Fredd

For you young'uns: Romper Room

Edited to add: Oops - deirdre beat me to it just above.

OP, FWIW I'd have been more distressed at the in-house reaction than at the situation itself.

jsmith50

In theory, I agree with you and I would never expect a hotel chain to treat college students as anything less than future customers. However, I will tell you that I was on the golf team when I was in college 30 years ago. We traveled extensively staying in whatever hotel the university booked and I have no allegiance to any of those hotels now nor did I earlier in my career after graduation from medical school when I began traveling personally and then professionally. Plus, rolling the dice on potential future customers makes absolutely no sense while poorly treating a current high value customer, especially one that controls a corporate travel budget that is currently brand loyal!

InkUnderNails

I consider it odd, but if you had been at the bottom of the chain, a Hampton Inn, you would have had a satisfaction guarantee.

craig44485

'So the OP's University partiers probably asked the hotel months ago (perhaps as long as a year) for the whole place"

Highly doubtful as there would be now way of knowing a year in advance if and where their football team would be playing a bowl game. Most bowl games are not set up until late November early December.

acysb87

Similar experience at Atlanta Hilton a few years ago.Exec floor was run over by some sports teams.These groups were teenagers who just wasted the exec floor lounge of all amenities.Scorched earth was more like it.The constant yelling and running down hall on exec floor was disruptive.

A verbal comment(phone call) to front desk ,who sent up security and noise was somewhat less.Received a message from general manager a few days later who apologized for the incident(s) and asked that I contact direct on next visit to this property and they would make things right^

teCh0010

The bowl game blocks rooms 12 to 18 months in advance then hands them off to the teams when they are selected.

jamesteroh

If a hotel is going to be occupied with with a large group, the property should just call guests in advance and "warn" them and offer to move them to other properties, or at the very least try to put all the guests not part of the group on the same floors.

There is a large gay event I attend every memorial day in Chicago and it is now held at the Hyatt but a few years it was held at Palmer house and once at the Chicago Hilton. They are able to block out the entire hotel, this is how big this event is. The first year it was at the PH, I found out it would be held there before the contract was officially in place and was able to book a room with 2 breakfast buffets every monring for less than what I knew the convention rate would be for the hotel room only. Two weeks prior to the event I get a call from the PH stating a "convention" was going to be going on that weekend and they were taking up the whole hotel and mine was one of the few reservations that got through before they found out about this "convention" and they would like to move me to either the Chicago Hilton or Drake for the same rate I just laughed and told the guy I was gonig to IML and he laughed and said I got a great rate and to have fun, but they were calling guests to "warn" them because most of them wouldn't appreciate arriving and finding out that was going on. As an attendee I was glad they did that as well.

In late June I was back at the PH (I was staying there a lot back then) and there was a teenage dance convention going on. ALL kinds of noise, and that Sunday I had an early flight and there were a group of teenage girls out in the hall giggling and talking loud. I went out and politely told them I was trying to sleep. The one girl was a real b**ch and told me it was a public hallway and their parents were in bed and they were tired and had a right to talk there. I told them there were chairs in the elevator lobby they could talk at or to go in front of their parents room and talk, but not in front of my door. They continued to carry on and I called security (who did handle it). I also saw some girls on the exec floor bring up some friends of theirs not staying on that floor with a large duffel bag and they cleaned all the sodas out of the fridge.

At checkout I complained to the clerk and stated that if they were going to call me to "warn" me of IML and offer to accomodate me at another property they should have offered to do the same for me with that group there. I could tell he hated the group being there because he asked me to fill out a comment card stating the complaints and leaving with him and he would make sure management got it, and he gve me either $50 or $75 off my bill (which I was at a great rate anyway for that stay) and said he noticed I had a stay coming up in a few weeks and was going to send an email to the GM requesting I get a nice upgrade for that stay (and they gave me a nice suite), so some properties do pay attention, especially if you are a regular guests.

