Good for Glassman! Hit 'em where it hurts!

but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...

Good for Glassman. This is what *everyone* should do.

How many times have we read about how some poor schlub had a run-in with whatever company and still did business with the company?

If more people voted with their wallets, sooner or later the companies will learn and have no choice but to fail or change their business model.

Well, there was no official apology, and no compensation.

''You can stuff your training opportunity up yours @ss!''

Awesome!

Typical DC customer service. Most people in DC in customer service really couldn't give a you no what about the people they are supposed to be helping.

Living in DC for quite a while, I have piles of stories like this, stories of truly absurd situations where staff seems to go out of their way not to help.

Kennedy was right, DC is a mix of southern efficiency with northern charm.

@Trick: And not just do it, but make sure that the company knows why and just as importantly, make sort everyone else does too. Without publicity, withdrawal of custom won't hurt a large firm unless they're already short of customers.

I love the "it seems like we could have handled this better" quote in the article. It only "seems" that way, huh?

I think Hilton has had great customer service. But good job- that'll teach them!

@Ms. Pants: Mr. Glassman sounds like one tough old guy. He should run for congress.

I'm an HHonors Gold member and had a problem at the exact same hotel. I did complain (both to corporate and to the GM of the property) and they went out of their way to get my business back.

I already decided not to do business with Hilton based on the abhorrent behavior of their children. But glad to see someone found a legitimate reason.

Beauty! Way to go Mr. Glassman! The problem with many corporations (IE Burger King) is that the stores are independently owned and operated. Thus, corporate does not have much oversight, leading to situations like these.

I'm sure Marriott would gladly give him and his law firm the equivalent status if they were to see this story.

@Trick:

This is exactly how I feel. I wish people would be more attentive to where they spend their money and not support bad customer service.

Knowing that lawyers such as he may tend to be total blow hards who believe the world rotates around themselves, this was the perfect customer vs. corporate storm in which the customer did, in fact, have both an attitude AND the power to back it up:

"What Mr. Glassman did next was cancel all of his existing Hilton reservations - and those of his 21-member law firm as well."

Basically the ignorant front line people screwed the customer loyalty program and corporation...

*at the clerk*

"Are you smarter than a......... no, you're not."

@GothamGal: We are, at least with Budget car rental losing my business due to an abismal rental check out performance at PHL in June 2007. I am spending more with Hertz due to this...

@Meltdown: I suspect that some of the training came from the employees being let go...

I'm still not understanding what the clerk meant. No one would be managing the check-in desk all day? Like not even by accident, but it was planned that way in advance? Bad CS aside, that just seems like a REALLY bad business model.

Welcome to the Hotel Earle. Your business is not important to us.

So the magic number for pulling out your business is 21 people plus staff? I'll remember that next time I threaten to tell everyone I know to take their business elsewhere.

Good movie too, Ben. Number one reason I won't move to LA: fear of wallpaper peeling from the walls.

This is *so* delicious, I want to make a sandwich of this story, *then* linger with it - eating it *leisurely* as I read all of the rest of these here comments.

>smack, smack<

"Training Opportunity" must be the new code for YOU'RE FIRED!

Every time I hear of someone staying at a Hilton I can't shake the feeling that, in some small way at least, they're propping up the lifestyle of Paris.

For that reason alone I'd prefer not to stay in one.

This reflects a scenario that is unfortunately the rule rather than the exception in the retail environment...that the person facing the customer is the one who is lowest-paid, least trained and has no stake in the outcome. Corporations! Wake UP!

@concordia: Gramps is leaving none of the money to her so he says. So you can rest easy unless of course she is getting an allowance....

I had a similar experience at a Chicago Hilton near the Mag Mile who canceled my reservation at the last minute and told me I couldn't get the corporate rate I had previously booked at. I emailed Hilton Corporate and cc'd the HR guy in charge of our training and explained the situation (my company sends hundreds of people a year to Chicago and the Hilton sees a good number of them over the weekend). I got a call back double quick and not only did I get the rate I wanted, as a thank you they offered me a room upgrade.

Don't mess with the corporate customers. Oh, and I second the comment that if you get bad service doing a business trip, making a stink about it to your company's procurement guys is super-effective: a sort of extra-EECB if you will.

@Jabes: Best part of the article was the end.

A Hilton HHonors representative called him on Monday to apologize and assure him the problem would be addressed, he said.

He wasn't moved.

"They said they will miss me."

@headhot:

That's been my experience at Dulles airport, at least.

@headhot: DC has to be one of the worst service cities in the country. It is like pulling teeth to have anyone do even the minimum amount of work their job requires. And you, to have the nerve to come into their place of business and want to spend money in exchange for their service. How dare you, sir!

So glad I moved. That is a seriously unhappy place.

@gggtur: you mean "training opportunities" like these.

@shoegazer: I lolled at that. No "omg what can we do to keep you as a customer", no "hay let us comp your stay completely and upgrade your suite as a 'we're sorry' gesture"... nothing. It's like Hilton doesn't even want business.

@chrisjames: and remember, my name is Chet.

This is similar to someone I know. My friend was traveling in Europe for business. One day, several rooms were burglarized but the hotel refused to reimbursed any stolen items. So my friend threatened to cancel any future dealings with the hotel and his company, Citigroup. All of a sudden they decided to reimburse everything on the spot.

