?! WHY DOESN’T IT STAY THE SAME ?!?!?!? BOO HOO HOO HOO SNIFF
Me: (sigh) We have nothing to do with the rate, it’s all controlled by corporate’s marketing department. All I know is that it is always high when the area is sold out.
PECTC: (blank pause) BUT WHYYYYY
Me: (SIGH) -_-;;

Honestly, it’s called business, you sell your product higher when demand is high. In this case, rooms. It’s common sense. We are here to make money and lots of it, to stay in business. DEAL WITH IT!

Once…

Guy: (thick accent) how muche iz your rate?
Me: $269
Guy: (eyes bulge) T-two hunderd d-dollars….
Me: …and sixty nine. ….um, sorry…

BTW, our place is in a nice neighborhood, with high end shops all around. If you want cheap, go to a motel next to a bar and get eaten alive by the rats. Obviously, the guy wasn’t about to pay that much for a room, I wouldn’t either, honestly. I really do feel sympathetic to people who can’t afford that much, so I try to be nice, even though they aren’t a guest (yet) and give them a heartfelt apologetic smile. But my sympathy was short lived when he whipped out his phone, thought better of it, and told ME (!) to call around the area to find him a cheaper room. Uh, no. Get your own room, I’m not your servant until you pay $269. But he wouldn’t leave. Usually I would have to call the police if someone who wasn’t staying there refused to leave, but I thought, fuck it, it’s a slow night. I’ll help the stupid idiot out.

I spent nearly two hours until we (I) found a room to his price range (below $100). He quickly left without a word of thanks, phone and all. W.T.F… Last time I ever did help someone out like that…

Drunk cheapos are the best!

Drunken girl: (walks in) Uhhhhhh…..(looks around, spots me) How muuuuch for a roooommmmm?
Me: $269.
Drunken girl: @#$*(&%% (@(&@$@#(&$ @#&($#&%%&!!! (morphs into an uber witch) Well!!! Caaan you call me a motherfuckin’ taxi?!?!?! (mumbles incoherently) Stupid fuckin boyfriend…left me all aloooonne…(sways)
Me: Sure.

I thought, better get this weirdo out of here ASAP! Unfortunately, something was wrong with the taxi’s phone, because when I called, they just hung up. Great.

Me: Um…..something’s wrong with the taxi number….I’ll call back.
DG: WHAT?!?! SHIT IF YOU DON’T WANNA CALL ME A MOTHERFUCKIN TAXI DEN JUST SAY THE SOOOO!! DAMN WHAT THE FUCK! (grabs stuff and leaves, swaying)

Good part is that she left her pocketbook at the counter. I could’ve said something but I wouldn’t. She came back, ranting that we stole her pocketbook the next day, I heard. It was returned, I think, with some stuff missing. :P

Worst of all is when they try to negotiate. Ugh….If you’re nice and you have a special emergency situation then I might give a discount. I don’t like giving discounts because the uber idiot usually tells all his or her friends, and they all come expecting discount too and scream and yell when I don’t. Um, yeah, that IS from experience. But if you sound like you'll keep it to yourself, I will. I once had a coworker who gave all the discounts to people on the phones, leave his shift, and then wouldn’t tell me, and people came in a crowd, expecting discounts, and…yeah. NO more. I don’t work with him anymore, BTW. Thank God.

Once….

Guy: Yeah how much is your rooms?
Me: $99 (this was when I worked at Hellton)
Guy: Per night ?!?!?!
Me: correctamundo.
guy: i guess I’ll just SLEEP in my car then.
me: ok...

I think it's all done, the guy slouches away, and over comes SC one
and SC two to the rescue!

SC 1: Heeey, man.(slings arm over shoulder of Guy) whaat's happenin'?

Guy: Nothing much. I have to sleep in my car tonight...
SC 1: WHAT! How come you don't get a room here, my man? Eh?
Guy: Girl says it's $99.
SC 1: NINETY NINE DOLLARS! Now you listen, girlie. We are from group so and so. They gave us a SPECIAL rate! I EXPECT YOU SHOULD HONOR THAT.

Me: I'm sorry, but only if you are from the group block you can have this group rate. If this guy has made a resevation with the group, he will have that rate! Anyway, it wasn’t me who agreed to this rate, it was--

SC 1: NOW SEE HERE! He is with us and we are from the group, and he should be given this rate as well! Making him pay $99?!?! That's reeeeeediculous!

Me: I'm sorry but I cannot honor that.

SC 1: (slams fist on counter) This is ridiculous! How can you make him pay that much. Have you no heart have you no integrity? We were promised this rate!! He is with US!! Us I say!!!

And on and on and on and on goes, on a boring breathless spiel, personally insulting me, and I making it quite clear over and over that I will not give the guy the group rate. His friends all crowd around us to see what is going on, Meanwhile, the hotel phone is ringing and ringing loudly.

SC 2: Your phone is ringing.
Me: Really! (picks up)

Since it is only 20 dollars off, I would've gladly just go ahead and given him the group rate, if his blabber mouth SC friend hadn't butted in. But now....nothing would have persuaded me. The SC was frickin annoying and pissing me off.

