Cycling UK Forum

Rant time...

I am attending a business meeting at a country house hotel on Friday. The venue is 22 miles from home, so I thought I'd cycle there and back. I phoned the hotel today to confirm that they had secure bike storage (yes we do Sir) and showers (thats more of a problem Sir). They have a gym but the only showers are in the bedrooms. A lady eventually phoned me back, delighted to offer me a preferential rate of £110 to use a room to shower and change in!

I appreciate that I would be creating work for their cleaning staff, but £110? Really? For a half hour shower and change, thats £3.66 a minute
a) If the hotel was close to capacity, I could understand the charge as I would be blocking an overnight stay. But the hotel has 'significant' availability for Thursday evening according to their website.
b) I could stay the entire night with them for £145 - seemingly £35 for the night and £110 for the shower then.
c) My business spends £4000 - £5000 a year with the hotel - I'd expect a little give and take on this issue.

What infuriates me even more is their environmental policy which they push on their website.....seemingly greenwash?

I have left a message with their General Manager so we can discuss the matter. I'll give him until 10am tomorrow before following up.....it'd be a lovely story for the local paper though....

And if CTC had a 'Cyclists not really very welcome' section on the website, I think I'd have an entry.....

Rant over, for now...

Name the hotel, I need to avoid it!

As a previous manager in the industry and frequent hotel user it frustrates me no end when I hear about situations like this. I mean this 'opportunist' who obviously doesn't understand the potential offense she has caused nor indeed the possible damage to the reputation of the hotel itself (& business retention) clearly doesn't see the bigger picture (or indeed any smaller ones either!)
The way the industry is as a whole I wonder how some survive with this type of attitude.

22 miles.
Take a wet flannel in a sealed tub in a bottle cage. Take a dry flannel in your change kit with a de-odourant stick.

Try to keep your heartrate below 65% max riding to the venue.
Give yorself a comfortable two hours for the trip.
Don't overdress on your bike. Windchill will assist in the delay of perspiration.

My only experience of hotels is as a guest, AKA customer. I could imagine there's a difference to a hotel between somebody asking for something like this on the day of the race and making a firm booking several days in advance.

On the other hand, I have a lifetime of experience as a customer and I find the best way to get something I feel is important to me is to put a marker down from the start. One of the most obvious examples is buying a car: you can often have all the extras you might ever desire, so long as you mention your wish list before signing up. A member of my family has ultimate control of a small vehicle-fleet and when it comes to getting what he wants for himself, they are limboing under the door to please him.

I hate complaining in somewhere like a hotel - as opposed to discreetly asking for something to be put right - because I never feel comfortable there again. I'm not interested in deference, either. I like staff to be sincerely friendly and welcoming and those are the places where I return often. I never return anywhere where they think they are doing me a favour by accepting my £££.

I went to Dublin to watch the '98 Tour de France start.
I was booked in at the Kiltarnan Hotel & Country Club where the USPS Team were staying. Great bunch of guys.

I arrived a few hours before my reservation started after riding up the hills from the ferry.

I was allowed in a room to quickly shower. My bike was locked away in the employee's staff room and they gave me a FREE breakfast.
I fell asleep for three hours in the lounge before checking in, changing and riding round Stage 1.

On the second morning ( Sunday ), the breakfast waitress, acknowledging I was a cyclist, brought me a 'mirror image' of what the USPS team had for their breakfast. I couldn't eat it all !! Then she packed a bag with six Danish pastries for my afternoon tea in the Wicklow Mtns.

As I understand it, Tim is already a customer of the hotel. The holder of the meeting will have paid a substantial sum for the facilities. In similar positions in the past, I have contacted the original booker and asked them to speak to the hotel. Perhaps asking that showering facilities be made available as part of the package.

Many years ago, I was invited to lunch by a very rich and influential captain of industry. On arrival at the restaurant bar, we saw a sign which said basically 'no motorcyclists'. At this point, despite all being in suits and having arrived by car, the captain of industry declared 'well that's you and I, we had better leave'. And we did

hexhome wrote:As I understand it, Tim is already a customer of the hotel.

And in that capacity is always right. It's just getting that message across that's not always easy. ,

we had better leave'. And we did

And as another grumpy git is often quoted as saying "That's the way to do it, that's the way to do it" although I wouldn't bonk them on the head with a big stick.

PS £4,000 - £5,000 pa isn't a huge sum in even a medium sort of a hotel these days. (Equivalent to one small wedding?)

thirdcrank wrote:PS £4,000 - £5,000 pa isn't a huge sum in even a medium sort of a hotel these days. (Equivalent to one small wedding?)

Maybe not, but as someone who spends as much time in hotels as at home, they are mostly grateful for business. I see plenty of evidence that whilst it is a huge industry, it is one which is under price attack from the large chains. Their only weapons are adaptability and customer service. When they get that wrong, they fail.

hexhome wrote:Name the hotel, I need to avoid it!

So you're happy for a business to be "named & shamed" before the OP has given them an opportunity to correct the situation?

