Pet Hates... aahhh I Have Just a Few!

Hotels are high on the list, especially 5 star outfits that believe the rules are more important than the guests. Without singling out a particular 5 star establishment in Sydney that resides at an aptly named Double Pay location, let me share a recent experience.

But before I do that, on the very same day, I had the absolute pleasure of dealing with Michelle Jacobs at Royal on The Park in Brisbane. For Michelle, life is a delight, customers are fun to deal with, and nothing is too much trouble. When our Platinum Express Guaranteed Next Day Delivery bag with nametags for the seminar went missing, Michelle stayed late to print new nametags and provide them for our seminar guests. And, just to be sure everything was OK, she came in early to greet our presenter and assure him of her best service. All this as part of a normal day of looking after her client.

Aren't those guarantees of delivery just fantastic - "Hey, we will REPLACE the bag so we can stuff you up next time too!" That's another story!

But I digress... back in Double Pay, Sydney a request to cancel a nights accommodation, no longer required as our presenter was sharing time with his family, made at the perfectly reasonable time of 7am, my hosts advised me that I had left it too late and I should still have to pay the $210 for the room. I protested that we had added extra people to the seminar, contracted their staff to provide extra services and also invited 100 people to their hotel (not to mention the $40,000 I had paid them in the last 12 months) to no avail.

On sharing my disappointment with the General Manager who, the previous day had been meeting with his team to map out strategies to get more new business, he said he supported his staff 100% in their application of the rules on cancellations. (He pointed out that if I had read the contract, it was necessary to cancel the room even before I had booked it!) To really rub it in, as I had already paid, I should not be getting a refund. I did try to comment further and I was told that I should take my custom somewhere else if I felt hard done by. He was sure that his establishment was providing exemplary service and that I was being unreasonable.

Do I make this up... I am actually quiet calm now, and I think I have been very, very gentle in expressing my dissatisfaction.

And back to the delightful Michelle... well when we sent a small token of our appreciation, she protested that it was unnecessary to do that as all she was doing was looking after her guests.And this all happened on the same day.
- Wayne Mansfield