To celebrate the holiday, Loren booked a room at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. She booked the room through the hotel and not Expedia because the hotel offered a $50 food and beverage credit. At least that was our understanding.
When Loren checked in, the front desk told her the $50 credit was only good for a two-night stay. We were staying one night. I checked our email confirmation and, in what I consider small print, I read the two-day requirement.
The woman who booked our room didn’t mention the two-day requirement.
I Tweeted: “Woman who booked room at @fairmonthotels didn’t mention I needed to stay 2 nights for $50 F&B credit. I missed the fine print. Disappointed.”
Fairmont Hotels responded with its own Tweet. Impressive. They responded in two minutes. More impressive.
Fairmont Hotels responded: “@keithyaskin Can you email us a bit more on the situation Keith? twitterfhr@fairmont.com Would like to help with this if possible.”
Then someone quoted my Tweet: “happened to me last yr! RT “@keithyaskin: @fairmonthotels didn’t mention needed to stay 2 nights for $50 F&B credit. Disappointed.””
While I composed an email to Fairmont Hotels, Loren called Fairmont Hotels from the room. The first person indicated to Loren she wasn’t the first guest affected by this situation. But a supervisor told Loren the hotel couldn’t remedy the situation because Loren booked the room through a AAA promotion. Loren was flabbergasted the supervisor couldn’t just offer her a $50 credit. The supervisor simply began to repeat how the AAA promotion prevented her from helping. The supervisor said she could fill out some paperwork, but the situation might not be resolved for a few days. Loren indicated she was ready to pack up her bags. After putting Loren on hold, the supervisor then offered to sign her up for the “Fairmont President’s Club” which would offer two $25 credits. The supervisor explained the “club” membership would take about 30 minutes to become active.
I Tweeted: “Frustrating and confusing conversation with @fairmonthotels supervisor in trying to resolve dispute over $50 food and beverage credit.”
Someone later called back Loren, explained how someone entered the wrong “code” and that we would be receiving our original $50 credit.
I Tweeted: “@fairmonthotels resolves dispute & gives us $50 food and beverage credit. Thank you.”
Fairmont Hotels later replied: “@keithyaskin Email received, but it sounds like you’ve since resolved the situation on-site. ?”
Maybe my Tweets played no role in resolving this dispute. I’m happy Fairmont Hotels resolved it, although if I were the supervisor, I would have made the resolution less difficult to achieve. But even if we hadn’t solved this on-site, Twitter allowed me to check in publicly with someone at a much higher level.
That’s an option I didn’t have years ago. That’s an option businesses didn’t have to deal with years ago.