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That Jerk Steve posted:Edited my previous post to not Trigger any sensitive souls lurking ITT Racism is pretty frowned upon, in 2015. The "my mate is Indian" defence stopped working around the 80's. Cock
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Apr 6, 2015 17:48
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This was a cross USA trip I made with my mates back in the day. We were all Canadian, small town boys, wide eyed and unfamiliar with the world. Living ona budget we hit up some pretty cheap places. All of it was awesome to us, being smelly lovely kids ourselves. The worst place was a hotel where all the doors were accessible from the outside, never saw one outside of movies. We were excited at first because it was fairly glamourous, like being on a movie set, and it had a pool. Actually, to call it the worst was a bit misleading. At the time it was a highlight of the trip. The room smelt tangy, like orange flavoured bubblegum but without any hint of sweetness. Small puffs of something came up when you bounced on the carpet, a carpet that was suspiciously bouncy and spongy. There was a think lip around the water line of the toilet bowl that was yellow and seemed to be calcium buildup over a century of no CLR. There was a thick enough layer of 'loose matter' or 'dirt' under the bed and dresser that small mushrooms were growing at some spots. There was a massive water stain on the wall were it visibly sagged. The air was thick, like jungle air, despite it being a dry fall day. It was putrid, full of rotting, exciting life energy. There was only one bed for the four of us so we rotated sleeping, the others would go into the small poo poo hole town doing whatever or playing minigolf. Because of this rotating sleep schedule we caught what, I guess, was the owner trying to peek into the room at 4am. The next night my friends swear that someone also opened the door and peaked into the room at around the same time. The other guests came and went without a sound. For one day we had next door neighbours, an entire 6 person family staying in a room our size. Moving their bags in they were noisy and talkative, a happy but probably poor family. The kids were bouncing off the walls fo the first hour. Then, dead silence. Not a peep out of them for the rest of the day, night and next morning. When they moved out they appeared pale-skinned and listless. Dead-eyed as they shuffled their way back into their van. None of us can remember exactly how many nights we spent there. I'm pretty sure it was exactly three nights but my pals think it was a week. Three nights was long enough to wear out, even the childish, fun to be had in that small, grimey town. There was one pool table with a shack built around it, full of loser drunks. Some of those drunks stayed at our motel. Despite being rambuncious at the bar, when we saw eachother at the hotel they were enervated and silent, probably a result of their perpetual hangovers. My pals also say at least some of us got laid by the strange ladies three doors down. Honnestly, we were drunk a lot this trip, but none of it has faded from my memery like this place. They swear I banged one of them while they were in the room. I'm pretty sure they misremember. MOVIE MAJICK fucked around with this message at 18:52 on Apr 6, 2015 |
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Apr 6, 2015 18:46
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I work night audit in Sydney (worked other night audit jobs around the place) and had two guests on two seperate occasions lock themselves out of their rooms naked last week. One had a massive doodle! Happens all the time, but always men, never women. Also one night at the old hotel I worked at in bumfuck rural Australia we had Dwight Yoakam staying with us. Now it is 2am in the morning, there is not another soul around. Dwight's manager comes down to reception to talk to me about their checking out. Now this dude is how you think someone who manages musicians is in your head. He is a fuckwit, dropping names all the time and calling Australia 'quaint'all the time (usually the English do this) He settles the rooms and everything like normal then asks if I can keep other guests away when the party checks out. It isnt like there are groupies crowding the door or anything, there is literally no one around. I tell him that I can't make guests leave common areas because Mr Yoakam is checking out and told him that it shouldnt be an issue anyway because there is nobody around. 20 minutes later the tour bus rocks up, the group checks out (Dwights wife/girlfriend/scrape is maybe the hottest woman I have seen and she looked about 18), as they are are lingering around outside, sure enough someone goes up and talks to them. The manager instantly makes a big deal out of this, I ask the person if he is staying here, and he is so tell the dickhead manager that there is nothing I can do because he is a guest at this hotel. The entourage all file into the bus and they leave. The bloke who was talking to the entourage then starts talking to me, saying that that manager was a fuckhead etc. We joke around and talk a little poo poo then he asks me when one of our (female) live in managers goes for runs. I didn't think much of it and just told him I didn't know because I am not here through the day. Then he asks what unit she lives and, and what car is hers and if I can tell him his roster. I straight up tell him I cannot give him any of that info. He keeps pressing, I keep telling him no. He starts threatening me. I have zero tolerance for poo poo like this now so I tell him he is being ejected from the room and jump on the phone to the police to get them to kick this guy out. He gets more pissed off, tries to come behind the reception desk and then we get in a scuffle, he punches me in the head, we grapple then I throw him into the fibro wall which he went through creating a man sized hole. I jump on top of the dude who is flailing around and start kneeing him. He stops struggling at this point and I keep asking him if he will leave. He tells me no, calls me a fat oval office and says he will bash me. I tell him he has lost this fight and ask if he is going to leave. He refuses so I had to literally drag this guy by his arms, out the front automatic door and hurl him into the gutter and quickly run in and lock the doors behind me. I go back to the phone and emergency services are still on the line and are super worried but I tell them I am ok and to send down some police. When having this conversation I hear the garage door open then see the lift go up to the 8th level, which just so happens to be a RESIDENTS level, not a guest level. So I just beat up and threw a resident through a wall and into the gutter. Nice, my boss is going to love this. Cops come around, I let them know which room I think he is in. They come down and said he is bruised up pretty bad. I want to press charges but after reviewing hte footage the start of the fight cant be seen at all so nothing would come of it. My boss actually backed me hard and got this tenant kicked out.
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Apr 6, 2015 20:53
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One of the hotels I support was having a big boom on last minute weekend bookings, turns out it is routinely used by local pimps to house ladies. Pay 99 dollars a night and turn ten or twelve tricks? Profit! ... We haven't really put the kibosh on this practice either because the market is dying a slow death and ownership knows that we have crazy high market share on Fridays and Saturdays. We did fire our security concur actors and have started installing cameras and having more people on duty at any given time. After a dude got heself stabbed in a fight at the front desk. Hahaha
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Apr 6, 2015 21:03
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whitey delenda est posted:One of the hotels I support was having a big boom on last minute weekend bookings, turns out it is routinely used by local pimps to house ladies. Pay 99 dollars a night and turn ten or twelve tricks? Profit! We don't have the whole pimp thing going on here and I am at a decent, boutique hotel ATM but prostitutes staying at hotels isn't really a big deal unless they are soliciting in your hotel or making noise. I think there was a case here recently where a hotel kicked out a prostitute who they couldn't prove was working as a prostitute and they got into a heap of poo poo for it.