But it was clear that the SC wasn't going to leave me and the security guy was no help, until I said yes, so I said that I would, and then the SC demands a further discount from his room as compensation for all HIS trouble!

While I stared at him in dumbfounded disbelief, fortunately, the guy steps in, and says no, that's all right. SC was still blabbing on and on and insisting, until his friends had to literally pulls him away from me. I mean it took all his friends to, about five or six people. IDK what his problem was, maybe he was showing off for his GF. I checked the guy in gave him the rate. I was so pissed off by his friend, but figured it wasn't his fault that his friend was such a douchebag (though he didn’t stop him), so I decided to keep my word. The best part was that the special rate was only 20 bucks off! SMH

[BamaBabe]

Good part is that she left her pocketbook at the counter. I could’ve said something but I wouldn’t. She came back, ranting that we stole her pocketbook the next day, I heard. It was returned, I think, with some stuff missing.

Errr...I find it a bit disturbing that it is funny that she left her purse behind, and that stuff was stolen from her.

[Eireann]

Or she was so drunk, she didn't remember what was there in the first place, and nothing was missing.

[Boozy]

Errr...I find it a bit disturbing that it is funny that she left her purse behind, and that stuff was stolen from her.

Let's wait and see if the OP clarifies this in some way.

Stealing from customers, no matter how annoying we find them, isn't something we condone here at CS. I'm assuming that the woman lost her items in some other way.

[jjc927]

That last one... wow. $99 is hardly a high price to pay for a night at a hotel. $149 is higher than I'd want to pay but would be alright with it as long as the hotel was nice and had great amenities, but I would have to say that $269 is steep unless we're talking about a high-end place.

[Frantic Freddie]

My wife & I make enough money now that we don't have to stay in cheap places (I did enough of that when I was on the road) but I always try to get a better rate,whether it's through one of the organizations I belong to or just by simply asking "What kinda deals do y'all have today?",I'm always nice about it & a lot of times it does get us better prices.

[Betweenshades]

I always try to get a better rate,whether it's through one of the organizations I belong to or just by simply asking "What kinda deals do y'all have today?",I'm always nice about it & a lot of times it does get us better prices.

Exactly- if you're nice and ask politely, there's a much better chance you'll get something if it's available.

[Kristev]

I tend to find "Kill them with kindness" works 75 % of the time.

[bhskittykatt]

Exactly- if you're nice and ask politely, there's a much better chance you'll get something if it's available.

If they are really nice, sometimes I'll cut them a discount just for the hell of it. Especially if they are a regular and I like them. Bribery also works as well. I accept pizza and coffee.

[Antisocial_Worker]

I tend to find "Kill them with kindness" works 75 % of the time.

That rarely if ever worked when I was stuck in Motel Hell. If I tried to be nice, they'd usually start screaming.

I have more to say on this topic, but since I'm at work surreptitiously posting from my work computer, I'll wait til I have some free time to do it.

[Antisocial_Worker]

I spent more than five years working in a hotel, and the question of rates was one I dreaded during tourist season. From May through November, without fail, people would come in every Friday and Saturday, ask the rate, and then launch into an earsplitting whine asking "Why are the rates so hiiiiiiiiigh?!"

Eventually, it got to where I would just take the tourist directory I'd put together -- which was the size of a good-sized phone book -- and slam it on the counter so that it would make a nice, echoing bang. I would point to it and say, "That's why."

Either that, or I would launch into an exhaustive list of area attractions and keep going until the person's eyes glazed over.

I would do this because simply answering, "Rates are higher during tourist season," would result in that same nasal whine asking "Tourist season?! What's there to see around here?" Or alternately, if you responded that rates were higher because of tourists coming in to see the mountains (we'd get this a lot during the autumn leaf season), people from out west would snap that these mountains (the Appalachians) aren't really mountains. Out west they have mountains! I also got to deal with an extremely nasty cadre of old biddies who sneered and said, "Autumn? You call this autumn? This isn't autumn -- up north they have autumn!"

[JustaCashier]

....would result in that same nasal whine asking "Tourist season?! What's there to see around here?"

"Well, for one thing, that nice couple sitting on that couch over there, facing us, is enjoying our whinery tour this very moment!


Mike

[Mr Hero]

When does tourist season start? I'm going to shoot me a couple trophy tourists.

Let's wait and see if the OP clarifies this in some way.

Stealing from customers, no matter how annoying we find them, isn't something we condone here at CS. I'm assuming that the woman lost her items in some other way.

I'm eager to hear an update on this as well. SC losing items because staff stole them: not cool.
SC losing items because of her own stupidity: Karma, and it's funny as hell.

Of course, I tend to be more sympathetic if it's not a SC but lose things due to their own stupidty.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Well!!! Caaan you call me a motherfuckin’ taxi?!?!?!

Ok, You're a "motherfuckin' taxi". Next Customer please.

[Jay 2K Winger]

When does tourist season start? I'm going to shoot me a couple trophy tourists.

I laughed probably more than I should have at this line.