I work as a receptionist in a hotel in a small seaside town in Tuscany famous for its beaches and thermal baths. A customer books a reservation for all of August, the busiest tourist month of all the season. The hotel accepts small dogs or animals that can stay in a cage: for example, little birds.
Before the confirmation of the booking, we send an email asking if the customer has animals. They write back saying that they have a meerkat with them, but they assure us that it will stay in the cage when they are at the beach.
The manager decides to accept the reservation, even though it isn’t a typical animal, with the clause that the customer has to pay all the reservation period in advance. The idea is that the customer would never accept such a proposal, but the manager is wrong, and the customer pays everything immediately.
I send an email to the customer with the confirmation of the booking, as well as all the information and phone numbers if they want to reserve the deck chair and umbrella at one of the bathhouses near the hotel. I suggest they do so as soon as possible and, after that, I don’t think any more about the strange reservation.
August comes and the couple with the meerkat arrives with a small cage and the animal on a leash like a small dog. This conversation happens after the check-in.
Me: “Have you booked a bathhouse around here as suggested? I can give you the directions there if you need them.”
Customer’s Husband: “No, why?”
Me: “We are in full season; it is very difficult to find a place now.”
Customer: “We read the email, but we thought that you were too dramatic, so we didn’t do it.”
Me: *Still smiling* “Not a problem. There are some free beaches around here. They are a little crowded, but if you don’t mind, they are very nice. Remember only that your pet has to remain inside the cage, closed, when you are out so that it can’t escape from the room or dirty it.”
Customer: “Don’t worry; we will take the meerkat with us to the beach, and we are sure that we will find a place to stay in a bathhouse near the hotel.”
Me: “Are you sure? I don’t think that any bathhouse will accept the meerkat. It is not a dog, and as written in the mail that I sent you, only two bathhouses accept animals.”
Customer: *Starting to look at me as if I’m dumb* “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing! They will not dare to reject us.”
The next afternoon, the customer’s husband arrives at the reception desk really upset.
Customer’s Husband: “This place is impossible! It’s supposed to be a very famous tourist town! They don’t want tourists! We hate it here and we want to leave tomorrow!”
Me: “I’m so sorry. How can help you to change your mind?”
Customer’s Husband: *Even more upset* “We walked all the morning to find a place in a bathhouse, but they were all full or they don’t accept pets! And wherever we went, all the other tourists wanted to take selfies or photos with our meerkat, and all the small kids wanted to pet it, calling it Timon!”
Me: *Trying to remain serious* “I’m so sorry, but I think that seeing a meerkat is something that doesn’t happen every day, and as I told you yesterday and I wrote in the email that I sent you at the moment of the reservation, we are in full season—”
Customer’s Husband: “I don’t care! My wife thinks that everyone is so rude in this place!”
Me: “I’m really sorry. The only thing that I can suggest for you is that your pet remains in your room inside the cage while you enjoy the sea. I can try to find a place at the bathhouse in front of us with a special discount for the inconvenience.”
Customer’s Husband: *Even more upset* “My wife would never put her beloved pet in a cage; how dare you even suggest it?! I will talk to your manager, and we want to leave tomorrow with a full refund!”
He went away, muttering about the rudeness of everyone. I called the manager and told him all about the conversation, and he assured me not to worry and that he had the situation under control.
The next day, I asked the manager about it.
The couple decided to leave, even though the manager refused to give them a refund because they had been well advised by email about the need to reserve a bathhouse before their arrival, and it is not the fault of the hotel if people wanted to take photos of their pet.
While they were discussing that, the customers left the door of their room open and the meerkat was (obviously) not in the cage. The pet went missing and the wife started to scream and cry trying to find the animal. All of the hotel’s staff started to look for the meerkat everywhere, even outside the hotel. My manager instead decided to enter the room, and there the poor meerkat was – terrified by all that noise – simply hiding under the bed.
When the wife saw the manager with her missing pet, she started to hug him and thanked him, calling him her savior and superhero.
After they left, my manager’s new rule became: “No meerkats allowed!” but all the staff started to call him the savior of meerkats!