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Apr 6, 2015 21:22
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Big Willy Style posted:One had a massive doodle! Happens all the time, but always men, never women. That's rather more common in men, yes.
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Apr 7, 2015 00:43
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I'm military and travel around the U.S.(and the world) a lot. I pretty much only stay at Hilton Worldwide places which have always been very awesome to me. In Eastern Europe though, I usually just stay in the nicest place I can find in a capital city. The only issue I've ever faced there is getting the desk to understand that I do NOT want a prostitute sent to my room later in the evening.
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Apr 7, 2015 03:55
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reformed bad troll posted:Racism is pretty frowned upon, in 2015. The "my mate is Indian" defence stopped working around the 80's. Maybe Indians should run better hotels then??
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Apr 7, 2015 04:57
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Arakan posted:Maybe Indians should run better hotels then?? Individual merit makes no difference to racism. That's what makes it racist. I've apparently been pretty lucky with hotels. My worst experience was the time I lucked out and found a hotel selling rooms for two thirds the cost of other hotels in its class... only to find out at check in that it was because they were actively remodeling the entire hotel. There was drywall dust and poo poo everywhere and the elevators creaked and swayed ominously every time you took them.
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Apr 7, 2015 05:14
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I travelled to Prague in 2009 with a few mates from high-school. I did`nt know them that well but they seem like cool people. I was wrong. The four of us rented a ok room from a totally middling hotel. The first two days were great. But on the third day i really wanted to visit a museum whilst my friends just wanted to get drunk and (later on) go to a brothel. That`s fine we all want different things. We agree that i will join them at around 6`o clock before going out together. When i get back our room has been totally trashed. The floor is littered with broken beer bottles, and the rugs have been turned in to a swamp of beer and piss. The room had a table and a few Chairs, all broken. There was puke and poo poo in the bathtbub but not in the toilet bowl. Turns out my "friends" got shitfaced and decided to ruin our room just for fun. They also pissed on eachothers clothes ( and mine) as a "joke". Naturally we got kicked out and banned for life. The damages bill was massive. I don`t hang with those fuckers anymore. In 2012 i had a very nice vacation in Turkey. The only minus was watching some of the other guests. There were a bunch of arab families living there as well. Without fail the wifes and daugthers had cover up every cm of skin at all times. The poor women could not even eat or drink anything since their headcoverings also covered their mouths. The men however dressed in comfortable western clothing. Playing in the pool or by the beach ( sometimes enjoying a beer) and enjoying life whilst forcing their womenfolk to cook to death. I got the feeling tough that the women mostly stayed in the hotel room all day unless their husband/father wanted to take them out somewhere,. The sheer hypocripsy involved in embracing all kinds of wordly pleasures for yourself and wrapping your womenfolk up in a sweaty, black and barely mobile "tent"...it just hurts to watch. I think the People i saw were from the gulf states and those guys tend to be both very rich and have extremely regressive views on gender.
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Apr 7, 2015 16:36
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My old flatmate used to work as a night porter in a small hotel. One morning we hadn't even realised he wasn't home until the police arrived and said he was in hospital and could we take him some clothes. Turns out that a guy had come into the hotel late at night, tied him to a chair iirc, and then went at him with a ceremonial sword that the hotel kept for cutting wedding cakes and stole cash from the hotel as well as my flatmate's bank card. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4755254.stm
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Apr 7, 2015 20:58
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In the 70s and 80s, Holiday Inn built properties with a "Holidome". The hotel rooms were built in a large circle, two or three stories high - half facing the outside, and half facing in. The entire inside courtyard was covered with a large plexi dome, and there was an indoor swimming pool, entire mini golf course, gym equipment, arcade, bar... all kinds of entertainment. These things were huge - had to be hundreds of hotel rooms facing the inside (each with a little balcony where you could sit and watch people playing the activities), and again hundreds on the outside. Earlier I told a story about how a co-worker and I went from town to town for a year, finding a new hotel every night. We get into a mid-size city and this Holidome has just been rebranded and has a huge sign with a great rate. We are making per diem and a great rate is just more money to take home, so we pull in and get two rooms. Lady at the desk upgrades us to holidome rooms (the ones facing the parking lot are cheaper), and we pull around to park near the room. Get a parking spot right next to the door. Sweet! Seems like they have not taken the time to replace all the signage, you can clearly see everywhere it used to say "Holiday Inn" it has been taped over or peeled off - just re-using old signage. Anyhow, we walk in the Holidome, and it's huge. Epic. Never seen anything like it. Waterfall, fountain, arcade with 50 machines all dinging and pinging, bar with 20 chairs, 18 hole mini golf course... not a human to be seen. We got the parking spot next to the door because there was (seemingly) no one else there. This hotel had to have 300 rooms. We did not see a soul that night or into the next morning. Being in that holidome was the loving creepiest thing I've ever experienced. edit:  
photomikey fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Apr 8, 2015 |
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Apr 8, 2015 06:17
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Holidomes were the most awesome thing in the world if you were five years old and on a long car trip. Staying at a Holiday Inn with one was like arriving at Mecca.
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Apr 8, 2015 11:42
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Once I stayed at an Econo-Suite or whatever it's called. The room had bedbugs. Not in the sense of "I woke up itchy," I mean in the sense of "I pulled back the sheet and saw literally dozens of them living within the folds." I got a refund, and miraculously did not carry the little bastards home with me.
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Apr 9, 2015 23:19
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spacetoaster posted:
They were going door to door at my 5-star in Kuala Lumpur.
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Apr 10, 2015 02:57
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That Jerk Steve posted:I can never understand this. It baffles me to this day why people would want to walk around a hotel barefoot. Yes, that floor is mopped twice a day, but it still gets puked on, has dirt and snow tracked on it and has had god knows how many people walking on it all day. Even though it might look clean, it really isn't. And yet people still insist on roaming around without even socks on. I get some people just REALLY like being barefoot, but doing that in a hotel is just a bad idea. I normally tell them they cannot do it due to liability reasons. I was pretty clearly talking about walking around my own hotel room barefoot, not the lobby  In any decent hotel, you can at least walk around your own room barefoot without fear of getting stuck with a needle or getting them coated with filth.
