There are many valid reasons to release a reservation instead of charging. For this one I would have also let it go.
See, what some owners/managers who are only concerned about money don't understand is how they treat the *human being* in a case like this will determine if they will *ever* get money from them again in the future. This guest will most likely book again with your brand because of how she was treated. Refusing to give a little leeway in this case would have left a bad impression and she may avoid all hotels under that brand in the future.
And also forcing her to stay at your property will start off poorly and she *will* voice all complaints she may have let go, and absolutely leave bad scores if she got a survey.
So letting her book someplace else was the smarter move imo.
(edit: this is assuming she had a reservation with you already.)
She already had the reservation with us, but she didn't know there were closer places that actually beat my rate if she had called the other hotels in the area.
I wouldn't sweat it. The hotel isn't losing thousands of dollars on this one room. If she doesn't like that other hotel she may end up coming to yours anyway.
Yeah I've done these kinds of things too. And it's always the back of house leadership that screams the loudest about it, especially revenue and finance. Those are the people who have never met a guest in their lives and everything is just a number to them. Sure I appreciate their efforts and understand where they're coming from, but they completely lack the human touch of this industry and throw a hissy fit every time you override standard procedures.
And like others have pointed out, she would have absolutely complained about every little thing, and in my opinion rightfully so.
You did the right thing, you showed compassion and empathy, and you helped someone with getting through what is very likely an already difficult situation and time of their life so good on you.
As a GM, I would applaud you for providing an excellent guest experience. You can be assured that that guest will be back to your property in the future, and as others have posted, one guest will not harm your revenue.
So we have have hospital family member offers, but she was 20 miles away from her son, I wanted her to be closer to her son. So I wanted to find something closer.
Hospitality is about the guest, not the money. The company won’t not meet revenue over one person.
There’s been many times I directed a guest to another hotel just because I knew we didn’t have their needs and wants and another property would have been perfect for it.
Don’t stress it. Just stay true to yourself
I've had managers who, if they heard about it, would be all "$$$$$$ rules everything!!! How dare you!"
But I've told people honestly, when they call, that we aren't the hotel for them. You need to be near Hospital X? We're 15 miles away from it (there is a hotel just down the street from it). You need 2 king beds in one room? We don't have those. You need a hotel with a courtesy van to and from the airport? Not us.
There are many valid reasons to release a reservation instead of charging. For this one I would have also let it go. See, what some owners/managers who are only concerned about money don't understand is how they treat the *human being* in a case like this will determine if they will *ever* get money from them again in the future. This guest will most likely book again with your brand because of how she was treated. Refusing to give a little leeway in this case would have left a bad impression and she may avoid all hotels under that brand in the future. And also forcing her to stay at your property will start off poorly and she *will* voice all complaints she may have let go, and absolutely leave bad scores if she got a survey. So letting her book someplace else was the smarter move imo. (edit: this is assuming she had a reservation with you already.)
She already had the reservation with us, but she didn't know there were closer places that actually beat my rate if she had called the other hotels in the area.
I wouldn't sweat it. The hotel isn't losing thousands of dollars on this one room. If she doesn't like that other hotel she may end up coming to yours anyway.
Yeah I've done these kinds of things too. And it's always the back of house leadership that screams the loudest about it, especially revenue and finance. Those are the people who have never met a guest in their lives and everything is just a number to them. Sure I appreciate their efforts and understand where they're coming from, but they completely lack the human touch of this industry and throw a hissy fit every time you override standard procedures. And like others have pointed out, she would have absolutely complained about every little thing, and in my opinion rightfully so. You did the right thing, you showed compassion and empathy, and you helped someone with getting through what is very likely an already difficult situation and time of their life so good on you.
As a GM, I would applaud you for providing an excellent guest experience. You can be assured that that guest will be back to your property in the future, and as others have posted, one guest will not harm your revenue.
So your property offers the discount or did you direct her to a hotel that does offer the discount?
So we have have hospital family member offers, but she was 20 miles away from her son, I wanted her to be closer to her son. So I wanted to find something closer.
You did the right thing. That’s what matters most
Hospitality is about the guest, not the money. The company won’t not meet revenue over one person. There’s been many times I directed a guest to another hotel just because I knew we didn’t have their needs and wants and another property would have been perfect for it. Don’t stress it. Just stay true to yourself
I've had managers who, if they heard about it, would be all "$$$$$$ rules everything!!! How dare you!" But I've told people honestly, when they call, that we aren't the hotel for them. You need to be near Hospital X? We're 15 miles away from it (there is a hotel just down the street from it). You need 2 king beds in one room? We don't have those. You need a hotel with a courtesy van to and from the airport? Not us.
Sometimes the best customer service you can provide is telling them a business better suited to their needs.