Poor Telephone Etiquette
Here's a message I sent Hilton re poor telephone etiquette:
On Saturday, 5 February 2000, at approximately 10:00 p.m., I called a friend of my colleague who was staying at the Hilton Houston Nassau Bay & Marina to relay an important message. My colleague only gave me her friend's room number and the first name of the hotel guest.
I know that for security reasons, I should have asked my colleague for the last name of the guest I was trying to contact. But I didn't have that information and tried to call anyway. The woman who answered the phone sounded as if this was the last thing she would rather do. Her tone was very unprofessional (like I should not have called the hotel because I was distrubing her) and she did not even enunciate (blame it on the Texan drawl, perhaps). So I had to ask her again, in a very nice tone, to repeat what she just said. This elicited a very condecending tone from her: "I said," she emphatically replied, "what-is-the-name-of-the-guest-you-are-trying-to-reach?!!" I could have protested to her rather demeaning response. Instead, I calmly told her I only had the first name of the guest and the room number and did not have the last name. To this she replied, "That's a weird name and you should know the last name of the guest!" She connected me to the room anyway and I was able to relay the message to my colleague's friend.
I think the comment she made (in reference to weird) was uncalled for. I suggest this woman who answered the phone (she sounded like she was working at the front desk due to the ambient noise) undergoes further training on telephone etiquette. Or, if it is an attitude problem she's having, she should NOT be in this industry in the first place.
No wonder Hilton does poorly in the Freddie awards for customer service and other client-related services. I have posted this message on the Flyertalk Board to let people know how incompetent some of your staff are in the Houston Nassau Bay property. Maybe the next time they answer the phone, they would think twice and would be more polite to callers.
Sincerely,
JT