A relative of mine runs a B&B business in their farmhouse, just small, two rooms available, breakfast in the kitchen, not expensive.

A family tried to book in at short notice last summer, but she was fully booked. They have now blackmailed her into giving them free accommodation next time they are in the area by threatening to post bad reviews and "name & shame" her even though they have never even visited the place.

Businesses and livelihoods can be destroyed by this sort of attitude. Granted, when all avenues have been tried to resolve a situation, sometimes the nuclear option is all that's available, but it should NEVER be the first choice.

The solution is simple and doesn't cost the hotel anything except maybe 5 minutes of someone's time. I'd offer you somewhere to lock your bike up that was secure (no big deal) and if not convenient to use an actual room possibly a word with the porter to show you the staff facilities. Though a fair few hotels with pools have a showering facility many don't include them if they just have a gym which is understandable.
This is the type of situation that many businesses go wrong with (whatever sector), one person asking something unusual seems like a PITA and too much trouble for some, however it can often turn into an opportunity that increases business for not a great deal of effort.
We've been to lots of places that have been helpful with bikes, we just make sure to ask what we want in advance (as per TCs advice) if they can't offer what we want then sadly we move on, you can compromise to a degree but when you know that it would be little or no effort to help then would other aspects of your stay be just the same?

However, one thing for sure, customers are NOT always right and need to be told on occasion, especially when by not doing so that has a negative effect on the business and/or an individual. I've seen/met some objectionable people BITD and watched with incredulity even quite senior managers allowing customers to be rude and sometimes downright nasty whilst demanding X,Y & Z. Explaining politely that they are wrong and that their attitude/behaviour is wholly unacceptable might seem as if you are shooting yourself in the foot but some people seem to forget themselves when they are away from home although some people are just like that all the time

I'd rather someone come up to me and say, look we made a mistake here and this has happened, can you help resolve the problem rather than telling lies and trying to be the big I am customer and belittling staff.

Deckie wrote:

hexhome wrote:Name the hotel, I need to avoid it!

So you're happy for a business to be "named & shamed" before the OP has given them an opportunity to correct the situation?

A relative of mine runs a B&B business in their farmhouse, just small, two rooms available, breakfast in the kitchen, not expensive.

A family tried to book in at short notice last summer, but she was fully booked. They have now blackmailed her into giving them free accommodation next time they are in the area by threatening to post bad reviews and "name & shame" her even though they have never even visited the place.

Businesses and livelihoods can be destroyed by this sort of attitude. Granted, when all avenues have been tried to resolve a situation, sometimes the nuclear option is all that's available, but it should NEVER be the first choice.

Indeed, totally wrong, it isn't as if the member of staff didn't come up with a solution, it just wasn't one the OP expected given his companies business with the hotel in the first instance..
The situation with your family member is pretty sick, and even giving someone a freebie doesn't stop them from saying nasty untruthful things. In their shoes I would have mentioned that they would be sued for libel, even recording the conversation if need be. People often back off when their bluff is called, also website owners are responsible for the content of their websites and must remove anything construed as libel or defamatory at your insistance.

On the "name and shame" thing, I place a lot of importance on personal recommendation, which includes personal disapproval, athough these need to be supported by anecdotal evidence at the very least. (Talking about a hotel isn't the same as showing somebody around your new kitchen, although even then, you don't know who has been given some introduction vouchers at £100 a throw.)

The internet can be brilliant but it's wide open to manipulation and abuse. Part of the secret is trying to read between the lines - the people trying to inflate or damage somewhere's reputation, rather than trying to inform others (where there's a fine dividing line) often stand out.
================================================
PS I was distracted by the arrival of my grandson and forgot this:

Blackmailers are never satisfied - the people in the case mentioned above may easily end up with further demands based on alleged shortcomings when the offer of free accoommodation is taken up. It's a bit the same as somebody having pictures of what is now referred to as a romp. The difference is it's a lot less embarrassing to reveal to the police that somebody has threatened you with Trip Advisor.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/60/section/21

It might not be easy for a small B&B to get the village bobby interested but commercial crime is a serious matter. (Think about the lengths that are gone to with food packaging to prevent somebody ringing a big firm to say that this or that has been tampered with and it will be £ squillion for information to trace the relevant bottles/ jars etc.)

Difficult call Deckie but if your friends are running a decent B & B they should tell the blackmailers to sod off. Word of mouth counts for a lot and personally I take bad reviews on most things with a hefty pinch of salt.Would they really lose much business? They could also ask satisfied customers to post good reviews if this threat is taken up.In any case I would have thought blackmail is agin the law. On the original query in yottie areas in Scotland at least many hotels offfer shower facilities for a couple of quid. The increase in marinas has dented this somewhat but the facility still exists in many places. In my yachting days I used these facilities often.

I think I'd have been inclined to say nothing in advance but on arrival ask casually if there was somewhere I could have a shower, I'm sure they would have let you use a spare room's shower for ten minutes. By making it a formal request I feel you may have unwittingly prompted the response you got.