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Apr 10, 2015 07:04
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Also, if anyone has any questions: like how to avoid getting the poo poo-Trap room or Killer Room as a guest, how to piss off hotel employees/management the most, how to get the cheapest rate possible, and how to avoid being treated like a second class guest - feel free to ask." Hey ThatJerkSteve, thanks for the interesting post, jeesh, what a job. I would love to know about all the above as well. I'm taking a 4-day just for fun trip to DC in late May and want to accomplish almost all of the above. Also, I promise no matter how drunk I get I will not piss myself in an elevator. obviously I fucked it fucked around with this message at 11:30 on Apr 10, 2015 |
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Apr 10, 2015 11:25
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Big Willy Style posted:I think there was a case here recently where a hotel kicked out a prostitute who they couldn't prove was working as a prostitute and they got into a heap of poo poo for it. We get suspected hookers that come in on occasion and set up for the night. Even with cameras showing 4-5 guys coming and going through the night at regular intervals to the room its fairly difficult to actually prove what's going on. Besides, the general mindset is that so long as they pay the rate and don't screw up the room - it's their business. Now when it's brought to our attention that someone is actively prowling the outside of the hotel and soliciting guests as they come in, that's a different story entirely. But this only happens once or twice a year, and usually at our motel and not the hotel. Gabriel Pope posted:I've apparently been pretty lucky with hotels. My worst experience was the time I lucked out and found a hotel selling rooms for two thirds the cost of other hotels in its class... only to find out at check in that it was because they were actively remodeling the entire hotel. There was drywall dust and poo poo everywhere and the elevators creaked and swayed ominously every time you took them. That can always be a rough surprise for a guest. It's very rare for a hotel to close down in full when they undergo a big remod project - and they don't often let guests know what is going on when they book the room. This leads to a pretty nasty surprise at check in when they discover the elevator to their 5th floor room is out of order, the pool is being renovated, first floor is all occupied and floors 2-4 have constant sawing/hammering/drilling from 8AM to 8PM. Personally, I would ask to speak to a manager and have new arrangements made on the spot. Construction work can ruin a stay or at the very least serve as a big inconvenience and it's not worth the headache. If they refuse to refund your room or offer a steep discount take it up with corporate. I can't picture any brand that would side with the hotel when it wasn't brought up to the guest ahead of time that there would be construction going on. Danger - Octopus! posted:Turns out that a guy had come into the hotel late at night, tied him to a chair iirc, and then went at him with a ceremonial sword that the hotel kept for cutting wedding cakes and stole cash from the hotel as well as my flatmate's bank card. The Night Audit is the craziest shift, bar none. It takes a certain kind of person to be able to put up with what goes down in a hotel overnights regularly. But that is one of the worst things I've heard happen - I hope your friend recovered well. CrotchDropJeans posted:bedbugs This word is absolutely terrifying in our industry. In fact, the word "Bedbug" is verboten in our hotel, we use the word "B.Bs" instead (I know it's not a big difference but no guest wants to walk by and hear a desk agent say the word "Bedbug" no matter what the context is.). There is a Motel 6 down the road from us that is notorious for having them. When we get folks that leave there and inform the desk what happened and that they want to stay with us we decline the business. It's just far too much of a risk to take. Naturally we don't flat out say that we don't want to catch their lovely bugs, but we phrase it as if we are out of rooms for the full stay, or don't have that room type available - then we give them the number to our other competition just outside of town... But seriously, gently caress bedbugs. Murphy Brownback posted:I was pretty clearly talking about walking around my own hotel room barefoot, not the lobby whoops, sorry about that - I misread. We have problems with people strolling into our nice breakfast area with bare feet, and it's off-putting to some of the other guests. But if you can't even walk barefoot in the room itself then that's downright grody. errol _flynn posted:Hey ThatJerkSteve, thanks for the interesting post, jeesh, what a job. This is gonna be a bit of a long one, but I'll try to answer and give as much insight as possible. Avoid becoming a second-class guest Any hotel worth it's salt knows that the number one thing to offer a guest (we avoid "customer", too impersonal) is excellent service - outside of the standard clean room and decent ameneties. However it's very easy to flag yourself as second-class, at which point your interactions with the staff will likely be very unenthusiastic and rushed. That is booking through a third party. My number one recommendation when im solicited for hotel advice is to always, always avoid Expedia, Priceline, Hotels.com, Booking.com like the goddamn Plague. You are trading all direct control and agency over your trip for a lovely 10 percent discount or so, at best. Here's how it works. You go to one of these third party websites and choose where you want to stay. It then pops up the hotel with all sort of assurances of a "Best Rate Guarantee!" or "_____ Percent Off!" In actuality, this is the BAR rate over half of the time, meaning the normal rate you would get if you just walked into the hotel. Some of these sites, like Expedia, allow you to be specific about the room type you need or preferences such as smoking/nonsmoking. Then you give the third party your credit card, they charge you and send an email confirmation. You just hosed yourself. Here is an example. You book a room at a Comfort Inn in Raleigh. The third party site you used said the room was $100, but you saved 10%, so it was 90.00. The website guaranteed this was the best rate, and they charge you 90 bux plus whatever the tax rate is for there. You feel  over getting a solid deal. The third party then makes a reservation at the hotel, paying a rate of about 70 bux, since they have special negotiated pricing with all major hotel chains. On top of that, there is normally a 10% commission they scrape off that figure as well. The third party gives the hotel a single use credit card, and books the room normally in the room type that is most available. This is often a standard one bed smoking room, since those sell slower than nonsmoking. "But I asked for a two bed non-smoking room!" Relax, the third party has your back. Even though they book you in whatever is most available in the hotel's inventory, they will leave a note saying that "Guest requests a first floor nonsmoking room with two beds." It's then up to the hotel to handle that request. And if they are sold out on doubles, or nonsmoking rooms for the night, you are SoL. This is where you get all of the misbookings from, where you arrive and discover you were placed in a smoking room. It's seriously not the hotel's fault. The third party booked you in whatever came up first and the nonsmoking room, or king room or whatever was not available. What's that? You want to cancel? Sorry! This is literally out of our hands. The hotel itself doesn't even have your credit card. We have a one-time use card from the third party, so we couldn't reverse the charges. If you want to cancel, you have to talk to the third party, which contacts the hotel. If it's within the Hotel's cancellation policy (normally 24 hours or if the hotel is feeling generous) then the hotel will refund the third party. Here's where it gets scummy. We still get calls afterwards sometimes of guests that complain that the