Nasty Responses

Join us on the latest episode from TFTSI as our hosts delve into captivating tales. From the unfortunate incident of an employee injured by a carelessly discarded syringe to the hilarious chaos of drunken guests commandeering a hotel lobby, we uncover the truths behind hotel ratings and the real reliability of consumer reviews. Tune in for these intriguing stories and more! Don't forget to subscribe and share the link with your friends to spread the fascination. #TFTSI #PodcastEpisode #FascinatingStories #Hotel #Hotels #FrontDesk #Housekeeping #Travel #Traveler #ServiceIndustry #bartender #CustomerService

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well, let's all take a deep breath and check in for our weekly recorded therapy session.

(00:19):
Welcome to another episode of Tales from the Service Industry.
I'm your host.
I'm Bill.
Tonight on the mics, we have Liz, Ms. B and Gwen.
Where we start like in the nitty gritty though, I've missed you guys.
It has been a couple weeks since we've recorded.
The listeners will not know that, but.
We missed you too.
I'm officially a robot.
Android.
Yeah.

(00:40):
Well, you have a chip in your neck, right?
Yes.
Or silicone plastic in my spine.
Can you charge a credit card with your neck?
You got microchips.
Yeah, I am part artificial now.
I love that.
So how'd it go?
Was it okay experience?
I think we got into it with the listeners of what I think we alluded to.

(01:02):
I might be gone for a while.
No, no, we did.
But turns out I was never gone and I am still very much here.
She's alive.
I'm alive.
So my recovery was shorter than I originally anticipated.
I got an artificial disc replacement at C5, C6.
Nice.
Like I was so elated to be there and I was in such a good spirits.

(01:25):
Weirdo.
I have all of the good vibes to everyone I interacted with during the entire process.
Toxic positivity.
God.
We have nauseated.
We've spoken about this in the past.
Oh, yes.
But yes, I was that person.
You were always that person and it is annoying.
But yet we love it.
But imagine interacting with me in your workplace.

(01:45):
Wouldn't that, maybe not brighten your day, but it most certainly wouldn't make it worse.
Depends on the day.
Small doses.
Yeah.
I have all of the positivity in this room.
Yes.
It's been a week, man.
And my week started on the weekend.
So like everyone like on Mondays, like happy Monday.
I'm like, it's Wednesday.
It's my Wednesday.
Yep.

(02:06):
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
By Tuesday morning, I was over the week.
So over it.
I was thankful I actually had Wednesday off in the middle of the week to kind of like
recuperate and get right back at it.
All right.
Well, you got a story from the week so far, Bill, who wants to start it?
How do you want to do this?
How about we started off with an employee injury?
Yes.
We'll just jump into that.
Both feet.

(02:26):
Yeah.
Plunge right in.
I will say right here, right now for everyone listening, the number one thing that I hate,
yes, that's hate.
Sorry, Liz.
People that need to use sharps and don't handle their sharps correctly.
Could not agree more.
Yeah.
Could not agree more.
I had an associate get a needle stick this week.
No.
What?
So not like a bad, you know, slice of thumb from a knife.

(02:49):
No.
You could poke someone else's needle.
I would take that.
Hypodermic syringe.
Yeah, that's really bad.
Hypodermic syringe.
Are there any steps to take after the fact for that?
Where was said needle, do you think?
In the room?
In the sheets.
In the couch.
No, no.
Yes, it was in the room.
I didn't know how specific we were getting.
No.
Towels.
Ahol threw it in the trash can.

(03:09):
Motherfucker.
Oh, sorry.
Bleat me.
It's all right.
Multiple sharps were found in the room afterwards, and the extent of a sharps container that
he used was those super thin plastic water bottles.
That's what he was using for a few of his sharps.
And we found those.
So he put them in the water bottle.
Yes.
Okay.
He tried.
No, no, no.
It's better than some.

(03:29):
There was only three of them in the water bottle.
The others were on the desk, in the trash can, and on the dresser.
What a dick.
Yes.
How long was he there for?
How many sharps were used?
Or A. Just let's call it an A.
Yeah.
Because I'm now tallying at least five.
One day.
Wow.
So the worst part of it is, I'm like, oh, this mother effer.
I grabbed the phone, pull up his account, and guess what?

(03:52):
Phone is disconnected.
Phone number disconnected.
Email address.
Bounce right back.
You got it.
No rewards number.
So I can't even try and like track him down another way.
What booking channel?
Direct.
Damn.
No opportunity.
So I don't know if he was a drug user or a diabetic.
Of course.
Yeah.
But, you know, and then my associates were panicked.
I mean.
And you have to get tested for a long time after.

(04:14):
Well, tested, treated.
Yeah.
There's a whole process to that.
For any non-hospitality.
Yeah.
Or people who aren't familiar with that.
You're getting tested for HIV.
You're getting tested for the hepatitis one.
Yeah.
The full panel.
And then you have to go back like, what is it?
Every six, eight weeks.
Yeah.
Something like that.
To keep getting tested.

(04:35):
You have to keep getting tested.
My hub's works in the medical field.
So yes, I agree that it's also a service industry.
Fully.
With all my heart.
And he had a patient spit in his eye.
Oh yeah.
And he had to go through that burial.
And he had to go through that.
And he had to go through that.
And he had to go through that.
And he had to go through that.
And he had to go through that.
And he had to go through that barrage for a while.
So yeah, I think that was Tuesday.
That was about when I tapped out for the week.
Yeah, OK.

(04:56):
Fair enough.
Is the employee OK?
I mean.
Mentally?
No.
Employees are very stressed out.
Employees are very worried.
Yeah.
And very mad.
Are they coming back to work?
Yes.
They're still showing up?
OK.
But not mad at you guys though, right?
No, not mad at us, but still just mad.
I mean, if using sharps is what keeps you alive and gets you through the day, carry

(05:18):
your own sharps box.
Yeah.
Dispose of them properly.
And you know what?
Actually, if you are traveling and you need a sharps box at a hotel, just call.
We have spare ones available.
Put them in the right place.
That's so.
Because you remember we worked in a hotel together.
And I never, I didn't have much experience in housekeeping at that point.
And we're walking rooms.
And you were the one that like pointed out to me like where different ones could be.

(05:39):
And I'd never even heard of that before.
And you know, you're hot spots.
You taught me about, you know, putting my knee on the sofa and pushing it like that
to check for sharps on the side.
Or step on it.
And you're just shoving my hand in it.
No, no, no.
And you told me never do that.
And you show me how to do it.
And I'm like, oh.
And I bet he was so calm too.
He was.
He always kept his cool.
So I saw what you did there.
Next time.
Stop.
So you want to know a messed up fun fact about that hotel and sharps?

(06:04):
Is that when I first got there, the sharps container we had in housekeeping looked like
an overstuffed pin cup.
Oh, no.
There were sharps sticking out of the.
Oh my God.
The disposal hole.
I just imagine like a little styrofoam cup for some reason.
Pretty much.
No, no, no.
I'm talking about like a, I think it's a two gallon sharps box.
The ones that go on the wall.

