Make it special

[Morticia]

Received an email from a guest who reserved online. We're ruining her birthday because the confirmation shows she's traveling alone. We need to fix that! It's her birthday and she wants everything to be perfect!
Yes, I do this deliberately. I change the number of guests in the party to spoil their special days. I've also been known to change the day of arrival or departure in order to charge the guest extra.
Geez people. Pay attention to the information YOU typed when the review your reservation screen comes up.

 

[Copperhead]

All your fault, spoiling her birthday before it even starts. Mean innkeeper

Hey the GOOD news is that she actually read the confirmation. How come only those that have a grievance do that?

 

[undersea]

Not quite sure what client not like? They thought they booked multiple people, right? How many?
Also from a usability point of view, ensure that the place they thought they had multiple guests is clear and works logically.
I find that some sites erase or reset my selections or do not work as one would expect. Like using back button, or other things.
All negative reviews or complaints may contain a nugget yo assist delighting the client down the road.

 

[Kay Nein]

Not quite sure what client not like? They thought they booked multiple people, right? How many?
Also from a usability point of view, ensure that the place they thought they had multiple guests is clear and works logically.
I find that some sites erase or reset my selections or do not work as one would expect. Like using back button, or other things.
All negative reviews or complaints may contain a nugget yo assist delighting the client down the road..

I suspect this is an instance of the guest making a mistake and blaming it on the Innkeeper. If Morticia truly had an error or glitch in her reservation process, I'm sure there would have been plenty of evidence before now to that effect.

 

[happykeeper]

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error.

 

[Tom]

maybe she was being ironic ... just wanted to confirm the fix of her error.
Now we have had people book online for two (program default) and show up as three, but that is a different story.

 

[Tom]

does your online res not start with "2" persons?

 

[undersea]

does your online res not start with "2" persons?.

Yea. Unless she had intended 3+, I would imagine your rooms can always handle 2 people?

 

[Morticia]

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error..

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error.

My sentiments exactly! Why did the guest need to upset me with a rant about how I was ruining her birthday by saying only one person was coming? Couldn't she have been pleasant about it? !!! and all in the email. "It's my special day!!! Don't mess it up!!!"

 

[Morticia]

does your online res not start with "2" persons?.

does your online res not start with "2" persons?

Yes. The default is 2.

 

[happykeeper]

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error..

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error.

My sentiments exactly! Why did the guest need to upset me with a rant about how I was ruining her birthday by saying only one person was coming? Couldn't she have been pleasant about it? !!! and all in the email. "It's my special day!!! Don't mess it up!!!"
.

Why should this upset you so much? Obviously, I don't have the full breadth of your communications with your guest, but why drag this onto the forum? Folks have given out tons of advice about this kind of stuff. It's easily fixable on all levels.

 

[Morticia]

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error..

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error.

My sentiments exactly! Why did the guest need to upset me with a rant about how I was ruining her birthday by saying only one person was coming? Couldn't she have been pleasant about it? !!! and all in the email. "It's my special day!!! Don't mess it up!!!"
.

Why should this upset you so much? Obviously, I don't have the full breadth of your communications with your guest, but why drag this onto the forum? Folks have given out tons of advice about this kind of stuff. It's easily fixable on all levels.
.

Did I ask for advice? Is it no longer acceptable to make comments about the day to day?
Easy fix, of course. I emailed back and said we don't make random changes to guest reservations and the confirmation goes out as it was reserved. Then I said I would be happy to fix the error she made, no extra charge for the new guest. Did she want to provide us with the other guest's name?

 

[undersea]

Not quite sure what client not like? They thought they booked multiple people, right? How many?
Also from a usability point of view, ensure that the place they thought they had multiple guests is clear and works logically.
I find that some sites erase or reset my selections or do not work as one would expect. Like using back button, or other things.
All negative reviews or complaints may contain a nugget yo assist delighting the client down the road..

I suspect this is an instance of the guest making a mistake and blaming it on the Innkeeper. If Morticia truly had an error or glitch in her reservation process, I'm sure there would have been plenty of evidence before now to that effect.
.

