Last Friday night, I arrived in Las Vegas, caught a cab, and was off to my hotel, arriving there 10:30 pm.  I had a reservation at a major hotel, and my credit card had already been charged for one night.  At the front desk, I was told that I could have a choice of a room with a king sized bed near the elevator, or a room with two double beds a bit further away.  I haven’t slept in a double bed since high school, so opted for the king room closer to the elevator.

Off I went to the room, only to get there and find that the room wasn’t “near” the elevator – it shared a common wall with the elevator.  The noise was deafening.  I called down to the front desk to ask for a different room, and was surprised that the front desk could hear me over the elevator noise.  They were actually very nice and sent someone up with a key to another room.

The other room was just two doors away, and I expressed my skepticism to the guest services person who had brought me my key.  He assured me that it would be quiet, so off I went.  At the door of the room, I realized that I could still hear the elevator.  After going inside, I could still hear it.  And I’m not talking about the little dinging noise that lets you know the elevator has arrived.  I’m talking about the roaring and whooshing noise of the elevator in the shaft.  This room was only slightly less noisy, and I knew that it would be a miserable place to sleep.

This brings us to the dilemma.  Horrible room, totally unacceptable, and it’s now after 11 pm at night.  What do you do?

There was a point in my life where I would have just made do with the horrible room, figuring that my complaint was trivial or that I would resolve the issue in the morning.  First, the complaint isn’t trivial.  A room with the noise level of these is simply unacceptable.  Yes, I know someone will probably be forced to sleep in these rooms, but it didn’t have to be me.  The hotel needs to do some soundproofing and bring these rooms up to an acceptable level, but until it does, no one should feel bad about complaining.  Second, by waiting till morning I reduce my leverage in getting a different room.  Absent an express commitment on the part of the front desk, I become a problem that has gone away.  If I accept it for one night, who’s to say that I won’t accept it longer.  I was staying for 4 nights, and it wasn’t going to be in a noisy room.

So back to the front desk I went with a new mindset.  I needed a new room, a quiet one, or I was prepared to leave and go to a new hotel.

When presented with these options, the hotel began “looking” for another room.  Now I happen to know that while this is a major conference and convention hotel, room occupancy rates in Las Vegas are pretty low right now.  I knew that it was extremely unlikely that the hotel was full.  In fact, based on the rate that I got for a Friday night, I knew darned good and well that they were not full.  In other words, I knew there was room inventory available, and they just needed to dig a little deeper.  More importantly, if this hotel couldn’t dig deeper and find me a decent room, there were lots of others that would.

Sure enough, the digging worked, and another room was found.  This involved giving me an upgraded room, a not unreasonable or unusual way to solve the problem.  Everyone was happy!

When requesting a room change, keep these things in mind:

• Be reasonable in your room expectation.  Quieter is reasonable, but absolute quiet is not.
• If the first person that you speak with can’t help you, ask for someone who can.  Often times employees are only authorized to make limited changes.  Don’t get angry with them, let them know that you understand and will make your request to someone who can.
• Be nice.  It’s not the front desk clerk’s fault that the room is noisy.  People want to help people who are nice to them, and no one wants to reward bad behavior.  Keep your cool and present your issue in a calm fashion.
• Don’t make threats.  Be prepared to move if that’s what you might do, but most people can see when you’re just being a bully.
• Don’t make false complaints.  Stories are rampant about people who complain about silly things in order to get an upgrade.  Rather than rewarding bad behavior, front desk clerks will upgrade someone other than the complaining party.  Be honest about your complaint.
• Accept a reasonable alternative.  While I would have preferred a king size bed, I wound up with a mini suite with two beds.  This is a reasonable accommodation.
• Be prepared to go elsewhere.  It may not be convenient, but staying in a horrible room is worse.

What do you do when you get a horrible room?  Do you speak up or suffer in silence?

Photo credit:

Post from: Fly Away Cafe

Here are a few things to keep in mind when looking for that FREE hotel room upgrade:

