You're right -- it might take longer than 30 minutes arguing about it, but it's been a good lever in both cases without any further discussion. My point is that they do not honor my reservation by not having the (a) room ready at the agreed-on check-in time. Of course I would most likely not appreciate to be placed in a taxi and driven to the other end of town because of this.
HTB.
My tongue was in my cheek and I suppose I was a touch too subtle. I guess my own approach is somewhat different.
I feel that too many people spend too much time complaining about very minor dissapointments - many of which weren't even worthy of a second thought. In fact many of the fora are about causes of complaint and how to complain and how to get what you want at the snap of a finger or as close to that snap as possible. I take the view - and it works for me - that we should spend less time complaining - or seeking support for the minor gripes - or posting here and asking how best to complain to optimise compensation and what we might get if we did - and spend a bit of time talking about how to get the best from the properties and people we'll deal with when we return.
I've found that by being considerate when the properties have minor problems, not complaining, but by writing afterwards to congratulate them when they did something I appreciated get's me a much better level of service on subsequent visits than being a griper. I guess I'm lucky in that I keep returning to places I like and I make friends of the people that most influence whether I will enjoy my stay or not. I sometimes even send them biscuits to thank them and always write to the directors to ask them to pass on my thanks. I think people that write to say "thank you" get a better service than those that complain because their room was 30 minutes late. In pretty much every IC I visit I have a named contact that I deal with on first name terms.
I guess we all have our own ways!^