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I gave two presentations yesterday for the Advantage Business Conference, presented by office supply giant SP Richards & Co. We all had a great time and I was blessed with two enthusiastic, responsive audiences.
The entire trip would have been perfect, had the Orlando Marriott World Center not screwed up so badly. My husband and I were among dozens of people told that our reservation had been "cancelled" when we tried to check in on Thursday. It seems that the Marriott had overbooked the hotel big time, anticipating a number of cancellations. It didn’t matter that SP Richards had told them there would be NO cancellations (considering 3400 participants had anted $1200 and up for advance registration); it also didn’t seem to occur to Marriott that in this mecca of "family desination," many families would be devastated to learn that they wouldn’t be staying at the center of the conference. In response to complaints, Marriott was shipping unhappy folks off to several of their "other" locations – which could only mean the Siberian regions of Orlando.
In my case, understanding turned to cajoling and then to raising hell. The final result was a manager who "magically" found us a room and made a Broadway production out of showing us what a huge favor he was doing for us. As we walked away from the desk, my husband said, "I just wonder who got bumped in order for us to get our room!" We’ve talked a number of times over the last few days, wondering how many families had their dream trip ruined by a hotel that pretty much gave them the middle finger.
Gave me perfect fodder for my presentation segment on word-of-mouth marketing and the influence that women have – after all, women are three times as likely as men to tell someone about a personal experience, good or bad. Hundreds of folks heard my story during each of my sessions, and I couldn’t believe the number of people that came up to me afterward to relate their own story.
Too bad for Marriott… none of these folks will ever come near this hotel again, and will be certain to warn their friends away as well. SP Richards & Co. will certainly never use the hotel again for one of their top-notch conferences… and the residue of a bad aura will hang in the air here for a long time to come.
Shame on you, Marriott… just remember that one bad management situation like this affects every hotel in your chain. After all, we’re big-time business travelers, and have many hotel choices in our destination cities.
Michele Miller is a writer, speaker, and consultant on ways to capture the heart of the female customer. The co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth, she consults with businesses of all sizes across North America
Michele – great example of WOM marketing via blogs. Will include in my next presentation about blogs – with courtesy credit of course!
As a native of Orlando now residing in Tampa, I hope that your family still enjoyed your visit. It is just amazing to me that companies, all companies, pay so little attention to service recovery training. The Marriott ownership/management may feel that being in Orlando ensures that their facility will always enjoy a low vacancy rate. Some businesses just don’t get it.
Relocating hotel guests due to over occupancy is the same as bumping a passenger on an airplane.
Hotels are businees and forecast occupancies based on past and current trends of the groups they book.
Unfortunately, reolocations happen. It would be interesting to know how many guests were inconvenienced during your stay and how often this particular hotel “walks” their guests.
I’m sure you encountered positive aspects of your stay. Marriott is after all a very reputable hotelier. It would only be fair to mention something they did right.
I would just like to say that the Hotels do not think that because they are located in Orlando that they can do this all the time. First of all this city was hit very hard 5 years ago during the 9/11 crisis and are just rebounding now. Besides that; Hotels are a business and when someone does have to go to another hotel due to overbooking as with the airlines they are compensated for their inconvenience. I for one always ask to take the next flight with the airlines just for that very reason. As someone mentioned before the Orlando World Center Marriott has a great reputation and is a wonderful hotel and most people that do stay here are very happy. I would also like to mention that we stepped up along with every other hotel last year when the first hurricane came through Orlando but unfortunately the people that complain can never see the good things. It’s sad really.
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