Would you expect a hotel to have a manager on duty on a Saturday late afternoon?

[Anonymous]

It is a residence inn, not the Ritz. Your expectations are whack.

Just because it is parents weekend doesn’t mean they hire the Mandarin Oriental staff for the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you know there was no possibility of moving rooms; what did you want to tell the manager?

This, OP.

Btw hotels (and airlines) always jack up prices for parents' weekends. I remember that happening when I was in college in a city 35 years ago. Of course a chain hotel in a college town is going to be overpriced and sold out. Either book your stay way in advance (like as soon as they release the calendar) or stay further away from your kid.

It doesn’t matter. They jack the prices up right away. If the school announces the dates for Parents Weekend on April 5, the hotel jacks up the prices on April 5.

OP wasn’t charged $400 because she booked late. She was charged that because hotels take advantage of parents who have few choices on a busy weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this story is fake. There is no hotel that has operable windows you aren’t allowed to open. If you’re not allowed to open them, they aren’t operable.

Can you imagine how much time a Residence Inn would spend asking people to close windows if there were operable windows that were just not supposed to be opened?

If it’s a fire escape, it would be alarmed. OP wouldn’t be able to just open them.

It’s also ridiculous to say that OP would have asked about opening the windows in the first place. You just try them. No one goes to the desk to ask if they can open a window.

Not fake. I thought most hotels don’t allow you to open the windows (and have measures in place to prevent it.)
So I didn’t even try to open it.

I asked the employee at the front desk for a fan to help air it out and she mentioned that they open. So I went back to my room and looked—and she was right! So I opened them. Then, like I said, there was a shift change and suddenly a guy I hadn’t seen before was at my door telling me I had to close them. He and his co worker (not the same one who told me the windows open) were the ones I felt with after that.

This can’t be true. I’ve never been to a hotel that didn’t allow you to open windows. I’ve been to hotels with windows that don’t open. But there is no way a hotel has windows that open but you’re not supposed to open them. Maybe in a different country, with different building codes. But not a Residence Inn in America. No way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the Ritz? 24/7 Yep. At a Residence Inn in a college town? Probably not.

This.

Pro tip: the way you handle situations like this is by reaching out to corporate. I’ve used Twitter and email. It works.

If there’s no room to switch to, at a minimum they will send staff to try to address the situation in the room AND give you a credit or points.

PS - College “town” hotels tend to be subpar, so it’s best to manage expectations. BTDT.

[Anonymous]

I work for a hotel company. (Hilton/Marriott)

Most hotels in our class don’t have operable windows- safety issue. People fall, try to smoke, or try to jump.

Most hotels have revenue management departments that know when demand is high and raise prices and when demand is low, they lower prices. This is true across the portfolio. It is market driven.

If you have a problem with a room, you can
1. Ask your switch rooms (tough when they are sold out)
2) ask for or go buy an air filter
3) leave, find another hotel and ask for a credit later after your trip. Easier to fight the cost later after the trip.

There typically isn’t a general manager at the hotel on a weekend, but there is someone in charge of the front desk. But easier to deal with complaints and credits after the weekend is over, during business hours with the hotel or with the corporate call center.

[Anonymous]

I'm not surprised there wasn't a manager on duty and had nearly this same thing happen to us at a Marriott (Fairfield, I think). In our case we had other options and checked into a Home2Suites by Hilton. Marriott fought us (hard!) on giving us anything back even though we left immediately. We ended up getting money back from Amex, probably because the Hilton manager had noted at check-in that we'd just left the Marriott down the street due to the room being uninhabitable (chemical smell/humidity/no a/c). Anyway, I'd try to get something back from Marriott and, if that fails, your credit card.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work for a hotel company. (Hilton/Marriott)

Most hotels in our class don’t have operable windows- safety issue. People fall, try to smoke, or try to jump.

Most hotels have revenue management departments that know when demand is high and raise prices and when demand is low, they lower prices. This is true across the portfolio. It is market driven.

If you have a problem with a room, you can
1. Ask your switch rooms (tough when they are sold out)
2) ask for or go buy an air filter
3) leave, find another hotel and ask for a credit later after your trip. Easier to fight the cost later after the trip.

There typically isn’t a general manager at the hotel on a weekend, but there is someone in charge of the front desk. But easier to deal with complaints and credits after the weekend is over, during business hours with the hotel or with the corporate call center.

Thanks. There was an assistant manager there earlier in the day but the desk clerk (the more helpful one who gave me the fan) said she left by 3 pm and would be back Sunday morning.
It just seems bonkers to me that there is no management on site during check in time (4 pm) on their busiest weekend of the year.
I’ve never worked in a hotel, but I’ve worked in a grocery store and I can’t imagine having no mangers present during Thanksgiving week (busiest time.)
It was an “all hands on deck” situation and every department head, manager, etc. worked extended hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not surprised there wasn't a manager on duty and had nearly this same thing happen to us at a Marriott (Fairfield, I think). In our case we had other options and checked into a Home2Suites by Hilton. Marriott fought us (hard!) on giving us anything back even though we left immediately. We ended up getting money back from Amex, probably because the Hilton manager had noted at check-in that we'd just left the Marriott down the street due to the room being uninhabitable (chemical smell/humidity/no a/c). Anyway, I'd try to get something back from Marriott and, if that fails, your credit card.

Thanks, we will be pursuing it