@concordia:
If I'm not mistaken, the company is owned by a private equity firm now. So you're all good staying there.

@iheartapocalypse: There was probably a large convention or business group checking in. And if the guy was giving off attitude about getting the reservation changed, the DC based c/s person seemed to be throwing it back. In the article, the "Excuse me?" says it all when the guy was trying to jokingly and obliquely say that he had corporate connections...

Imagine the "Excuse me?" being said with a slight head shake and rotation by the D.C. based person...

I just can't believe that anyone working for a hotel customer service would admit to the customer, in advance, that no one could check him in. I mean its just so idiotic. I'm glad that the customer gave the corporation what for, showing it the disadvantages in putting the stockholders' dividend checks and board member bonuses above all else, including spending the money necessary for adequate hiring, training and compensation of those people that deal directly with the paying customers.

@Trick: A few months ago, my wife and I stopped in at our local Denny's for a late dinner after a movie. We were seated and for 20 minutes didn't even get so much as a blink of an eye from the other waiters/waitresses/manager. And we were sitting next to their stations. We calmly got up and left and didn't say anything to management or corporate about the poor service. Its not that they were busy, they just didn't want to serve us which means they didn't want my money.

Last night, we popped back in after seeing Sweeney Todd on stage. I made no mention of the incident to the waiter or manager that seated us (these were different people). Although they were busy, they managed to keep my tea filled, my wifes coffee hot, and cut me a fresh slice of tomorrows pumpkin pie served by the manager himself. Again, they were unaware of who I was as I never made a complaint. My wife and I were not hurried out and were actually felt appreciated. As we went to cash out for the evening, I told the manager what had happened previously and he started to apologize. I calmly looked at him and said that his excellent service made up for the issue previously and that we would be sure to come back again. I tipped my normal 10 dollars (we were there over a hour and my had a pot and a half of coffee).

The first incident was the worst treatment any customer can get at a resturant. The second treatment is the best anyone can get a resturant. And as many times as we've been there, we put a lot of money into them.

So what was the point of the long story?? One screw up no matter how colossal it is, should be the determining factor of whether or not you shop at a place. It is one thing if you repeatedly get poor service, then yes, complain and stop shopping there. But if the service has been fine thus far, and one guy doesn't know what is going on or what he is doing, don't stop your business dealings with them altogether.

@headhot: This. I was in DC for a conference two summers ago and the front desk staff were ridiculously unhelpful. The bell, catering and event staff on the other hand were wonderful. Maybe there's something about the front desk that inspires laziness?

@iheartapocalypse: No kidding. I've been to hotels where conventions are happening, and I know a lot of people who've done the same, but I've never ever heard of anything like this. I mean, someone has to be there to check in the convention-goers, right? There's no reason they can't check in other people.

@chrisjames: I would have bet that they had many reservations already in place and the Hilton ain't cheap. I can not immagine the horror of the csr who had to take all of the cancelations (probably from an adimistration person at his firm:

"Next."
"Cancelling three nights Dec. 16-18. Chicago, $750.00."
"Reason?"
"Due to Washington D.C. Hilton csr and Hilton Honors csr unable to accomdate firms owner."
"Next."
"Cancelling 5 nights Atlanta. Jan 12-17. $894.00. Reason?"
"Due to Washington D.C. Hilton csr and Hilton Honors csr unable to accomdate firms owner."
"Next."
and so on, etc, etc,

@howie_in_az: They had already lost him (and multiple thousands of dollars) so why bother trying to get him back. He tried to run up the chain to the HH program but that person dropped the golden ball also. This incident is on a parr with the "Yours is a very bad hotel" viral power point of years back except this guy acted with his money versus those guys sending a power point presentation. (see snopes.com if you want more info about the incident).

@deleteboy: ditto-ed.

Are you people learning anything from this? If we, as a TOTALITY, would boycott the airline industry for just ONE WEEK. ONE LOUSY F$#@ING WEEK, we could change their policies overnight. We, the consumer, in the end, have the true power, and we only give up that power if we . . . wait for it . . . GIVE IT UP WILLINGLY.

Kudos to this lawyer for making Hilton rethink their customer service policies.

@Trick: The thing is that if you consistently did this, you'd end up with no companies to service you sooner or later, at least in a few service areas (say car rentals).

WOO HOO! We all have horror stories and sometimes wish we could hit 'the man' where it hurts. I'm just one person, but Glassman definitely had a huge block of money that he's taking somewhere else. I'm sure some heads rolled for that one. YEY GLASSMAN! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

@SF_iris: It's not the front desk. It's the trickle-down attitude from the "higher-ups" in DC...

I applaud Mr. Glassman, but even though I take the same stances, you begin to run into a problem: Because customer "service" is becoming universally abysmal, where do you end up staying when you're boycotting everyone because of poor service received? For example, I've decided to no longer fly American. I used to get my best flying experiences with them, and when I had a choice, would choose them over others, sometimes even paying a bit more. But not only has their service gone downhill, they have joined the legions of airlines with their dishonest business practices, tacking on fee after fee well after the purchase fact, so you end up having no idea how much you will really pay. But what happens if I want to fly somewhere (say, home for the holidays), and Southwest has no more seats? I can hope that American executives might someday see the light and understand that all customers, not just well-heeled business customers, are important to treat well, but I can probably count on that as much as I can count on religious extremists exiting American politics.