troytos

Deleted

RogerD408

Many hotels will post more availability than they actually have, so showing their website is still selling suites does not mean they have availability. That is a form of bullying the property to deliver something they don't have, also known as DYKWIA. Often when this is done they push the issue off onto a future guest that will have to be told they are not going to get the upgrade they should have or had been assigned. The T&Cs bring this on when they say based upon availability at time of check in. That pretty much precludes the ability for the property to pre-block upgrade assignments, which we know they will do any way.

I do agree that once the property checks you into a room for a reservation, you should not be forced to move except for extraordinary circumstances (major maintenance malfunction, exceptional security requirements, etc.). AND it should be handled by someone of authority at the property and not the current FDC. It is a service failure no matter how you look at it and appropriate service recovery should happen. That could be anything from a heart-felt apology to room upgrade/comp.

UKTraveller4Fun

While the front desk agent should not have promised you something they could not deliver would you accept that the way you originally posted the information on FT and drip fed the details has made it more difficult for people on this forum to understand what actually happened and creates doubts in their minds of what actually happened and the process.

If you had posted the full details to start with and explained it was back to back and the use of SNA's you may have found the FT responses more helpful and friendly.

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Dr. HFH

So if this was your first successful use of SNAs, you had plenty. Why didn't you apply them to the second booking when you made it? I suspect that people may be concluding that you are gaming the system in part because of your repeated failure to explain this.

Canada101

I'm not sure what you're trying to insinuate here but if it is the suggestion that the people of Douglas County, NE would be more prone to discriminating against Asians than, say, residents of New York City or Los Angeles or Seattle then I would have to vehemently disagree. Frankly, as a non-white guest who has stayed at this particular property on several occasions, I have always been treated with respect.

It may be wise to stop adding to your argument as all it does is confuse the situation. Was your complaint because:

a) the associate was rude to you? OR

b) you did not want to move but would have been happy to if the situation were properly explained?

It seems to me that your story keeps shifting to suit whatever point you want to make so it's just hard to believe you.

You were the one who said the associate told you that there were no rooms that could be used to upgrade you for your second back-to-back stay and that is when you pulled out your phone and your "royalty". So was the associate who called to ask you to move rude when they called you or only rude after refused to do so? After the associate agreed to let you continue using your room, did she confirm you could remain in that room for the duration of your second back-to-back stay or was it not obvious to you based on her comments about a "group block" (your words) that there may be an issue she would need to continue working on? What details are you leaving out?

And why do you not want to answer other posters' questions on why you made back-to-back bookings and not use SNAs for the second booking?

As I've repeatedly said, I agree with you that the front desk associate made a mistake by agreeing to your demand to stay in your room for your second back-to-back booking. She should have told you to move right then and there even AFTER you showed her your phone and insisted there was upgrade availability since she clearly had better, more accurate information than you did.

But since she acquiesced to your demand, she made an error and is now being made to pay for it. To me, based on your description of events, your behavior and your back-to-back bookings, the most you deserved was an apology but clearly you have much more experience in gaming the system and have now succeeded in convincing a manager to compensate you. (Frankly, I'm not surprised as managers tend to want to diffuse situations like these but it doesn't mean you're right.)

Bravo for a game well "played".

My only points in objecting to that way you have handled this is:

a) I have stayed at this property before and the associates I have dealt with are friendly and kind;

b) As a non-white male who has stayed at this property, I find your use of the race card to be totally and completely inappropriate;

c) Your (mis)use of the benefits and privileges afforded to members of SPG make it far more difficult for other members to make use of these privileges and benefits.

Flying Lawyer

I am not insinuating anything and certainly do not try to do so but simply offer my personal observation. It is amazing that a personal observation is considered as "insinuation".

You may feel free to chose what makes the difference: Money, age, suit, suite, car, whatever - I offered some possibilities and tried to find a reason why I was treated differently (and have been treated differently once again today in Boston MA) compared to other guests. And I am certainly as positive as you are that any differentiation based on heritage or ethnic background will never ever happen in the US.

Canada101

I apologize for misconstruing your intention.

slidergirl

I'll give you that semantical one. It was not mid-stay of the entire stay. Just the first day into his second reservation.

Until those who ..... and moan about FD staff have walked a mile in their shoes, do not think you know what goes on.

remymartin

Not taking sides here, but let's not forget it's not possible to apply an SNA last minute (such as in the case of an extension):

gengar

Not semantics. You could play the semantics card if the FD agent called back 10 minutes later saying it was a mistake. Not the next day.


BTDT, I've worked more years in and consulting for the hospitality industry than any other. We just clearly have/had different attitudes towards our jobs and customer service (not to mention the simple meanings of common industry terms).

Finkface

How very Canadian of you

troytos

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ftrbt

Probably security related. Considering the late booking, it was probably the only hotel that could give provide a secure area (an entire floor) last minute. It's possible the actual hotel of choice was considered insecure or compromised in some way.

Also, a full service hotel becomes pretty meaningless when you bring staff with you. It's not like he'd need room service let alone anything like a butler service; his own staff can run errands. The only real variation is decore, location, and security concerns and security often trumps the other 2.

Dr. HFH

But, of course troytos, that's only relevant if you made the second reservation more or less on arrival at the hotel and not in advance, which you seem to imply but stop just short of saying. When did you make the first booking? When did you make the second? Instead of implying, why not just tell us clearly and completely all the relevant facts?

If you weren't gaming the system to get an upgrade to which you weren't entitled, why not just give us all the information instead of feeding it to us in dribs and drabs and only so much as required for whatever point you are trying to make at the moment?

UA-NYC

First it was no Russians, then just one Russian, then 8 Russians, then...

OP is now likely flagged w/SPG...if there are other shady instances of "gaming", well a lesson will soon be learned.