third party still wont refund the guest because they have a second, stricter cancellation policy. Not all third parties do this (we've never had this particular issue with, say Expedia), but it still exists. Since we do not have your personal credit card, your phone is automatically turned off. Any upgrades or extras, such as a cot, we have to ask for your card and charge separately. It's a hassle for everyone involved, and the rate they grant half the time is the same as the BAR for the room. You cannot use rewards points or perk cards for the room, and Third Party guests are always passed over if the Hotel ever needs to give free upgrades due to overbooking. Seriously, the best industry advice I can give is to never book via a third party. The hotel direct will give you a better discount 99% of the time, you won't be treated like a second class citizen, and any issues with payment or your room are handled through the hotel instead of a third party that could screw you over anyways. Some large businesses get huge discounts over booking through other private channels (Like AdTrav for government guests - which is just technically the gov. per diem for the area but still) but otherwise avoid it and call up the hotel personally. Seriously, we don't bite. Cheapest rate possible This is a frequent question and kind of tough to answer. First of all, never pay the asking price for a room unless the entire area is sold out - in that case you are boned. Most every franchised hotel accepts CAA/AAA/AARP/Senior discounts ranging from 5-10%. This is the pity discount. When you are shopping (we call deep discount seekers "shoppers", it's a dumb industry thing) you want to try to hit a sweet spot of 20-30%. 20% is acceptable and Good, but 30% is where you've hit gold. Any higher requires advanced techniques and checkout gambits that may not pay off or are sure to burn bridges. There are two key words to learn here: Corporate Rate and Locally Negotiated Rate, They are similar, but very different - and what you get depends on how much you want to research before your trip. The corporate rate is a standard rate for guests on business, and it's possibly the most requested discount after AAA. Someone comes into our hotel and says "I'm doing work at such and such common business in every town, do you have a discount for me?" Absolutely. It ranges from a token 5-10% depending on the property. These are often very common businesses like Wal-Mart or McDonalds. McDonalds is a popular one. We don't even have one in the city but I still get folks come in saying they are doing work at the local Micky D's. Instant 10%. The better discount is the Locally Negotiated Rate. This is gold. Some local businesses put up so many rooms in a hotel each year that they net a special rate. These are often things such as local hospitals, manufacturing companies (this is the big one) and banks. Look up the area you are going to be staying in and see if there are one or two big industries in town. Which sounds better: "I'm a driver for Wal-Mart, you guy's have corporate rate for that right?" or "I'm doing business at BB&T Insurance Services, likely to be staying several nights. I was told they had a locally negotiated rate here?" One of those will net a smug smile and a 5% discount. The other will net you an easy 30% off. Go for the Locally Negotiated rate and not the Corporate. It's a bit of a gamble either way, but if you have confidence and don't try to take an easy way out (Starbucks, fast food, K-Mart, etc.) you'll be surprised how simple it is to get a solid discount. The most reliable method for a decent discount is the Per Diem. It's a straight up "Honest Lie". It cuts to the point and drops most of the haggling you can do. Call up the desk and be up front about how much you are willing to spend. Lets say its a $100 room and you want to spend no more than $80 period. Say you're being up front and "your boss" is giving you a per diem of 80 dollars for a hotel room a night - but that has to include tax. This is best done if it's more than one night stay. To really sell it point out a competitor and mention how they could do the rate but it's not as close/nice of a hotel/doesn't have a bar/whatever. The key to this is not be greedy. Shoot for 20-25%. Also don't talk to the front desk about this (or the other haggling method I'll get into), the average front desk person has a limit as to how much they can discount and it's normally around 10-15%. Ask for a front desk manager or general manager. Act upfront and be blunt but not too pushy. Ask them to work with you - I have never had this option NOT work. When I stay out of town in a hotel outside my brand (I get all brand hotel rooms for 25 bucks so its rare I don't stay in my brand but still) this is the method I use to get a discount. I once talked a $120 room down to 72 bucks and that was including tax (I got a free upgrade out of it because I was staying a week). The last alternative method is the hard haggle, but you will get branded as an Insider and treated strangely for the rest of your stay. This normally ends in you threatening the hotel with booking through a third party. A Hotel is pretty comfortable giving between 20-30% of a discount along with a free upgrade depending on how the negotiation goes. They often lose out if a guest has Rewards Points/Privilege Club/Perk Card on their room. Ever major brand has it's own system that is free (and you absolutely should get into) and if you want get points or rewards on your room, then it actually costs the hotel more in commission to their flag. They will have to pay a good 8-10% more on their franchise bill for each room that gets points or perks. On top of that, if you booked third party then they get a huge discount on the room, normally around 35-40% off, not including 10% commission that gets paid for that as well. So knowing that, haggle with the manager. Tell him what you're looking for and your price range. He will counteroffer a higher rate so you mention you don't need points or rewards on the room and this saves them money and that you KNOW they can go a bit lower. If he is still resistant say you will book online and they would make even less but you'd rather not go through the hassle. So long as you keep your expectations realistic (around 30%) they will cave unless it is an incredibly busy day. The downside to this is it marks you as an Insider, someone who knows hotels. The front desk keeps detailed notes on every guest's reservation and you can expect there to be a description of you and warnings to keep on eye on you. This won't really amount to much, but don't be surprised if the front desk agent at checkout knows who you are without them ever seeing you - and everyone being a bit too friendly. Don't Haggle like an idiot. Don't try shooting for 50% off. Don't Lie poorly. Saying the hotel down the road will give you 50% off will make the clerk smile, nod and say you should take that deal then. Seriously Don't lie poorly. "Online your $100 dollar room is 65, why wont you match that?" Smile, nod, "Then you should book online, that's a good deal." Don't Be a dick. If you are too aggressive when you haggle the manager will stop negotiations - no one wants a problem guest. Don't Use bogus printed discount cards. Some hotels have online discount cards. Don't give me one for a crappy Hampton Inn three states over when our hotel is Comfort Inn - we don't honor those and will just toss you a pity 5% corporate rate. Don't use the "I stay at {your) brand all the time!" line. You'll end up with 5% corporate rate. Don't Try to deal with the Night Auditor. Yes, they can give better discounts than normal clerks - but most of the time they don't want the extra work of checking you in and would rather you leave them to go back to watching Netflix. Don't Try to haggle in the middle of the night regardless. Even if it's a generous auditor, they will think you are desperate for a room and will end up staying there anyways no matter what pity discount they toss you. I have lots more to add and the other questions to hit but this post is getting long and I'm strapped for time. Hope I answered some questions and I'll try to hit the others when I can.
