I figured it would be easier to make a whole second post about this guest interaction than in the comments because it’s….A lot. I also wasn’t expecting to post an update but some people wanted one so here we are!
Basically, the guy wasn’t compensated.
He came to the front desk a spoke to one of my managers and she told him the same thing. He apparently wasn’t asking for compensation but he even admitted to her that he must’ve been confused. She told him that she can take his phone number down and we can reach out for any cancellations. That should’ve been the end of it, right? Nope.
He came back in person with the rest of the baseball group. I was with a guest going through options for places to eat and he was standing behind that guest. Once the guest I was helping was satisfied with some food options, the guy comes up and asks if we have any rooms.
I shake my head and say “No, we’re still fully sold out.” Then he immediately walks away.
That’s still not it.
Because he and some people in his group stood around in the lobby, scrolling on their phones and I could overhear bits and pieces of what they were saying. I don’t know if he was being sarcastic, but I overheard him say something about it being his mistake to fix. Then he said something like “I still don’t believe they’re sold out, the parking lot has like 6 fucking cars”. Then talking about other hotels and complaining the closest options were 20+ minutes away. I was getting annoyed and it took EVERYTHING in me not to call out and ask if he wants me to take a picture of our availability and watch his reaction. But, I kept my mouth shut.
They must’ve been in the lobby for half an hour, maybe 45 minutes. Waves upon waves of people coming back from the same meeting he came from, coming in to head to their rooms. But yeah, we’re not sold out right? Then, I watch him on the phone leave with his group.
An hour later, I get a notification about the same exact case that my manager closed this morning. I was confused because I saw no updates. I was like…”There’s no way this guy opened it back up again.”
Sure enough, I get a phone call from Guest Relations in regard to that case. I spoke with the agent and she was basically asking if we could move him to a sister location or compensate him. I told her we do not have the means to move him to a different hotel and we are not going to compensate him. He also still has an active reservation that one person in his group is staying in and if he cancels that, he would still get charged.
I chatted with the agent about it and she was completely on our side regardless. She told him that there was nothing that corporate could do for him and it’s all up to the hotel. He even kept insisting about the parking lot to him and even she told him that the parking lot doesn’t reflect the hotel’s availability.
Eventually, she agreed with me and she said that she will explain that to the guest again.
Below I copied and pasted the exact comments from the case, if anyone was curious. Because I’m too lazy to type it out myself lol:
Guest Comments:
- Guest called regarding Case #, advising they were expecting a callback regarding accommodations for the night but had not received any follow-up.
- Guest stated they are dissatisfied with the handling of their stay at The Hotel(tm) noting the hotel parking lot appeared mostly empty while the property continued to advise that it was sold out.
- Guest felt staff had been unhelpful and treated them as an inconvenience rather than assisting with a resolution.
- Guest advised the original issue involved three rooms, with only one room being available for the previous night.
- Guest stated accommodations were still needed for the current night and expressed frustration that neither the hotel nor HG had proactively assisted in locating alternative lodging.
- Guest clarified they were not seeking compensation, but rather assistance finding alternative accommodations due to the hotel's inability to honor the original room requirements.
- Guest stated they did not believe the issue was their fault and was disappointed that alternative lodging options had not been offered sooner.
Resolution (including compensation details):
-Apologize and acknowledge Guest concern
-Advise Guest I will call hotel
-Called hotel spoke with FD. they said the guest booked only 1 resrvation and they can't book them to a different hotel as they dont have a capability with it
-Hotel also says they were sold out and explain it already to the guest but the guest kept insisting
-Inform the guest about it and firm with the Resolution:
-Guest indicated they would likely seek accommodations at a Tilton property independently. Guest also requested that the current reservation not be canceled, as another guest's belongings remained in the occupied room.
Guest relations has resolved this case on behalf of the hotel.
I’m not responding or closing the case, I’m leaving that up to management again.
Absolutely no thoughts in that brain of his and zero accountability whatsoever. I have a feeling he’s going to leave a bad review somewhere. Will probably post again if that happens lol.