15/11/2017
Booking guest tricks
1. Making a reservation for less number of guests and playing around the system and the hotel. * Most of the time the hoteliers are aware of these tricks and the guest is paying a supplement at the hotel;
2. Showing up earlier and threaten the hotels that they will underscore the hotel if they don’t get a room immediately. * The guest will probably wait until the room is ready (and don't forget that the check-in time is not "until" but "from"...);
3. Threatening the hotel to underscore if they don’t get an upgrade or to snag an upgrade, checking in toward the end of the day. * Most of the time the hoteliers are aware of these tricks, if they have the possibility they will upgrade you before your arrival (don't insist to get one unless you pay the extra fee);
4. After getting the rooms implanting objects under the bad or elsewhere, complaining of noisy neighbors or a messy room and threatening the hotel with “pictures” taken in order to get another free night or free meal (upgrades for the rest of the stay, a credit to the account, or drink vouchers for the bar, late check out). * Most of the time the hoteliers are aware of these tricks, the hotel is providing you a clean room and is not responsible for the "noises" coming from out the premises (if there are any);
5. The list continues with other complaints like stolen money from the safe or the rudeness of the staff. * Most of the time the hoteliers are aware of these tricks and the hotel is not responsible of your stolen (if stolen) stuff (it is written on the reservation form that you are signing at the Front Desk;
6. To mention that it's a special occasion (nice trick): Whether it's your birthday, anniversary, honeymoon, or first time at a hotel, who knows, if the hotelier is dupe or good willing these tricks can lead to upgrades or amenity kits that help make the stay all the more special… * This is not new, if you play nice you'll probably get something;
7. Frequently, travelers polled use country/currency arbitrage to nab a hotel deal and are playing with the currency exchange rate difference. * But this is not working anymore, because the guest has to pay according the currency exchange rate of the hotel.
8. Guests avoiding to pay VAT… Nice trick… If only the front desk agent is a new bee. * The guest is mostly not exempted to pay VAT or City taxes like in Rome.
It’s why the reviews of the guests should be monitoring by booking companies in order to be reliable since they are using this tool (social media) as a weapon against the hoteliers which are getting threatened on a daily basis at the front desk who will be able to solve the problem immediately or at least act as proxy. I found out that monitored reviews are more accurate or other independent reviews such as tripadvisor, simply because the "guest" know that they cannot play with the system neither threaten the hoteliers. As a “Quality Assessor” I personally do not trust to these kind comments after inspecting more than 2500 hotels & “30.000” rooms (more but not less)”…
This is my personal point of view as an International Chief “Hotel Inspector” for 17 years, checking the “service”, “standards”, “quality” and “brand”.
