News and notes from around the interweb:
- Marriott hotel: “You booked through Marriott, not through us, so we’re not responsible for helping you.”
Reserved a night at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Youngstown Austintown (OH) at 10:10 PM tonight. Arrived at 11:15. Was told by front desk that they were full and they cancelled my reservation. Asked for the [Ultimate Reservation Guarantee] and was told “You booked through Marriott, not through us, so we’re not responsible for helping you.”
- United Airlines is Testing a Program to Allow Passengers to Personalize Their Amenity Kits… Is This Just a Cost-Cutting Idea?
- She’s got a point.
@AmericanAir there should be a law that when a flight is this late all booze is comped for the duration of the flight pic.twitter.com/Y421YcODNJ
— Nobody Important (@icepicklist) September 21, 2024
- NSFW.
- CleanPlus.
@united way to keep first class clean. My view from row 1… gross pic.twitter.com/jsrsfMjVEZ
— Super Jabs (@SuperJabs) September 20, 2024
- MaintenancePlus.
Thanks for making me feel safe on my trip, @united… pic.twitter.com/GXcI4lXHdo
— FezzikJr (@FezzikJr) September 20, 2024
- Still waiting on United NEXT
@united – sitting on flight UA 663 from CVG to DEN in first class seat 3D. Splurged for the long flight. The tray is broken and taped down. Can't eat on it and can't work on it. Bought wifi for the entire flight through my account, and it doesn't work. Please help. pic.twitter.com/dLdaSg9v3q
— drewmyers (@drewmyers) September 20, 2024
I had the same issue at the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge in LA. But I held firm and asked the employee to look it up.
She did, and said whoops. Please come it.
For what it’s worth, the operator of the Fairfield Inn & Suites Youngstown Austintown appears to be a company called Witness. They seem to have about 30 hotels in their portfolio:
https://www.hospitalityonline.com/witness-management/locations
Lived in Canada half my life. Canadians are captive to Air Canada. There’s no need to offer a superior product (ground or in-air service) because there’s limited to no choice.
So that AC employee at LAX: doesn’t surprise me.
Whenever AC hits a new low, that doesn’t surprise me either.
I’m not saying that AA, UA, DL, etc are awesome. I’m just saying that AC isn’t.
A depressing series of stories. Kirby being Kirby by hosing passengers in new and old ways at the same time while Bonvoyed takes on a new depth. Do these jerks have conventions where they gather and share ideas on how to make customers miserable?
1) Planned red-eye to NY.
2) Wanted to book a few hours @a Marriott Courtyard in Queens so I could grab a shower and change B4 meeting.
3) they said no, some big NY event, so had to book the entire night. So I did.
4)I showed up @ 4:30, no room available. Not only wanted to walk me, tried to put blame on me, refused to try to find me another hotel.
5) I insisted on the Ultimate Res Guarentee, they denied, I documented and took it up with Marriott.
The hotel tried three more times to deny, but by documenting res # names of people, etc., they finally had to pay up.
Ultimate guarantee does not guarantee an easy guarantee.
The Fairfield Inn situation – traveler booked it at 10:10pm, on the app, arrived 65 minutes later. There is a lag in the app, there is no.push notification of that booking, or the front desk employee needs more training. The timing element does cast this is a different light.
Witness Investments…and 3/4 of the C suite are Patels.
CHRIS
That’s a racist comment regardless of anything……
@Norita
Or just pointing out nepotism?
Do you think it makes the world a better place when people are not allowed to recognize obvious realities, like Indian owned hotels in the US are run, shall we say, frugally?
——
Overall, all these stories are not about evil corporations, it’s about American workers just being entitled, selfish, lazy, and with no pride in their work.
Not defending the Marriott hotel but booking a room on any website at 10 PM to show up after 11 is, IMHO, asking for trouble. By 10 rooms may have all been taken and res system not yet synced. Also reservation may not get processed by hotel that quickly. It isn’t as seamless as many think.
If I knew I was arriving I’d book it and check in via the app at the earliest possible time. If arriving that late I would just find an area with a variety of comparable hotels (Fairfield, Courtyard, HI Express, etc or Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt as similar ones tend to group together) and then just go ask if any rooms are available.
In this case I blame the traveler for poor planning as much or more that the hotel as the expectation isn’t always reasonable.
@CHRIS and others; of all lodging accommodations in the US, FIFTY PERCENT (yes, half) are owned by Indian-Americans.
Of that fifty percent, four out of five are owned by folks with surname Patel (from the Indian state of Gujarat). To say they have been exceedingly successful in that business is an understatement.
Source: 2012 book titled
“Life Behind the Lobby:
Indian American Motel Owners and the American Dream” by Pawan Dhingra.
Paperback ISBN: 9780804778831
And with a portfolio of 30 properties, I can almost guarantee you their grandparents started with maybe a 24 key unbranded, exterior door property.
If someone inherits a business would you still call it nepotism?
Whether or not they worked in the business before inheriting.
The next generation of Patels is not necessarily following their parents and grandparents models.
I trust Hilton more than Marriott.
Some Indian hotel group called Oyo is going to be acquiring Motel6 or some other motel brand. Many motels are already owned by Indians, and that includes a lot of Motel6 places.