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Apr 11, 2015 10:16
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Oh, thank you so much already, Steve!
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Apr 11, 2015 11:37
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My absolute worst was somewhere in London, about 10 years ago. We were there for the weekend, and the hotel was decent enough, but I had to go to the bathroom while we were in the lobby. I opened the door, and there was blood everywhere, and I mean literally everywhere. There was a giant pool on the floor (a few liters at least), and blood smeared on everything. I've never seen anything like it. It was like a scene from a horror movie. I told my boyfriend, he took one look, and told the staff of the hotel. That was one of the biggest 'what the gently caress' moments in my life  Honestly, I don't know how that could've happened without anyone noticing, or the person that lost that much blood not walking out of the bathroom looking like a corpse. After decorating the whole bathroom with said blood. Ugh. Vampess fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Apr 11, 2015 |
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Apr 11, 2015 23:38
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That Jerk Steve posted:Any hotel worth it's salt knows that the number one thing to offer a guest (we avoid "customer", too impersonal) is excellent service - outside of the standard clean room and decent ameneties. However it's very easy to flag yourself as second-class, at which point your interactions with the staff will likely be very unenthusiastic and rushed. That is booking through a third party. My number one recommendation when im solicited for hotel advice is to always, always avoid Expedia, Priceline, Hotels.com, Booking.com like the goddamn Plague. I don't get this mentality. If I'm booking a hotel it's because I'm travelling to somewhere unfamiliar and don't know what the hotel situation is like there. I'm using a site like this to help me find your hotel. If it wasn't there then you're completely reliant on either a travel agent or Google to get my business. There would be a good 10 hotels a year I'd stay at that would never have had my business otherwise. Every single time the hotel experience has been very pleasant too. Not sure if it's different in America because I've not travelled there but large swathes of the rest of the world have been great.
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Apr 11, 2015 23:47
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Birb Katter posted:I don't get this mentality. If I'm booking a hotel it's because I'm travelling to somewhere unfamiliar and don't know what the hotel situation is like there. I'm using a site like this to help me find your hotel. If it wasn't there then you're completely reliant on either a travel agent or Google to get my business. Find the hotel on one of those sites the call them directly before booking?
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Apr 12, 2015 00:08
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Taste the Rainbugh posted:Find the hotel on one of those sites the call them directly before booking? If I'm travelling around Europe from Australia for a month and staying in a half a dozen hotels this becomes quite cumbersome. Extra so if I don't speak the local language.
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Apr 12, 2015 03:01
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quote:
Well, that explains why the hotels never care about actually seeing my AAA card when I book with that rate.
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Apr 12, 2015 03:07
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Worst for me was probably my 'surprise' 20-hour shift. I was due to work my shift at the desk at 3pm on one of the heaviest snowstorms the Twin Cities had seen in decades. So I left early, on-foot, and plowed my way to the hotel, getting there about 2:15pm. The side entrance I used had become caked with snow and would not close; so I tossed aside my jacket and got to work shoveling and scraping. This is the beginning of a shift where the snow is compounding the amount of work I have to do on every little thing. I get to the desk, and we're re-booking people who can't get out -- housekeeping is frantic, and we're just trying to juggle the best we can. Things calmed down, and we had a completely full hotel - though no one could come or go, save on foot. 11pm rolls around, and I'm already pretty beat, but then the calls come in from the night auditors that they can't come in. I kind of saw this coming, and I resign myself to working the overnight shift also. There was a wedding party in this night and they were all loud, even in the lobby before hand. Since no one could get in or out, we housed half the banquet staff in a suite overnight. So it was maybe 12am when I started getting noise complaints from 2 areas of the hotel: the wedding party, and the suite with employees in it. I checked on the employee suite, where a fight had broken out - half of them were completely drunk, and they had broken furniture. I was in no mood for all the extra work 10 hours into my shift, and especially not from co-workers. None of them got fired over it which was a delayed kick in my nuts over the next few days. Since they were coworkers, I could at least yell at them. The wedding party that was loud, I think I made 4 trips up to talk to them. Eventually, we decided to kick them out - they would not shut up - which normally is fine. We kick them out and they leave the hotel. But tonight with the snow, we couldn't send them anywhere. We ended up with the whole wedding party camping out in the lobby, berating us the rest of the night and into the morning. It's just like, imagine any time when you've had to throw someone out of your workplace, but actually you just sit them down 30 feet from you to remain angry at you. It just rough, having had no sleep or food for so long; and I was just trying to keep the floors relatively quiet. Morning rolls around, and the people I relieved the day before are coming in to work - but not all of them. They're completely overwhelmed with people waiting 2+ hours for taxis, and holding bags, and handling bills, etc, that I end up staying til 11am. I had just gone salary too, so I didn't even get over time  . I guess this night was just a slow-burn of shittiness without any amazingly lovely moment. Also, walking 2 miles home in a blizzard when you haven't eaten in 20 hours is super unpleasant.Honorable mentions for bad nights are: "So your revenue manager overbooked your hotel by 100 rooms." "Tear gas and shotguns at a highschool dance." and "Runaway hooker bride murder mystery"
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Apr 12, 2015 04:07
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Captain Lavender posted:"So your revenue manager overbooked your hotel by 100 rooms." 
