Our Goal Is...What, Exactly?

A guest came down this morning and asked me if I was the manager. I told him I wasn't, that the manager wasn't in yet, and asked if there was something I could help him with. Often, guests think they need to speak to the manager, but their problem is something that can easily be fixed by ME.

So he starts telling me how much he loves my hotel brand, how he always stays at our brand, how he's the highest level rewards member, etc, etc. Right off the bat, I know he's going to be a problem. You know how I know this? Because people who aren't assholes don't throw around their membership level in hopes of getting better results. I can look up your reservation and see that membership level, at which point I will do my absolute best to help you. Why? Because satisfying these level guests is a priority. I know this - there's no need to so loquacious.

Anyway, he tells me how his business associate, who is traveling with him, found ants in his room last night. I'm already aware of this - the evening guy left a note - and I can see he was moved immediately, 5 minutes after checking in. But for this guy, that's not good enough. He says this guy always stays at a rival brand, but he told him that traveling with him, he just had to stay at our brand. He's so embarrassed, he's going to be hearing about this for the rest of the trip, and so on.

Now, I would be happy to refund part of the bill for him. The problem is, I've never been told by my management that I can do that. So I tell him management will be in at 9, and ask if he'll still be here.

"No, we're leaving at 8."

Okay. So I tell him I'll relay the problem to management and they'll take care of it when they come in.

"That's really not the answer I was looking for."

I tell him I'm sorry, but I can't make refunds, and tell him again I'll let them know.

"That's not good enough." And he leaves.

He came to the desk slightly after 7. Management wasn't in yet. But one of them lives at the hotel, and he usually comes out for breakfast a little before 8. So I wait, and call him at 7:45, hoping he'll tell me I can just refund part of this guy's stay and I can let them know before they leave. I give him the whole story, tell him this guy's a high level rewards guest, and that they're leaving at 8. Sounding irritated, he tells me to tell him management will take care of it. I say that I told him that, and he wasn't happy. Whatever, he doesn't care, he tells me they'll deal with it later.

So a half hour later, he comes in, dressed, and starts talking about his stomachache the night before. One, I'm irritated with him for not helping me before, and two, I don't really care. This guy's kind of a narcissist, and I get the impression he doesn't enjoy the job and would rather be back at his old one. After 25 minutes, he asks me about the guy who complained earlier.

"Is he still here?"

I stare at him. Didn't he listen to what I said when I called?

"No. They left at 8."

In the end, the operations manager had me lower the guy's rate to $99, and I called and left a message letting him know. And I now have permission to give money back, as long as I don't go below $99. But the thing is, our GSS (guest satisfaction surveys) have been dropping a lot lately. No one's complaining about the staff specifically, but we've been told those need to go back up. This was an important guest who I was trying to keep happy, and I was ignored by my manager and therefore couldn't resolve the guest's problem. He left dissatisfied. So if our goal isn't customer satisfaction - what is it, exactly?