(06:26):
Yeah.
The red one.
And there was like.
But it was very full.
Yeah.
There were syringes sticking out of the hole.
It's like, especially when there's like a, like an embossed line.
Yeah.
Around about two and a half inches below the top of the neck.
Do not fill beyond this point.
Like a company to get those emptied.
No.
So like we would buy a sharps box through HD supply.

(06:49):
The way it works is you will receive a box.
You open that box and there's a box in the box.
Open that box and there's a sharps container in that first or the second box.
So you discard the first box.
Cause that's your exterior shipping.
You retain the inner box.
Your sharps box that comes out.
You can then put your full sharps box in.
In the box and mail it somewhere.

(07:12):
Yeah.
So you seal it up in a bag, you tape it up and then you ship it out for medical waste.
And they're not inexpensive.
So like a two gallon sharps box, I think runs about $130.
But that's not just the box.
That's the shipping back and the disposal of the medical waste.
Keeps people from getting stuck.
Yeah.
Well, not in this situation, clearly.

(07:32):
No, but, but if this guy would have called, then we would have just provided a small sharps
container for him to utilize.
We're not going to charge you for it.
No, you're keeping our staff safe.
Thank you.
The doggies don't care.
They don't care at all.
Nope.
Well, okay.
So one of the rooms that the three of us were at, I think we were all working at the same
point when the two guys overdosed.

(07:53):
Yep.
And when they took them out and I've got photos, but they're not like, they'll get flagged
on socials.
Of course.
But there were close to 30 sharps in the room and they had just gotten out of rehab the
day before.
Wasn't that the room that I walked in with you and you like, you told me not to touch
anything and like, cause I was starting to move.
You're like, don't touch anything.
And you pointed it under the bed and we looked and there was a full needle on the ground

(08:16):
under the bed filled with dark liquid.
Yeah.
So that was like, I don't recall that.
I want to say they were on like the third or fourth floor.
One of the guys literally flatlined in the room, but Narcan brought him back.
Do you guys remember the one where this woman had tried to shoot up while she was driving,
I presume.

(08:37):
Multitasking.
And had passed out amidst exiting the parking structure and her car just went right up against
the wall and she's just passed out in the seat.
No thanks.
Did you see it actively rolling?
Not at that point.
No, I just assumed because when the police got there, like the vehicle was still in drive.

(08:58):
So I can only imagine, like she had to get...
You can deduct.
Yeah.
Damn.
Yeah, that was fun.
No thanks.
My favorite parking structure story at that hotel was the guy that got chased out of there
trying to break into a car.
So he went running out the side exit, tried to jump over the hedge, clipped his foot and
it took him like face first right into the sidewalk.

(09:19):
I remember that one.
I remember the guy that hopped the...
What do they call those concrete barriers in a parking spot?
I know what you're talking about.
To be labeled a nerd, it's called a wheel stop.
Stop.
Of course.
Like a nerd.
Coming in for the kill.
Anyways, I saw it on camera.

(09:40):
Somebody had reported that their vehicle was stolen.
So we were like, check the cameras and he's like, oh yeah, it's between this time, this
time.
We're watching all the cameras and all of a sudden we just see the vehicle quickly back
out, go down all of the levels and then just kept going straight over the wheel stop and
just jumped out right on that main Boulevard and kept going in the vehicle.

(10:01):
The person that stole it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
What kind of vehicle was it?
Big, small?
It was black and it was economic.
Okay, smaller.
And it had a greatly reduced value.
After that.
But I mean, I got to tell you, I drive a very tiny vehicle and I have gone over one wheel
stop in my driving history and it scared me so much.

(10:24):
I thought I broke my car.
I thought I was...
You probably did.
I thought I was done for.
And I had to make the decision because your front wheel goes over it and you're like,
do I keep going?
Do I commit?
Do I keep going in drive or do I reverse?
Yeah.
Do I do more damage?
And in that point I was like, well, my car has more room from the car to ground on the

(10:48):
back.
So I just kept going.
That's what I would do.
I'd commit.
I fully had it.
Well, I committed very slow, but I had to give it some gas to get over the wheel stop.
I'm going to use that term now.
You're welcome.
Add it to my vocabulary.
You're welcome.
Nerds.
But those are scary.
Have you ever gone over one in your car?
Not unintentionally, no.
But intentionally?

(11:09):
Yes.
You've gone over that?
Yeah.
In your car?
Not in my current car, no.
Or was it like a raised vehicle?
No, it was jeeps and trucks.
Oh, okay.
It doesn't count.
If I was driving like a four wheel drive, like lifted, I would be like, yeah, fuck it.
I'm going.
That was a very blanket question.
I'll give it to you.

(11:30):
Yeah.
You weren't...
Thank you.
Gwen, you?
The curbs find me.
Ah, got it.
I'm that person.
Feeels.
Miss me?
They jump out in front of her all the time.
They come out of nowhere.
You've gone over the wheel stop.
I don't know if I've done that.
But you've clipped a few curbs.
Oh, absolutely.
This week probably.

(11:52):
Yeah.
Okay.
And also getting into parking spaces, if it's like a side parking space, I fucking suck
at that.
I get up on that curb and I'm always like, damn it, cursing in my car.
I recently saw you parallel park though, and that was phenomenal.
Sponsored by a backup cam.
Impossible without one.
I have heard you in the past say, I still have trouble even though I have a backup camera.

(12:14):
Oh, absolutely.
Liz may have been there coaching me.
You can go back a little further.
You can go forward.
I was there just cheering her on.
Yeah, good job.
Were you on the sidewalk cheering her on and guiding her in?
At a safe distance.
She was behind her with those like airport fans.
I was a good 12 feet away.
Also my dog was with me and she's very small.

(12:36):
She's very wheel height, if you know what I'm saying.
So I wanted to keep her away from the car too.
Not because of your driving.
I love that.
Maybe because of your driving.
Could have been both.
All right, guys.
Now I have a serious question.
Now this is for someone who's in the hospitality industry.
You'll go last.
But then I want to ask you a question as a mother, because there's a mom here in the

(12:57):
room.
Okay.
So I want to ask you a question as just- As not a mother.
As not a mother and put yourself out of the mind of a hospitality professional.
So just- I'm a normal old gal.
A normal gal.
Okay.
How responsible should a hotel be for let's say you need a pack and play for your kit?
How much should you rely on a hotel to provide that for you?
And what level of responsibility do they have to have one for you when you arrive?

(13:18):
I have pre-questions.
Yeah.
How high of a level is this hotel?
That's a good question.
Definitely a hotel.
Probably mid-scale.
Mid-scale.
Okay.
And mid-scale.
And Devil's Advocate here.
How far have I been traveling?
No idea.
Did I take a plane about- Doesn't matter.
That was going to be a question for me too.
A car?

