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I had a bad experience at a hotel recently, and didn’t keep quiet about it. Neither should you.
A couple of weeks ago, I went “glamping” (glamorous camping) with my daughter. A bunch of families camped out on the beach, but sleeping on the ground wasn’t doing it for me. I booked a hotel near the camp site so could spend time with my friends camping, but sleep on a good mattress. I snagged a good rate using the online special and my AAA discount.
When bedtime came, I went into the hotel to get my pre-confirmed room. It was between the pool entrance and the gym. I could hear the thump thump thump of
someone on the treadmill. I returned to the front desk to let them know that that room wasn’t acceptable. I was told that he could only give me rooms that the computer assigned. He showed me a room chart that I could take rooms facing the highway, next to the gym, or under the restaurant. Under the restaurant seemed to be the best bet. I was told by the night clerk that it wasn’t really a problem for anyone and that the bar closed at midnight.
We got to our room. The fan in the bathroom didn’t work. I had to get service to come and get the air conditioner to work. There were only four bad channels on the small TV and the bed was hard as a rock. OK, I was exhausted. It was all fine. I could deal with it.
6:30 AM. It sounds like a bowling alley over our heads. WHAT? I could hear every footstep and it sounded like they were dragging all the tables and chairs across the room. I was UP!
So, we pack up our bags and get ready to go. As I am checking out, I ask to talk to the manager. I tell the manager what occurred. I said that I felt that because I got a lower rate, I was only offered bad rooms. I said that I felt that the room that I was in was not a room that could be rented out unless the person was expressly told that they would need to get up very early to beat the noise.
Instead of apologizing, the manager said she would talk to the night clerk. I told the manager, “So that’s it? That’s what you want to say before I put my rating on the internet?” She asked me, “What is it that you want?” I said that I felt that Best Western should offer me another night at another time. She told me that she couldn’t do that and she would call corporate and have them call me.
After 24 hours of no call, I called corporate and told them what happened. They apologized but said that they would have to contact the hotel. Sigh.
The next day, I received an email from the manager telling me that they were crediting my bill back to my credit card.
So, here is the moral to the story: If you pay for a service and it isn’t right, tell someone. If that someone doesn’t give you satisfaction, go higher. Keep a record of everything: everyone you talked to, all receipts, any paperwork. Keep going until you get satisfaction – whatever that means to you.
My only regret to this story is that the hotel will continue to rent out those rooms. But… that is what Yelp is for.
By the way, if someone does a good or outstanding job, I also talk to the manager and call corporate.
Have you had a similar experience?
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
Last year on the annual trip to Vegas with my Red Hat chapter, reservations at the 4Queens were not what two of us had requested. Not only that, but the two young women behind the front desk were busy flirting with a young man who was checking out. After waiting for several minutes, we finally asked to speak to the manager. When we told him about these things, including the fact that our room rate was higher than confirmed, and that we would not be staying there in the future, he became very conciliatory, and gave us what we requested. Since the Golden Nugget has the same rates this year, we won’t be staying at the 4Queens this trip.
@EllieD – see @mimi’s comment about Yelp and Trip Advisor. Perhaps you need to post something about this on Trip Advisor to save other traveler’s the exasperation.
yes I did with T-Mobile! I have been a customer with them for almost a decade only to get treated like an idiot by the customer service rep.
My phone has been having major issues since I bought it for retail for almost $500. Out of the many dozens of problems I have been having, my phone freezes during a phone call and it does not drop a call on the other end.
Have you ever had a conversation where you are telling a long story and then you hear nothing back on the other end.
Well, I was charged all these overages because I went over 70 minutes.
The tech rep is sending me a new phone because my phone is having too many issues. However, billing is not going to credit me with my overage.
They said I was already credited once this year, which also happened to be related to the phone problems as well.
The rep said that I should have taken out the battery each and every time it froze and that it only takes seconds for me too do that. On top of that, he said that I should have been able to monitor my usage.
I am able to monitor my overage, but if I only used 480 real minutes out of my 500 minute plan and the other 90 minutes were because all sorts of phone issues, is that my problem?
They should have given me a new phone to start off with. Anyway, the entire conversation he talked to me like I had no clue of what I was talking about. I have a copy of the chat transcript as I will approach corporate or the legal team.
@Susan – Sorry to hear that you had a bad customer service experience with T-Mobile. Their customer service used to be the very best. I have found that sometimes I am just talking to someone that “doesn’t get it” and the conversation isn’t going well. I will find some excuse to end the call and call back. I will almost always get someone that is in a better mood or more understanding. It is worth a try. Especially if the situation is one that is pretty disturbing to you. You want to talk to someone that can say more than “I am sorry for your inconvenience.”
YELP is not the answer. Your negative review will be deleted if the hotel has a “favored nation” status with Yelp. Specifically, any business can pay Yelp to remove negative reviews. Even worse, Yelp encourages this practice. Pretty crummy, huh?
I was in disbelief when I discovered this. But alas, it is true.
I found greater success with Trip Advisor.
They do not edit or delete negative reviews that are fair and accurate. You can review hotels, restaurants and any travel related product.
@mimi – How sad. I will definitely look into Trip Advisor.
On more than one ocassion I have written letters to general managers commending outstanding service and complaining about poor service.
I once complained about no sales service available in the lingerie department of a major department store and having to go to their competitor in the same mall where I received outstanding service. I also said that the store would no longer be my first stop in the mall. I received a nice, apologetic letter back along with a $20 gift card. The general manager of the second store also received a letter from me complimenting the employee on her good service.
@Myke – it is true that the best way to show disapproval at a store is to take your money and not come back. I really like to shop at small ma and pop stores if I can instead of large corporate stores. Therefore, if I can help them to make shopping at their store better, I really try.
i have had this a fewtimes onec at bath and body they sent me a gift card onec at build a bear they replaced my bears and with att a few weeks ago when i had no service for day and bad reception for a week after they took 90 off my bill it takes a few calls but worth it to get a wrong wrighted
@tracy – Yes, you do have to make a few calls and keep a few notes, but most of the time you can get some sort of satisfaction. Most people won’t take the time to make the calls. I fell that when I take the time to point out something that is non-optimum I am speaking also for all of those people who were too shy or too busy to call.
Was up in Vancouver, WA recently for a concert and had several issues (none major) with our hotel room. Overall it was a good hotel, so we sent a note with our complaints and received a voucher for a free night. Whether or not we will make it up there again is 50/50, but at least we got a response fairly quickly. It does pay to complain.
Note I have had poor results sending messages via websites forms – often I receive no response other than the automated reply message – that’s when you have to make a phone call.
I have had the same incident with Comfort Inn Suites a few times. The last time is when I booked a room for New Years Eve 4 months ahead of time only to be told they did not have me registered, I had the number and everything. They did however give me a free nights stay.
@Susie A. – Oh my goodness. So where did you stay that night? Did they find a room for you on New Year’s Eve? It’s kind of hard to find a room at the last minute on that day.
I have also found that in Dayton Ohio, it does no good to complain to the BBB if a business you are complaining about pays them for membership, which totally sucks.
If I ever get poor service, I always let it “be known”. I’m tired of going to hotels and paying a premium for service that is of lesser quality of a motel 6. It’s unacceptable, I can’t understand how businesses operate in that manner. I wish every hotel was like those in Islamorada.