Mar 23 2009
I Make A Bad Hotel Guest - My Monday Rant
I am a fussy woman. I admit that. For this one reason, I have to be choosy when deciding on a place to stay during our vacations.
I can suggest plenty of places to Hubby, but I guess because Hubby knows me so well, he usually will not agree with any of my more adventurous destination/hotel suggestions.
I have this bad habit of checking every singe nook and cranny for spots and dusts and woe to any hotel that fall short of my expectation. And poor Hubby will suffer through my rant for the whole trip. He will keep quiet when I make a point to complaint to the hotel manager.
Poor guy.
If any of these hotels were in Malaysia, and didn’t make a point to remedy my complaints, they can be sure a letter of complaint will go to the relevant body and to the Hotel’s GM.
There is one hotel where we used to be a regular guest, the GM of Rooms will come and personally greet us every time we check-in. Now, isn’t that such an ego booster? (And of course, I never complain when they upgraded us to two-bedroom suite instead of a deluxe room) .
But I do have a soft spot for friendly staff at hotels. Sometimes, the staff in Malaysian hotel can be quite snobbish to fellow Malaysians and I resent this. I am paying the same amount of money for the same perks enjoyed by other visitors.
There are of course, outstanding hotel staffs that I’ve meet, and for them I’ll make sure a note of praise and commendation will reach their GMs.
What is actually the point of this post? I don’t know. LOL 
Just a bit of nonsense on a hot sunny day, I guess.
Anyway, it’ll be another 11 weeks for our next vacation. That’s in June. June is such a long way to go. I need a bit of R&R now!!!
Anyhoo, what’s your bad habit?
As someone who used to work in the hotel industry, I certainly know the type of guest you’re describing and the kind of attention those guests get.
I, too, have felt sorry for some of the spouses of our more verbal guests.
I certainly don’t know for sure, but you may also want to be careful, because it sounds like you may have been “labeled” a disgruntled guest (when you check-in, the staff is immediately notified of your not-so-nice history, which is why the GM comes to greet you) with some choice stories and nicknames being circulated amongst the hotel workers…You might be interested in this post about “Some Truths Behind the Hospitality Industry”: http://journeysandadventures.today.com/2009/01/30/some-truths-behind-a-career-in-the-hospitality-industry/
I have many many stories (I also helped develop and teach our four-part customer service training series) and can tell you for a fact that you will always receive better service if you are polite and friendly than if you are nasty and rude (you don’t mention how you complain, so I’m not judging you at all–just warning anyone reading this!).
I always always recommend reading Traveler’s Reviews like those at TripAdvisor before making a reservation anywhere so I know what to expect. I have a few posts about that type of stuff, too, on my site (like a list of hotels voted the Dirtiest of 2009!: http://journeysandadventures.today.com/2009/03/06/tripadvisors-dirtiest-hotels-of-2009/).
Well, I can tell you for sure, I am not the type who yell at staff. My complaints will usually be in form of a letter, complete with proof (photos or otherwise) of anything that I feel the hotel needs to improve on.
Maybe there are staff out there who call me by all sorts of names, but I usually get along well with them, and are on first name basis with those at the hotel we are regular guests.
The GM came personally to greet me as I always make reservation direct with her/him instead of to the reservation department. It’s not that the staff went to tell her/him about us coming, she/he already know well in advance.
I may be strict about what I expect from the hotel I stayed in, but I am also fair. Credit will be given when credit is due, but shoddy service will be highlighted, make no mistake about it. And no, I see no point of throwing tantrums at staff. It’ll get me nowhere. I usually have long talks (which Hubby hates) with the management about what I like to see improved.
Again, I may not be the best hotel guest there is out there, but I do expect near perfection (if not perfection) in service. Otherwise, I might as well stay at home!
I work for a hotel, please don’t behave like that. You manipulate the system to get what you want. I am not trying to tell you off. I am all for improvement, but nitpicking and yelling is just rude. Think about the people that have to smile while you walk all over them. Do people treat you like this when your at work? Try walking a mile in someone else shoes.