1. Manners are everything.  You’ll find a front desk clerk will be more likely to pass on an upgrade if you are polite, gracious, and engage in a bit of small talk.  A polite good afternoon, how are you will go a long way to starting the conversation off on the right foot.
2. If there’s a line up a mile long, your chances for an upgrade are not as good as if it’s a quiet time and you can engage in a little conversation.
3. Mention if it’s a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary, or if it’s a return trip to the place of your honeymoon.  But be realistic and don’t oversell it — this tip is becoming a bit overused, and an experienced front desk clerk can sniff out a ruse a mile away.
4. If you’ve just been through a grueling day, the flight from hell, had a child throw up on you on the plane, or have been through a harrowing travel day, laughingly share the experience with the front desk clerk.  Mention how great it’s going to feel to get some peace and quiet, or how much you want to take a shower and get cleaned up.  If you can face the difficulties, and come out of it with your humor intact, you are the exact kind of person they want to reward with an upgrade.
5. If the hotel is oversold, there may be less room for the clerk to offer you an upgrade as those room may have been sold at a premium price.
6. It there is a large convention group at the property, the clerk may not be able to upgrade you to a suite (they are often booked for meetings or conference social events), but you may get an upgrade to a better floor or location.  Group room blocks are often at lower prices, leaving premium room available.
7. If you are a member of the hotel’s frequent guest program you may be entitled to a guaranteed upgrade.
8. If the hotel is not your usual hotel of choice, mention that – adding that you’ve heard good things about this property and are thinking that it might be time for a change in your booking habits.  Letting people know that your business loyalty is up for grabs may attract attention.  “I’ve always used your competitor across town, but decided it was time to shop my business around.  I like what I’ve seen here so far.”
9. Just ask.  A big sigh and a gracious inquiry can often lead to an upgrade.  “I’ve had a really difficult day.  Is there a chance you can help me salvage it by helping me out with an upgrade.”
10. If this answer is no let it go.  Often times something will come up before the check in process is complete, and you don’t want to blow your chances by being an ugly blowhard.

I think the easiest upgrade I got was checking into a local hotel.  I was on a super-deep discounted rate, one that should never have seen the glimmer of a chance at an upgrade.  At check in, I greeted the woman at the front desk and engaged in some minor small talk.  She offered me a choice of two different rooms (both of which were boring, I’m certain), and asked which I’d prefer.  I smiled and told her that since I was unfamiliar with her property, that I trust her judgment, and asked her to select the room she’d choose.  There was some tapping away at the keys, and then she handed me my room packet.  As she did, she smiled and said, “I’d prefer a suite – so enjoy!”

And I did!

Photo credit: flickr

Post from: Fly Away Cafe

In the original description of the poll, I made mention of the fact that I was deliberately NOT including in-room FREE internet access.  However, because many of you did not see that initial post, internet access was added as a choice in the poll.  That was my error in not explaining the options more carefully.

In reporting on the results, I’ve taken it out of the answers, even though I know this may skew the results a bit.

Here’s what you had to say about what you like in your hotel room:

1. Upscale bathroom products – 13%
2. Refrigerator (non-mini bar) – 11%
3. Hot breakfast (not a room amenity, but more of an overall hotel amenity, but I’ve included it here anyway) – 10%
4. Complimentary candy/fruit – 9%
5. 24-hour gym – 8% (again, more of a hotel amenity rather than a room amenity, but I’m including it)
6. Robe & slippers – 5%
7. iPod docking stations – 5%
8. Plasma television – 5%
9. Mini bar – 4%
10. Pillow menu – 4%
11. Movie and/or music library – 4%
12. Iron/Ironing Board – 3%

Thanks to everyone who voted.  I’ll have another poll up in the next few days, so check back to vote again!

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Post from: Fly Away Cafe

Keys these days aren’t even keys.  They are flimsy pieces of plastic, about the size of a credit card), and instead of having a room number on it, it has a pretty photo of your hotel along with operating instructions about how to insert it into an electronic reader on your room door. 

The plastic key usually comes tucked into a small envelope, or a larger folder, with the room number written on it.  But the larger envelope or folder is often too large to tuck into a pocket or purse, and so we leave the room with only the plastic key.  And when it’s time to return to our room, we have to trust our sometimes faulty memory about what the room number is.

If you’re a frequent traveler who has forgotten to turn in keys from a previous stay, it’s even worse!  I have dug into the bottom of a purse of briefcase to find a handful of keys, and then have to wonder which one if for this stay.  Sometimes I even have the outside folder or envelope, so I know the room number(s), and then have to remember which folder and room number is for this visit.

Here are a twp suggestions for remembering your hotel room number:

• Enter the hotel phone number into your cell phone (or PDA), and add your room number to the entry.  You should have the hotel phone number handy anyway, and if you stay at the same hotel frequently, all you have to do is update your room number for each stay.  If you have the ability to add in the hotel address, even better.
• Send yourself a text message after checking in with your hotel room number in the message.

If all else fails, you can always stop back by the front desk and ask them to find your room for you.  Just make sure that you have ID handy.

Do you have a way to remember your hotel room number?  If so, leave your method in the comments.

Photo credit:  flickr

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Post from: Fly Away Cafe