Verbally attacked by GM because I booked online!
About once every 3 or 4 months I at the Country Inn and Suites in a small MN town. Everytime I checked in for the last year the I was told if your booking a reservation please call rather then book on-line. Well, it's 2012 and it's a hell of lot easier for me to book on-line then to call, be put on hold, wait wait wait, and give all my info all over the phone.
So I check in this week and the GM says "Haven't I told you before to call rather then book on-line" I explain it's a slower process and I lose out on 1,000 points for booking on-line. We go back and forth and I finally say forget it. I'm just going to the HI down the street and you probably wonder why your occoupany rate is 50%.
Clearly the on-line booking bonus must be getting paid by the hotel you stay at, but is it really that big of cost to annoy your customers everytime they check-in?