Originally Posted by
Pausanias
Just a thought, encouraged by reading the latest posts by MacMyDay and others, do you think that expressing all one's complaints in public helps or worsens the situation. Does Sven at Amazoe really appreciate all this exposure?
I know from my own experience that hotels/cruise lines/rnestaurants etc dislike complaints being made in public fora like this, and like TripAdvisor, and I know from personal experience that a complaint I once had against a hotel, and which I described in a TA review, led to my forfeiting a complimentary stay.
Just wondering what other folk think . . . it's an interesting dichotomy between the democracy of the www and the relationship between client and customer which isn't the same as that between patient and doctor but needs some careful consideration.
You raise an interesting question, as the previous posters have stated as well. I write trip reports here both when things are great, as well as when they are not great. I don't do it to call anyone out either, I do it as a courtesy to other travelers, just as I appreciate when they do the same for me.
We are generally talking about very high end hotels and resorts, where things are expected to be handled in a certain way. If that isn't how things are, I think it's fair to let other people know. I always make sure to let management at the hotel know as well, usually during my stay or at the end of it. It also helps to establish a pattern for any given property. One bad experience might just be due to unfortunate circumstances, depending on what happened, but when several different people have similar complaints over a longer period of time, you might be better off spending what generally is a large sum of money elsewhere.
Even if the regulars here might have more than average to spend, most are still interested in spending it wisely.
EDIT: It would be interesting to know how common it really is that the hotels in question read this forum, and how much effort is put into place to identify the people here. Since I write extensive reports here, and similar emails to the hotels I write about, I know it wouldn't take much for them to make the connection, if they tried.