well that escalated quickly.

[gfrancie]

Last night we checked a couple of places for dinner and it looked like no one could seat a party of ten, which makes sense. That is a lot of folks. We decided to have dinner at the hotel, which is fine. We have children, it was near the rooms, the food is fairly reasonable and we knew what we were getting into. We got everyone sorted, and Mr. Jenner went and ordered for the four of us. We got our drinks, we sat and waited. It was taking a very very very long time. (and my brother in law had issues with ordering his meal. For some reason the person taking the order couldn't do something because it was somehow too complicated. My sister in law went and got it sorted out when she spoke to someone else.) Everyone's orders came out, except... ours. And again, it was fairly slow in there and we asked the server, "So..where are the other four meals that we ordered....BEFORE the other meals?" She had no idea. She didn't know anything about other food. A manager came out and said, "we don't recall any food?" We showed him a receipt. We had waited a very long time. The kids were hungry. It was late. I was hangry. I looked quite unimpressed. It turned out the person who took our order somehow didn't get it to the kitchen. I looked at my husband, looked at the manager, and said, "I think I might go to waitrose next door, because the children need to be fed and it is very.very.late." He said, "I will GET the food out in the next five or ten minutes. I will supervise this. I am really sorry." The waitrose was closed. I got chips from the vending machine so the kids wouldn't eat anyone's hands. As I was going back to the table the manager said, "What we can do is refund you the cost of your meal, and get the food out to you." I said, "hey, that is really nice. Thank you so much. And thanks for figuring out what happened." My brother in law spoke to the bartender and even he said, "that should not have happened, we are really sorry. I don't know what that guy's problem was, because it wasn't busy, and it wasn't that difficult." And I was happy that we got an apology, and the kids got their food, and I had something to eat. (long day out, my vision was going wonky, my balance was all messed, I just wanted to eat, and sleep.) I would have been perfectly cool with paying the full cost of the meal. An apology and making things right is good enough for me. I admit, I did get into Stern as fuck Mommy mode with the manager about what had happened and asked him how quickly he could fix it. And My Mother in law got in on it too. Two stern Mothers who are disappointed are not a thing to behold. And when food came, I said, "Thank you so much, this is great. Let's eat." The manager then came up and said, "Hey we are also offering you free breakfast tomorrow." I was like, "oh wow, thanks." Because really that is crazy kind. And then? He offered us a voucher to get fifty percent off our next stay with that hotel chain. The hotel stay had been fine. It's inexpensive. It's spare. It's clean. There is free wi-fi. They cover the cost of some of the parking, since you have to pay to stay in a lot next door. (which is totally cool in a central part of town.) They gave us extra pillows when we asked for them, and we had a gorgeous view. They are obviously experienced with large groups (especially families) staying with them. What is not to like. I don't need much in a hotel room. I was kinda floored by that one. I think I may have asked, "Are you sure?" What next? a pony? So because some person screwed up something like dinner, we didn't pay for dinner or breakfast. We are getting a voucher for our next stay, and I will always say polite things about Travelodge, because really, I would have been fine with just an apology. They went waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay above what was required.

Comments

[cutebutpsycho99.livejournal.com]

I've had moments like that. I tend to get all frosty ice bitchy angry while the mister is the polite, smooth one who is all "SHE'S ANGRY. TRUST ME YOU DO NOT WANT THIS."

Having the kid go bananas also helps sometimes.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

I always feel like a dick when I have to become like that. Like I begin to question if I was a great big asshole throwing a hissy fit.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Aw, well I'm glad it ended well. Yay for good managers. Maybe next time you should haggle for that pony. Does Ms. Biscuit like them?

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

I like how you think.

[amamama.livejournal.com]

Wow. Way to turn a bad experience around. Big cheers for managers who know how to do their job. This guy obviously knew the worth of word-of-mouth.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

I suppose in this day and age of bad internet reviews, people are scared of what might be said.

[jillithian.livejournal.com]

Nice. The hotel we stayed at this weekend had some issues, as well. Well, one issue. They have check-out at 11am but the baby shower was at noon, so, when I reserved the room months ago, I asked for a late check-out. "Fine" she said. When we checked in, the two ladies behind the desk saw no reference to the noon check out. So one added it to the computer and the other got the cleaning service book to add it there.

Guess who got called at 11:03 the next day anyway asking if we were staying another night or not. That lady had no record of us staying until noon.

Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh.

Otherwise it was fine. We didn't have issues with hangry children and no food. The restaurant at our hotel was quite prompt.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wonder what goes on with staff when that kind of stuff goes down.

[artemis-moon.livejournal.com]

I am glad you finally got your meals!

I wonder what happened with your order? How strange! Well, at least you got dinner, breakfast, and a voucher which is awesome!

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I am sure it was some massive communication fuck up.

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

Wow. Now that's the way to treat customers.

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

Yeah no kidding.

[claritapita.livejournal.com]

This was in England? Wow! :)

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

I felt kinda like an asshole afterwards, but I have found that I am really firm and stare people down and say, "You need to fix this now. I am disappointed." They tend to move.