sophiegirl

Review of bill under the door shows a $XXX rate. Hmmm...should be $X, based on successful LNF claim. In fact, the rate being billed was not even the rate I used on which to base the claim....

At FD, show bill, and explain rate should be $XX.

Reply: (incredulous) "At THIS hotel"?

Me: "Yes" (I refrained from pointing out I would hardly be discussing the rates for some other hotel... ")

FD: "I don't think so. We don't have that rate".

Me: "True, but you have $x rate, and I was able to use it to invoke the LNF guarantee. Here is the email"... (and that was a definite first, I never have the emails, only took this one because it was approved just under the wire)

He looks it and says: "These people just can't change our rates"...

Me: thinking "Well, yes they can. Saying "Is there anyone here who can get this rebilled at the correct rate"?

Another person comes out who is "in charge"....did not catch her actual title. She looks at it and says " I have never seen anything like this before"..." but we will honor it and then I will take it up with management. They can call these people and discuss it".

Okey dokey, but you might want to note that "these people" are in fact "your people".........

3 things about this situation -
I was not concerned in the least that I would be paying the ridiculous rack rate - between challenging it on my credit card, calling the MR Guest Services, or even our own FT Concierage . But I find it incredible that 2 people who are working at a reasonable time of day (it was 7AM, not 3AM) knew nothing of this program. And it was apparent they were being truthful, they had no idea.....

I was actually quite patient (I WAS, really I was) trying to explain the entire thing to them....but left thinking "wow, good thing this didn't happen with a DYKWIA" type."

That it happened at a Renaissance in a large(r) city.

SkiAdcock

I liked all the mental commentary

PS - Note to self. Always travel w/ the email confirmation of LNF approval.

Cheers.

BilligCharlie

That was a great read, thanks for sharing!

justspg

quick question to the op, did they not confirm your rate at check-in? If they had not, they should have. In addition, you could have provided that confirmation to the front desk so they can handle it right then and there when you checked in, just a suggestion for the next time. the worst thing a hotel can do is bill their guests incorrectly. It is embarrassing if they are unaware of the LNF program. It's not something new so I'm guessing it was a lack of communication or something.

sophiegirl

quick question to the op, did they not confirm your rate at check-in?
No.

If they had not, they should have. In addition, you could have provided that confirmation to the front desk so they can handle it right then and there when you checked in, just a suggestion for the next time.
And if they had, then I could've. But since they didn't, why would I automaticallly assume they were going to bill me at a rate 3X the one I had confirmed, and 1 1/2X the going rate for the night? I have used this program/rate multiple times, and never had an issue.

the worst thing a hotel can do is bill their guests incorrectly.
No, I can think of far worse things. After 20 years, I can think of far, far worse things.

It is embarrassing if they are unaware of the LNF program. It's not something new so I'm guessing it was a lack of communication or something.
When an employee states "they can't just change our rate" and the "they" in question is his own company lack of communication doesn't cover it.

And to me, it isn't even "just" a training issue. I am amazed at the number of employees that do not know the most basic information (that has) significant impact on the job they perform. (and not just at Marriott, anywhere) If I were a FD agent, you can bet I would know everything there was to know about the Marriott Rewards program, rate codes, rate specials, point savers - whatever.

And this must have been my weekend for it - because 2 others:

Me to Waitress: Can you tell me what is in the House Salad? (as I point at a line that says house salad and nothing else...)
Waitress: (as she peers over my shoulder) well, whatever it says there on the menu.

Me to store clerk: do you know the expiration date of this item?
Store Clerk: No, there's some kind of code, but I haven't learned how to read it yet.
Me: I know, there is a lot to learn when you are new.
Store Clerk: oh no, today is my 5th year anniversary.



and now I shall take my soapbox and put it away for the day...........

MaineFlyer16

Just curious--which hotel was it and what was the rate? I got attitude once at check-in at the Providence Renaissance for booking an extremely low LNF rate. I think the clerk was somewhat shocked, but she certainly made me feel like I was staying at a PL/HW rate.

socrates

while it shouldn't happen I can see how it would happen...LNF's honestly don't happen very often and this is the only time anyone other than the hotel can do a rate override, not sure why the rate was modified/changed (after the LNR was granted) but MARSHA does keep history on every change/modification to a record so it's easy for "management" to research and retrain the individual(s)

SanDiego1K

Great recap on your conversation, sophiegirl. I smiled as I read it. It's good you were on top of your game, and actually reviewed your receipt. It's so easy to just grab it and run off on a busy work morning.

djohannw

I once in a while have a small problem with LNFs - predominantly in the US - when I get asked "did you book this through Expedia", which is cleared up with a "No" reply and a reference to the Look no further program. Even less frequently I get a comment on how good my rate is (OK, that is true), but nothing even remotely similar to the issue described above - and I have done probably 60-70 nights on LNF-rates last year alone. So I take this as an isolated incident - seems the staff at that particular Renaissance is in dire need of some additional training...

@socrates: Is a LNF rate really such a rare occurence? My guess would be that this will happen to a hotel maybe not daily, but at least once in a while...

Greetings - Dirk

sophiegirl

socrates, the above is "one' of the reasons I am grateful you often read this forum....although this was no big deal (more funny than anything, esp once we started talking about "these people"...) I would have thought along the same lines as djohannw as to how often a Ren in a city location, would see these.

and MaineFlyer16..please do not misunderstand. There was not an attitude...more of a genuine perplexity as to how I could have an email stating this very low rate. And I understood that....as I was standing there perplexed at how my rate got changed!

Perplexity ='s me being calm, pleasant, and helpful.
Attitude? not so much.......

But the real learning was for me - always have available a copy of the ressie confirmation. I really never do....

PWMFlyer19

You can cross reference it against the LNF success thread and see the discount she got

ohmark

+1

sophiegirl

Excellent point, PWMFlyer 19, that was my bad.

I have always wondered what the benefit to that thread is. I will not post there again....in this case, it is not fair to employee's who really did nothing wrong.

Asking for help in finding an LNF is one thing...posting success? What is the point?

And unless you are a GM, what possible difference can it make to anyone at what property this particular situation ocurred?

socrates

Yes - the typical hotel receives "0" each year - yes it's true, most hotels have none each year

As long as the initial set of the system interfaces are setup correctly it it's not possible to not have what's call "Rate Parity" where one system is a different rate than the other

Without going into much detail (had second thoughts - didn't think MI's legal team would want me going into too much detail here) but rest assured both managed & franchise hotels have big incentives NOT to have any ever, once in a while isn't good enough (gosh I can hear Bill now..."is once in a while good enough at your hotel???? Here at Corporate we strive for perfection and work to improve on our results!"

keeton

One thing to remember is that a lot (most?) of the Marriott branded hotels are not owned by Marriott corporate. "These people" may very well not be "your people".

As for rates getting changed on you, I had an experience for the first time ever about 6 weeks ago where the hotel could not find my reservation upon check it. I had my confirmation e-mail and they were able to find it but claimed it was "stuck in Marsha" and never got transmitted to the hotel. Needless to say the hapless FD clerk effed it up and gave me the wrong rate. Since there were issues checking in, I kept checking my folio on the TV and when I saw that it still had not been straightend out, I went to the FD where a more experienced (and customer focused) clerk fixed everything - with an apology rather than an argument.