for your enjoyment

[silver]

so part of my wonderful job is to sit here at work and receive email and feedback regarding people's stay at my hotel. here are some of the highlights...i have included my responses where appropriate. they are in chronological order of when sent.


Moron #1-
"Why did you take away the complimentary Business Center Internet Access? $4.95 for 15 Minutes!! VERY POOR customer service. I will definitely stay at a Hotel next time with complimentary Business Center Internet Access. This was out of my pocket. Not company reimbursable"

Me-
"I have read your comments regarding your recent stay with us here in Arcadia and wanted to clarify for you that we have never had complimentary business center internet access, or at least during the past two and a half years. The computer that you are referring to is actually run by a third party and was installed at our hotel late last year. Over two years ago for a limited time we had another computer located in our lobby as well that was also a pay per use item. We do offer complimentary internet access in our hotel via a wireless network for all of our guests that is accessible anywhere throughout the property. All you need is a wireless enabled laptop to take advantage of this free amenity.

I just wanted to clarify this issue with you in hopes that if you are presented a choice of where to stay in our area during a future visit, you will know that we did not take away any complimentary amenities.

Best Regards,

Moron #1-
"Well, I just stayed at an Embassy Suites in New York City and they had a business Center with 2 Complimentary Computers in their business center.

Perhaps you should attempt to come outside of your shell and see what works in other Embassy Suites. Also, the tone of your E-Mail was extremely rude, ignorant, and not helpful.

I work for a very large Bank in Pittsburgh. I am also in a very high level position. I am going to work with my Travel Department to ensure that you are taken off the list of preferred Hotels. I will also be writing a letter to a higher authority than you to let them know that my corporation will not be doing business with you in the future.

We know and live the concept of customer focus in our organization. Perhaps you could enroll in some customer focus classes yourself and your hotel may be as successful at your competitors."

[silver]

Here is another

Moron #2(via our customer complaint dept)-
"guest said that they found what looked like a dirty apple in the refrigerator. He said the jacuzzi was out. The gst said they returned from breakfast and found their door opened. He said the day manager was rude"

Me-
"Thank you for your feedback regarding your recent stay with us here in the Arcadia/Pasadena area. I understand you ran into a cleanliness issue here during your stay as reported to me by one of my managers as well as your comments that I have received from our Guest Assistance department. It is unfortunate that you experienced this oversight by our housekeeping staff and I trust that we removed the object immediately upon notification by you as is our practice in such situations. I wish that these things would not happen but there are instances of human error that will always exist in our profession but I feel that it is the human aspect of our industry that also makes the experience of staying in a hotel memorable.

Our whirlpool is currently undergoing a major electrical repair that would be very dangerous if left unattended. In light of the safety hazard we felt that it was best to restrict access to it unconditionally. I hope that you understand our position.

Regarding your other issues I have spoken to the appropriate personell and informed them of your remarks. Feedback such as this is our way of grading ourselves and learning what we do well and where we need to improve. I hope your experience here at our hotel does not darken your opinion of the Embassy Suites brand nor the Hilton Family of Hotels and I hope to see you again if your travels bring you to our area."

Moron #2(personally)-
"Regarding our stay with your hotel, this was our WEDDING night, which I informed the front desk, and reservations when I made the reservation! As noted in the reservation, I requested a room with a jacuzzi which was noted to your staff. Upon checking into the hotel, I was told that your facility did not have rooms with jacuzzi's. They did NOT tell me that the whirlpool was "currently undergoing a major electrical repair"! I should have been told of this IMMEDIATELY especially since this was our WEDDING NIGHT, and I HAD REQUESTED this in my reservation! As far as removal of the old apple, my wife called the front desk at approximately 3 am, and did not want anyone coming up to the room at this hour on OUR WEDDING NIGHT!

Later that morning after returning from breakfast, we returned to our room to find the door ajar! Fortunately nothing was missing from the room. Combine all of this with the rude treatment from your manager, this was certainly a night (Wedding Night) we will NEVER forget!

We live in Arcadia, and are still moving into our home. So we thought instead of dealing with the clutter of not being completely moved in, we would stay at a hotel before we left on our Honeymoon. A medical group we are associated with, Comprehensive Surgical Specialists uses your hotel quite frequently for symposiums and other functions which is why we decided to stay at your hotel. We hope that you will resolve this situation so that we can pass on a positive report to our friends instead of a very negative report. We have other friends and relatives who are Hilton HHonors members who were all shocked at how we were treated by your manager and his unwillingness to take care of his customers. My Mother - in- law is in the hotel business, and was there when your manager was speaking with my wife and could not believe his attitude and poor level of customer service. As you mentioned " it is the human aspect of (y)our industry that also makes the experience of staying in a hotel memorable."

