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idiot of the year
guy calls into the hotel, and we had the following conversation
me-
sc-
sc- i'd like to stay on (dates).
me- and how many will be staying in the room?
sc- just one.
me- and it looks like all I have available would be nonsmoking, will that work for you?
sc- yes, non smoking is preferred.
me- ok, so I still have a king bed non smoking on the executive level available that has (sales spiel) and is the rate of 419 per night (this was new york city, so that actually isn't that bad for an executive room)
sc- wait, what do you mean by rate?
me- that's the price of the room.
sc- you mean I have to pay for it?
me-
umm, no you don't have to pay for it, all of the employees here are volunteers, the land owner just lets us use the land, the utility company likes us so much that they give us free power and the government likes us enough not to charge taxes... what they hell do you think idiot... here's your sign
the small print is optional
sc- I have a coupon for a room with a king bed for $99 plus tax, can I use that on (date)
me- I'm sorry, on that day I no longer have rooms with a king bed available and I wouldn't be able to use the coupon on other room types.
sc- why not?
me- umm, because it's a coupon for rooms with a king bed...
yes, the small print that says all other rooms will be at full price apparently doesn't apply for you... umm, nope not how it works.
i'm confused
sc- I need a place to stay before my flight to europe
me- ok well I have a room available for that night, and with your AAA discount that will be $94.50
sc- oh that's too much *click*
umm, wait a second, first, you are calling a hotel close to the newark airport... that is the cheapest rate you will find within 100 miles of new york city that has an airport shuttle... oh, and how can you afford a transatlantic flight and 2 weeks in europe if you can't afford less than $100 for the night before your trip?
and this is my fault how?
this could go under cursing out coworkers sense it was a hotel employee who called, but they were calling us as a customer of our service (i don't know if that made sense... they weren't calling as a coworker from hotel to central, they were calling as a representative of the hotel to macro reservations)
Now this is sucky to begin with because the hotels are NEVER to call the agents with problems, they are to call the single point of contact.
The suckier part... it was a manager, they were upset because we kept booking a package that they discontinued, which on the surface doesn't sound like a sucky complaint... if they had followed the correct procedure to discontinue the package... they never removed the package from their rate list, they never posted a message on their internal web page telling us that it was no longer available... and my personal favorite, it was still listed on their external website.
Now here is where the real suck comes in... the entire reason hotels contract with our department is to maximize revenue, and one way we do this is by qualifying guests on why they are traveling to the area and selling them the appropriate package... so if you don't want to sell packages the only way to keep us from selling it is to remove it from your rate list, because packages my dear friends are what we specialize in.
in honor of GK
my cat, Hades
guy calls into the hotel, and we had the following conversation
me-
sc-
sc- i'd like to stay on (dates).
me- and how many will be staying in the room?
sc- just one.
me- and it looks like all I have available would be nonsmoking, will that work for you?
sc- yes, non smoking is preferred.
me- ok, so I still have a king bed non smoking on the executive level available that has (sales spiel) and is the rate of 419 per night (this was new york city, so that actually isn't that bad for an executive room)
sc- wait, what do you mean by rate?
me- that's the price of the room.
sc- you mean I have to pay for it?
me-
umm, no you don't have to pay for it, all of the employees here are volunteers, the land owner just lets us use the land, the utility company likes us so much that they give us free power and the government likes us enough not to charge taxes... what they hell do you think idiot... here's your sign
the small print is optional
sc- I have a coupon for a room with a king bed for $99 plus tax, can I use that on (date)
me- I'm sorry, on that day I no longer have rooms with a king bed available and I wouldn't be able to use the coupon on other room types.
sc- why not?
me- umm, because it's a coupon for rooms with a king bed...
yes, the small print that says all other rooms will be at full price apparently doesn't apply for you... umm, nope not how it works.
i'm confused
sc- I need a place to stay before my flight to europe
me- ok well I have a room available for that night, and with your AAA discount that will be $94.50
sc- oh that's too much *click*
umm, wait a second, first, you are calling a hotel close to the newark airport... that is the cheapest rate you will find within 100 miles of new york city that has an airport shuttle... oh, and how can you afford a transatlantic flight and 2 weeks in europe if you can't afford less than $100 for the night before your trip?
and this is my fault how?
this could go under cursing out coworkers sense it was a hotel employee who called, but they were calling us as a customer of our service (i don't know if that made sense... they weren't calling as a coworker from hotel to central, they were calling as a representative of the hotel to macro reservations)
Now this is sucky to begin with because the hotels are NEVER to call the agents with problems, they are to call the single point of contact.
The suckier part... it was a manager, they were upset because we kept booking a package that they discontinued, which on the surface doesn't sound like a sucky complaint... if they had followed the correct procedure to discontinue the package... they never removed the package from their rate list, they never posted a message on their internal web page telling us that it was no longer available... and my personal favorite, it was still listed on their external website.
Now here is where the real suck comes in... the entire reason hotels contract with our department is to maximize revenue, and one way we do this is by qualifying guests on why they are traveling to the area and selling them the appropriate package... so if you don't want to sell packages the only way to keep us from selling it is to remove it from your rate list, because packages my dear friends are what we specialize in.
in honor of GK
my cat, Hades
I found a room at the "lovely" Carlton Inn in Union, NJ for $58 that had a shuttle to Newark airport. (wouldn't recommend that anyone stay there though....)
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