Based upon your reputation and branding, I believe that you never want a guest to leave without feeling totally satisfied with their stay. Each guest should be important to you in terms of future business and positive social media feedback.
We have stayed at the hotel numerous times since 2009. We have never had an unpleasant stay which is reinforced by our repeated business. We have never had to make a formal complaint. Any minor issue we ever had, which were far and few between, were quickly addressed at the staff level and never escalated to the manager level.
On 09/19/21, after a long day of travel, we arrived to our room. Upon using the bathroom, the tank did not refill after each flush. This required that we reach into the tank and tap the float several times after each use to enable the tank refill. This was a minor inconvenience but we did not have time to contact the desk with a notification due to another problem of much greater concern.
Upon opening the door to the closet, which housed the micro and fridge, we observed a roach scramble with the sudden influx of light under the microwave. We did not observe the roach again during our attempt to locate and kill believing it went up into the microwave. Due to my age and experience, I am well aware of what roaches look like and identification was easy. I am sure you can imagine the shock and dismay of a traveler observing any type of pests and how that effects your immediate thoughts and concerns of transporting a pest back home.
I went to the front desk and advised one of the staff. I utilized the upmost discretion notifying the clerk so other guests did not overhear my conversation. I even initially wrote the word on a piece of paper. I did not want, what I hoped was an isolated problem, manifest to anything else.
We were moved to another room by the staff which we greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, the new room also had a problem. The drain to the shower was clogged which necessitated a response by maintenance. The phone in the room did not work therefore I had to travel to the lobby and back to make the notification. The staff member from maintenance quickly remedied the situation and had a pleasant demeanor. Unfortunately, all the hair and other unknown debris he extracted from the shower drain was thrown on the top of the bathroom trash can for us to view. He didn't take the bag with him.
This leads to another issue we had with our room being cleaned. We did leave the do not disturb sign on for handle for Friday and Saturday however when we went to the desk and requested the room be cleaned at a very early hour on Sunday. There was an appropriate amount of time to communicate our request to the housing staff. We observed the staff just starting out on our floor when we left the room and removed the sign prior to notification at the desk.
Another minor inconvenience was the use of our drink coupons. The staff seemed to be confused as to how the coupons could be redeemed. Some servers just took the coupons and applied them to the bill. Some of the bar tenders did the same. Other bartenders referred us to the front desk with our prepaid bill to have adjustments made. Even with the front desk staff, there was confusion as to how the coupons were to be redeemed. Our last interaction resulted in a consultation with the manager.
Despite all of the above, we gave the hotel another chance and stayed another night. Our flight home was cancelled and we decided to remain in place. The staff was accommodating and allowed us to stay in the same room. This was where we made the room cleaning request referred to earlier in this correspondence.
Your hotel is an upscale hotel and we pay accordingly for a premium service. One of the principles of good etiquette is recognizing the the good work of others, but also honesty. I recognize that many of your staff handled the situations appropriately and admirably. Therefore, I ask myself prior to this correspondence, really, how bad was my experience? Well, I had to deal with seeing roaches and the anxiety that goes along with that. There is also the disappointment associated with my perceived cost of the hotel vs. my experience/expectations. I had to stick my hand into the toilet to fix something. I had to file another complaint about the shower drain and viewing all that disgusting stuff to be removed from same casually laying on the top of the trash. And then, the confusion and miscommunication by the staff.
The totality of all those circumstances compared to the cost and expectations associated to said costs necessitate a formal correspondence of extreme disappointment. Based upon our previous experiences at the hotel, I refrain from the use of the word complaint.
I used to utmost discretion when speaking to the staff about the roaches. I will continue to use that same discretion by allowing you the opportunity to address my concerns prior to my final social media review of our stay. I do not feel it is fair to air grievances on line without the opportunity for management to have an open dialogue with us. Once you put up a negative review, that is all that people remember. They skip over the fact that management may have rectified the problem. Our past pleasurable experiences at the hotel factor greatly in our decision.