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Apr 12, 2015 04:50
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None were really full-post worthy, but I guess all 3. Hotel Overbooked by 100 Rooms Usually 3rd party booking agents don't really know exactly what you have in the hotel - the revenue manager is the person that tells them when they can book at our hotel, and he also sets the "overbooking" amount in the POS. I personally hated that he could set any amount of overbooking (which would allow people to make reservations without any sort of "You have no rooms" notice), but say, 5 rooms over is usually manageable at least. On really busy weekends coming up like a year in advance, they might allow the system to overbook by like 100+ plus rooms, because that far out, contracted groups will 100%, definitely cancel a huge amount that they blocked off. But this particular revenue manager never changed that as we got close to the date. So here's me, a pretty new employee, never had to walk a guest in my life, arriving at 2:50p for a 3:00p shift, and they have just figured out that we're oversold by 100 rooms. They pre-blocked rooms for all contracted groups and 3rd party bookers, so my entire job that night was telling people we didn't have a rooms for them, nor did any hotel within 5 miles (100% of our appeal was our downtown access). In the end, it wasn't so bad; I was pulling off triple walks, where I'd give the bad news to like 3 people at a time. We'd pay for their $100 round-trip taxis and their rooms at other hotels. Guests can actually be decent if they can tell that you're having as rough a night as they are. The revenue manager bolted right at 3p... but he got us pizza!  Riot Police Break Up Highschool Dance Our sales team had shown a history of having no filter on what types of events they book, even when they consistently cost us about as much as we make in revenue. Fraternity socials for example. The Frats make so much noise in the banquet hall and in their rooms, that we end up comping $1000s of dollars. It sucks for the staff too, and we always see it coming. One type of group like this is a high school dance. Every time we do this, it's just unruly, hormoned-out kids with no chaperones. Our sales staff had booked one, and almost immediately after they did, we started getting threats from a rival school that someone was going to come and mess up the event. It ranged from threats of violence, to threats of vandalism, to threats of fakes threats of violence. And we knew this weeks-out. Sales and Catering had no problem with this - they didn't consider cancelling it or getting security or anything. Local police heard about it on their own though. So the overcrowded, over heated, loud as gently caress high school dance had a bunch of police around the perimeter just waiting for something to happen. I was downstairs at the front desk, doing my front desk thing, when all of a sudden I hear screaming kids who start pouring down the main lobby stairs. I'm getting calls from guest halls upstairs with kids running and screaming in and out of every door there was. Kids were fleeing out all of our doors onto the streets. Meanwhile, a cloud of tear gas is slowly wafting down to me, and a cop with a gas mask and drawn shot gun is ambling down into the lobby. Apparently, one kid had yelled, "He's got a gun!" in the middle of the dance, and all hell broke loose. Most of our banquet staff got gassed bad, and we all got some of it. It sucked. I said "gently caress" a lot in my MOD report, but no one really gave me poo poo on that later. It took months for all those kids to come and claim their coats. Hotel Murder Totally not fun, but one day, our front desk got a call from a room saying, "There's a small hole in my bathroom wall, and my mirror is shattered". The manager and maintenance guy go up there to check it out. The hole is on an adjoining wall to the next room. They knocked on that door and entered after no response to find a bloody murder scene. Locals and guests found out about this in the news, and loved to come up to the desk saying, "Don't check me into the murder room! Haw Haw Haw!" which was really hilarious to the employees that found it. The guy who had reported the hole didn't even want to move... We explained it to him, and he just wanted to stay; so we were all, "The cops need to tape off that room, sorry." We outsourced to some cleaning service to tear down that room to the concrete floor and get everything out. The guy was REALLY casual about his job. When he was done he came down to give us a recap of what he did: "Yeah, there was some brain matter in the bed frame so we had to take that out, and their was matter all the way through the carpet pad." He really wasn't getting that the details weren't needed. We later found out that the victim was a prostitute who had married a man in Vegas for $2000. She took the money and bolted, ending up at our hotel. He tracked her down, got her to let him into her room where he shot her in the head. We were all paying attention to the news story. They ended up finding him at his relatives' house. He hanged himself by saving his plastic lunch wrap in jail and making a rope while awaiting trial. And that was that. After the room was completely re-appointed, every time I'd check someone into it and they asked if it was a good room, I'd say, "... It's our most-recently renovated room...", which was true.
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Apr 12, 2015 05:37
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Birb Katter posted:I don't get this mentality. If I'm booking a hotel it's because I'm travelling to somewhere unfamiliar and don't know what the hotel situation is like there. I'm using a site like this to help me find your hotel. If it wasn't there then you're completely reliant on either a travel agent or Google to get my business. I wouldn't say you get treated as a second class guest but you do get over looked for a few things. When assigning rooms I will always give upgrades to directly booked guests over online travel agents. I disagree with not expecting to get what you requested. All of the online travel agents we deal with clearly state any guest requests and many have a mechanism where you can respond to the requests through their site very easily. If I get a booking asking for twin beds say, if I can't fulfill the request then I will be contacting either you directly or the travel agent. It is lazy not to do it and creates head aches for staff having to deal with pissed off guests if you don't action them one way or another. The requests should be being checked when the booking is made and at least one more time before arrival. There really isn't an excuse for it. But they are spot on with everything else. If you can, book direct. They should be matching any OTA rates and you won't incur any booking fees. You can communicate directly to the person providing your accommodation what your needs are. I generally tell people to search on expedia/wotif to cast a big net to find all the rates and hotels in one spot then contact the hotels directly to book. If you are overseas and there is a langiage barrier or you just HAVE to book with an OTA, follow up directly with the hotel via email at least to confirm the booking. OTA's put in minimal effort.
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Apr 12, 2015 07:05
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I used to wonder if hotels looked down on people w ho use third party booking sites, but honestly in my experience it makes no noticeable difference. I always use booking.com and I've still gotten free room upgrades, the staff was always polite, etc. A lot of the time I'm traveling to non-English speaking countries, and doing it through booking.com is just easier than trying to do it on the hotel's website. The difference in rate isn't even the main reason I use it. It's just a convenient way to comparison shop when you're going to a place you've never been and all you have to go by are reviews. Yeah I could just look at reviews and then go to the hotel's site, but that's an unnecessary extra step. I mean, if a hotel employee is going to secretly look down on me for not spending 10% extra, so be it. As long as the staff still does their job - i.e. cleans the room, sends room service when I ask for it, etc. - and the room I booked is actually available (I've never had a problem with that), I really don't care. e: I guess I don't really understand what I'd need to be communicating to the hotel about. I don't really care if I booked a king room and get a double bed. If I'm travelling alone it makes no difference. But like I said, I use booking.com ~10 times a year for the past several years and I always get the room I booked. yeah I eat ass fucked around with this message at 07:14 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Apr 12, 2015 07:10
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They're not bad if you don't care what type of room you're in. The only bad situation is if the hotel has overbooked a room type, or it just completely full, those 3rd party booking rooms are the easiest to downgrade without feeling bad about it. Upside is that they're more difficult to walk if the hotel is overbooked. Assuming the front desk clerk understands what those bookings entail, they'd probably like to avoid calling the online agent for the unpleasant conversation and potentially complicated reimbursement. I always recommended booking that way if your only concern is cost and you foresee no complications. If you're a normal, non-neurotic person, there probably wont be.