Although that is possible, I did this kind of work for a few years (making user interfaces user-friendly/well-designed/etc). When users become confused, get the wrong idea, make incorrect input, etc. - it is more often than not the fault of the system. Selections get cleared (often happens in web-based forms), designs are not do obvious, explanations lead to a couple possible paths... To an innkeeper, the stuff is obvious. To someone who has not made many reservations online, there are many things that can interrupt the reservation process.
Dunno if this was Rezkey or something else, but I think blaming the user here is the wrong conclusion. I would lay money that something in the reservation form/UI process confused the guest.
There are too many times here that guests are thought to be stupid or harmful, when the reality is that sometimes it is assumptive that they read the policy page(s), the confirmations, etc. Autoresponders may automate a lot of work, but there are times that it will fail, because too many assumptions are made. People are human, are rushed, etc.
Just because they got a confirmation doesn't mean guests read them. Of course, blaming the innkeeper is totally immature.

 

[Aussie Innkeeper]

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error..

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error.

My sentiments exactly! Why did the guest need to upset me with a rant about how I was ruining her birthday by saying only one person was coming? Couldn't she have been pleasant about it? !!! and all in the email. "It's my special day!!! Don't mess it up!!!"
.

Why should this upset you so much? Obviously, I don't have the full breadth of your communications with your guest, but why drag this onto the forum? Folks have given out tons of advice about this kind of stuff. It's easily fixable on all levels.
.

Did I ask for advice? Is it no longer acceptable to make comments about the day to day?
Easy fix, of course. I emailed back and said we don't make random changes to guest reservations and the confirmation goes out as it was reserved. Then I said I would be happy to fix the error she made, no extra charge for the new guest. Did she want to provide us with the other guest's name?
.

So, did she get back to you with the info? Is her reservation soon, or are you going to have weeks and weeks to plot ways to disrupt her special day even more?

 

[Kay Nein]

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error..

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error.

My sentiments exactly! Why did the guest need to upset me with a rant about how I was ruining her birthday by saying only one person was coming? Couldn't she have been pleasant about it? !!! and all in the email. "It's my special day!!! Don't mess it up!!!"
.

Why should this upset you so much? Obviously, I don't have the full breadth of your communications with your guest, but why drag this onto the forum? Folks have given out tons of advice about this kind of stuff. It's easily fixable on all levels.
.

happykeeper, I'm really confused about why you are attacking Morticia about ranting on here. Everybody does it. We use this forum as a place to ask questions, learn from each other and occasionally rant about something that a guest does that irks us. "Why drag this onto the forum?" Really? I try very hard not to antagonize on here, but I truly don't understand what harm her rant did to you.
I don't understand why any of the people who made odd comments on this post didn't just laugh with her and shake their heads thinking, "Some guests..."
Where has the kindness and compassion gone on this site? I've been lurking lately, but I don't like the tension, rudeness and holier-than-thou attitude I've been seeing lately from alot of posters. This used to be our happy place. It's not anymore. Some people need to read more and comment less. OMG, this has my hackles up!!!

 

[happykeeper]

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error..

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error.

My sentiments exactly! Why did the guest need to upset me with a rant about how I was ruining her birthday by saying only one person was coming? Couldn't she have been pleasant about it? !!! and all in the email. "It's my special day!!! Don't mess it up!!!"
.

Why should this upset you so much? Obviously, I don't have the full breadth of your communications with your guest, but why drag this onto the forum? Folks have given out tons of advice about this kind of stuff. It's easily fixable on all levels.
.

happykeeper, I'm really confused about why you are attacking Morticia about ranting on here. Everybody does it. We use this forum as a place to ask questions, learn from each other and occasionally rant about something that a guest does that irks us. "Why drag this onto the forum?" Really? I try very hard not to antagonize on here, but I truly don't understand what harm her rant did to you.
I don't understand why any of the people who made odd comments on this post didn't just laugh with her and shake their heads thinking, "Some guests..."
Where has the kindness and compassion gone on this site? I've been lurking lately, but I don't like the tension, rudeness and holier-than-thou attitude I've been seeing lately from alot of posters. This used to be our happy place. It's not anymore. Some people need to read more and comment less. OMG, this has my hackles up!!!
.

