More Customer Service Rants
It seems the economy has had a negative impact, not just on the bottom line, but on customer service as well. Businesses are shortsightedly trying to save dimes at the expense of dollars, as experienced this past week. My last rant was about caterers; this one is about hotels.
I managed a two-day conference for nearly 200 attendees held at a local hotel. The problems began before the event with the front desk employees, some of whom were apparently not trained in how to make a reservation. When attendees called to reserve a room, some employees transferred the calls to a toll-free number at a national call center rather than handling them locally. The call center had no information about our conference, the special rate we were receiving, or those individuals we were paying for (about 20), so they charged credit cards. Just try to get the charge reversed. That was like pulling teeth. One person called several times and insisted to the desk clerks that they make his reservation locally. Finally he found someone who knew how to do it.
Additional problems occurred when attendees arrived at the airport to find no hotel shuttle. When they called the hotel, they were told that shuttle service has been discontinued at certain times of the day, including from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. They were given the option of hanging around the airport until 8 p.m. or calling a taxi. Surely the hotel knows that most business travelers arrive in the early evening. Neither I nor the conference hosts were told about the shuttle issue. If we had known, we would have personally met people at the airport.
When I strongly complained to the desk clerk, she said the sales manager we were working with should have told us that we would need to provide our own airport shuttle service. The sales manager said he was not told that shuttle service had been cancelled. (Someone passing the buck?) He agreed to reimburse taxi fare for anyone who paid it. The fare was $24 per taxi. Surely the hotel doesn't pay their shuttle driver more than $8 to maybe $10 per hour. Reimbursing just two taxi fares cost more than paying a driver for three hours. Shortsighted thinking, if you ask me.
Another issue was that the hotel resold meeting rooms that they had previously sold to us, creating a mess in the mornings when we had to redirect people to different locations and quickly change out the audio visual equipment. Our program booklets were printed several weeks in advance, so there was no opportunity to change the room designations. The sales manager said they reserve the right to bump a group if they can sell the space. I pointed out that the rooms were already sold to us. Surely they could sell their empty rooms, not occupied ones.
As we prepare for next year's conference we will take these issues into consideration when choosing a hotel. Surely there are some that still believe in quality customer service. When the contract goes out to bid, it will contain sections addressing these issues.
Fortunately, most conference attendees were unaware of the problems, other than the room changes, and they had a very positive experience.
I managed a two-day conference for nearly 200 attendees held at a local hotel. The problems began before the event with the front desk employees, some of whom were apparently not trained in how to make a reservation. When attendees called to reserve a room, some employees transferred the calls to a toll-free number at a national call center rather than handling them locally. The call center had no information about our conference, the special rate we were receiving, or those individuals we were paying for (about 20), so they charged credit cards. Just try to get the charge reversed. That was like pulling teeth. One person called several times and insisted to the desk clerks that they make his reservation locally. Finally he found someone who knew how to do it.
Additional problems occurred when attendees arrived at the airport to find no hotel shuttle. When they called the hotel, they were told that shuttle service has been discontinued at certain times of the day, including from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. They were given the option of hanging around the airport until 8 p.m. or calling a taxi. Surely the hotel knows that most business travelers arrive in the early evening. Neither I nor the conference hosts were told about the shuttle issue. If we had known, we would have personally met people at the airport.
When I strongly complained to the desk clerk, she said the sales manager we were working with should have told us that we would need to provide our own airport shuttle service. The sales manager said he was not told that shuttle service had been cancelled. (Someone passing the buck?) He agreed to reimburse taxi fare for anyone who paid it. The fare was $24 per taxi. Surely the hotel doesn't pay their shuttle driver more than $8 to maybe $10 per hour. Reimbursing just two taxi fares cost more than paying a driver for three hours. Shortsighted thinking, if you ask me.
Another issue was that the hotel resold meeting rooms that they had previously sold to us, creating a mess in the mornings when we had to redirect people to different locations and quickly change out the audio visual equipment. Our program booklets were printed several weeks in advance, so there was no opportunity to change the room designations. The sales manager said they reserve the right to bump a group if they can sell the space. I pointed out that the rooms were already sold to us. Surely they could sell their empty rooms, not occupied ones.
As we prepare for next year's conference we will take these issues into consideration when choosing a hotel. Surely there are some that still believe in quality customer service. When the contract goes out to bid, it will contain sections addressing these issues.
Fortunately, most conference attendees were unaware of the problems, other than the room changes, and they had a very positive experience.
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