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Apr 12, 2015 07:27
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Birb Katter posted:Third Party Stuff... I'm not sure how it is in other countries - I can only speak for the way things are stateside. I would agree though, if you are travelling to another country and can't speak the language fluently, then your best bet is to probably book through a channel like Expedia, since there is no way you'd really be able to haggle well otherwise. The reason you are treated differently here is that technically the third party holds all the power and benefits of the reservation. You cannot cancel through the hotel. You cannot request changes through the hotel (in most cases). The hotel does not even have your credit card in case of incidentals unless you give it at check in and even then adding things such as rollaway beds, upgrade charges and extra person fees are a bit of a hassle since not much can be changed to the base reservation the third party booked. Extending the stay is out unless you make a completely separate reservation through us, you miss out on most upgrades or bonuses such as early check-ins/late check outs (this is because rewards/privileges/brand loyalty programs aren't applicable under third party rates and those folks are the first ones to get perks, when they are available). On top of that the employees and management are naturally salty because the third party getting a good 35-40% off that room, on top of commission so they are being nickel and dimed by you as it is. Once again though, if you travel outside the country often or are in areas where you have difficulty with the language then I can see it being a big benefit. Otherwise you are really just short-changing yourself. And to touch on the last bit: yes, third party booking does help certain hotels gain business they wouldn't otherwise have. This is mostly for larger cities where your options based on price and quality are pretty high. In a smaller location that might only have one or two of each scale hotel, the mindset is "they would have stayed with us regardless." Fun Experiment: Next time you book through a third party, ask for your receipt at check out. Be adamant about it. The front desk will get uncomfortable and give you excuses like "The third party bills you and your receipt should be in your email" or "We don't actually have your card so the receipt is blank (this is technically a lie - it has one blank page and another with the third party card charged)". Hotels get in trouble if they reveal to the guest that the third party has a special deal - but if you push a front desk person hard enough they will possibly cave and show you just how much they are screwing you over. We aren't any happier about it than you are and deep down want everyone to know how scummy of a deal it is. Big Willy Style posted:I disagree with not expecting to get what you requested. All of the online travel agents we deal with clearly state any guest requests and many have a mechanism where you can respond to the requests through their site very easily. If I get a booking asking for twin beds say, if I can't fulfill the request then I will be contacting either you directly or the travel agent. It is lazy not to do it and creates head aches for staff having to deal with pissed off guests if you don't action them one way or another. The requests should be being checked when the booking is made and at least one more time before arrival. There really isn't an excuse for it. The ability to deal or respond to the travel agents vary from brand to brand due to the system used. On the old system our brand had we wouldn't even get notes from the travel agencies unless they were faxed to us directly (thankfully some agents are doing that regardless, but they should have started doing it years ago). If the third party books in a room and then requests another that is unavailable it is not the Hotel's duty or responsibility to hunt down the travel agent and work it out with them. We are covered by showing in our system that the agent booked incorrectly and we are not in the wrong and we have no problem showing the guest that. Yes, if the room type is available we have no issue switching it over (it still should have been booked that way regardless) but when we are sold out on several room types, as we often are in the summer, it ultimately falls on the third party that screwed up to make it up to the guest. Is it unfortunate and inconvenient for the guest? Yes. Does the hotel wish they could fill the request (within reason)? Yes. Are we going to screw with another guest's reservation that reserved directly to accommodate the third party booking? Nope. Are we wasting staff energy and time to track down the agent and work things out with them? No, they were lazy in their booking. Once again, having an incorrect booking does not happen often. Most hotels WILL try their best to accommodate the incorrect reservation. But if it's not possible, don't expect them to go out of their way to deal with the third party or even contact the guest. Some will, some wont. Just another reason to avoid Third Party bookings entirely. Murphy Brownback posted:I mean, if a hotel employee is going to secretly look down on me for not spending 10% extra, so be it. As long as the staff still does their job - i.e. cleans the room, sends room service when I ask for it, etc. - and the room I booked is actually available (I've never had a problem with that), I really don't care. It's not you spending an extra 10%. In fact the hotel doesn't get your money at all. It's the third party only paying 60% for the room and then tossing commission in the mix as well. If you talk to me direct I will not only save you far more than the third party, but I will be making more as well. Everyone wins. The big problem with not getting your room type is in the case of doubles and smoking/nonsmoking. If you have you, your wife and two kids and the third party books you a single - the hotel will go ahead and fix it for you...if they can. If It's a busy weekend and they are sold out on doubles then you are really out of luck. I'll repeat, if you are travelling out of country and only need one bed then continue using third party bookings - you shouldn't have many problems at all and it will be the best way to have a discount. However if you are traveling in your country for any reasonable length of time and have specific requests or want the best deal - avoid it. Lavender, you had some pretty crazy stories. I'm curious how big is your hotel? I was intending on doing a few stories in this post but got caught up in the third party business. But seriously dudes, unless you are traveling out of country or alone and don't care about the rate - don't book third party.
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Apr 12, 2015 07:29
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That Jerk Steve posted:Lavender, you had some pretty crazy stories. I'm curious how big is your hotel? I was intending on doing a few stories in this post but got caught up in the third party business. 300~ rooms. Biggest banquet hall maxed around 1000 people or so.
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Apr 12, 2015 07:32
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Worst experience I can remember is a hostel resort in Costa Rica during the down season. It was so dead and the staff were so overly attentive that it had a desperate vibe. They were constantly asking me and my friend if we were having fun or if we were hitting up any clubs or that they were having a big awesome party tonight so we should totally be there. It was weird.