I would say you are probably correct. Endless complaining about guests does not agree with me and I have made a poor attempt at trying to have my way about it. The proper choice would be to hit someone's ignore button and let it go.

 

[happykeeper]

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error..

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error.

My sentiments exactly! Why did the guest need to upset me with a rant about how I was ruining her birthday by saying only one person was coming? Couldn't she have been pleasant about it? !!! and all in the email. "It's my special day!!! Don't mess it up!!!"
.

Why should this upset you so much? Obviously, I don't have the full breadth of your communications with your guest, but why drag this onto the forum? Folks have given out tons of advice about this kind of stuff. It's easily fixable on all levels.
.

Did I ask for advice? Is it no longer acceptable to make comments about the day to day?
Easy fix, of course. I emailed back and said we don't make random changes to guest reservations and the confirmation goes out as it was reserved. Then I said I would be happy to fix the error she made, no extra charge for the new guest. Did she want to provide us with the other guest's name?
.

Accept my apologies Mort, especially after harping at someone else for doing the same thing I just did.
I just don't like endless complaining about guests and it was not my place to somehow impose that upon you.

 

[Generic]

Received an email from a guest who reserved online. We're ruining her birthday because the confirmation shows she's traveling alone...

Here is a picture of the other person coming with her....

 

[Morticia]

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error..

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error.

My sentiments exactly! Why did the guest need to upset me with a rant about how I was ruining her birthday by saying only one person was coming? Couldn't she have been pleasant about it? !!! and all in the email. "It's my special day!!! Don't mess it up!!!"
.

Why should this upset you so much? Obviously, I don't have the full breadth of your communications with your guest, but why drag this onto the forum? Folks have given out tons of advice about this kind of stuff. It's easily fixable on all levels.
.

Did I ask for advice? Is it no longer acceptable to make comments about the day to day?
Easy fix, of course. I emailed back and said we don't make random changes to guest reservations and the confirmation goes out as it was reserved. Then I said I would be happy to fix the error she made, no extra charge for the new guest. Did she want to provide us with the other guest's name?
.

So, did she get back to you with the info? Is her reservation soon, or are you going to have weeks and weeks to plot ways to disrupt her special day even more?
.

So, did she get back to you with the info? Is her reservation soon, or are you going to have weeks and weeks to plot ways to disrupt her special day even more?

No more info from her. I'm not really planning to spoil her vacation. But it will happen because she's already making too much of a big deal over how important and special it has to be.

 

[Morticia]

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error..

Geez Mort- what is this all about. Why is this worth a rant? Sounds like an easy to fix error.

My sentiments exactly! Why did the guest need to upset me with a rant about how I was ruining her birthday by saying only one person was coming? Couldn't she have been pleasant about it? !!! and all in the email. "It's my special day!!! Don't mess it up!!!"
.

Why should this upset you so much? Obviously, I don't have the full breadth of your communications with your guest, but why drag this onto the forum? Folks have given out tons of advice about this kind of stuff. It's easily fixable on all levels.
.

happykeeper, I'm really confused about why you are attacking Morticia about ranting on here. Everybody does it. We use this forum as a place to ask questions, learn from each other and occasionally rant about something that a guest does that irks us. "Why drag this onto the forum?" Really? I try very hard not to antagonize on here, but I truly don't understand what harm her rant did to you.
I don't understand why any of the people who made odd comments on this post didn't just laugh with her and shake their heads thinking, "Some guests..."
Where has the kindness and compassion gone on this site? I've been lurking lately, but I don't like the tension, rudeness and holier-than-thou attitude I've been seeing lately from alot of posters. This used to be our happy place. It's not anymore. Some people need to read more and comment less. OMG, this has my hackles up!!!
.

Thank you. That's exactly how I felt. What happened to the sharing and fun and just 'oh I know how that feels'?
I mean at this point I've seen almost all of it so I don't have too many questions. So I just share advice when asked and little day to day stories.