I’m working in a hotel. A married couple in their mid-fifties comes in with no reservations. [Husband] turns his phone around to show me.
Husband: “I have a $68 rate on [Third-Party Site]. Can you beat that?”
I’m tired and getting a migraine. He’s literally on the front page of Google looking at a list of rates.
Me: “Sir, you need to go to the website, pick the room type, and select the date to see an accurate price.”
Husband: “No, I don’t. It literally says $68 right here.”
Me: “Okay, if you want to book on [Third-Party Site], you can do that.”
Husband: “How much is your rate?”
Me: “$99 plus tax tonight.”
Husband: “Yeah, I’ll do it this way, then.”
And he starts to book it on his phone while standing in front of my desk. That’s a pet peeve of mine, so I suggest he go have a seat while he does it, which he does.
His wife is obviously stressed.
Wife: “I have a severe pet allergy, and we’re concerned about getting a room that doesn’t have pets in it. Can he do that on his phone?”
Me: “Sure. He will have to select a non-pet-friendly room. I’d go for a double room because we don’t have any more single non-pet rooms.”
Wife: “Honey, did you hear her? Hey! You know if you book a pet room, I’m not going to be able to sleep in there! You need to let her help you!”
Husband: “I know what I’m doing.”
[Wife] looks at me, frantic, wanting to know what to do.
Me: “I would suggest not booking a prepaid nonrefundable room because if there’s a mistake on the reservation or you accidentally pick a pet room, I won’t be able to do anything about it.”
Wife: “Honey, hey! Hey! Did you hear her? She knows what she’s doing. You need to come over here and ask her to help you.”
[Husband] just ignores her. The poor woman is so stressed. I feel so bad for her.
Wife: “Can you book it on [Third-Party Site] for us if he gives you his phone? Since you’re the manager here and obviously know how this works?”
I’m not the manager, just a front desk agent. I gently tell her I’m not able to book through a third party on someone’s behalf; I can only book directly through the brand’s site and the location’s reservation system.
She goes over there to [Husband], and they have a heated conversation. Well, [Wife] has a heated conversation. [Husband] keeps ignoring her and saying, “It’ll be fine. I know what I’m doing.”
(Narrator: “He did not, in fact, know what he was doing.”)
[Wife] collapses into a chair and puts her head in her hands. She tells him to let me look at the reservation before he actually submits it, so he saunters up to the desk all smug and hands me his phone.
I scroll up and, lo and behold, he has selected a pet-friendly room.
Me: “That’s a pet-friendly room.” *Hands him back his phone*
Husband: “No, it’s not. I wrote it here that I didn’t want a pet room. See?”
He scrolls down to the special requests/guest comment box where he has written, “Not a pet room.”
Me: “That’s just a request. You chose a pet room. It doesn’t matter if you request a non-pet room if you’re going to book a pet room anyway.”
Husband: *Snapping back* “No. I wrote it here saying I want a non-pet room!”
Me: “You’re allowed to request anything you want, but the comment isn’t going to help you any if you book a pet-friendly room. You need to change the room type.”
Husband: “And how do you know it’s a pet-friendly room? Huh?”
Me: “Because we only have one of [that type of room], and it’s pet-friendly.”
Husband: “Well, I don’t want a pet-friendly room.”
Obviously.
[Wife] came over and told him that he needed to let me book it; a few dollars wasn’t worth booking the wrong room and not being able to cancel it.
He grumbled about it but eventually said he’d book through me. Ahhh, the satisfaction of seeing him go through that mental walk of shame after he’d acted like a smug b*****d saying he knew what he was doing.
He didn’t say another word to me during check-in, but [Wife] thanked me profusely for helping them out.
Poor [Wife]. I really felt awful for her; [Husband] was a total a** to her. I hope things aren’t always like that between them.