(13:39):
How are you getting there?
Are you driving in?
Doesn't matter.
How much responsibility does a hotel have to have that for you?
Okay.
If you want to ask a pre-qualifier, did this person call to make sure that they have one?
Yeah, that was another one of my questions.
No.
They did not call?
No.
They did not ask?
They saw on the website that pack and plays are at that hotel.
Available upon request is what they probably saw on a website.

(13:59):
So how responsible should a hotel be to have that?
And if they don't have that, what do you think the hotel should do?
So as a person without child, I honestly think it's kind of 50-50.
The hotel, yes, available upon request.
Just like early check-in, late check-out.
It's kind of the same thing.
It's upon request.

(14:20):
You need to ask the question and the hotel has the right to say, unfortunately we don't
have that available for you.
It's a request.
Sure.
There is all of the big box retailers, you can order one for pickup and you don't even
have to go in the store.
Yeah.
So even if the hotel, or even if the hotel was a jerk and was like, no, we don't, there
are other avenues to get a pack and play for your child.

(14:43):
Okay.
That's a really good point.
Oh, Gwen, here we go.
Thank you.
I was like, Gwen, what are your opinions on this?
I think as a parent it's a hundred percent your responsibility and you can't blame anybody
else for your own shortcomings.
Like...
I do agree.
It's your responsibility.
So wait, let's play devil's advocate.

(15:04):
Let's say you called ahead and you asked us the hotel have pack and plays and they said,
yeah, we have them.
First of all, seeing many pack and plays as a parent, if I'm going to travel with my kid,
which I have done numerous times, it's on me.
Why would I put the responsibility of my child on somebody else?
So absolutely.
I'm off my pedestal.
Sorry.

(15:25):
Now, from a hospitality professional, what responsibility does a hotel have to provide
that to a guest?
A hotel that I worked at that I, this is before all of you, their policy was five cribs or
five pack and plays.
It was a 200 room hotel and it was family oriented.
It didn't go over well.

(15:45):
I'm sure the thing that would irritate me is the number of guests that we would have
that would want multiples.
Oh my God.
Even though we're explaining that we can provide you one and people that would lose their mind
saying, no, I need two or three.
At that point, I just feel like, yeah, that's a, that's a fire safety hazard.
That was the square foot of the room does not allow for that.

(16:07):
Yeah.
And it goes over the same as when you tell people they can't have a roll away bed in
their room with their two queens, you know, so there's that.
And then there was like the disparaging aspect where you provide it and it becomes a service
issue because people have the opinion of, I've got so much better at home.
I can't put my child in this.
I'm not the parent here.

(16:28):
Then there's a target across the street.
Please hustle.
Thank you.
Thank you.
But that's frowned upon.
So I absolutely love and appreciate all your responses.
And I feel like they were all right on the nose for how I personally feel.
So this weekend we had multiple sports groups.
So we had a lot of young kids.
We had a lot of families.
The entire hotel was filled with sports kids and their families and we're varying ages,

(16:51):
varying ages, but mostly younger.
So this was not college age and I'm in high school age.
It's all younger and we have sports groups all the time and I've been there just over
a year now, a year month.
This was the worst sports weekend I've ever experienced, but also my entire team, multiple
team members were brought to tears over the weekend and one person almost quit.

(17:13):
What?
Absolutely.
I've never had such a bad weekend with just horrible, horrible guests and just the level
of entitlement was insane.
But in one particular instance I got called because a lady was losing her damn mind at
the desk, screaming at the desk, banging her fist on the counter because she needed a pack

(17:35):
and play.
And we explained that it is Saturday night, all guests have arrived and we are now out
of pack and plays.
And she said, that is absolutely unacceptable.
Where is my child supposed to sleep?
And the agent very well was like, I'm sorry ma'am, but we have pack and plays, but they
are just all taken this weekend.
It's a holiday weekend.
We ran out, losing her mind, screaming at the agent, demanding to speak to the manager.

(17:59):
The supervisor goes to talk to her.
She belittles him.
She screams at him.
She calls him incompetent.
And then it was like, well, you at least should send me a roll away.
And then he had to tell her we don't have rollaways in our hotel.
She was losing her mind and screaming so bad.
One of the agents actually filmed it and we're not going to share that today, but I got
to hear it because they said, you have to hear this.

(18:21):
And they texted it to me and I was like, that is insane.
I feel like sometimes agents just think like, she's not going to believe how crazy this
lady was.
So they were courted it, like the camera facing up, her screaming at this poor supervisor.
And you could tell he's just starting to break at some point.
And then because she kept asking the same question, like, where's my kid supposed to
sleep?

(18:42):
Where is my kid supposed to sleep?
And he said, I'm not her parent.
That's going to be up to you.
And he's like, this is what we're able to do.
And he's like, I'm happy to provide you extra blankets and pillows, but we do not have any
more cribs.
So the agent calls me freaking out.
She's like, should I go to Target?
Should I pick up a pack and play?
And I said, absolutely not.
Do you know how old the child was?
No, I have no idea.

(19:04):
But by the way, this lady never called.
There's no notes on the reservation.
She never requested a pack and play.
She never told us that request and put one in the room ahead of time.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's like requesting extra pillows or ability.
Yeah.
If you call me, we're going to be checking in later Saturday evening.
We're going to need a pack and play.
Can we have that set in the room before?
Yeah, absolutely.

(19:24):
But there was no calling ahead.
No, she just expected that we would have it.
And it was utterly enraged that we did not have it.
And so I told the agent, no, I don't want you going to Target.
Like one, you're an hourly employee.
You can't be driving up to Target while on the job.
Right.
And spending your own money.
And second, there was that part of me that is you're being so rude and unbelievably abominable

(19:45):
to my staff.
No, you can suck it.
So I was pissed.
I would have maybe told the agent, suggest another hotel for them.
Here's the door.
You know what's funny?
Yeah.
She said, should I say someplace else?
And I told them, I said, tell her, absolutely.
Yes.
Say these are your three options.
Option A, you can stay here and you can go to your room and you can figure out a sleeping

(20:06):
situation.
You can have pillows, blankets, whatever you need to your room.
Yeah.
Option two, you can go to Target or Walmart.
Yes.
Thank you.
And go get a pack and play.
And I told this to the agent on the phone.
I said, I stayed at a hotel.
Well, guess what?
I traveled.
I did not check if they had a pack and play in advance.
I got there.
I said, hey, can I get a pack and play sent to my room?
They said, we don't have any.
I went, oh darn.
I got to go buy one now.
Like at no point does that upset.

(20:29):
That's the same response to have.
At no point was that their responsibility.
The poor person in front of you, the stranger's responsibility.
I'm the child's mother.
I didn't prepare enough in advance.
I didn't make sure those.
And it's like, she has to sleep and I know she won't sleep in a bed next to me.
So I went to Target and I bought a pack and play.
You know, but at no point in my brain did I think it was the hotel's fault.

