Originally Posted by
Oxon Flyer
Not quite sure whether such sweeping and dismissive generalisations are a) universally true or b) helpful to the OP. You don't need a 'vast back office staff' to sort out a very common 'on request' hotel item that the OP had reasonable expectations would be provided.
As someone who worked in the industry, Often1 is correct here. The level of service that some people are expecting from a limited/select-service hotel brand is simply out-of-whack with reality.
Anyone that's been on FlyerTalk long enough has read stories about Front Desk staff that shrugs and says "there's nothing I can do" when presented with a problem. And in some hotels, that's the attitude of Front Desk Managers, too. Expecting meticulous tracking of items that are request only isn't going to happen at many, many hotels. And, that level of tracking isn't something that any hotel group (Marriott, Hilton, etc) requires of their hotels.
For the record, I'm describing the reality of the industry. It's not how I would personally run a hotel. Nor is it how I'd run a hotel group. (I'm convinced that the people that write franchise agreements have never worked in hotel operations.)