Four nights = five (long)

[bhskittykatt]

On Monday, I had a small group make a reservation for four nights through our central reservation system. About half an hour later, they checked in. I verified everything with them.

Me: "Looks like you have two rooms, doubles, non-smoking, for four nights, due to check out on Friday, correct?"
SC: "That's right. We're just paying for one night now, though. Our boss is going to fax a third party credit card form in the morning to take care of the rest."
Me: "Okay, no problem!"

The next day, the fax comes in. Their boss calls and asks Other MOD to credit SC's card so he can pay for the entire stay. No problem. SC didn't come down on Tuesday to collect her refund, so when I get to work on Wednesday I go ahead and process the refund, charge the third party credit card, and leave a message with one of SC's group members to have her come down at some point to sign the refund paperwork.

Everything's hunky-dory, right?

It was my day off on Friday. I was taking an afternoon nap when I was disturbed by a phone call from work. It was Boss Man.

BM: "Does [SC's group] know that they're supposed to check-out today?"
Me: "They should. They only reserved the room for four days."
BM: "All their stuff is in the rooms, and we're booked solid. I'm going to have to pack up their stuff."
Me: "I guess so."

Note: It was a busy soccer tournament weekend. We'd been booked for about two months prior.

Later that evening, I'm a town over getting ready to enjoy the circus. Other MOD and two CWs are there with friends, since Super-Awesome Guest (who stayed with us for a couple weeks while doing promos for the circus) hooked us up with free tix. I'd already filled everyone in on the call I'd received earlier. My phone rings again.

Other MOD: "Lemme answer it."

I pass the phone off to her, and she proceeds to thoroughly confuse Boss Man. I think it was just under a minute before he realized he was talking to Other MOD when he'd been trying to reach me. I get the phone.

SC and her posse have returned, and they're pissed off as hell. They said they'd booked for five nights. (Remember how that weekend was sold-out two months in advance, and they didn't make a reservation until Monday? There's no way in hell that was even possible!)

Me: "I verified everything with her at check-in. They only had four nights."
BM: "Yeah, I know. She's also pissed off because you refunded her card when she never came down for a refund."
Me: "That's what her boss told us to do!"
BM: "Did you talk to the boss?"
Me: "No, Other MOD did."
Other MOD: "That's what they're boss told me."
Me: "Other MOD just reconfirmed that's what she was told."
BM: "Where's the 3rd party credit card authorization?"

I direct BM to where the paperwork was (right where it should have been, duh!) and sure enough, it was only authorized for four days.

Today, I was filled in on the rest of the story.

SC's boss called up. He told them that he'd reserved their rooms for five nights (LIAR!) and that he'd never requested SC's card be refunded (DOUBLE LIAR!!).

Boss Man told SC that if they waited until 6pm and there were non-guaranteed no shows, they might have a room for them. SC and group then proceeded to stand outside the office and whenever someone walked into the lobby, started screaming "YOU CAN'T TAKE OUR ROOM! WE HAVE A ROOM RESERVED! YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!!!"

A room did open up for them. SC made a huge fuss over (1) wanting a free room, and when she couldn't get that (2) not signing the paperwork for the room. Finally, signatures were obtained and they got into the room.

Today, housekeeping found something disgusting in the toilet after they checked out. I asked them not to go into detail. I was eating a snack and really didn't want to know.

[Hanzoku]

Ban them from returning to the hotel in the future?

[Kristev]

Definately ban them.

[LillFilly]

Ugh. Business travelers can be the WORST! They figure they can cut loose on the corporate dollar and be idiots in a place that they're probably never going to come back to!

[bainsidhe]

What jerks. I wish the banning happened before they stayed a fifth night. After all, they were yelling at and intimidating guests, then tried to hassle you over the paperwork. I might've called the cops.

I'm curious though, what constitutes a non-guaranteed no show? Did the no-shows still prepay for the room? Because I'd be awfully upset if I paid in advance only to find my room was taken by these twerps.

[bhskittykatt]

I don't think we banned these SCs. They work for a pretty big organization, and Boss Man doesn't want to burn that bridge. I personally would have banned them if it was my call, though.

I'm curious though, what constitutes a non-guaranteed no show? Did the no-shows still prepay for the room? Because I'd be awfully upset if I paid in advance only to find my room was taken by these twerps.

Non-guaranteed reservations aren't secured with a credit card. We hold them until 6pm. Unless they check-in before then or call us with a credit card to guarantee it, they're cancelled at 6 and resold.

[Jester]

Boss Man told SC that if they waited until 6pm and there were non-guaranteed no shows, they might have a room for them. SC and group then proceeded to stand outside the office and whenever someone walked into the lobby, started screaming "YOU CAN'T TAKE OUR ROOM! WE HAVE A ROOM RESERVED! YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!!!"

If I had been Boss Man (or whoever was working the front desk at the time), this would have been the point where I would have walked out to them and told them that, while I had told them they could have a room if a non-guaranteed reservation didn't show, they were now harrassing my other guests, and this was neither appropriate nor acceptable. And because of that, I would not be renting them a room at all, so it was time for them to leave. As in NOW.

Fuckwads.