A couple of weeks ago, while staying in a hotel that I’m very familiar with and have a good rapport in Lisbon, Portugal, something very unexpected occurred. While sitting in my room on my laptop checking email and working on some blog posts, an uninvited guest used their card key to try to access my room. I heard them outside of my door and heard the click to unlock my door from the card key. I jumped up, went to the door, and met the people at the door who were trying to gain access to my room.
Standing outside of my door was a family of four who had just checked-in to the hotel. The front desk assigned them to my room and gave them card keys to access my room. Well, the family was horrified when I opened the door as they were trying to enter. I explained to them that the room is occupied, and the front desk must have mistakenly assigned them this room. The family was very apologetic, but I quickly let them know that it wasn’t their fault. I told them to let the front desk know that someone was in the room, and I would be down to straighten it out with them as well. I felt bad for the family as they were alarmed and felt like they invaded my privacy, which of course they did but not intentionally. So I had to put them at ease as I could tell that they wanted to ensure that I wasn’t upset at them. I wasn’t upset at them at all, and I wasn’t overly horrified as it was the middle of the day and not the middle of the night while I was sleeping, which would have really had a different effect if I didn’t have security devices to disallow them from entering the room even after using their card key for access.
As you can imagine, I had to take this up with the Front Desk Clerk and the Manager. I conveyed to them what occurred and how it should not have occurred. I know this as many, many moons ago I worked part-time as a Front Desk Agent at a large hotel chain in Atlanta. The Front Desk Manager apologized and offered me a free drink and from the look on my face they quickly realized a free drink is not the correct response to addressing this with a guest of the hotel where you have a good rapport. They then offered me a free meal, which still wasn’t satisfactory. The manager explained there was a system issue the night before and it inadvertently cleared the guests from the rooms in the system and made the room available. She also stated that they typically have safety protocols within the system that ensure that those types of situations don’t occur. However, the system security feature did not work properly.
I explained to the Front Desk Manager, while I can appreciate that they are recovering from a technical issue that imposed a security risk to me and the guests they assigned to my occupied room, a free drink or a free meal is not the proper manner to compensate your guest. I then explained to them that they should reimburse me for the night at the very minimum. Honestly, good customer relations would not only reimburse me for the night but also give me a complimentary night or stay of my choosing. However, they didn’t do the latter of their own free will, nor did I press or ask for it, this time. However, they did reimburse me for the night along with the taxes and put the amount back on my credit card. They were apologetic and grateful to continue to have my business.
Now, I didn’t have my safety devices at the door which would have prevented them from being able to enter my room as it was the middle of the day. They also didn’t make it in my room as I greeted them at the door and unfortunately, I scared the mess out of them.
Now, a couple of things to be mindful of that I hope others can find value. One, purchase and use door safety devices (Pickup these security and safety devices in our travel essentials store) to prevent someone from making it into your room day or night and two; make sure you press the issue with the management to do the right thing and provide you with the proper compensation for an issue that is preventable. It doesn’t cost them anything to do the right thing and to “comp” the night or your stay when appropriate. It’s just good customer service and taking proper care of their guests.
It is unfortunate but you must keep in mind that applied knowledge is power. Your knowledge and power of these types of situations can assist you in rectifying a situation and holding people accountable to do the right thing. I don’t want this to be misconstrued with trying to get over on the hotel as that is not the case at all. There are methods and actions the management and leadership of any business or organization can do to ensure satisfaction, comfort, and relationship for someone to continue to patronize their business. Contrary to taking the appropriate and responsible actions with accountability can negatively affect their brand, their reputation, and their bottom line. This is something they do not want. Therefore, exercise your knowledge and experience along with the experience of others to hold these companies accountable.
Hotel and accommodation safety are very important. Do not take these matters lightly as circumstances and outcomes can result differently.
NOW, Safely TROT THIS GLOBE GLOBETROTTERS!!! Wheels Up!!!
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