(20:51):
And so this woman can figure it out, but she still ended up screaming in the lobby for
a long time.
So the option C. Oh, yes.
Option C, GTFO.
You can stay someplace else and we will waive your cancellation fee.
Please.
Yeah.
But she chose hidden option D. Sounds like she needed the D. She really did, man.

(21:14):
That's how the kid.
I was going to say maybe she doesn't need it anymore.
Geez.
Maybe she just doesn't get it anymore because of said child.
Maybe she does because of her monstrous personality.
So named Karen.
Yeah, seriously.
This woman and all the people with this group were this cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
She was just one.
So that woman was part of the same sports groups.

(21:36):
And I told you there was multiple sports groups and lots of different teams because they're
all competing and the parents were all competing at the bar.
Oh, you must have seen my recent tick tock.
That's what they do.
So all the parents were a nightmare, but there was one group in particular because you know,
the loudest ones, the ones that are just making hell, we looked up their teams.

(21:58):
They were all on the same team from the same city.
Shocking.
Were they competing at the convention center?
No, no, I would be like, there's a giant sports park out there.
Yeah, there's a big sports park.
I'm so like sports neurotic.
I'd be like, oh, how are you doing guys?
This is a personal connection.
The team was praying they were losing because then they fork and leave.

(22:19):
Oh yeah.
And if they win, they keep staying.
Oh, your team was praying.
Oh, my team was praying for big fat losses because if you win, you're typically like
the last to play in tournament.
So I have an excerpt from my supervisor's M.O.D. email.
Oh, love this.
Rambunctious group.
Quote unquote.

(22:40):
So let me start off by saying this.
I believe the team has handled this group and weekend exceptionally well.
The soccer, hockey, lacrosse, badminton, or whatever the hell sports parents and children
have been absolutely terrible.
Not all, but for sure 98%.
The parents have been extremely intoxicated, demanding and incredibly rude while the children

(23:04):
have been making their hotel, their personal McDonald's playhouse and kicking on guest
doors like common hoodlums from a Charles Dickens novel.
Has he never worked in a hotel before?
But this is just normal for sports teams.
Yeah, this is normal.
He's clearly taking creative writing classes.
In the hospitality justice system, these guests are represented by two separate but equal

(23:29):
groups who investigate the plants and the hotel service agents who are specially trained
to fix the complaints.
These are their stories.
Dun dun dun.
No.
Wait, wait, wait.
Was the whole email like.
And then it goes on for pages.
So that was the beginning.
And he's saying this is their stories.
These are their stories.
And the pages of incidents and issues.

(23:50):
The names have been changed to protect.
I love that.
I peed laughing so hard at this email and every.
Can I reread it a little bit?
Yes.
Wait.
You know what this is?
This is this is somebody that is at that point where they're either going to quit.
Yes.
Or they have to embrace it, lean into the insanity and try and have some fun with it.

(24:12):
Oh, but no, everyone's passons were basically like, F these kids.
This is insane.
And then the gifts and the memes started.
That was the worst weekend ever.
And I have more stories.
That was just one.
So OK, I have a question for you on this.
Has all of this been relayed back to the salesperson that booked it?

(24:33):
Oh, yeah.
During stand up on Monday morning, we were all beat.
You know what I mean?
Like it's like you got taken out back and literally beat up and you come to stand up
Monday morning.
You're like, we've made it like almost delusional and like we survived.
We go around and my boss was fully like, you know, you go.
It's been a really hard weekend.
Everyone came together like kind of like that.

(24:54):
The sales manager took it personally.
So what did you do to protect us then?
If you warned us, what did you do to protect us?
Her who, you know, was out all weekend, the ops team is sitting there looking at her.
Are you working kidding?
And so it went around and all the ops managers just like were trying not to say anything,
but they were pissed.
So it got to me and you guys know I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut.

(25:16):
What filter?
What?
I just held it and I said, yes, thank you by the way for warning us how busy it was
going to be.
But despite that, no amount of preparation could have ever prepared anyone for the level
of nasty that these humans were.
Our team dealt with it in an amazing way.
Sure there's always something we can do better next time, but busy does not mean these guests

(25:39):
are going to treat our team the way they did.
And she just like, make it clear that that group was not welcome back.
Is that your decision to make though?
Sorry.
Okay.
As much as I want to say, Beverly Hills is banned from our property.
It's not mine.
I think you're sold out for their next weekend.
They want a book.
Seriously.
But the problem is I would disagree with you on that.

(25:59):
Really?
I would be honest with them.
Your salesperson should go back to them, let them know that their behavior was unacceptable.
This is why.
Here are the reasons.
It's very clear cut.
As much as we appreciate your business this year, I need to let you know that we will
not be accepting your contract on future stays.
Period.
And this is why.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If you do not do that, not only are you doing a disservice to your entire team, but you're

(26:23):
actually doing a disservice to every other hotel that they may very well go to.
You're fueling the beast.
And the other guests in your hotel as well.
They have to deal with all the noise and the key.
Oh yeah.
I'm going to say that.
What are the other guests up to say?
Okay.
But here's the problem with all of this.
And for folks that are in sales that listen to the show, I apologize in advance.
But we've joked about it in the past and I will forever joke about it in the future,

(26:46):
that sales sells the dream and ops lives the nightmare.
I knew it.
This entire time I've been trying to think of that phrase because I'm like, this is it.
This is it.
And look, I understand that it rubs every single salesperson the wrong way.
We'll loop back to this, but we had a salesperson that I said that to that lost her ish.
So we'll loop back to that at some point.

(27:09):
But here's the problem.
Musical instruments.
Musical instruments?
We talked about this.
Remember that one salesperson we took on a group that makes medical instruments and she
swore by the life of her they were bringing in musical instruments.
And I said, I have a friend that works for my company.
I'm pretty sure it's not musical.
She's like, yes, it is.
And then they were making all these plans for noise.
Is this the same one that we're thinking about?

(27:29):
But you told the story.
Yeah, I did.
Oh yeah.
Oh, that wasn't the one I was thinking.
Oh.
Oh, you were thinking of the furries?
Yes.
Yeah, I was thinking that too.
Anyway.
Anywho's the.
So here's the problem, and I hate to sound callous about it, but they're looking at their
sales goals.
Yeah.
Do they get their bonus?
They're looking at the numbers.
In large part, that allure of I can bring in a single group for 15 rooms, 20 rooms, whatever

(27:54):
it is at X rate, you know, 20% of my monthly requirement.
Boom.
Yeah.
That's really tough for people to pass up.
But when it comes down to the bad behavior where you have such an impact to your team,
you've got an impact to the rest of the guests at the hotel.
You have an impact to the hotel.
I mean, I would be interested to know what your.
Oh guys.
Compensation and damages and everything.

