adpucci

my misadventures in the Radisson SAS world of Carlson - apologies in advance for the long read...

I have a friend who works for Radisson (part of the Carlson group) and he told me the code for the F&F rate - they have an open website and you make your reservation through it.

I have used it about 4-5 times with complete satisfaction (personal use, when I travel on business I use my corporate rate).

I was visiting some friends in Copenhagen for a weekend and decided to see if I could get a decent rate - used the F&F rate to make a reservation for the Royal Blue hotel and packed my bag.

I received an email from someone called Soo Kim, with the following (previously unheard of) statement:

"Please have the employee of Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group to contact us at [email protected] prior to your arrival in order to confirm otherwise Friends and Family Rate cannot be honoured".

now, knowing that my friend was away for the weekend, I thought this would be an issue, furthermore the rules say (from the website):

===================
FEATURES:
- Please note - employee name and work location will be required at time of check-in.
- Discounted rate for family & friends of Carlson employees globally
- Guest will be charged equivalent of EUR 80
- Please note that currency exchange rates are subject to change
- Room type / Bed type / Smoking preference confirmed
- 25% discount on food and beverage (excluding alcohol) in the all day restaurant
- Buffet breakfast, VAT and applicable taxes included
====================

I pointed this out in my reply - and since I wasn't sure whether if it was a lady or a gentleman I replied "hello there".

This is the reply:

"Hi [myname],

I must say the way you responded without using name and minimum of greetings is such a shame as you work for the same company, do you by the way? Your gmail does not show anything.

I hereby paste the print screen shots from Rezidor Hotel Group Friends and Family Rate FAQ for you.

Never the less, regardless who you are and your position is, your response is not appreciated at all".


long story short - I have a family nickname by which I am known to all my friends, rather than my full name, this Mr. Kim (I found out later it's a man) called my friend who was having a weekend away with his partner, asked if he knew me (using my full name), my friend said he did not think so (naturally), and Mr. Kim wrote back to me saying that "the F&F rate is for real friends and family of the company and not for the public to misuse".

I called the hotel, spoke to Mr. Kim, explained (despite his rudeness so far) that it was a misunderstanding due to my nickname, he laughed in my face, told me I was a liar and that I could not complain because he was the guest relations manager.

Last thing, he told me he would personally ring all the other Carlson hotels in Copenhagen to ensure they knew not to honour any booking for less than the full rate, laughed and slammed the phone down in my face.

it took 2 months for Carlson customer services to reply:

"sadly in this case the rate was not granted as the listed contact person could not verify any acquaintance with you.

We are sorry you feel Mr. Kim was underminding your reservations when he informed you that the rate would not be granted. I kindly ask for your understanding that the friend or family member within the company needs to be verified for the rate to be granted. Unfortunetly, this was not the case".


I am not even commenting on the spelling - and I have informed Carlson that from now on they can whistle for my money since I will NEVER spend a single night at one of their hotels ever again (out of my 200+ hotel nights a sad year).

grrrrrr.

Often1

You used a rate to which you were not entitled. That is the end of the issue.

None of the communications seem remotely rude other than that they are in somewhat stilted English (but perfectly understandable, especially given that while one expects some English proficiency at properties in CPH, written native fluency is neither expected nor appropriate to criticize any more than one would criticize a London property for responding in stilted Danish.)

This begins and ends with the fact that your "friend" neither confirmed your "friendship" in advance nor when contacted. In fact, when contacted, your "friend" denied knowing you. I would presume that unless your "friend" gives out his F&F code to many people traveling to CPH on a given weekend, your surname ought to have rung a bell.

adpucci

errr no. I used a rate to which I would have been entitled, and was denied it.

RTW1

Only in your dreams.... so move on and don't play the fool here. Without confirmation from your "friend" there's no entitlement to any discount....

craz

Well lets say they are friends with the CC employee, I guess from the OP it may simply be a knowing the person, I say that since its hard to believe that the OP is good friends with someone who only knows ones nickname and not their legal name.

But OP once the hotel called and your friend said he hasnt any idea whom you are, IMO you're dead in the water. I would never expect any hotel to recontact the person again.

I think the anger is misplaced and the hotel was correct for denying the code and rate to be used if it cant be established that in fact the employee told the OP its OK to use the code. The anger is owed either to yourself for not making sure your friend knows the name you will be using to make the res or them if they forgot what it was and only know you by your nickname

nacho

This is the typical Danish way of doing things, do it by their own rules. I am not anyone's side, but that Kim was or of his mind calling someone during a weekend? It's not normal behaviour here in Scandinavia, you don't call a kind of "coworker" (as they both work in the same chain) to ask if he or she knows someone.

The rate rules stated very clearly what's required and that should be it. If a hotel is not happy about the rules, go talk to Carlson, if Carlson doesn't offer a good solution, leave the chain or opt out from the F&F rate.

Personally I will never use the rate as I don't have a friend that works the Carlson group. However after hearing this I wouldn't book this hotel at all because of the way a guest relations manager handles things, it's unprofessional.

view

Well this hotel hates anything Carlson, forget trying to get an upgrade and you will need to argue to have your Concierge breakfast wiped form the bill at check out.

Only way to stay here is in in Royal Club room with breakfast on top floor. Anything less is treated like crap, which is a pity as I like the design.

Jermyn

Doesn't sound like a hotel I'd ever want to stay in.

skaya

What a miserable behaviour from the employee, whether OP was entitled to the rate or not.

Adam1222

You should be angry at your "friend." There is nothing wrong with a hotel verifying your eligibility for a rate, particularly when the rate has a long history of being abused. Indeed, you can read on FT that verification is common. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hotel...ends-rate.html You would even see discussion about this very property.

If you only stay at Carlson hotels using the F&F rate, your business isn't worth a lot.

Your first email responding to the hotel was rude and entitled. Was their initial email as flowery as it could be? No. But you were clearly spoiling for a fight.

As is often the case, people abusing a policy and then being nasty when a company tries to honor its intent may lead to everyone losing out and the program being discontinued.

GUWonder

Verification is not common. But for this hotel, they do way more than what is common on these rates.

And the attitude of some of the hotel staff for this specific property -- when it comes to this kind of rate -- is rather obnoxious. And I'm entitled to this rate and around this property several times a year at least.

The hotel staff can't seem to fully understand that the employee rate is not the same thing as the friends and family rate but want to do what they can and then some to frustrate use of the F&F rate. Perhaps they do it because they think it eats into their own use of the employee rate or F&F rate.

GUWonder

It would indeed come off as unprofessional and even stalker-like. No less so in the summer.

I don't like this property as it provides rather bad value for me, even as someone who has a lot of relatively close acquaintances working for Carlson or Rezidor.

nacho

Basically they want to stop people from using the rate by giving hassle to the people who use the rate and their friends.

I guess they have plenty to pay full price and stay.

GUWonder

That indeed seems to be it, from top to bottom.

The employees themselves are using this rate for their own friends and family. But given that such a large proportion of people in this small market are one or two degrees of separation from someone who works for Carlson/Rezidor, it's rather amusing that the hotel employees think it's widely abused when it's just widely used even by people whom they know.

nacho

Exactly - they think they are the only ones who have the right to it and no one else - reminds me a bit of some FTers in the IHG forum talking about banning the whole world from using Points break except themselves (because they feel very bad that they can't just sit down and think through where they want to go)

IHG has a similar scheme - I used it once - an IHG staff was very nice to let everyone to be her "friend". All I needed was a form at check-in (filled in her details) and no one asked a single question - that's the way it should be.