Back in January of 2010, 9 months ago, I went to the Hotel Floyd website and made a room request. Call it a reservation. A very dear friend of mine was getting married and I wanted to reserve my space.
When I submitted the room request, I did not submit a credit card as there was no place to do so. I was sent an auto-generated email that said that my room was “not guaranteed” and would not be honored unless I called and put a credit card on file. So when my life plans changed and I could not honor the reservation, I never worried because I wasn’t officially registered anyway.
I received lots of calls from my friends this weekend, “We miss you!”, “We wish you were here!”, etc. It was great to hear from them and I was a bit bummed that I could not make the trip and attend the wedding.
And then today (Monday), I got a call from the hotel management. Derek Wall, the hotel manager called me on my cell phone and asked me why I did not honor my reservation. I couldn’t even answer him. He went on and on about how rude it was for me to not show up and that I should have common courtesy, yadda yadda. I finally broke in and let him know that if he was calling me for money – that wasn’t going to happen.
That’s when he really flipped out. Derek told me he didn’t like my attitude and that I needed to understand that when I make a commitment that I needed to honor that commitment….click.
I hung up. Shocked. A hotel manager from Floyd Virginia is going to call me up and chew me out first thing Monday morning? Really? And over what?
Derek called right back and I didn’t answer so he left me a long voice mail:
“John, this is Derek Wall calling from Hotel Floyd. I don’t appreciate you calling and hanging up the phone on me (he called me)….but I do like to discuss these issues because you know, not showing up to a reservation, you can sit here and put the blame on the hotel but you made the reservation that should have sent you a conservation email….I will search for that confirmation email and show you what it says at the very top of that email, uh, leaving a credit card is customary, ah, if I had to call every person that forgot to leave a credit card (I didn’t forget, not website functionality) it, it’s hard for me to do that…I have a limited staff here, I’m not a corporation, ah, so you can sit here and lecture me and put the blame on us but it was you at fault because you did not show up….you did make a reservation, you are obligated to show up….”
He went on for a good while about how I should have called him and that it is my fault, not the hotel’s fault, that he is all worked up and angry.
My question is this: Why did they not have time to call me before the event to confirm my registration but they had lots of time after the event to call and chew me out? I don’t get it. And who calls to complain that someone did not honor a reservation? Do restaurants to this? Do other hotels do this? Is this just Hotel Floyd?
Also, why did Hotel Floyd have all the bandwidth to send me advertisements over the last few months but didn’t have the bandwidth to confirm a reservation?
So, thinking about staying in Floyd, VA for Floyd Fest or some other cool festival? I understand Hotel Floyd is a decent place to stay. But think long and hard before you make a reservation. I have never met the management personally but from the hostile emails and phone calls, they seem a little unstable.