(28:15):
It goes on.
But besides the fact of just bad, bad behavior, plus this group incessantly drank in the lobby
their own alcohol.
Oh no.
Oh yeah.
And my security was acting like a freaking principal being like, you can't drink that.
You need to go out to your room.
Like acting like that.

(28:35):
And the parents were.
They were being authoritative though?
Yeah.
And they were hiding it.
At one point my security officer walked outside.
She was pouring a bottle of wine into a Stanley and he looked at her.
She looked at him and she's like, well, and he's like, no, up to your room.
Dump it.
Like literally being authoritative and they're sneaking it in like red solo cups.

(28:55):
And he's like, nope, no solo cups in the lobby.
Sneaking in red solo is not literally.
And we're like, if you don't sell it in this restaurant, you're not allowed to consume
it.
But they were blatantly disrespectful and ignored it.
At one point everyone's doing it.
He's told everyone to stop and they're refusing to.
People were trying to slip him money.
They were like, can you just not.
They were bribing him to not.

(29:17):
And he's like, no.
Did your salespeople include a behavior contract?
I guarantee they probably did that.
Like you guys do pre arrival drop letters?
No.
Well, okay.
Keep in mind we have sports teams all the time.
This has never been a thing like this.
So if you have a parents.
I mean all the time you should have that.
We've never had an issue.
Parents always get rowdy, but you have to.

(29:39):
Not that rowdy.
But I mean, I played sports my entire life and we had a group of parents at one point
they were the rowdy people, but they always did it in a respectful way.
Did they sneak alcohol down to the lobby?
Yeah, they did.
I'm sorry I would.
I'm a responsible parent.
But they were also consuming enough from the hotel bar that it wasn't as obvious.

(30:00):
I've got one story in particular from like a national tournament.
We had parents bring a margarita machine and they set it up down by the pool.
Yes, I lived for that.
That's where my story was going next.
Shut up!
No.
Sorry.
They brought a margarita machine?
Brought a blender down to the bar.
No, no, no.
I'm talking about a commercial margarita machine.

(30:22):
Oh my God.
No, she brought a blender down and was told to take it upstairs.
Like they were throwing grown adult tantrums trying to do all this in the lobby.
And at one point, so this is Saturday night, it's just getting out of hand.
And there's other guests trying to come in to enjoy the bar.
They've taken all the chairs out of the bar into the common lobby area.
The bar supervisor is being like, you can't do that.

(30:44):
This is part of the bar.
This is for paying patrons who are sitting at the bar.
That's so funny.
Then it's like 10 o'clock at night.
They're coming over and asking for cups because they're pouring their own drinks.
And they give in a few.
They're like, oh my God.
I have a water cup.
My kid just needs a cup for some water.
And they're like, okay.
Oh, can I have two more?
There are kids.
And then they keep getting cups.
At one point, the bar supervisor was like, no, we're done.

(31:05):
Say, unless you guys are going to purchase something, there's no more cups.
And she's like, really?
You're going to deprive me of a cup for my daughter?
I'm like, ma'am, I can see the blender over there.
And I know.
And I was like, you are consuming alcohol that's not purchased from here, which by the
way, you're not allowed to do.
You can't take any more cups.
And then there was an incident, which I will read about shortly, but it was so out of hand

(31:26):
and everyone was just trying to rein it in.
But these parents just took no for an answer to the fact that they're calling in finally
at 11 o'clock at night.
The GM is saying, call the police to come in to handle this situation.
And so the security guard came in and said, you guys have refused to listen to anything.
I've said it is now 11 o'clock at night.
The police are on their way.
So whoever would like to stay here and get arrested for public intoxication by all means.

(31:47):
Otherwise, if you want to disperse up to your rooms, this restaurant is closed and anyone
who continues to stay here will be trespassing.
And then they started to disperse.
See, honestly, I wouldn't even have told them the cops are on the way.
They wouldn't have listened otherwise.
No, I would have waited until the cops showed up.
Oh, I was like, they wouldn't have listened.
No, I would have just waited for the cops to show up.
You play stupid games, you earn stupid prizes.
Yeah, I'm sorry.

(32:07):
I was there.
Well, and here's the other aspect.
How many rooms are you talking?
20 rooms?
See, for how many nights?
Three to four.
The last time I had to have a conversation with a guest that was being obnoxious, I laid
it out as such.
And that is that I've got 160 some rooms at this hotel.
You are one room causing problems.
Do I A, ask you to stop your behavior?

(32:29):
And if you don't, I ask you to leave or B, allow you to stay and piss off everybody around
you?
Yeah.
I wish you were my DM.
I just don't put up with it.
I know I miss working together sometimes.
It's just nonsense.
But you put it like so eloquently.
I know.
Yeah.
But for any of the parents out there listening that have young children that are a part of

(32:52):
these teams.
Traveling sports teams.
Yep.
Traveling sports teams for anything large groups with a lot of children.
Do you know how you get away from this?
You have one person that is willing to pay for a suite.
So it is a large room and that's the party room.
Well, we're no party hotel.
We're gonna shut you down.
No for sure.

(33:12):
But that's what I have done now.
It's like if I'm ever traveling in large groups, we designate a room.
We don't get, by no means do I get rowdy.
Like let's be real.
I've been in my like prime time coaching water polo.
Well, should we revert back to asking grandma?
This is in my early 20s though.

(33:35):
This is in my early 20s.
We had one parent that's like, nope, I have the cooler.
I have the drinks.
Come hang out in my room.
We didn't get rowdy.
We probably got like one noise complaint in like my five years of coaching.
You guys were not this group.
There's a difference between a hang and let's tear it up.
Yeah, true.
Yeah.
We had to send out departure emails in the morning to try to get some of the, you know,

(33:56):
if somebody had a bad experience and maybe we didn't catch them before they left, then
we could try to remedy some of these situations.
And the morning of the major departure, I literally-
How many nasty responses?
Oh, they were almost all.
But I looked at my assistant manager and I was like, should we even send the email?
No.
And she's like-
Answers no.
Because I was like, I don't think we should do it.

(34:16):
She's like, we have to.
She's like that way maybe they get it out yelling at us instead of on a survey.
I'm like, yeah, okay.
I just didn't have the mental capacity.
I'm like, I can't do this.
And so I was like, all right, send it.
We hit send and just the rest of the day was just the emails.
But I wanted to read you guys one.
If you would like to hear it.

(34:37):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
I won't do the beginning that, you know, basically it says hello to the brand.
I am a blueberry member telling you how important they are.
Peacocking.
Okay.
I don't really bother to comment on my hotel experiences, but unfortunately I feel compelled
to share an incident that occurred during my stay at your establishment.

