AFTERMATH

May and June are my favorite months of the year. May holds the promise of summer, though we’re usually not quite there yet. June starts off the summer, and I know that there’s still plenty of time ahead to enjoy warm weather and sunshine. We usually go to Europe, most often France, in May. Our usual routine is to leave on May 2, since May 1 is Labor Day in France, and almost everything is closed. Two weeks in France in May is lovelier than I can express. This year, Howard had his 50th medical school reunion in early May. Yes, 50th! He was sort of Doogie Howser, walking into med school at 19. But 50 years is a long time, regardless of any extenuating circumstances that might mitigate that huge number.

With the reunion delaying our usual France trip, we decided to go to London for a week. We found a hotel in Mayfair, a lovely area in London. There’s a song, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, which was written just before WWII, but was kind of an emblematic song during the war. Our hotel was very close to Berkeley Square. Walking through the park, the song in our heads, made for magical evenings.

“There were angels dining at the Ritz

And a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square”

https://www.google.com/search?q=a+nightingale+sang+in+berkeley+square+YOUTUBE&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS833US833&oq=a+nigh&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqDggAEEUYJxg7GIAEGIoFMg4IABBFGCcYOxiABBiKBTIOCAEQRRgnGDsYgAQYigUyBggCEEUYQDIGCAMQRRg5MhAIBBAuGIMBGLEDGIAEGIoFMgoIBRAuGNQCGIAEMgoIBhAuGNQCGIAEMgoIBxAuGLEDGIAE0gEJMzc4MWowajE1qAIIsAIB&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:ed326494,vid:wGekPuOIuZg,st:0

The hotel was charming, too. Just one problem—when we arrived, we got royally screwed on the room and pricing.

We had made a reservation for a room with a sitting area, including a sofa. It’s so relaxing to spend the day touring, have dinner in a special restaurant, then sit in the room reading. When we got to the hotel, they showed us to a room with a very large bed, a desk and two chairs, and no room to move—no sofa, no separate sitting area.

We went back to the lobby and explained what we’d booked and how this room wasn’t it. The desk associate was very polite, but gave us some bull about rooms all being different, etc. She then showed us to a very nice room, more in sync with what we’d booked, with a sitting area and sofa. But there would be a daily 200 pound surcharge (about $250 per day). This room was fine; the pricing wasn’t. We’d had similar situations in the past here and there at other hotels but never incurred an additional charge. What did we do? Of course I asked for the manager.

A manager met us in the lobby. After we’d explained the problem, she said that she’d reduce the surcharge to 160 pounds per night.  That’s roughly $200 a night! But, being tired from the plane ride and the longish drive to the hotel through the rain, we were too exhausted to spend the rest of the day arguing. I figured that I would take care of this later.  We had a great trip and came home rested, with an end of May sun welcoming us on our return.

In the aftermath, I got to work. I located the email with the details of our reservation. Right there, in black and white, “sofa” loomed large on the room description. I wrote to the hotel, asking that the manager review and adjust our surcharge. I had suspected that the manager in the hotel was a lower level manager—she was youngish and her approach telegraphed newbie.

I received a polite reply from a “Duty Manager”, whatever that was. She agreed to reduce the surcharge to 100 pounds daily (about $125). But, not satisfied. I wrote back, thanked her and asked for the General Manager. I received a timely email in return. The GM apologized profusely for the mess and agreed to refund the full daily surcharge. So the total refund was 1200 pounds—about $1600! Well worth my effort!

And remember the invitation to make a future reservation through the GM. If we return, that would be a good idea. I would forward the GM’s last email in order to facilitate recall of the situation. That can go a long way towards booking a nice room at an appropriate (perhaps better than standard) rate.

What’s my point here? As always, if something’s wrong, get to the right person to fix it. And $1600, the total surcharge for our stay, is a lot of wrong! Most hotels, and many other businesses, have several levels of managers. And not all of them have the ability to resolve problem situations as they should be resolved. It’s important to get to the higher level manager if the less senior ones aren’t giving you the right answer. I had the documentation of our reservation, along with the experience of never having been surcharged when a hotel had made an error. So, I knew that I was on the right path. With all of the chips on my side, I got to the right person and fixed it. 

USUALLY FIXING PROBLEMS HAS A TIME SENSITIVE COMPONENT. BUT IF YOU CAN’T FIX THE PROBLEM WITHIN THE “BEFORE” TIMEFRAME, DON’T STOP—FIX IT IN THE AFTERMATH

HAVING THE DOCUMENTATION AND GETTING TO THE RIGHT PERSON WORKS ON THE BACK END AS WELL AS IT WOULD ON THE FRONT END