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Apr 12, 2015 07:37
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When I book with booking.com, 9 times out of 10 I don't pay them at the time of booking - I pick the room, the dates, and I can optionally put in a credit card number to guarantee the room, and can cancel for free up to I think 1-2 weeks before the date. Then I give the credit card at the hotel and pay them, and get a receipt from them - I've never not gotten a receipt or had to ask for one. I know they have some "pay in advance" options, so maybe that's what you're talking about, but they seem less common and I never use them - I'd rather pay the extra 60 dollars and have the option to cancel in case my plans change. I guess the hotel is making less money than they would if I booked with them directly, but to put it bluntly I have no motivation to care about the hotel's bottom line - presumably if they feel they are getting a rotten deal from the third party agencies, they could renegotiate the contract they agreed to or take their hotel off their listings, right?. Like I said, I've never experienced any noticeable lower quality of service going through booking. Anyway, you've mentioned haggling a couple times - people actually do this? Like you tell them "that will be $120 a night" and you go back and forth and try and get a better deal and it actually works? The only time I felt like I got a "deal" was in a hotel in Santa Fe at around 1030pm - the clerk said normally the rate is 350 a night (or something like that) and I said "oh...thanks" and started to walk away, but he cut it in half because it was late so I stayed.
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Apr 12, 2015 07:42
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Murphy Brownback posted:When I book with booking.com, 9 times out of 10 I don't pay them at the time of booking - I pick the room, the dates, and I can optionally put in a credit card number to guarantee the room, and can cancel for free up to I think 1-2 weeks before the date. Then I give the credit card at the hotel and pay them, and get a receipt from them - I've never not gotten a receipt or had to ask for one. I know they have some "pay in advance" options, so maybe that's what you're talking about, but they seem less common and I never use them - I'd rather pay the extra 60 dollars and have the option to cancel in case my plans change. I guess the hotel is making less money than they would if I booked with them directly, but to put it bluntly I have no motivation to care about the hotel's bottom line - presumably if they feel they are getting a rotten deal from the third party agencies, they could renegotiate the contract they agreed to or take their hotel off their listings, right?. Like I said, I've never experienced any noticeable lower quality of service going through booking. Booking.com is actually one of the few semi-decent sites that still allow you to work with the hotel direct. They will still have an IATA (commission) on the room, but they don't gouge the hotel with a crazy mandated discount. Avoid Expedia and Hotels.com and run, don't walk, from Priceline. Pay in advance options are actually not a bad deal for the consumer at all - so long as you are paying the hotel direct (a la booking.com) or booking through the hotel's brand website which often offers the same deal. You can get up to 25-35% off for prepaying in advance, but normally this has a harsh 1-2 week cancellation policy. Still, if you are ok with that it's actually a drat fine deal. The hotel themselves do not negotiate with the Third Party sites. It's the brand they are under that mandates that (Wyndham, IHG, etc.) and the Hotel must follow through with it. That said, the Hotel is able to limit their inventory during certain times. If you every really want to stay at a certain hotel during it's busy season, and see it's not available online - try to call direct. It's possible they realize they will be sold out regardless and will try to avoid any third party bookings for a few days and they should have rooms open. And yes, haggling is just like that. Never pay the asking price for a room. Ever. That's just like paying sticker price for a car. Every hotel employee in this thread I guarantee will tell you they have specific discounts available. The amount you get just depends on how you negotiate or how good of a liar you are. The 10:30 example is a bit lucky - they must have been a manager or auditor that really cared about their business. I know some Auditors are firm on their pricing at nights because they believe the guest will inevitably come back to stay instead of hunting for cheaper places.
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Apr 12, 2015 07:54
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I've had enough terrible experiences booking airline tickets through priceline (I was forced to since I have to book the lowest available rate for work trips) to ever consider it for hotels. Those ones where you just pick like "4 star hotel" without telling you which hotel until after you pay (hotwire I think?) seem like you're begging for a bad experience too. I guess I'm dumb for not haggling my room rates then - I've never done it, outside of getting a AAA discount when I book in the US (which is usually something trivial like 5-10 bucks off a night). I was always under the impression that it's like booking an airline ticket, or buying something at the store - the price is the price unless you have a membership discount of some sort. Oh well, now I know I guess.
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Apr 12, 2015 08:05
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The fact that you can haggle hotel prices also blows my mind.
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Apr 12, 2015 08:30
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reformed bad troll posted:The fact that you can haggle hotel prices also blows my mind. It really depends on what you're shooting for though. Don't roll in and say "how about 60 bucks?" when I tell you the room is 120+ tax. However, saying "I have a 90 dollar a night per diem, what can you do?" or "___ hotel down the road was offering me 95 tax included, can you match that?" will work miracles. The key is to not talk to the clerk at the desk. Talk to a front desk manager or GM - desk clerks can't offer poo poo outside of normal discounts and Locally Negotiated rates if you sneak it by them. Also if you are a military guy or gal, ask for a State Rate instead of a Military Discount. The state rate is much better than military discount. Sometimes the desk clerk will tell you that your military ID only covers a military discount, but unless the clerk has been around the block they will normally just give the State Rate, which is the government per diem rate for the area. This is normally one of the better discounts you can get and all it requires is flashing your military ID.
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Apr 12, 2015 08:39
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See, that jerk steves experience is different from my small boutique brands experience. I'm in Australia. Our BAR is the exact same as what the OTAs have and our website has the exact same deals. We lose out on 15% commission or something. We run lots of 40% off for pre paid non refundable bookings etc on all platforms. If you book direct you miss out on paying the OTA booking fee at a minimum and the hotel doesn't have to pay that commission. The hotel also miss out on marked up credit card fees (except with booking.com because the hotel charges your card rather than the OTA) You also have to exchange details twice when booking through an OTA because you are going to be asked for you CC details when you check in anyway. If you book direct it makes that process a little smoother. Also different OTA only pass on certain details to the hotel. Wotif, for example, only gives a phone number so it can be hard to contact the guest if they are travelling, for example. Others only provide an email. Hotels shouldn't missing details and loving up bookings but the fact is having a 3rd party involves increases the risk of something going wrong and you not getting what you want.
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Apr 12, 2015 08:46
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Big Willy Style posted:You also have to exchange details twice when booking through an OTA because you are going to be asked for you CC details when you check in anyway. If you book direct it makes that process a little smoother. This is actually a pretty big deal that I forgot about. OTA (third parties) are all over the place when it comes to what details they give the hotel about your reservation, and it seems to happen no matter where you go. The name of the guest staying is always there, but often times information like an address or even a guest's phone number is missing. I can't count the times I've had a reservation come in from one of those websites and all it included was a name and one-time-use merchant card. It sucks and I'm kind of amused to see that's an issue even for hotels outside of the US (although im not particularly surprised). Big Willy are you guys part of a franchise or independent? One of the reason we are stingy about our discounts are just how high our franchise fees are for every room.
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Apr 12, 2015 09:05
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