(34:59):
My family and I were in for a 10 year old boys soccer tournament.
Okay.
Now we have the answer.
Okay.
For a 10 year old boys soccer tournament accompanied by our entire team and their families.
On Sunday evening while at the hotel bar, we encountered an utterly frustrating situation.
Despite our repeated attempts on five separate occasions to simply request a paper cup, we

(35:24):
were met with refusal by your unhelpful staff.
The nerve.
Can you believe it?
Question mark.
We were denied a single paper cup for a five year old who needed hot water for a sore throat.
After being turned down by three different staff members, I finally took matters into

(35:46):
my own hands and grabbed an empty paper cup from behind the bar.
But what happens next was truly absurd.
Instead of addressing our legitimate need, I was immediately accosted by three of your
staff members.
And costed demanding I returned the paper cup.
In a moment of frustration and disbelief, I resorted to an action I'm not proud of.

(36:10):
I licked the paper cup and defiantly declared it mine.
But despite the lack of any intoxication on my part, I was promptly ejected from the bar
by the bartender for this minor infraction.
At what time do you have your five year old in the bar?

(36:30):
11 PM?
Exactly.
It has to pass their bedtime.
Why is intoxication being brought up?
Like nobody said anything about that.
I wonder.
And she said she was not intoxicated at all.
No, they won't make you margaritas in the lobby.
That's hilarious.
Why would she even think to bring that up?
And I love her level of maturity of licking the cup so she can't take it back.

(36:51):
And she was stone cold sober doing that.
By the way, reaching into the bar and grabbing stuff from behind the bar and the bar staff
are like, you can't go into the bar.
I need a cup.
Licks it and everyone's just like, what the?
Did you get the statement from the bartender?
Oh yeah.
What about the video?
Did you get it on video?
I am sure there's video.

(37:12):
Pull up the tape.
I'm going to go look for it.
But that was always my favorite part.
But when I asked them about this, did they're like, dude, this woman was wasted in the bar
making margaritas with her own blender.
We repeatedly told her multiple times she can't.
And she just kept hiding it and bringing it back out.
How do you hide a blender?
I don't fricking know.

(37:33):
In a stroller?
And then the next morning.
How many kids did she have?
Well, they had a mob.
And by the way, they had so much alcohol and they were drinking so much.
The kids were sneaking bottles.
The security guard caught them taking swigs out of a tequila bottle and took the bottle
away.
And then the next morning they're all hung over as shit, hanging out in the lobby.

(37:55):
Children or the parents?
Yeah.
I'm pretty sure everybody.
The same person, the cup licker, she brought the blender down and was making breakfast
smoothies for everybody, asking again for more paper cups.
So she could give out the smoothies she was making and they looked at her and was like,
absolutely not.
Why does the blender need to come down to the lobby at all?

(38:17):
I don't know.
But I'm sorry.
Is she just like in the corner with an outlet on like a side table?
Basically.
Yes.
Who wants kale?
And it's literally just like that because guys, literally we have an eight minute wait
and that bar in the morning turns into Starbucks.
So people are lined up to get Starbucks, hearing a blender going on in the lobby, turning around

(38:39):
and looking and the baristas are just like, they're like, they don't know what to do.
They're like, we've already told her to stop.
And the guests are looking at them like, oh my God.
And this is probably like fairly early in the morning because they probably have early
games.
So it's a great weekend.
Okay.
So Ms. B. Yeah.
On the heels of such a wonderfully written letter that is 100% accurate, I wanted to

(39:03):
share a little review that I got and see if we can make this a bit of a game.
Oh, I like that.
Okay.
So I got a review and I read the review and then I saw the score and I thought it might
be kind of fun.
Read the review to you guys, get your opinions on what that score might be and maybe discuss
it a little bit.
All right.
This guest stayed with us for a total of one night.

(39:25):
Okay.
So the review said, checked in, was given rooms on second floor, away from elevator,
not at all in line with my request.
Was this multiple rooms?
Yes.
Okay.
On a scale of one to 10, what do you think that this review?
Is that all they said?
That's the whole review?
Oh yeah.
You were expecting more?
Yeah.
No, no, that's it.
We had two novels over here.
No, no.

(39:46):
Short and sweet.
Short and sweet.
One out of 10.
So checked in.
I was going to say, are we doing out of 10 or out of five?
So this is on a 10 scale.
Okay.
And again, checked in, was given two rooms on second floor, away from elevator, not all
in line with my request.
Okay.
It was nothing but negative.
It has to be one out of 10.
I have a follow up.
Did they actually request a room close to an elevator?
Yes.
They did.
Okay.

(40:06):
So a little background on the story.
In fairness, before we offer our opinions on the score, guests had two rooms on the
reservation.
One was a king, one was queens, wanted to have the rooms near each other and near the
elevator.
That's difficult for you.
It is.
It's a challenge because I mean, especially at my hotel, because whoever laid out the
room types, terrible design.
We were able to get a queen next to a king, two doors down from the elevator.

(40:29):
Oh my God.
Nowhere near.
We're talking a distance, maybe 25 feet.
That's crazy.
Like hard stop on 30 feet.
They wanted to be across the elevator.
Hugging the elevator.
They wanted to hear the elevator from the wall.
They want to sleep in the elevator.
Okay, Miss B, are you sticking with one?
One out of 10.
Yeah.
Okay.
Gwen?
I hear that anger.
Four.
Okay.
Oh, I'll go devil's advocate.

(40:49):
I think they gave you an eight out of 10.
For nothing but negative comments.
Because it doesn't make sense.
Okay.
So you're going with just like-
That's a theory because the review doesn't make sense.
Right.
Because they gave us a one out of 10.
Shut up.
There you go.
Even though they booked a king and a queen, they requested them to be side by side, which
we accommodated.

(41:10):
And you accommodated that.
They requested being near the elevator.
You did the best you could.
Literally.
That is near an elevator.
They were the third and fourth room on the hallway from the elevator.
You literally gave them everything they asked for.
Yes.
Okay.
The review doesn't make sense knowing the backstory.
But they were two doors down from the elevator.
They wanted right next door.
How dare you?
Horrible hotel.

(41:31):
One out of 10.
One point for Miss Beat.
There you go.
You bet I'm turning this into a competition.
We need a white board.
We need a tally board over here.
Yes, we do.
Oh yeah, we do.
Oh, that'd be good.
Yeah, okay.
All right.
Next time we'll get a tally board.
Okay, but what was the conversation of front desk?
Did they explain to them, like, okay, we received your request.

(41:54):
We looked at everything and you got property maps.
Here's what we're looking at right now.
Yeah.
Is this okay with you?
Was that explained?
So, I don't know.
I wasn't there.
But did you talk to the agent yet or no?
No.
Oh, okay.
No.
We don't talk to them.
He's probably pulling from the archives for this.
No, no.

(42:14):
This was February 18th.
Within a week of recording?
Yes.
So, looking at the profile, everything was there for the requests.
I can see that the agent blocked the room.
I can see all of it.
I don't understand why it is that you had a request for two different room types side
by side.
We fulfilled it.

(42:35):
You had a request for a room near the elevators.
We fulfilled it.
Why am I getting a one out of 10?
It doesn't make sense.
Yeah, if you're the manager looking at this, you're like, oh, good job.
Good team.
Team did good.
Yeah.
The guest doesn't get that though.
A one?
Okay.
I've got one more that I can share with you.
Yes.
So, this review is not from my hotel, but here's the review.

