First time traveler?!

[MMATM]

On one family trip we had to stay a night in an Embassy Suites hotel in Boston (the trip was from Boston to Mexico) which had computerized minibars. The way they worked was that if you took anything, a little spring that had held it in place would register that there was no longer anything there and your room would be charged. Since the trip was all-inclusive through a charter agency, they had to pay for the rooms (after a huge 23-hour ordeal during which they kept assuring us that our plane was "just an hour away" or "just landed" or "being prepped" which all turned out to be untrue) my aunts (by "family trip I mean my extended family) who are decidedly Irish ran around to all the rooms and took the nips out of everyone's minibars. That is all after having spent all day waiting in a pub at the airport and then several hours at the hotel bar.

I doubt there was a charge for opening the fridge to look inside, but I don't actually know since we never saw the bill for it.

[Getoutofmylobby]

Hotels like to rip people off for the stupidest things. I know of one hotel in a big city that charges you for every second your phone is off the hook. It doesn't matter if you're calling your grandmother, calling for room service, or you drunkenly stumbled into it and knocked it off the hook. You still pay.

My first hotel job was at an old hotel, and it wasn't even a nice old hotel, that charged you for copies. At 25 cents per. We even required a "sheet deposit." This was in case of.. you know... fluids... eew... Anyways, the owners were anal, money grubbing morons who only cared about profit. I learned early on to hate these types of people.

You can tip housekeeping if you want to, especially if one housekeeper cleans your room each day and he/she does a particularly good job.

[tollbaby]

Well, I don't feel so bad about not tipping now... my first action upon checking into a Days Inn is usually to clean the room up to my liking. I don't complain though, because I chose to stay there. If I wanted better service and a ritzier room, I'd pay more and stay at Best Western or something.

[Antisocial_Worker]

Hotels like to rip people off for the stupidest things.

Mine is world class when it comes to nickel-and-dimeing. It's one of the things I'm growing to hate about working in hospitality.

[Lehk]

No, you probably paid that discount and didn't even know about it. When you check in, we always authorize your card for about 10% over the total amount. Most chain hotels do this. I think the lady in the OP was just mad that someone was asking her for more money after she was sure she paid for the room. Common mistake. And she was lucky they accepted a cash deposit. We don't. Hell, we don't even accept checks.

And, to be fair, we take this deposit for good reason, people like to steal shit. A towel or two missing from a hotel room is usually no big deal, but youd be amazed at how many people "purchase" coffee makers, hair dryers, pillows, sheets, table lamps, (unusable) N64 controllers from their rooms each week. I had one lady ask for an extra coffee maker "i just want to make more than 4 cups tomorrow morning." Sure enough, both were gone the next day and later the lady found a $75 dollar charge on her credit card.

And it isn't the travel agent's job to tell people about this stuff. Usually they have no idea. It's the travel agent's job to pester the hotel each day until they get their commission check... but ah... travel agents... Such wonderful people, but that is for another thread....

i can't remember for sure, but i think it was a quality inn i stayed at in johnson city that had a brocure where you could buy *any* of the room furnishings, including prints on the wall, bedding, curtains, shower parts.

[Girly]

i can't remember for sure, but i think it was a quality inn i stayed at in johnson city that had a brocure where you could buy *any* of the room furnishings, including prints on the wall, bedding, curtains, shower parts.

I live by Johnson City, TN Well, I'm a whole lot closer to Bristol. The fall race at the track really is what everyone says it is.

I used to work with someone that had her prints on the walls in a couple of hotels that did that, sell them, I mean. It was actually pretty cool, I thought. She made sales and didn't even have to do anything to sell the pictures. The hotel bought a bunch up front, and just sold those off. When they were low in stock, they'd buy more.

[Wild Cherry]

As customer service reps, I think it's our responsibility to do everything we can so that the customer has a good experience. It doesn't sound like this lady was dumb, just inexperienced and didn't understand. Having worked many years in hotels, both at front desk and as a manager, I have seen many desk clerks who are downright rude. I think this lady just needed more info. You could have relieved her fears by explaining she would get the money back if she had no incidentals. Also, you may not know it, but putting a block on a credit card can tie up that amount for up to 5 days. It may not be charged but the customer doesn't have access to it.

[Ree]

Wild Cherry, I don't know if you just came over here after the recent MSN article, but I certainly respect the fact that you are someone who takes pride in giving good customer service.
I like to follow that policy, myself.
I just wanted to point out that we do come here to vent, and even though we may sound a little unfair and harsh, it is just venting.
I think the majority of our members do know what good customer service is, and are aware of their role in the workplace.

I think what you have to say is important, because I don't necessarily agree that the customer in the OP is stupid, either, but I just thought it seemed as if you were being a little 'preachy'. I may be way off-base, but that is something we tend to watch for after our website receives publicity. We get a whole raft of well-meaning new members who come here to set us straight.

As to the OP, not everyone is a seasoned traveller, and not everyone stays in hotels on a regular basis. Not everyone uses a credit card, either.

Last year, I actually flew for the first time. In fact, it was the first time out of my country, even. I have only been out of my province about 4 times, and I was still within about 6 hours of my home each time.

Only 2 years ago, did I go by myself on a trip that required me to check in at a hotel. Up to that point, I had always travelled with a group, or my husband looked after the check-in details.
Perhaps that woman was recently widowed, and her husband had always handled that part of things.

If a person has never travelled before, and is unaware of policies like that, it doesn't make them stupid.

I understand the frustration, but sometimes, it's better to try and look at it from another angle to realize why a person would behave as they do.

[Jack7957]

The mini bar thing reminded me of this - 2 years ago one of our vendors had a conference at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. On the paperwork they sent us about the resort they pointed out that the mini bars are computerized. Which means if you open the bar and move things around to see what's in there you will get charged. If you move things around to make room for your water bottle you will get charged. Take something out and put it back you will get charged.

Yes you can have them check the mini bar and get your credit but charging you just cause you opened the door to see what's in there is rediculous.

Needless to say we didn't go to the convention and according to other partners that we had spoken to that particular conference wasn't well attended and those who did attend didn't give it high marks.

I've seen those computerized mini-bars one time. We wanted to keep some food in there and had to let the front desk know, so that when we checked out they would send housekeeping to verify that nothing was missing.

My one use of a mini-bar was when I went to Baltimore, it was late at night and I was hungry. Since I didn't feel like going out and the hotel had no vending machines, I took the normal size package of M&M's from the bar, intending to buy some the next day and replace it, rather than pay $1.75 for it. Turns out M&M's was doing some promotion at the time so all the packages in the stores were white with black lettering. I couldn't find one that looked like what I ate, so I ended up paying the marked up price at the hotel.

My other mini-bar story is when I was in Miami at a ritzy resort. One item in the bar was an "intimacy kit" which contained 2 condoms, some KY, and 3 mints for just $10.99