You’ve Been Overserved
June 24, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized
Ok, maybe we would need some help if we had this much luggage with us.
Think back on your most recent hotel stay. Was there an instance -if only a fleeting one–when you couldn’t wait to escape some overzealous hotel staffer who was hell-bent on giving you “an experience” that you could go home and eagerly share with your friends?
For example, we still can’t stop talking about a stay of more than a year ago at the Marriott Marco Island Hotel in Florida. As soon as our cab pulled up in front of the hotel, a bellman was opening the door while a second was attempting to whisk our luggage away, into that purgatory where it seems to disappear for hours after checking-in.
When we politely objected, we found ourselves in a verbal volley of courteous “please-ma’am-allow-me” and “thank-you-but-really-I-manage-it.”
If you’re wondering if the issue is that we don’t want to tip them, it isn’t; We simply want to go up to our room and be able to fresh up and change immediately.
Letting the bellmen take the bag up means waiting for them to deliver it. Not to mention, if we could get our single carry-on to the hotel, we can certainly get it up to the room.
But don’t get us wrong. We do appreciate the offer of assistance and we like knowing that it’s there should we ever want to take advantage of it.
Still though, as the guest, we’d prefer to feel secure in knowing that our wishes are respected, even when that’s turning down the offer of help. And this is something thatp we’ve found can immediately put us at ease with our surrounding.