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Once I was asked to work in Dublin for some weeks. The company I worked for booked me a hotel (not the top of the range but a more-than-average one) and flights to and from Glasgow so that I could spend the weekend at home (I had just moved in with my then-girlfriend who now is my wife), so that I would arrive at the hotel on Sunday night (about 11pm) and leave it on Friday morning, go to work and then go straight to the airport and home.
Initially I had been booked for four weeks, during which I enjoyed an exceptionally professional service but nothing out of what you'd expect from a pretty good hotel. I didn't have many necessities or requests either (I never got room services, I was quite content with the air conditioning... basically I never bothered them).
At the end of the four weeks, my company decided that they needed me there for two more weeks. Sweet deal for me, as I was paid well for being there and got hotel pampering. Anyway. On the Sunday I fly there, got a cab to the hotel. All smooth. Then I enter the hall, and I see panic in the eyes of the check-in gentleman who I had been dealing with every week. Why? Well, my company had booked everything, even the cab from the airport to the hotel - but not the hotel for that week. I was booked in for the following week, but not for that one.
Swearing against my manager, I immediately offered to pay for the first night (I was sure I'd be able to get the money back). Mohamed (the clerk's name), very apologetic, said that unfortunately they didn't have any non-smoking room available (I am just unable to sleep in a room smelling of cigarette smoke) except for a seriously high-end triple or the lowest choice in their range. Of course I picked the cheapest (I don't need super-comforts, a bed, a bathroom and a door that locks are more than enough for me). He called management and got the authorisation to give me the BIG room. He walked me to it (which he had never done before, being on his own on night shift), explained me all the perks including Wi-fi connection... and added free cable as an extra. And, remember, it was not him nor the hotel who had been wrong!
And I got to stay in that room the whole week, as well.
Initially I had been booked for four weeks, during which I enjoyed an exceptionally professional service but nothing out of what you'd expect from a pretty good hotel. I didn't have many necessities or requests either (I never got room services, I was quite content with the air conditioning... basically I never bothered them).
At the end of the four weeks, my company decided that they needed me there for two more weeks. Sweet deal for me, as I was paid well for being there and got hotel pampering. Anyway. On the Sunday I fly there, got a cab to the hotel. All smooth. Then I enter the hall, and I see panic in the eyes of the check-in gentleman who I had been dealing with every week. Why? Well, my company had booked everything, even the cab from the airport to the hotel - but not the hotel for that week. I was booked in for the following week, but not for that one.
Swearing against my manager, I immediately offered to pay for the first night (I was sure I'd be able to get the money back). Mohamed (the clerk's name), very apologetic, said that unfortunately they didn't have any non-smoking room available (I am just unable to sleep in a room smelling of cigarette smoke) except for a seriously high-end triple or the lowest choice in their range. Of course I picked the cheapest (I don't need super-comforts, a bed, a bathroom and a door that locks are more than enough for me). He called management and got the authorisation to give me the BIG room. He walked me to it (which he had never done before, being on his own on night shift), explained me all the perks including Wi-fi connection... and added free cable as an extra. And, remember, it was not him nor the hotel who had been wrong!
And I got to stay in that room the whole week, as well.