(42:57):
Had stains on the carpet.
Room had a funny smell when I first came in.
There's no microwave, no coffee, but the room does have a small refrigerator, which
didn't work.
Oh my God.
The room I had was a large suite, had a king bed, no USB to charge our phones.
Room is dated.
Furniture has chips.
Shades on lamps were crooked and broken.
Headboard is not centered with the bed.

(43:18):
Oh my God.
Geez.
Negative man.
So, hearing those items, what would you think this reviewer gave that hotel?
Just because I want to be different from my last guest.
Two out of 10.
And I should say this is on a five scale.
Oh, one out of five.
I mean, wouldn't be a bad thing, right?
So on a five scale, what would you give it?
One.
No, probably a two or three.

(43:39):
Gwen?
I always feel like these are trick questions that they're meant to be.
Well they are kind of trick questions because people don't know how to actually rate hotels.
No.
So on a public website, is that why it's out of five?
Yes.
Stars.
I was going to say four, just to be different.
I'm going to pull a Ms. B card.

(43:59):
So a one, a two, and a four?
Three stars.
Oh, what the heck?
I said two or three.
I said two or three.
Gwen?
I said two or three.
I heard you.
My God.
We'll have to loop back with the judges on the recording.
Win for Liz.
Like with the first guy, he had requests.
We fulfilled the request to the T, one out of 10, not warranted.

(44:19):
Now maybe there was something else, but if there was something else that was that significant
to take your score to a one out of 10, I don't know.
That's something worthy to bring to the front desk.
Yeah.
I think what a lot of people don't understand is what's within our control and what's not
in our control.
Everything's your fault.
Yeah, I think that's pretty valid.
But I also think that the other thing is that people don't understand how to fill out surveys

(44:43):
because they don't understand hotel ratings in the first place.
Yes.
If it's a review straight from the hotel, like on their system, they have no idea.
Like saying a seven out of 10 is failing.
Back up a little bit further.
So like if you were an organization like AAA and you rate a hotel as a three, four, five
star hotel, that rating, what does that actually mean?

(45:06):
AAA, I don't know.
She's like, I don't know Forbes.
Forbes on the other hand.
That's fine.
But conceptually, it's the same thing.
Their criteria may be different.
They give three stars?
Forbes?
AAA.
AAA.
Yeah.
They'll give one and two star.
But are you bragging about a one star?
You may very well.

(45:27):
Depending on your sticker film.
Depending on, depending on.
You may very well brag about your one star hotel because what do the stars actually mean?
I mean, you could have a very tiny boutique hotel that technically could be a one star
hotel because you do not have a swimming pool.
You do not have certain amenities at the property.

(45:47):
Right.
Yes.
But on let's say.
Spa, coffee shop.
Right.
But then you have like an OTA website that has one through five and that's not the amenities
of the hotel.
That's, that's a customer experience rating.
So you could have a one star property with a five star reputation.
OTA.
Oh, sorry.
Online travel agent.
Thank you.

(46:07):
So that would be your Expedia.com.
Google, your TripAdvisor, Yelp.
No, those are, those are review sites.
Booking channels.
Sorry.
So many different things.
Third party booking channels.
So OTA online travel agent.
Okay.
So that's Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda, Priceline.
All of those are OTAs.

(46:28):
OTA.
Got it.
And then what would be the Google, the TripAdvisor, the Yelp.
Those are review sites.
Now you have like with Google and TripAdvisor, you do not have a gatekeeper.
So if you booked through Expedia, you could give a negative review to the hotel directly
if you received a survey from the hotel.

(46:48):
You could give a negative review or I mean a positive review as well through the booking
channel.
And then you can also go in and you can leave a review on a website like TripAdvisor.
So theoretically right there you've got three channels to provide feedback to the hotel.
The hotel has no control over any of that.
No.
Okay.

(47:09):
I have one.
Lay it on us.
Okay.
So I am going to kind of breeze through this because this is a returning review.
So it's an update from a few years ago.
I haven't been back here since the pandemic, but stayed here this week.
Done a lot to the rooms and being a Raspberry member, I was upgraded to blah, blah, blah

(47:32):
level floor where the rooms were newly refurbished.
Everything looks great and customer service at the desk was great.
Couple of issues I have.
The message on the air conditioner shows not to set it below 69 degrees, which is ridiculous.
I'm someone who sleeps with 65 degree temps.
So that doesn't work for me.
They should have a system that allows AC to function well at lower temperatures.

(47:55):
I understand saving energy, but I'm not going to sleep comfortably at the hotel.
Also I have noticed less and less benefits for Raspberry members since the pandemic.
No more special lounges at this location and only a $15 meal credit, which is not helpful
given that there is only one restaurant open for dinner and it's a bar with bar food.
The lounge was great with great benefits that we experienced.

(48:18):
Other than that, it's in the location.
Parking is free.
Lobby is nice with Starbucks.
Everything for me is soft sheets and they were great.
I will stay here again for sure.
Nine out of 10.
Fairly positive then.
Wait, what's the scale?
10 out of five.
Five.
Two out of five.
Two.
Four.
Okay.
So four.
Two and two.

(48:39):
Two and two.
This guest gave it a five out of five.
What?
Interesting.
Okay.
Okay.
Despite the AC, she'll stay here again, but the AC is absolutely atrocious and won't be
set as low as she wants.
I just think the review is a little contradicted in saying I'm a raspberry member.
I should get this, this, and this, but the AC, da, da, da, da, but the Starbucks is nice.

(49:03):
I'll be staying again for sure.
Five out of five.
That's wild.
All right, who's ready?
So this review, I'm going to try to say it like the review says it.
I booked a king room.
Is this all in caps?
All caps.
I booked a king room.
I was playing a game.
I booked a king room.
I booked a king room.
I was placed into a double queen.
The original room smelled like smoke and there wasn't another king available.

(49:29):
Guess that rating.
My gosh.
One out of five, one out of 10.
We're going out of 10.
This is a one.
This is a one.
It could be a zero if they could give a zero.
I feel like it should be a one based on the tone, but-
All caps.
The whole thing was in all caps.
Nothing else.

(49:49):
All caps, that's all they said?
Just yelling at you.
Four.
Four.
We got four.
We got one.
Yeah, six.
Okay.
Wait, I'm sorry.
Wait, wait, wait.
Was it a five or a 10?
Or a 10.
What?
Out of 10.
Yeah, out of 10.
Oh, it was.
Okay.
Okay.
I'm staying strong.
Re-evaluation.
Nope, I'm staying strong.

(50:10):
No, I'll still stick with four.
Okay.
Eight out of 10.
What?
Literally, there's nothing else on that survey.
I was like, what the f-
Is this from your brand?
Oh, it's from my hotel.
But like, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Do you follow up with this guest?
Because eight-
We always unfollow guys.
But eight out of 10, you're like, thanks.
No.
No, it's still failing.
You have to.

