I've been mildly salty for a bit about not having been selected to pilot Marriott's concierge program. I'm not looking for someone to make sure the thermostat is set where I like it when I arrive. I just want someone to stand on that wall and defend me from occasional errors and incompetence. Today is a perfect example of why and when I need a concierge.

I'm trying to book the Springhill in Downtown Memphis June 2-4. I'd rather stay at the Residence, but I can use my Chase anniversary certificate for one of the nights at the Springhill. Checking my dates I see a May 3 (30 day) cancellation deadline for nearly every type of booking. The one exception is the pre-paid rate, which offers the usual one day cancellation, so its cancellation date is May 8. Yes, the cancellation date for the pre-paid rate is five days later than for the other, more expensive rates. And for every rate but the pre-paid rate, the cancellation date is 4 days ago!

I checked, and this problem is occurring through the end of the calendar. Here it is for a stay next April. lol


Clearly, this is an error. I called the hotel over four hours ago and reported the problem. Was given a manager who immediately saw the issue and said that someone had made an error setting up the terms for a special event (Memphis in May, which ended YESTERDAY). They promised that the problem would be fixed, but asked me to give them twenty minutes or so to deal with it.

Four+ hours later every reservation at this hotel still has a 30 day cancellation policy. I called to see what was up and the first person I spoke to couldn't understand what I was talking about. She transferred me to central reservations, which can't do anything about this. They transferred me back to the hotel. I bounced around until I got some guy I could barely hear who said there was a problem, that he did not know who could fix it, and that there was no way to know when it would be fixed.

He offered to put a note in my reservation documenting the usual 2 day cancellation policy, but I said I would wait until the website was accurate. And at this point I may just stay elsewhere because if this is typical of everything else at this location...

I did, however, point out that they need to check EVERY SINGLE RESERVATION from now until the end of the calendar to be certain that they are not erroneously subject to the 30 day cancellation policy. That note he offered to put in my reservation needs to go in ALL of these bookings. Imagine how pissed off folks who booked standard reservations are going to be when they try to cancel three weeks out, only to get stuck with an erroneous cancellation fee.

Interacting with locations like this is the best use of a concierge/ambassador that I can imagine.

Are you under the impression that an Ambassador would have fixed the IT system for you on a first call? He/she would have called the same Manager you did and probably not followed up on it for several days.

I've had an Ambassador for 3 yrs. It's not the magic unicorn you might think it is.

I don't think they could have fixed it. But they could have acted as an effective buffer between me and the incompetence. I could have handed it off to them and waited for them to tell me when the Springhill got its act together. They would have saved me some time and frustration, though I'll admit that I would have missed out on a couple of laughs as well.

What's sad is that it wasn't that many years ago that a run-of-the-mill platinum could call the toll-free platinum line, speak with a competent and empowered agent (without any hold time), and get a situation like this resolved in real-time.

If the front line Plat folks couldn't handle an issue, a brief wait and transfer to the squad in Utah would do the trick.

I stupidly thought the hotel would be grateful to me for bringing the error to their attention. Not even a polite thank you. I'm far less concerned about my own situation (I can stay elsewhere) than I am about all the others who have unknowingly booked rooms with a 30 day cancellation deadline.

Memphis in May has barely started. It is, as the name implies, a month-long series of events. The Beale Street Music Fest ended yesterday, but that's just one of many events, almost all of which are located downtown.

Cool. Thanks for the correction. Materials I had seen were focused on the Beale Street Music Festival, which ran May 4-6.

Regardless, there is no reason for this property to have a 30 day cancellation policy for all bookings from June 2018 through April 2019.

Should be a simple fix once they find the right person. It might not even be an in-house person that needs to be involved depending upon the management structure of the property.

From what I have seen, many hotel systems use a rate code to tie a booking to a rate. By changing the description of the rate code would automatically populate out to all rezzies using that rate code. This is why it's important to keep your confirmation email and NOT depend upon the website to dispute any issues with the property since these changes occur without notice.

Also why they should have made all of the regular rates unavailable for the special event, rather than changing the terms of the regular rates. It's troubling wondering how long the problem has existed. Probably since whenever they started planning for the event. Possibly months.

If I had to guess, someone new handling the loading of rates... Picked an easy way out and not exposed to the fallout yet?

I expect so. I wonder how many have been hit with unexpected cancellation fees. I wonder if they've known to contest them. And I wonder how many, like me, have chosen not to book here because of the 30 day cancellation policy.

A week and three phone calls later and nothing has changed. I can't even book with my Chase certificate because even the points reservations have a 30 day cancellation policy. My stay is just over two weeks from now and I still can't book a room.

I've never even heard of Memphis in May and I live 1 state away. Is this really a major event that would cause a hotel to impose a 30-day cancellation policy on purpose? I mean, is this something that people from all of the world flock to and I'm just missing out?

Been to Beale Street. It's cool. Wouldn't pay crazy hotel rates or live with insane hotel policies to go there.

"Memphis in May" isn't really an event, it's a collection of events. This week is the world championship barbecue cooking contest, it's a pretty huge event, and yes, people from all over the world compete.

World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest - Memphis in May International Festival

Well, damn, nobody mentioned barbecue earlier! Maybe I need to be there, even with wacky cancel rules at the SHS.

My experience with Memphis 'cue is Rendezvous ribs. Is that still the standard-bearer for the area? I actually don't order ribs much in KC, but those in Memphis were pretty awesome.