Just Let Their Wives Deal With Them

I was covering an overnight shift, and just as I started, I got a call.

Caller: “How much for [suite]?”

Me: “Our price is $950 before taxes and fees.”

Caller: “That’s fine. We’ll be there shortly.”

Two families entered the hotel a little later; it was the people that had called. It was two couples; both their wives had sleeping babies in their arms; both the men had a bunch of luggage in their hands. The guys came up to me and said they were all tired and asked me if we could let them up into the room just to put their babies and bags down really quick. Normally, I’m very strict, but I decided to be nice and let them up.

They took their sweet time coming down and I eventually sent security up to tell them they had to come down and provide a card. Eventually, the men came down to talk to me.

Them: “Hey, so, the wives are going to kill us if we spend $950 before taxes. Since nobody else is going to use the room tonight, can I just book a regular room and you just upgrade us to this room?”

Me: “No, sir. I told you over the phone how much the price would be. A standard room is $350 before taxes, and we are sold out on them tonight. Either way, I can’t give you a $600 upgrade for free.”

Them: “How about I just book a cheaper suite and you just upgrade us to this one?”

Me: “Unfortunately not. If you want this room, it’ll be $950 before taxes.”

Them: “Then we can’t stay in that room. Do you have two regular rooms we can stay in, instead?”

I was frustrated that they had already dirtied the room.

Me: “We are sold out of regular rooms and only have suites. If you want two rooms, the price is going to be $550 a night before taxes for each room.”

Them: “So it ends up being even more. Okay, then we’ll just stay in this room, but the wives are going to kill us. Please, what can you do? Nobody is going to use the room. Just upgrade us.”

Me: *Still trying to be nice* “If you could get an upgrade just because you came late, then everybody would come late, sir; that isn’t how it works. But I’ll just lower it down to $850 before taxes, and that’s the most that I can do.”

Them: “All right, thank you. Let us just go upstairs and get our cards.”

Twenty minutes later:

Them: “We spoke to the wives. $850 before taxes is still not good enough; they’re gonna kill us. Can you make it $800 total, including taxes?”

Me: “No, I can’t do that. It’ll be $850 before taxes.”

Them: “Trust me, your manager would rather that you just give it to me for $800 total instead of having us leave. Nobody is going to use the room. You’d get in trouble for losing revenue.”

I gave him a call to double-check whether I could give that deal or not. After the call:

Me: “Okay, I spoke with the general manager, and he approved the $800 total.”

Them: “Oh, wow. This is disgusting. Our wives just sent us pictures from the room. The carpet has toe nail clippings on it, and [a few other dirty things in the room that were definitely placed by them]. This is absolutely nasty; our wives are shocked. You need to give us more of a discount. Call your manager back right now and tell him about this.”

Me: “We already gave you a huge discount on the room; there is nothing else we can do’”

Them: “What do you normally do when guests find things like this in their room? You don’t do anything for them?”

Me: “Guests normally don’t find things like this in their room, but if they did, we’d clean it up for them and then give them a discount or offer to move rooms.”

Them: “Then why can’t you do that for us?”

Me: “We already gave you a discount.”

Them: “Call your manager back and let him know what we found.”

The general manager will usually be fine with a discount, but as soon as someone tries to take advantage, he gets angry. I spoke with him again and then spoke with the guests.

Me: “I spoke with the general manager, and he has taken back his offer of $800 total. If you’d like the room, it’ll be $850 before taxes.”

Them: “What? I don’t understand why he’d do that. The room is dirty; we should be getting more of a discount.”

Me: “If you want to stay, it’s $850 before taxes. Those are his words, not mine.”

Them: “Well, we don’t want to stay in a dirty room. Can you ask him if he can give us a discount on the two rooms?”

Me: “Over the phone, he told me no more discounts on anything. If you want the two rooms, they’re each $550 before tax. If you want this room, it’s $850 before tax.”

Them: “This is highly unusual. Nothing against you, but what kind of manager takes back an offer for a discount? I’ve never been to a hotel that operated like this. You’d rather lose money than just upgrade us to the room?”

Me: “I don’t know, sir. You wanted me to talk to the manager, I did, and I was told not to give you any discounts.”

After a little more complaining, they split the charges, and then, I finally checked them in and they went to their room. I placed a warning for the morning shift to watch out for these guests and to not do anything for them if they tried to get a discount or a late checkout. They ended up checking out without causing any problems.