(50:30):
Oh, eight out of 10 is still failing.
Still failing.
You need a nine or a 10.
Yes.
Oh, I thought seven was still failing and eight was a pass.
So another fun fact.
So we just spoke briefly about the online review sites and then obviously our internal
metrics where I feel like a lot of our guests aren't quite educated on those rating skills.
So in particular platforms, some of them will take an overall average where it's like, okay,

(50:56):
you get a five for a location but a one for service.
It's going to average out to a three.
But some of our reviews, depending on the platforms, it has that one key line and that's
your score and it sticks to it.
Well, and that's exactly what I was going to share.
And I was going to build on it because different brands have different philosophies.

(51:17):
And like the one that we are the most familiar with on their surveys, they present it like
it's a 10 scale when in reality it's a yes or no.
It's true false.
If it's a five, it's a false.
If it's a nine, it's a true.
Right.
And that's the way it works on the backside of the facility.
I honestly disagree with that rating.
We all do.

(51:38):
Eight is not a fail.
Welcome to the bane of our existence.
I remember when seven was good.
Now eight is bad.
Yes.
Okay.
Well, and that's.
Can we can there be a yellow?
No, no, no.
Can seven be a yellow?
It's still black and white.
But like can seven be a you didn't do horrible, but there's room for improvement.

(51:58):
Our brand doesn't believe in that.
So wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
No, no, no, no.
Yes, we do.
Yes, we do.
No.
Okay.
Time out.
Time out.
Penalty on the play.
So that is with our brand.
Now there is another brand that I am somewhat familiar with that they have a similar structure.
It's one out of 10.
A nine or a 10 is a one.

(52:21):
An eight to a four is a zero.
A one to a three is a negative.
Negative.
Oh, wow.
I didn't know that they did that.
That's wild.
Yikes.
I think it's really, really important that people understand that if you leave a survey
for a hotel on Expedia or booking.com or whatever, there is a negative impact to the hotel.

(52:44):
It does affect the hotel's business.
And I'm not saying that if your review is legitimate to not post it.
So if you truly have a negative experience, absolutely share it.
But before you say front desk staff was great, hotel was clean, loved the location, but my
key stopped working on my third day of my stay, one out of 10.

(53:04):
Before you do that, just take a moment to reflect on your own review.
Realistic expectations, you say?
I know.
Shocking.
Things happen.
Common sense is not that common, guys.
I know.
But here's my exception to this is that that's on those review sites.
It has an impact.
It's not going to be life shattering.
However, when you get that review from the brand, whether it's Hyatt or Marriott, what

(53:28):
have you, when you fill out those surveys and you say that the experience was a one
out of 10, those surveys legitimately have a direct impact on the people that work at
that hotel.
Yes.
GMs lose their jobs on bad surveys.
And now I'm not trying to defend bad GMs, but I am trying to say when you have a review

(53:50):
like this, guys, that I shared about the two rooms near an elevator and you give them a
one out of 10 and the hotel has done everything, but there is something else that's bothering
you that you're not putting in that survey or not addressing to the hotel staff.
It has a negative impact.
I'm going to share one last story with you and then we can then we can wrap this up for
the night.
So I got a call the other day.
Guy was upset.

(54:11):
He wants to know what I can do for them because when they checked in, they had an odor in
their room that they felt was unpleasant and they found that the pillowcase was dirty.
So we transferred them from their original room to a different room.
The next day they returned to find that they hadn't received service.
So he wants compensation.

(54:32):
What time of day did he come back?
In the late afternoon.
Good question.
We service rooms until five p.m.
But here's the thing is that the brand that I'm with only services rooms every other day
unless you request it.
It's service every second day.
Okay.
He didn't know this front desk explained it.
I'm like, why not?
Front desk explained it.
He didn't hear it.

(54:53):
So he says, I want compensation.
And I said, well, I'm a little confused at the request because you identified that there
was an issue upon arrival.
We transferred you from one room to another to make it right.
I understand that you felt that you should have received service on your second day,
but that's not the brand standard.
Well, I think I should be compensated, he says.
So I offered to take 10 percent off the guy's bill.

(55:14):
And I said, you know what?
Normally for a situation like this, we strive to make it right.
You had an issue in your initial room.
We transferred you to another room.
You felt that room was perfect for your needs.
I'm sorry that you didn't receive service.
That is a brand standard.
So normally in a situation like this, I wouldn't offer compensation.
But you know what?
I understand that you're upset.
I want to make this right for you.

(55:35):
So I'm going to give you 10 percent off.
So he says to me, I think you should do better than that.
Then you get nothing.
I hate that.
Yep.
So I said to him, I said, well, my first option of compensation for you is to offer you the
10 percent.
I said, you know, you're bringing something to me a day after your departure that occurred
on the day of arrival.
I can't go verify any of it.

(55:57):
I'm taking everything that you're saying at face value.
And I'm still going to offer you 10 percent.
Yes.
And he says, well, I think you should do better.
Well, again, now after explaining it to him, I said, you can either take the 10 percent
or my other recourse is to offer you nothing.
Love that so much.
And there was a long pause.
He says, I'll take the 10 percent.

(56:18):
Ten percent would be great.
I said, fantastic.
We'll process that refund for you immediately.
Still left a negative review.
Got more compensation.
Oh, I will give this guy nothing more.
Good.
I'm not.
That's always my issue.
I think the lesson here is if you're having an issue with your stay, talk about it with
the staff in that moment.
Yes.
If you have a problem with your room location, your key isn't working.

(56:43):
You didn't get service.
Talk to the front desk.
And when you're leaving that angry voicemail for the GM late on a Friday night, they ain't
going to call you back.
And they don't call you back until midday on Monday.
No, that's because they work Monday through Friday.
Or yes, they chase you to your car.
We'll have to tell that story in another pod.
All right.

(57:04):
So for those listening, if you have any stories you'd like to share, please send them to us.
You can find us at TFTSI.com for our website.
There is a submission form there if you'd like to share a story, an anecdote.
But we'd appreciate no more marriage proposals in that place.
Thank you.
Oh my goodness.
Or if you had a negative experience and you're just curious on how somebody could have handled

(57:28):
it in a better way.
I love that.
I.
Or if you have questions about how the industry works or if you want to share an inside tip
on how your industry works, you can certainly leave a submission there.
You can also email us directly at og3 at TFTSI.com.
That's og the number three at TFTSI.com.

(57:49):
Or if you want to be a part of our homework assignment and finding more reviews that kind
of just don't make sense, feel free to take screenshots and send us an email.
That would be awesome.
And you can also wish Liz well in her recovery.
Oh, thank you guys.
I really appreciate it.
And I'm so happy to be back.
And on that note, we will see you again in about two weeks.

(58:10):
Bye.
Peace