Your manager should learn that he is in a people business and that people staying in his hotel on their Wedding Night is supposed to be one of the most memorable nights of their life! Ours was very memorable in a bad way. Fortunately, the rest of our short honeymoon was spent at one of your competitors properties. The management and staff were excellent and really cared about the quality of service they provided. We have already booked a reservation for our anniversary next year, and will probably return there before then as well.
With so much competition in business today, it should be as important to hold onto existing customers as well as gaining new ones. The treatment we received at your hotel exhibited that the management did not care about either.

I look forward to your response."

[KwikR6]

YOu should e mail him back and tell him that you run a customer service class....but sometimes..the customer isn't always right...haha

[silver]

one of my personal favorites, this is documented by our customer service department. the key is the updated information and what she says she will do. I love how I got minimal backup from the person handling the call.

3/3/2005 5:14:02 PM *** *****************Spoke with guest as MOD, Guest called stated her credit card has been charged by the hotel. Upon arrival she was told the hotel does not accept cash for incidentals and that she must provide a credit card. Guest stated the entire stay was charged to the credit card manually. Guest stated she spoke with John Goins at the property and was told the charges would be removed. Guest stated she requested a letter from the hotel letting her know the charges will be released as well as a letter to her company. Guest stated what she received a copy of her bill. Guest never received any thing from the hotel pertaining her account being over drafted because of the hotels mistake. Guest stated account is over drown by approximately $300 and she would like a refund. Please check your records and contact the guest back as soon as possible. /// LPAYANT

3/3/2005 5:25:49 PM *** ****************UPDATED INFORMATION************

Guest went over the this information several times before saying if the hotel does not respond correctly she would take a gun to the hotel and use it on the staff. I explained Hilton does not take threats of any kind against employees lightly, (guest never commented back she kept going over her issue). She then stated she wanted John and his entire staff fired from the hotel because they were incompetent. I apologized to the guest and explained the information would be addressed by the management staff of the property. Guest then stated she works for the mortgage industry and this oversight will appear on her credit report making her not eligible to work. I apologized again to the guest.

[silver]

i'll post up new ones as they come in...then you can see in quantifiable numbers how many idiots there are in the world.

[silver]

Originally posted by silver
Moron #1-
"Well, I just stayed at an Embassy Suites in New York City and they had a business Center with 2 Complimentary Computers in their business center.

Perhaps you should attempt to come outside of your shell and see what works in other Embassy Suites. Also, the tone of your E-Mail was extremely rude, ignorant, and not helpful.

I work for a very large Bank in Pittsburgh. I am also in a very high level position. I am going to work with my Travel Department to ensure that you are taken off the list of preferred Hotels. I will also be writing a letter to a higher authority than you to let them know that my corporation will not be doing business with you in the future.

We know and live the concept of customer focus in our organization. Perhaps you could enroll in some customer focus classes yourself and your hotel may be as successful at your competitors."

here is something Leets wrote about it.

Translation:

Well, I just stayed at a different Embassy Suites than yours and they were different. How can this be?

Perhaps you should attempt to come inside my shell and see how I expect everything to be the same, regardless of where I am. I would also like you to take into consideration my magical e-mail that has the ability to portray “tones” that were once strictly portrayed audibly next time you choose to inaudibly write to me.

I work for Buck Consultants, a small independently run member of ACS, an international organization of financial consultants. Although Buck Consultants isn’t an ACTUAL bank, I’m still going to pretend like it is because it makes me feel more important… especially since my “high level position” is, considering I’m an independent consultant, a title I thought up all on my own (aren’t I imaginative?). I will be meeting with all members of my “Travel Department”, including Mr. Expedia, Mr. Orbitz, and Mrs. Hotels.com regarding my experience. I will be suggesting that your hotel be removed from our list of “prererred Hotels”, otherwise known as my Microsoft Outlook contacts list.

I know and live the concept of customer focus because I am a consultant, and without anyone to consult I would be out of this “made-up” job. Perhaps you should visit the Embassy Suites in New York City and copy every inch of their floor plan so that next time I venture out into the real world it won’t seem so different and scary.

[IALuder]

lol, nice.

[nonovurbizniz]

I don't know man.... I've worked in jobs that envolve dealing with customers and I have to say...

