Originally Posted by
DEQ11
An update to my original post. After making the OP, I went down to the front desk and asked to speak with the GM. He wasn't available, but the MOD--the culinary manager--met me. I started to explain that I had a wakeup call and he immediately knew where I was going. He was very understanding and apologetic. I explained the purpose of my trip and the uniqueness of the dive trip I had planned. He seemed to feel worse when he found out that I was staying in one of the suites (Plat upgrade). I was told that the wakeup system had crashed the night before.
He asked me to have breakfast in the restaurant (included since I was Plat, but said I could order whatever on the house) while he phone the off-duty GM. He returned and said that my stay would be comped, asked me to stay another night at no charge so that the GM could personally apologize, offered to reimburse me for the previous day's dive which I had already done, and said my restaurant bill for the rest of the stay would be comped. When I returned to my room that night, there was a generous plate of fresh sliced fruit on the table in my suite. When I checked out the next day, all 3 managers on duty, general, culinary, and guest services, met me at the front desk and apologized once again. They reimbursed me in cash for the dive trip.
While I still traveled a very long way for only one day of diving, because they reimbursed me for so much, my cost per dive was about the same as it would have been for my original plan. I'm very happy with the response of the hotel and I will go out of my way to stay with this property again because they took immediate ownership of the mixup. Though, I will be setting other alarms during my stay. Other hotels could learn something from this property.
Glad things worked out. I am surprised at how few people in this thread feel this is a big deal and to expect that wake-up calls will never come. Yes, I also set my phone because I have also had calls either come late or not at all and although none of them have resulted in me missing something important yet, I think that it is one of the worst things a hotel can miss. I always set my own on the phone in the room (I think all IHG properties are supposed to have the automated option) because I know that the front desk can get busy and distracted. But, it was great service to have the hotel do all that for you. Most of all, they took ownership which is really the most important part.