let's start a thread for hospitality workers

[ajr1971]

"Sold out? come on you must have a spare room somewhere."

This one is ALWAYS a favorite. A couple of responses I would like to say when they ask that.

"Why, sure, of course I have a room, let me pull one out of my ass."

"Well, all rooms are full, but let me call our maintenance department and have them start construction on one right away."

"Of course I have vacancies, but I thought it would be less time consuming to stand and argue with you for 20 minutes instead of checking you into one"

The Hampton Inn is across town...buh bye.

[smileyeagle1021]

This one is ALWAYS a favorite. A couple of responses I would like to say when they ask that.


"Well, all rooms are full, but let me call our maintenance department and have them start construction on one right away."

i actually got in trouble for that once... a guest told me they were contractors coming in to build a set for a movie... and i told them... well in that case we do have availability, because you can build yourself a room here... that didn't go over as well as i thought it would have
oh well, my manager forgave me for it... because he knows i'm the only person who doesn't outright lie to our guests

[Andara Bledin]

ALL of the rates on Orbitz, Expedia, and Hotels.com are the same as the ones on our OFFICIAL website. So not only do they get the wrong room, we gotta pay a lame commission to the ones that made the "wrong" reservation and endure the crap from the customer.

I've gotta call on this one. The "discount" sites aren't the ones that made the bad reservation. That's all on the SC, there.

I've used a few of those sites for various things, and I can see where people get tripped up, but if they'd just slow down and take the time to actually look at what they're doing, they wouldn't get caught out like that.

I almost never use those sites, however, because it's just as cheap to go straight through the hotel in most cases.

^-.-^

[smileyeagle1021]

I've gotta call on this one. The "discount" sites aren't the ones that made the bad reservation. That's all on the SC, there.

I've used a few of those sites for various things, and I can see where people get tripped up, but if they'd just slow down and take the time to actually look at what they're doing, they wouldn't get caught out like that.

I almost never use those sites, however, because it's just as cheap to go straight through the hotel in most cases.

^-.-^

not only is it just as cheap, but contrary to my old roommate's belief (he too is an SC), you are more likely to get things right by talking to a real person rather than doing it yourself online.

[ajr1971]

not only is it just as cheap, but contrary to my old roommate's belief (he too is an SC), you are more likely to get things right by talking to a real person rather than doing it yourself online.

I ALWAYS tell customers this when they book online and something goes wrong. It's easy to make a mistake, overlook something, click on the wrong button, etc. Calling and talking to us direct is their best way to insure they know what they are reserving, and to insure that we are able to meet the needs they require. Also, those travel sites aren't really offering any better rate that we ourselves can't offer the guest direct.

[Andara Bledin]

not only is it just as cheap, but contrary to my old roommate's belief (he too is an SC), you are more likely to get things right by talking to a real person rather than doing it yourself online.

When I've run things online vs talking to a person, I've only once ever gotten something other than what I wanted. I accidentally ordered no cheese when I had wanted double on a pizza from Pizza Hut.

Otherwise, I adore online ordering for a vast array of stuff. I just ordered my entire Halloween costume online last night. Unfortunately, even though their website says they ship the same day if the order is placed prior to 3pm, my order was not shipped today. If it doesn't ship tomorrow, I won't get it in time, and that will make me sad.

But, then, it'll also be my fault for not ordering it until a week prior to Halloween.

^-.-^

[hotelnpa]

[QUOTE=slick;207817]I'm getting too old for this (only 25, feel like I'm 50).

I pretty much take care of my parents hotel. They are old now (60+) and the only reason they bought the hotel was my future. I work 100-120 hours a week, yet maintain my "cool" with SC's.


I would go insane if I spent that much time at the hotel. 40 hours a week is enough for me, but lately I've been staying longer due to my relief showing up late or not showing up at all.

[Crawley]

One that I just dealt with:

If you book through Priceline, Hotwire, or another other third party site that precharges you for you room, I cannot give you a receipt for said room. We, the hotel, did not charge your card.

[smileyeagle1021]

One that I just dealt with:

If you book through Priceline, Hotwire, or another other third party site that precharges you for you room, I cannot give you a receipt for said room. We, the hotel, did not charge your card.

THANK GOD THERE IS SOMEONE ELSE OUT THERE WHO HAS HAD TO DEAL WITH THIS

I hate explaining to people that I can't change a priceline reservation (with the exception of location or medical requests)... then they go off on a rant about how they reserved with us why can't we change it... well let me fill everyone in on how it works, you made a reservation with priceline... priceline made a reservation with us... so the only people who can change the reservation with us is priceline, so if you want anything changed you need to call priceline... my favorite one was the guest who asked how I would know if he were from priceline... i told him that priceline has a GDS system so they almost never need to call us, but i'll take the bait and say you are at priceline and your system isn't working, i'll need your IATA number...
the guests normally hang up shortly after that.

[uthdentroll]

people using those priceline, hotwire website didnt realize that they only reserved a room only. and it is up to us to give them what type of rooms available. of course, the higher rate you are paying the "better" rooms you get.
we always place those priceliners, hotwirers into lower floor. lousy rooms so to speak. want higher floor rooms? or bigger rooms? you gotta pay more.
i gotta love those last minute or same day reservation from those... we only can put them into smoking rooms.
"but i reserved a non smoking room"
Not according to priceline, or hotwire.
so look you want better room interms of location with a view and all. PAY MORE.
paying $100 or $170 aint gonna get you anywhere HIGH.

