Guest contacts hotel demanding cancelled reservation, but their story keeps changing becoming increasingly unbelievable: 'I tell him no. That is against policy as per my manager'

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Aug 10, 2024 10:00 AM EDT

In your first customer service gig, you will be shocked at how readily people manipulate and bend the truth in their favor while recounting events with what seems like complete and absolute sincerity.

The first time you encounter one of these sad sob stories, your first instinct will be to do everything in your power to help them out. But the first time one of these stories starts to not quite add up, unraveling before your very eyes, you're going to end up with trust issues and not take anything a customer says at face value ever again. It's a shame, really, that this becomes the case, as there are plenty of honest people out there seeking assistance. But these types of situations ruin it for everyone and make sticking fast to the written resolution process to be a necessity.

That's what this hotel front desk worker encountered when they were contacted by a frantic guest who let them know that they had mistakenly made a booking, seeking to cancel it so they could place a booking with a different hotel. New and relatively inexperienced in how to handle these situations themselves, they deferred to their micromanaging manager's instructions, declining to touch the reservation themselves. 

This prompted a series of calls to different customer service people in the company, with the guest's story twisting and turning every step of the way. See the front desk worker's account of events, which they shared with this popular customer service community, below.

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10387200256
    via Giorgio Trovato
  • 02
    "Don't you think your manager would want you to make a judgement call here?" No. No, she would not. Long My first tale here just because I've never had a guest manage to get three different paid-by-point reps on the phone with me and they were all was almost impressed. Guest calls me very early on Saturday morning and opens the conversation with: "Hi. Good morning. I really really screwed this up." . I
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 03
    He tells me that he is booking a room for his oldest son and nephew because they were staying in the general area for a funeral of a friend of theirs. However, he tells me he was sleepy this morning and selected the wrong hotel. The hotel he wanted to choose is about 20 minutes away driving from where my hotel is. Understandable, so I pull up his reservation and see that he has unfortunately paid for the entire stay using points.
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 04
    This is my first hotel gig so what my manager says to me is bible because I literally do not know this industry yet. She also has a tendency to micromanage and I do not care enough about this weekend job to go against what she wants. So she tells me to never under any circumstances touch reservations booked through points? Me no touchy.
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 05
    I inform the guest that I am unable to cancel his reservation because of the way that he has booked it and gave him the support line number. He is a bit frustrated, but he understands that its his fault so he called. First rep calls the front desk like 15 minutes later and its obvious the guest changed up the story. Now its that his father has died and he's getting his underaged kids to a funeral for their grandfather. I didn't bother correcting the rep, I just told him that I can't do anything
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 06
    Done. Transferred. And sent to voicemail. Second rep calls. Its a woman this time saying that the son is the one on the line. with her now, crying about the messed up reservation. But the son seems to think that it is MY fault for booking him at MY hotel instead of the other one. I tell the rep that I didn't even make the reservation. She insists that someone at my hotel must have made the reservation. One quick confirmation number over and she says "Okay, I'll handle it on my end", then she jus
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 07
    Weird. But okay. The third rep calls. Its a different male rep who says the wife of the person who booked is very upset because she insists that her husband wouldn't have made that stupid of a mistake and clearly we did something to swipe the business from the other hotel. Thankfully, I didn't have to tell the rep how stupid that sounded. So he starts telling me to just cancel the reservation on my end so he can get them rebooked.
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 08
    I tell him no. That is against policy as per my manager. He says that he is just trying to help the customer and I just need to push the button. I say that I can't and he asks why. I repeat that it is against the policy set by my manager and I will not be cancelling the reservation. He AGAIN just tells me that its not a big deal and he's never heard of such crazy policy from a hotel and that I was holding the customer HOSTAGE and keeping his kids from seeing their dead grandfather. May I just re
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 09
    Now the guest calls again. He is frustrated but trying to keep his calm when I tell him that I am not permitted to touch his reservation because of how it was booked. So he asks me the question from the title: "Don't you think your manager would want you to make a judgement call here?"
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 10
    No. No, she would not. And I say, "I apologize sir, but I am nobody to go against company policy and speak for my superiors. She's the manager for a reason." He relents and leaves her a voicemail. Guess who shows up the next day at check in? The son and nephew who are BOTH in their early 30s and inform me that the funeral home they have to go to is actually only 5 minutes away from my hotel. It took all my power to not scream.
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 11
    SkwrlTail 10 hr. ago • Oof... Wonder what the actual situation was that he wanted to cancel? ADecentArmadillo OP . 10 hr. ago I was wondering if he just wanted his son to pay for his own room? The guy was 30-something and covered his incidental with a gold AMEX so he is clearly not hurting for money.
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 12
    soonerpgh 10 hr. ago • You did make a judgement call. Your call was to not touch the reservation. snootnoots 5 hr. ago • "Sir, given how many different versions of this story you've told me and various support line employees, my judgment call is that I won't be touching this booking with a ten foot pole."
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 13
    Gogo726 10 hr. ago That was some twist about the funeral home! ADecentArmadillo OP. 10 hr. ago I was expecting them to be 1 off when they came in since supposedly the funeral home was going to be almost 40 minutes away due to the mistake. Meanwhile, I could SPIT at the funeral home from the front doors of the hotel.; _ ; People really need to learn how to use google maps properly...
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 14
    No_Party_6167.9 hr. ago If it were that much of an emergency, then why not just pay for a room at the correct hotel immediately and deal with the points situation on Monday? This was never about an emergency funeral situation. It's about "ME WANT FREE, ME WANT NOW"
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 15
    bobhand17123. 9 hr. ago Oye sheesh. The first caller lead off with his own culpability and was sooo forthcoming. But... he didn't think to drop the name of the funeral home. Sheesh vey, it would have saved so much heartache and heartburn. Makes me wonder if there was some other motivation.
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 16
    WizBiz92 3 hr. ago This one's wild- any rep should be aware that points aren't handled at the property level. How are this many people so clueless about what actually will work for the guest? I mean, sure, you could've deleted the res, but then those points are forfeit
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 17
    ADecentArmadillo OP. 3 hr. ago I was so curious about this end. Because... there is no money for me to refund because it was all covered with points! So what would me hitting cancel reservation even accomplish for them? I mean for us it's fine because we have an extra King room to sell but I just don't get what the fuss was for them... One of my managers just told me to not take it personally because the reps don't like helping without making it seem like we are the ones at fault.
    via u/ADecentArmadillo
  • 18
    Newbosterone · 6 hr. ago "I did make a judgment call, sir. In my judgment, my manager would want me to follow policy as I have been trained."
    via u/ADecentArmadillo

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customer support customer service workplace-stories talesfromretail job malicious compliance retail talesfromthefrontdesk work customers tales from the front desk customer workplace
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