I've been mildly salty for a bit about not having been selected to pilot Marriott's concierge program. I'm not looking for someone to make sure the thermostat is set where I like it when I arrive. I just want someone to stand on that wall and defend me from occasional errors and incompetence. Today is a perfect example of why and when I need a concierge.

I'm trying to book the Springhill in Downtown Memphis June 2-4. I'd rather stay at the Residence, but I can use my Chase anniversary certificate for one of the nights at the Springhill. Checking my dates I see a May 3 (30 day) cancellation deadline for nearly every type of booking. The one exception is the pre-paid rate, which offers the usual one day cancellation, so its cancellation date is May 8. Yes, the cancellation date for the pre-paid rate is five days later than for the other, more expensive rates. And for every rate but the pre-paid rate, the cancellation date is 4 days ago!

I checked, and this problem is occurring through the end of the calendar. Here it is for a stay next April. lol


Clearly, this is an error. I called the hotel over four hours ago and reported the problem. Was given a manager who immediately saw the issue and said that someone had made an error setting up the terms for a special event (Memphis in May, which ended YESTERDAY). They promised that the problem would be fixed, but asked me to give them twenty minutes or so to deal with it.

Four+ hours later every reservation at this hotel still has a 30 day cancellation policy. I called to see what was up and the first person I spoke to couldn't understand what I was talking about. She transferred me to central reservations, which can't do anything about this. They transferred me back to the hotel. I bounced around until I got some guy I could barely hear who said there was a problem, that he did not know who could fix it, and that there was no way to know when it would be fixed.

He offered to put a note in my reservation documenting the usual 2 day cancellation policy, but I said I would wait until the website was accurate. And at this point I may just stay elsewhere because if this is typical of everything else at this location...

I did, however, point out that they need to check EVERY SINGLE RESERVATION from now until the end of the calendar to be certain that they are not erroneously subject to the 30 day cancellation policy. That note he offered to put in my reservation needs to go in ALL of these bookings. Imagine how pissed off folks who booked standard reservations are going to be when they try to cancel three weeks out, only to get stuck with an erroneous cancellation fee.

Interacting with locations like this is the best use of a concierge/ambassador that I can imagine.