THOSE ARE THE WEAKEST STORIES EVER...

seriously... I mean your tone WAS rude in the first letter...

The second one... THEY SPECIALLY REQUESTED A JACUZZI...

I mean sh!t if you guys don't have them it might be nice to mention before he checks in... poor bastard probobly had some fantasy drummed up about porking his wife in a hot tub... and you guys robbed him of that...

sure who cares about the apple but it's not like he made a big deal of that...

And the 3rd one.... if you guys over charged then did not return my money THEN ON TOP OF IT don't comply with a request that someone agreed with... that's just a bunch of crap...

I don't know if I'm mis-interpreting this whole thing of if YOU are the only one feeling self important...

I good friend of the my family's was a hotel manager in Boston and BELIEVE ME his tone was NOTHING EVEN CLOSE TO yours... he was ALWAYS NOTHING BUT ACCOMODATING even when requests were SERIOUSLY out of whack.

None of those stories leave me with an impression of a "bad guest/costomer" however they ALL leave me with an impression of a poorly run hotel.

Just my opinion...

[GT40FIED]

After working for so long in retail/customer service for so long, trust me when I say that those people are dicks. If something doesn't go your way and you can't resolve it while you're on the premises but you still can't let it go, you're an asshole (unless a crime or money is involved). Anyone who can't fix the problem while at a hotel and gets their panties in such a twist that they have to email and complain (which is way weaker than calling...c'mon, be a fuckin' man), and THEN respond to the company's response...come on man...if you've got enough free time for that, you're not an important person. Most people complaining won't say even half of what they really think (apparently you should always be polite to those you feel have screwed you), so you know the people who wrote that shit just can't let it go. The bottom line? Sure...maybe the hotel screwed up, but only an asshole emails to complain like that. The customer is rarely right.

[silver]

Originally posted by nonovurbizniz
I don't know man.... I've worked in jobs that envolve dealing with customers and I have to say...

THOSE ARE THE WEAKEST STORIES EVER...

seriously... I mean your tone WAS rude in the first letter...

The second one... THEY SPECIALLY REQUESTED A JACUZZI...

I mean sh!t if you guys don't have them it might be nice to mention before he checks in... poor bastard probobly had some fantasy drummed up about porking his wife in a hot tub... and you guys robbed him of that...

sure who cares about the apple but it's not like he made a big deal of that...

And the 3rd one.... if you guys over charged then did not return my money THEN ON TOP OF IT don't comply with a request that someone agreed with... that's just a bunch of crap...

I don't know if I'm mis-interpreting this whole thing of if YOU are the only one feeling self important...

I good friend of the my family's was a hotel manager in Boston and BELIEVE ME his tone was NOTHING EVEN CLOSE TO yours... he was ALWAYS NOTHING BUT ACCOMODATING even when requests were SERIOUSLY out of whack.

None of those stories leave me with an impression of a "bad guest/costomer" however they ALL leave me with an impression of a poorly run hotel.

Just my opinion...

i never included my side of it. nobody ever requests a jacuzzi, and if they did we would have told them it were closed. he was under the impression that all the rooms have jacuzzi's, which is very rare. and the guest did make a big deal about the apple, at 3am cursing and threatening a employee with getting them fired. and the money not being returned is bullshit...we never charged the card. she used a debit card to checkin and we hold the funds for 3 days after checkout, which is what she signed acknowledging at checkin.

being accomodating to a request is one thing, but you don't go into a grocery and ask for a discount on a pound of tomatoes because you had a long wait in the checkout line.

[nonovurbizniz]

Ok I see where you're coming from... although STILL not the worst customer service situations I've heard of...

I've heard a women say as I was sweeping the lot of a gas station I worked at (full time nights while attending the SAME H.S. as her son (also having a higher gpa than her son)) to her son...
"See honey that's why you finish highschool"

I've had people who checked their OWN oil come back after not putting on their OWN oil cap and try to blame it on me...

We had a 300lb PLUS guy fall on our "excessively slippery" pavement DURING A SNOW STORM sue us for not properly removing the snow (it was shovelled then salted every 20 mins.) because his fat ass fell over.

But since we're on the subject of hotels... here's 2 for you.

1. I was visiting schools in boston with my mom at the aforementioned hotel that a family friend managed... we found a DILDO and porno mags under the tv stand... forget rotten apples...

2. here's a link to a funny pic I just saw from some site... it's a letter to a ex-hotel guest that forget something at the hotel...

http://images.phun.org/phun/pics/new...y_friday/7.jpg