Poor leadership, could not get a win here.
Poor leadership. Could not get a win here during my stay.
I checked into this Holiday Inn on 2/26, for two nights. I arrived at about 4:00 on the 26th. Check in went smooth. I liked how they gave you different options for room cleaning service. You can either pass, get a small refresh or elect to have a whole cleaning. This is marked on a small piece of paper that is mated with your guest folio. I elected for the full cleaning. I’ve been an IGH member for a long time, and with that, you can add small notes for special requests. I always request rooms at the very end of the hall. I learned this request went unnoticed on this stay.
On arrival to the room I found it was a double-queen room, not a standard like I had booked. This change wasn’t mentioned during check in. On top of that, the previous guest had obviously been a smoker, as the smell in the room was pungent, to say the least. It was bad enough it would have undoubtably made my clothes smell.
I went back downstairs and let the front desk agent know about the issues. The agent had no explanation why they had changed the room type on me, and told me even though I was among the first to arrive that day, he couldn’t put me in a king-bedded room that hadn’t checked in. I asked the agent if he could see if a manager check into this instead. He went and grabbed her.
The manager came up and explained the same, telling me she could only move me into another double queen room, which was near the elevator. I never got her name, she doesn’t wear a name tag like everyone else.
I asked the manager if she could put me in a different room type. She told me there was nothing else available. Unbeknownst to her, I had just pulled the hotel’s app up and selected my dates, seeing they had both a standard room and an upgraded room type available. I showed the manager this and she said she would not sell me the room at my current rate. I mentioned my tenured status as an IGH Member, but she told me she would consider it if I was a high tiered member.
With this, I asked the manager if I could go back to get my things, and just spend a few minutes finding another hotel. The manager said I could, but she would charge me a nights room and tax as a penalty.
I ended up taking the new room keys and going to my double queen with my tail tucked between my legs. As a consolation, the manager told me she’d credit me an additional 500 points to my IGH account. Sort of a last slap in the face.
The new room was clean for sure. Comfortable, all the beds in it too. Lol. Definitely exceeded expectations for the rate.
The following day, I picked-up some around the room before leaving for work, knowing the ladies would be coming through to clean. On my way out, the manager asked me how the room was. I told her it was good and I asked her if she had inspected the first room. The manager downplayed the odor, but said housekeeping was going to fix it.
At the end of the day, I returned to the room and found neither of my keys worked. I walked back downstairs and talked to front desk. Turns out, the manager had made my new keys and only keyed them in to work for a single night.
Back at the room again, I found no one had come to clean, like even for a little bit. I suspect the manager failed to transfer that cleaning card over to the new folio.
I called and talked to the front desk. He told me housekeeping had gone home for the night and he had no idea what had happened. The agent offered to bring me some new towels if I needed them. I took him up on this and he promptly walked them up.
I worked in hospitality in Napa Valley for the better part of a decade. I know first hand how a lot of this works at hotels. I can attest, it’s not hard to provide hospitality, in fact, it’s enjoyable to provide it. With this, I know sometimes an upgrade or allowing a guest to walk is just part of doing business. As mentioned at the start, I just could not get a win here, and I feel like it all falls onto management. Whether it’s the front desk manager acting as if I wanted to take the food from her mouth, or a housekeeping manager not second guessing why a room doesn’t have a preference in cleaning, or allowing another room to pass inspection when it should have been left out of order. Plain and simple, leadership here failed the guest, and failed their team.
So, I’d say it’s a game a risk on coming here. Luckily, there are a lot of great alternative options in the immediate area.