Pavlina: Life is Not For the Living

So, I travel a lot for my job. This means I get to stay in nice hotels, full service hotels like Sheraton, Marriott, Hilton and of course, the nice full service boutique hotels. I don’t always stay in these super-plush nice hotels. I would say only about 40% of the time, the other 60% I am in okay hotels like Courtyard by Marriott, Fairfield Inn/Hampton Inn when I must, Garden Inn, that type. I try to always avoid the Holiday Inn (getting dated) and I think I would sleep in my van before I stayed at a Super 8 or Motel 6. Think of it, any place that has a number in the name I’ll avoid.

Thing of it is, when one stays at a nice hotel, one expects nice service. In the five years I have been traveling with my company the following has happened to me:

1. Bedbugs (Hilton)
2. spider infestation (Fairfield Inn)
3. Hairy room (like a bear had stayed there, Marriott)

These are the major complaints I had that resulted in my moving room or hotel. The bedbug incident I changed rooms, but I never got a bit of sleep the rest of the night, but I got my room free plus my points. The spiders? Ugh, I cannot STAND the creepy crawly things. I asked for a different room, but I had the last one (thankfully) so I was sent to a different hotel. I paid for the room as the staff seemed genuinely shocked and were very apologetic. The hairy room? Well, I always recommend a full sweep of any hotel room. I may have checked the room, but I was running late that day and had run up to my room, threw my bags down, then got back late, went to bed and woke up to all that hair. I complained the next day. I still paid for my room, but I got bonus points. In the three horrific cases above, I complained and the issue was resolved. Quickly. Nice customer service.

There were other times where the room was awful or whatever, but generally if I am able to sleep and shower, I’m okay with it. I rarely stay in the same hotel for more than one night, and I can handle a lot (see above list for reference).

What happens though when a problem arises, and the hotel staff refuses to acknowledge there was a problem? What then? You know the saying, the squeaky wheel gets the oil? So true. Though I have had some AWFUL Karma lately, surely this can’t still be payment for my former boss being sacked? Oh well. As I was saying, it seems that customer service is DEAD. Think about it. Bad service at restaurants, hotels, stores is getting deplorable. I recall shopping at Nordstrom’s last summer and the ladies were too busy gossiping to help me, so I walked to another counter where someone could be bothered to ring me up. It’s just terrible. It’s almost as bad as the lack of common sense.

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