Why do I have to pay a plane fare if I’m late for a flight while an airline refuse to honour my reservation and completely screw up my plans just because they overbooked? Travel customers get treated rudely and are expected to cheerfully pay for it. Since traveling is inconvenient, overpriced, usually boring and overrated, I stopped traveling.

I just laugh about these companies saying they must overbook to make a profit. If they can’t make a profit the honest way, let them go into another business.

Mr. Gutman had a reservation, one that if he had not shown up for he would have still paid for. Unlike the car rental industry where one does not have to guarantee the reservation inthe hotel industry you do. Chris in Alska claims to be a frequent traveler but he doesn’t know this.

Mr. Gutman has absoultely no responsiblility to inspect anything He has already been inconvenieneced. He had a reservation and that reservation should have beeb honored period. The one problem I have with the scenerio is that Marriott did not put him up in an equal or better facility.

Marriott is a class act when it comes to customer service which is why I am a loyal Marriott customer. Their rooms are more expensive than Holiday Inn Express and other low budget hotels but they give better service. That is what I expect and why I pay more. I applaude Marriott for taking care of their customer.

Sorry for my ranting but as a frequent traveler I am tired of the poor service I receive from the likes of “customer service” agents like Chris in Alaska. What part of customer service does he not get. Does this have anything to do with why he is no longer on the industry.

As a traveler I don’t exepect anything more than what I ask for. Mr. Gutman clearly did not get what he asked for and was promised by the Residence Inn. Good customer service was clearly excercised here on the part of Marriott.

After having worked in the rental car industry for three years, I have to disagree with you on this. The sheer percentage of people who no-show–i.e., just simply do not show up without any warning–makes this too burdensome. Having to call dozens of people each night to tell them their rooms may not be available when 95% of the people you call plan on leaving you hanging high and dry anyway is not a realistic solution.

Hotels, rental car companies, and airlines HAVE to overbook slightly in order to maintain an optimal product utility (as many rooms, cars, and airline seats in use as possible). The trick on the company’s parts is to plan it correctly so that you don’t have to turn anyone away, but sometimes things are out of control. (And if these companies did not overbook, rates/fares would be higher due to lower utility percentages.) I blame these problems as much on the bums who skip out on their reservations as I do on the companies that end up having to turn people away.

I do agree that the Residence should have put the customer up in equal or better accommodations, though. Whenever we ended up running out of cars during our peak season, I would do everything I could to secure an equal or better car at one of our competitors’ places (although of course you always get the guy who doesn’t want the “better” car because it burns more gas or is too big to park on city streets–I guess some people just can’t be pleased). If absolutely nothing was available, I would offer one of our smaller cars plus a moderate discount for the hassle. If even that wasn’t available, well, we would tear our hair out and hope for the best. I don’t recall ever having to absolutely turn anyone away without a backup plan, though we did come close a couple of times.

I think that what the Residence did was slightly overkill–20,000 Marriott Rewards points. That’s nice, and it may be worth it for Marriott if it secures Mr. Gutman as a Marriott customer for life, but in my opinion, it would have been completely fair to, say, give a refund equal to the difference between the Residence’s average rate and the alternate hotel’s average rate, plus a small extra discount for the hassle of switching hotels and not getting what he had planned–certainly, refunding the entire first night is excessive. And Mr. Gutman had just as much responsibility to inspect the alternate hotel and ask for alternate accommodations before accepting the offer that the Residence proposed. By neglecting to do this, he indicated that the alternate accommodations were acceptable.

Sometimes junk happens, and as a frequent traveler, when stuff happens, I’m disappointed, but I understand and accept it in stride. I get tired of whiny people who always expect the red carpet to come out for them and them only. Sorry if I’m ranting too much here, but after serving my time in customer service, I really don’t have much patience any more for the acts that many customers put on…