5khours

I'd like to know what everyone thinks is the appropriate way for a resort to respond to the following situation.

Checked in. An hour or two later I discovered discolored water coming from all the taps (think deep fecal hue.)

1. When I called the front desk around 4pm, the response should be
A) Offer to move me to another room.
B) Immediately send senior staff to the room to check on the problem.
C) Send an engineer to the room to try to fix the problem.

2. How should the resort communicate.
A) Call me frequently to update me on the status.
B) Send management to personally update me.
C) Don't communicate at all until I call back at 9pm to report the problem has not been fixed.

3. How should management respond at 9pm
A) Apologize profusely
B) Blame the engineer.
C) Offer to work on the water tanks while I'm trying to go to sleep.
D) Give me a key so I can use the shower in another room.

4. At check out (problem has not been fixed), how should the GM respond.
A) Grovel
B) Not charge for the room.
C) Act surprised there was a problem.
D) Claim there was no problem with the previous guest.
E) Blame the engineer again.

KI-NRT

1. A (and hopefully upgrade me for the inconvenience, especially if I had already unpacked.)

2. B

3. None of the above. If it hasn't been resolved by 9PM, then I'd want them to move me to another room (hopefully upgraded.)

4. B, although if I stayed there for multiple days and was not inconvenienced in a big way, comping 1 night would be sufficient, IMO.

Doc Savage

I'd just have them move me to another room. Sometimes you just have to ask for what you want.

Rust happens.

mikew99

At better hotels, of course, you don't have to ask: They will offer without asking. From the progression of the OP's questions, it doesn't sound like this hotel was one of the better ones.

Doc Savage

So if they don't offer, just have them move you. Better than fighting battles and worrying about it long term.

Sometimes you just have to solve the problem and be done rather than be passive and complain later. Is the problem enough that you want to move? Then just tell them you want to move. If they refuse that request, then it is a problem.

And I wouldn't seek compensation for moving to another room. Rust happens. Just fix the problem and avoid the angst.

But YMMV.

aa213bb

1 - A

Following that, the rest *should be* moot.

Which property?

5khours

Given where I was staying it never occurred to me that the problem would not get quickly resolved after the first call. If I'd been staying anywhere else I would have been more proactive on the first call

5khours

It was a pretty decent place actually.

zigzag

It could have been work done on the water main outside the hotel in the streets. If air gets in the lines the water will turn brown and the whole property could have air in the lines for a short time. Its could be that the water just had to run for a while to clear the air. So this could have been explained to you by engineering and either made you OK with what happened or not. It depends on the guest.
If you are in a third world country this could be raw sewage backing up into your water and have a horrible smell.
1 C
2 A call you once or twice on your cell if your out having lunch or shopping having a great time. I want to know what I am coming back to.
3 D but only if the problem is just in your room, if its the whole property then A and offer to find you another hotel with out a water problem
4 B but you should move out after first night or if they tell you its just your room be prepared to walk and have another hotel already for you to move after 9 on the first night.

shuigao

To me, any decent hotel should be B/C --> A, and any luxury hotel should be A immediately.

I had a similar situation a few years ago. Checked in, used the toilet, flushed. Turns out the toilet was clogged and it spilled out onto the bathroom floor.

Called reception, somebody came to the room, took one look and then immediately told me "please give us a moment we'll get you a new room."

MikeFromTokyo

I am not following this multiple choice "survey" format. What actually has happened at the resort?

view

Well, itīs a bit of a mystery. More details please..

MSPeconomist

The identity of the hotel or even its general location is a mystery too.

5khours

So the actual response from the resort (a well known place in Phuket) was

1. When I called the front desk around 4pm, the response was
C) Sent an engineer to the room to try to fix the problem.

2. How did the resort communicate after I reported the problem.
C) Didn't communicate at all until I called back at 9pm to report the problem has not been fixed.

3. How did management respond at 9pm
B) Blamed the engineer.
C) Offered to work on the water tanks while I'm trying to go to sleep.
D) Gave me a key so I can use the shower in another room. (After considerable prompting from me.)

4. At check out (problem has not been fixed), how did the GM respond.
C) Acted surprised there was a problem.
D) Claimed there was no problem with the previous guest.
E) Blamed the engineer again.

MikeFromTokyo

That's completely unacceptable. I hope this was not one of the properties that are highly regarded in this forum.

Was the key to another guest room/suite? Was the water okay in that room?

The appropriate response would be:

Move guest immediately, if possible to upgraded category.
Profuse apologies
Meaningful service recovery gesture to ensure restored guest satisfaction.
Consant follow up by management to ensure the rest of the stay is perfect.