You can check in anytime you like…but you can never sleep.
All appeared well at 1:30 in the morning as we arrived to our reserved place at the Hyatt Place Jacksonville airport. However the lobby was packed full of worst kind of zombies: travelers who couldn’t get a hotel room. At least 10 families filled every space in sight. Upon weaving my way to the front desk, I learned why: the washers had failed. The ghastly desk clerk offered to add my name to the list but gave no guarantee as to when a room might magically appear.
At this point I had been driving for 4 hours following an entire day at a theme park: in other words I fit right in with the lobby monsters. Directing the Deal Kids to an empty conference room to sleep, I decided to get the situation fixed. The Deal Kids know when to panic, and it’s not when I yell. It’s when I don’t. If I get quiet and start speaking very slowly, run! The hotel staff was about to meet Scary Deal Mommy.
Scary Deal Mommy let the staff know in no uncertain terms what was going to happen. The staff was going to find me another hotel room, pay for it, and apologize profusely while doing so. And that’s exactly what happened! 5 minutes later we were out the door and made it to sleep by 2:30AM.
But here’s the thing: the zombies were still there, not moving, while Scary Deal Mommy got the job done. The Deal Kids asked me why, and the only answer I could come up with was “because they didn’t demand better”.
The bottom line is that stuff happens, but it’s how a hotel deals with it that defines customer service. This hotel clearly had laundry problems since at least check-out 13 hours before I arrived. The hotel’s reservation system allowed me to make a reservation that evening, compounding the problem. The MINUTE the laundry failed the hotel staff needed to be making alternative arrangements for every single family in queue. Instead the staff complained to me about how THEY were working late!
Today’s lesson: don’t be a zombie.
Have you booked into Hotel Transylvania? How did you escape? Please share your experience in the comments.
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It never fails to astonish me that so many people don’t demand better from the companies that they buy services from.
If a hotel room is non-existent or sub-par, for Pete’s sake, say something, and say it NOW.
Over the years, I’ve had a full refund, a 1/2 refund and more than one free upgrade for politely demanding better than the junk I was offered. (In your case, you were offered nothing.) The thing is that there are multiple ways that hotels can fail. Your room can not be ready at check in time, or even hours later, as yours. Your non-smoking room can reek of 10 year old smoke. Your room can have a door into another room that won’t lock, and you get walked in on at 2 am. Luckily, you are in bed, asleep, not wandering around getting dressed. The bathtub can fail to drain, and you walk in to your supposedly clean room and see 2 inches of water in the tub.
Every one of those has happened to me, either on a personal or a business trip. And in every case, by politely demanding more, I got it.
Exactly. It’s the willingness to get screwed that I don’t get, either.
I agree. Even if you aren’t sure what you should be entitled to, politely and assertively telling a business what you need is very effective. Each of those families should have said, “I need you to provide me a hotel room for me and my family to sleep in.” and then don’t take no for an answer.
You had a very good idea what was reasonable and what they were responsible for, but if you don’t know that, then simply tell them what you need and make sure you get it. Flight gets screwed up, “I need you to get me and my family home today.” Room dirty, “I need a clean room to sleep in”. Go from there. The more you know about what your options are, the better, but don’t let lack of knowledge stop you from getting the minimum of what you have been promised and need.
I haven’t really had a nightmare scenario. We did attempt to stay at a cheap hotel by the highway one time, walked in and it was just dirty. Looked like clean sheets, but carpet obviously not vacuumed regularly, dusty surfaces, and this was back when our kids were toddling around. yuck. Definitely walked out and got refunded and went to some well known national chain across the street.
jamie –
I agree with you, but have seen it go bad as well. You have to stand up for yourself (politely and assertively as you say) and your provider has to have accountability for what they have promised, absolutely. However, I have seen too many cases (in person and described online) where onsite staff who are genuinely doing their best are berated by unsatisfied customers who are either over-entitled (do you really need a new room because the coffee maker doesn’t work?) or can’t understand that an agent can’t fix everything immediately.
The latter happens all too often these days with cancelled flights. I live near a small airport, and when a flight cancels either to or from it, there often simply isn’t another option that will “get me and my family home today.” Now, I know that, I know my alternatives, and I don’t take it out on the agent – but too many others who expect perfection in an imperfect world do. I’ve done far better in outcomes and compensation by being understanding and flexible than by being (unreasonably) demanding.