How do you deal with bad service?

Johan_Edstrom_5586

I travel...

This week I think I hit a highlight, I came in Tuesday morning at 1am, my room was

crashed - so I had to cab it to another hotel, that was all fine, all paid for and upgraded.

Got back to the original hotel, my suite was available, I got 3 breakfast tickets (I get that

for free anyways but...) - I walk down to the breakfast area for this;

Day 1, I got Orange Juice, no coffee and buffet.

Day 2, I got Coffee, no Orange Juice and buffet.

Day 3, I got neither of the drinks and was asked to upcharge $5 for a "full buffet" on a ticket that said "full buffet".

The waitress spent more time explaining that there was an X on my coupon (I actually put it there writing down

a phone number and testing a pen) - She got a tad put off when I said, I don't really fucking care about 5 or 50 bucks,

what I care about is that you still haven't given me coffee?

During that time - I paid around $239 a night, tipped cleaning staff and we did a $350 bar bill on day 2.

I noticed the waitstaff having an almost physical aversion to coupons, fine with me, they also

pretty much neglected any table with a coupon and that went from me (guy in jeans) to fairly

snazzily dressed groups of ladies.

So in summary, for you in the industry (no, I haven't complained at all) - how would you like me to complain?

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Comments

Brian_K_16443

I'd write a formal complaint about the abysmal level of service you've received, and you had such a bad experience that you will leave bad reviews all over (urbanspoon, tripadvisor, etc), and tell all your friends about it. Formal complaints usually go straight to the restaurant / hotel / F&B manager. What the establishment will do about it varies from place to place.

Or you can just leave a bad review online.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

@Brian, thanks! I too feel the formal complaint is the "right" way. I tend to take

a lot of the passive aggressive yelp interviews with a pinch of salt myself.

I think it was an isolated area of the whole service portfolio.

Pepijn_31744

Personally I prefer complaints to be made at a point where there is still an opportunity to rectify the situation. If you have a bad dining, breakfast or hotel experience I'd like to know while you're still there. An upgrade, comped night, or even a free drink at the bar can usually solve most problems in hotels.

In your case it seems like there is a more systemic problem with breakfast waiting staff, management should know about. Since you've already left I would indeed go with the formal complaint. If they care about customer service at all they should get back to you fairly quickly (within a week I'd say), if they don't you can always leave a negative review online.

Leaving a negative review online without contacting the hotel/restaurant/bar first is, in my humble opinion, not done.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

If I am in that situation I walk to the front desk and ask to see the most senior person on duty at that time and explain the situation to them. If some mid level manager tries to resolve the issue, I politely ask for the most senior person. For an issue in the restaurant I don't talk to the GM/F&B Manager, but his/her boss. If I feel they are taking too long I ask for the number for their corporate HQ and call it in front of them. By this stage they know I am serious and the issue is resolved to my satisfaction. I then fill in a complaint/survey card so there is a written record.

Don't yell or threaten anyone, talk in a low calm voice and tell them you will take your business else where - then do it.

Any hotel that caters to the business traveler, and that wishes to stay in business, will bend over backwards to resolve the issue straight away. Don't take coupons for a free night/upgrade/meal for a future time as it means you are committing to do business with them again.

I don't leave bad reviews online, I just never do business with the company again.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Thanks Tim! Thanks Pepin, Tim, yes your route is indeed what I'd preferred to have done. I was late for meetings and quite frankly at that point so baffled I was almost laughing. I don't really ever get upset about these things, I travel too much to let it rub off.

This wasn't necessarily the chain I have the best status at...

Jack_Mayer_85396

In my experience, the approach that @Tim suggests works best. I don't travel anywhere near much today as I did as a lawyer, but that would be my solution.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Lawyer.... So you are the core of the problem?

Kidding aside, no, I've never seen this before but then as a UA 1K I'm pretty pampered

even if it mostly means getting cheese in a plastic wrapper.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

The squeaky wheel gets the grease!!!!!

I got 6 months of free cell phone service for squeakin'!!!! : )

Matthew_Snyder_68770

I've heard of a surprisingly high success rate of complaints via social media - #hiltonisterrible (or whatever) right at the company CEO. If you aren't averse to having your actual name in play, the hotel's Facebook page is a good route, as well.

Mike_Minh_Truong_54120

@Johan,

Not until they are on the business ownership end will they ever understand, among many other things, the importance of customer service. My advice is to be as polite as possible, smile and tell yourself silently, "May Buddha bless your heart and soul."

tjdubas

As someone who cooks, bartend's, and occasional server with specific leadership training and experience I would honestly say if the service was lacking in one very specific area and the rest of it was great, go speak to a manager. I respect what Tim says but you are addressing a problem at a tactical or day to day level. This means the managers who handle that such as the food and beverage manager or general manager is probably the person to talk to WRT solving the problem with what you expect to be adequate compensation. When you go to the managers bosses you're now addressing the people who work at the strategic level of the business and while they have obviously more authority and can fix the problem, so can the lower managment. The thing with higher managment is it will trickle back down on the staff in a way that will probably ruin everyone else's day at the restaurant as in you can potentially get the middle managment in trouble without giving them the opportunity to rectify the situation and they'll probably take it out on everyone else they work with. The other thing that can happen is you'll get your compensation, whatever you're looking for, but if you go too high to address a problem too fast the restaurant won't actually take you seriously. You'll be viewed as another entitled person who is blowing things out of proportion ( NOT that you are and you're not justified but thats how the staff will view it).

At the time of an incident the best way will ALWAYS be solve it at the lowest level. The management and supervisors within the restaurant control the serving staff directly and deal with them directly as appropriate. THEY are for that reason the ones who need to be aware of the situation. If you feel you need some time to blow off some steam before addressing the problem then yes file a formal complaint after the fact, but I don't agree shooting straight to the highest level is the best way to go, its embarrassing for both parties.