This Relationship is Worth Nothing

Sun Jun 13 10:50:10 -0700 2010

Today was the last day I had booked in my hotel room. I had won this room through an Internet bidding service at a heavy discount of $85 per night. However, I needed to extend my stay in the hotel another two days and that is where this relationship went to hell.

I called the front desk of this hotel and asked “I’d like to extend my stay another couple of nights, how much would that be?”

“Well, we can not give you the same rate you are on now, so it will be $200 a night to extend”.

“K, thanks, bye”.

So, what did I do? Tried Priceline again, and what should happen? We win another bid for two nights for $85 AT THE SAME HOTEL.

Calling the front desk resulted in “Oh, ok, come down to reception and change your key then, all good”…

O.o

So what is the difference between me calling up to extend, and me calling up with a winning bid?

Nothing, except one teeny tiny thing… I am an existing customer. I have already chosen this hotel (sure based on price, but I am here none the less) and so, they have an opportunity to create a strong relationship.

Which they shot in the foot.

This attitude just pushes the idea that my custom, is worth nothing, zero, squat and that my relationship with the hotel is worth nothing.

What did it gain the hotel? Well, the only thing it gained them is that now I know that I can “cheat” their “system” which just means contempt.

If the hotel was booked out, extending my stay at a low rate would not be good business sense. Sure. But it wasn’t. The hotel is half empty, and they are still offering the same price I paid through the internet.

Your existing customers are your most valuable resource. That is not to say you can’t entice new customers with “special offers”, that is fine, but remember that it is your existing customers who are paying your bills and feeding your cat.

This hotel in San Francisco would have won my stay for several more nights, but now I know that I can get a similar or cheaper price on the internet, which means my custom at this hotel is purely up to the gods.

And that is not good business sense.

blogLater

Mikel

  1. carmodae Says:
    Tue Nov 08 19:38:45 -0800 2011

    Not that this makes any of this right, but you might be confusing “the hotel” with “the person who is employed to answer the phone at the front desk”, and more specifically the authorization that the hotel gives that person to negotiate.

  2. Sam Ruby Says:
    Sun Jun 13 13:04:52 -0700 2010

    Not that this makes any of this right, but you might be confusing “the hotel” with “the person who is employed to answer the phone at the front desk”, and more specifically the authorization that the hotel gives that person to negotiate.

  3. Mikel Lindsaar Says:
    Sun Jun 13 13:22:09 -0700 2010

    Good point, but I think that is the underlying point. I don’t blame the employee in this situation, it is an overal state of play in the Hotel and the culture that surrounds it.

    With the world becoming transparent, this sort of game won’t survive.

    Mikel

  4. Mike Says:
    Thu Jul 01 04:22:11 -0700 2010

    Two thoughts:

    1) You’re looking at this as a problem with hotels, so you see the problem as being limited to hotels. I look at it as a larger problem, that “low level” employees in American businesses are often not given negotiating power. Thus the saying, “Don’t take a ‘no’ from someone who can’t give you a ‘yes’.”

    2) This might often have something to do with the contract between the hotel and the Internet bidding service as well. Say for example that the hotel has already signed a contract with the Internet bidding service for a majority of the empty rooms in the half-empty hotel in an attempt to make some money on those empty rooms. The hotel may be obligated to hold those rooms for the Internet bidding service. It would really depend on the contract, but I’m just giving an example.

  5. Iulia Says:
    Tue Aug 10 23:48:56 -0700 2010

    I have the same opininon with those who commented above.Maybe the employee have limited skills regarding the negotiation with customers.

    He seemed that he wasn’t preoccupied by client.When you negotiate you need to make the other believe that he win more than you when in fact the opposite is happening.So you succeed when the customer is convinced by the benefits that he receives.

    With each attracted customer, your bussiness is more profitable.In their case, the things wasn’t so clear and the results are already seeing:“The hotel is half empty”

  6. Ruby & Rails - Poetry & Motion Says:
    Mon Mar 28 14:46:07 -0700 2011

    I’m completely agree with what people have said re. the employee having no power to enforce common sense on the situation. However, companies really do need to look carefully at what exactly a “new customer” brings vs an “existing customer”. Yet again I had to transfer my phone contract to another company, only to transfer it back 2 days later to be considered a “new customer” and get a heavily discounted rate. The company knew I intended to do this and their only comeback was to pressure me (quite rudely) to save myself the hassle of doing this by accepting the more expensive rate.

Leave a Reply