Hhonor Gguard

deleted, company policy

mikeef

You have entirely missed the point. Misbehaving guests, regardless of age, should be handled and other guests compensated appropriately.

Mike

jamesteroh

If it's a group that is going to cause too much of a disturbance, the smart thing may be for the hotel to get the group to block out the entire hotel.

I agree it isn't wise to drive away business. But it would be smartfor the hotel to call guests with reservations (especially regular guests) and explain what is going on and offer to move them to other HH properties if they want such as they did when I booked the Palmer House during IML. Or maybe even offer a small discount or something like a credit for the bar or restaurant. It isn't wise to drive away business, but it isn't wise to have a regular guest stay at your property either hwen an event is going on that is disrubtive and risk losing their future business.

Hhonor Gguard

deleted, company policy

jsmith50

I would debate that a bowl game is a well-known special event. I am a college football fan, try to watch as many bowl games as possible at this time of year and I honestly though the Liberty Bowl was a pretty minor bowl game and surely would not be New Year's eve. Furthermore, it was so minor in my opinion that I had forgotten it was in Memphis and didn't bother to look.

As for your other post comment about losing a regular, I fear that the Memphis Hilton has lost a semi-regular. I give them 20 nights per year of my own hotel stays (or more) and probably commit another 100 nights per year for our other consultants who travel regularly to Memphis to meet with a large client situated near that hotel. I have lodged a complaint with the diamond desk who told me I would have a response from the general manager within 3 business days. I will be very interested to see what, if anything they offer. If the answer is nothing, I will very likely move our business away from the Memphis Hilton to a nearby Hampton Inn or Double Tree property.

deirdre

An event that's a mere blip to other people, though, is frequently horrifically important to the group holding it.

I spend about half my travel nights each year at science fiction conventions with my husband. Now, for most people, they're minor (and weird) events, but they are very important to us. Catch is, there's always some minor-to-the-world important events going on, but clearly this site didn't manage it well.

I'm half wondering why they took over the lounge for this purpose rather than function space, but function space costs is probably the answer.

jamesteroh

In my case, I check out preties in an area if it my first time before I stay there so I would be familiar with other properties in the area. If it's a repeat time there I am going to base where to stay on price or past experience/reviews.

There is going to be a lot greater risk of a property losing my business forever if I have a bad experience than if they put me up at a neighboring property due to a rowdy convention/event. Do you really think a person going for a bowl game is going to be as likely to post a positive review on TA or FT as a repeat or business traveller is going to be to post a negative review, such as in this case. After seeing how poorly the OP was treated, if I am ever in MEM, you better believe I am going to try to avoid this property.

IMO, the best way to handle this if it's a large enough property, put all the non-event holders on the same floors. In the case of a property like the palmer house, keep the 20th floor (diamond floor) ONLY for non-event diamonds or if there are diamonds that are part of the group, try to put them on other floors or advice them that there are mainly non-event diamonds on that floor and to act appropriately (which I would hope a regular traveller would anyway), definitely do not put event attending non-diamonds on that floor.

If it's a smaller property try to make the event reserve the entire property. If that can't be done, then at the very least call the guests, explain the event, put them in a corner room and tell them you will be offering drink chits for in the bar along with vouchers for breakfast in the restaraunt since the lounge will be packed.

jamesteroh

The OP should definitely write a negative 1 or 2 star review as well on trip advisor. TA and FT are the two sources I always go to before booking a stay at a property I have never stayed at before if no one I know has stayed there before.

ETA: I just checked TA out of courosity and there are a couple reviews in December from Diamonds complaining about how they were treated. I would DEFINTELY give this a 1 or 2 star review if I were the OP and mention I was a diamond. If I were reviewing this property before booking for the first time and saw all those negative reviews from Diamonds, I would be staying someplace else and not booking there unless it was the only property in the area and I didn't have a choice.