[smileyeagle1021]

people using those priceline, hotwire website didnt realize that they only reserved a room only. and it is up to us to give them what type of rooms available. of course, the higher rate you are paying the "better" rooms you get.
we always place those priceliners, hotwirers into lower floor. lousy rooms so to speak. want higher floor rooms? or bigger rooms? you gotta pay more.
i gotta love those last minute or same day reservation from those... we only can put them into smoking rooms.
"but i reserved a non smoking room"
Not according to priceline, or hotwire.
so look you want better room interms of location with a view and all. PAY MORE.
paying $100 or $170 aint gonna get you anywhere HIGH.

yeah, guests don't seem to understand that the commercial saying that they sell our unsold rooms means just that... they are selling the rooms we can't.

oh, and i just got my favorite san diego call... the caller claimed that the only reason we charged for parking was because it was a scam to restart san diego's healthcare system... no, it's because land is really damned expensive in san diego and we can't afford to just give away the use of it.

[uthdentroll]

I got this one not long ago

SC-Parking is not included?
ME-your room rate is room ONLY.
SC-breakfast is not included?
ME-your room rate is ROOM ONLY.
SC-internet is not included?
ME- YOUR ROOM RATE IS ROOM ONLY.
SC-But your website says internet is available.
ME-THE COMPANY's website. not mine. says internet is available, but doesnt say internet is complimentery
SC-doesnt say you will be charging internet
ME-doesnt say complimentery either
SC-doesnt say charging for internet
ME-doesnt say we are not charging for internet
SC-look just take off the internet charge
ME-no, you dont have to buy the internet charge if you dont agree to it
SC-where is the bussiness center
ME-B level, $10, for $15 mins, $30 for an hour.
SC-What?
ME-sir, your room rate is ROOM only, breakfast, parking, INTERNET, ARE NOT INCLUDED in your room rate. perhaps in the future if you want those things included, consider make reservation via our website or call our central reservation and see what we offer for our standard room rate including breakfast, parking and INTERNET.
SC-*CLICK*

I had to keep my face straight on the phone, and not laughing, and I had to work the word INTERNET really hard on that to make sure the SC realized he couldnt get anywhere

[smileyeagle1021]

I had this conversation not today, but uthdentroll just reminded me of it

me- "reservation desk good afternoon, this is smileyeagle speaking, may i ask with whom i'm speaking with?"
sc- "yes, this is sc"
me- "and how can I help you today Mr. SC?"
sc- "i noticed on your website that you only had rooms with one king bed in smoking, but i really needed 2 queen beds non smoking (btw, the hotel he was calling only had 2 double beds) but I did notice a 'standard room' available so I booked that, can you tell me how many beds are in that room and what the smoking type is"
me-
me- "the standard room is a flow through room, is does not guarantee a smoking preference or a bed type. You are guaranteed a room, but that's all I can guarantee... if you'd like though I can note your preferences on your reservation, do you have your confirmation number available?"
sc- "no, if I can't be guaranteed a room with 2 beds nonsmoking I want to cancel, my confirmation number is 6xxxxxxx"
me- bring up reservation do another and
me- "i'm sorry sir, but this is booked on an advance purchase rate, one it is booked it is non cancellable, non transferable, non refundable, if I cancel the reservation no refund will be issued"
sc- "why the hell would anyone book a reservation that can't be cancelled (side note, you tell me asshole you booked it), you shouldn't even advertise rates that can't be cancelled, or at the very least you should make it more obvious on the website"
me- "sir, I have seen the website, when you click on the rate description it says full prepayment non refundable, when you click on the reserve button and it takes you to the form to fill out it says full prepayment non refundable twice, and when you click submit it will tell you that it is full prepayment nonrefundable asking if you are sure you wish to proceed... and for that matter the room description on the website for the standard room very specifically says bed type and smoking preference can't be guaranteed, at this point there is nothing I can do."
sc- "this is just wrong, I demand a refund"
me- "if you wish to contest charges from online reservations you must contact corporate guest relations, their number is 888-xxx-xxxx"

then of course guest lists off a string of profanities and hangs up.

[Andara Bledin]

Personally, in this day and age, I think hotels charging for room-based internet access is just gouging.

However, if a hotel I was staying at were going to charge for it, I certainly wouldn't harrass the desk clerk about it.

^-.-^

[Broomjockey]

Personally, in this day and age, I think hotels charging for room-based internet access is just gouging.

However, if a hotel I was staying at were going to charge for it, I certainly wouldn't harrass the desk clerk about it.

^-.-^

*sigh* $5 a day. *shakes head* We'll even loan you an ethernet cable if you need one, for a $10 deposit. Cash only for the deposit. Lemme tell you, that gets fun when the ISP only issues us 8 month tokens. "Yes, you only paid for 3 days, and you're here for 6, and the internet's good for 8 months, but you can only use it the 3 days." Yeah. right.