Accommodation is often one of the greatest costs when it comes to travel, so it can be very disappointing when your hotel or hostel does not live up to expectations.
For me, accommodation can often make or break a trip! In this edition of “Oneika Answers” a reader asks what to do if they are unhappy with their hotel.
Hi Oneika! Question for you: on the rare occasion you receive poor service at a well respected hotel chain, what is the best way you’ve found to communicate your dissatisfaction?
Hi! I am a REAL stickler for service: I figure that I work hard for my money so I expect to be treated well. This goes for restaurants, beauticians, hotels etc. When it comes to hotels in particular, I am often making a conscious choice to stay where I do; no matter what my budget I have the expectation that the hotel I eventually choose will be clean (whether it is 1-star or 5-star!) and the hotel staff will be attentive (or at least available when I need them) and courteous. Huge hotel no-nos for me consist of rude, unavailable, and/or disinterested staff, dirty linens and/or silverware, and poorly maintained bathrooms. I think that these are basic things that are easy to rectify!
Anyway, back to your question. When I experience substandard service I am quick to relay my concerns to the manager on duty, being sure to record the particulars of who I spoke to as well as the time (it’s important to do this as soon as the issue arises so that it can be hopefully be addressed right away!). I also request the business card with the email/phone contact of the general hotel manager and marketing manager so that I can follow up should the issue continue unresolved. I have usually found that directly emailing the hotel’s PR people gets the ball rolling. Finally, should none of those things yield a suitable response, I would try hitting them up on social media. Try sending a message to the hotel on Twitter (if you have one) or leaving a wall post on their Facebook fan page.
Most importantly, if you really find the service at a particular hotel poor, do inform your fellow travellers so the same misfortune doesn’t befall them! I am a massive fan of TripAdvisor (I pore over reviews and pictures of hotels taken by travellers obsessively) — leave a brief statement on what the hotel did wrong (as well as what they got right)! Again, these pages are often closely monitored by hotel PR people as they want to ensure that they maintain a high ranking, so it also may be an effective way to get their attention.
Have you ever been dissatisfied with a hotel/hostel you’ve stayed in? Why? What did you do?
68 Comments
It’s FAR more difficult when you are traveling on a press trip and the hotel doesn’t meet your expectations, don’t you think? How do you write a review after that?
I don’t think it’s difficult at all! Hotels need to understanding that a review is going to be an honest appraisal of what they do or don’t offer in terms of amenities and service. While I am tactful, I always maintain my honesty. The majority of the accommodation I have reviewed for my blog has been stellar but I have landed at least one dud and I blogged candidly about what went wrong (read my review on my Roomorama accommodation in Spain last summer for details). I don’t think it’s a problem to mention the shortcomings of a hotel/hostel, it’s the best way for them to improve.
I hate when a hotel disappoints me. I’m terrible at saying something while we are there – generally, I feel like I don’t want to waste my precious travel time dealing with it nor putting a damper on my trip. (Unless, of course, it’s something that we absolutely can’t stand.)
I almost always write TripAdvisor reviews because I find them so useful and hope I can help others as they have helped me. One of the things that annoys me the most is when hotel managers get really defensive at the critiques and instead of acknowledging and looking to improve, they try to discount everything the reviewer said.
This has only happened to me once, and I ended up emailing customer service and posting a bad review online. The company got back to me really quickly, and tried to convince me to edit my review. I think things that affect their public image are tools for travelers to really get their money’s worth (though this one time in Nigeria, the hotel didn’t really care, so it does depend…)
I once had to stay overnight at a well-known chain hotel while on a trip that took two days. I had planned where to make the overnight stop, and researched hotels in the area, looking for a decently rated one on Trip Advisor. All was well when I arrived; I unloaded my stuff and took it in, but didn’t unpack. I noticed the bed covers were a bit rumpled, but thought nothing of it, until I went to the sink. (For the record, the room was a double, and it was the kind where the sink is on the wall opposite the door, with the toilet/tub off to the left behind a door, and a shelf with hanging bars to the right. The ironing board was on the small wall forming the end of the “closet” and separating it from the rest of the room.) I was about to splash my face with water when I noticed something awful in the mirror. There, on the base of the ironing board, draped over the iron, was a disgusting, USED condom. I completely flipped out and looked back at the bed, which looked rumpled in a very specific way upon second glance. I booked it back to the car, drove around the block to the front desk, and begged for another room, which I got after presenting cell phone pictures as evidence of the nastiness. Ugh.
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