- Our entire condominium community is being fumigated for termites. The owners association arranged a special price of $99/night with the Radisson. But when we arrived we were told that the price didn't include parking, which was $15/night — for each car. Since we had two cars, the total was $130/night (plus tax).
- I went to the hotel website to complain. It had a fine "contact us" page in which I was invited to write my name, email address, phone number, etc., and comment. The problem was that the phone number field was both required and locked. I couldn't enter anything into it (on either Internet Explorer or Firefox), and the page wouldn't submit if the field was empty!
Showing posts with label hotels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hotels. Show all posts
Monday, May 14, 2007
Extra hotel fees
Dale suggests that this series be expanded into a formal study of hotels. In a previous post I complained about hypocrisy. That same hotel (the Radisson in Culver City) earned two other black marks, which I might as well document here.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Implementing structure
Debora recently commented that structure implies bureaucracy. In thinking about that it occurred to me that there are (at least) two ways to implement structure: physically and procedurally. Structure implemented physically simply fixes in place — "hard wires" — whatever structure it defines. Structure implemented procedurally relies on processes to ensure that the intended structure is maintained. It's probably more expensive to implement structure procedurally. But it's probably easier to change procedures when appropriate.
An example that brought all this to mind are the hangers in my hotel room.
They are the sort of hanger that have a little knob at the top instead of a loop to hang over a bar. The knob fits into a little hook, which in turn hangs from the bar. These are called ball-top hangers. The hooks are called security rings.) The point, of course, is that hangers with knobs are unusual enough that people won't want to take them home — because most people don't have the hooks into which the knobs fit. 
This is a physical implementation of the structure that prevents (or at least discourages) people from stealing hangers from hotel rooms. The procedural method would rely on inspections and perhaps entreaties to hotel guests not to steal the hangers. These approaches are unlikely to make much of a difference.
In this example, the physical implementation is almost certainly both much more effective and much cheaper than the procedural approach. But it is also much more hard-wired into the hotel's way of operating. Once a hotel has adopted ball hangers, it would be much more difficult for it to change its policy and encourage guests to take hangers home as a gift from the hotel. They could, of course, give away the security hooks. But those hooks are harder to install at home. One must take the rail out of the closet and slip the hooks on at the end. Besides, the underlying assumption is that most people don't want that sort of hanger in their closets. If a hotel really wanted to give hangers away, its best bet would be to throw out its ball hangers and change its hardware implementation of the no-theft policy.
An example that brought all this to mind are the hangers in my hotel room.
They are the sort of hanger that have a little knob at the top instead of a loop to hang over a bar. The knob fits into a little hook, which in turn hangs from the bar. These are called ball-top hangers. The hooks are called security rings.) The point, of course, is that hangers with knobs are unusual enough that people won't want to take them home — because most people don't have the hooks into which the knobs fit. This is a physical implementation of the structure that prevents (or at least discourages) people from stealing hangers from hotel rooms. The procedural method would rely on inspections and perhaps entreaties to hotel guests not to steal the hangers. These approaches are unlikely to make much of a difference. In this example, the physical implementation is almost certainly both much more effective and much cheaper than the procedural approach. But it is also much more hard-wired into the hotel's way of operating. Once a hotel has adopted ball hangers, it would be much more difficult for it to change its policy and encourage guests to take hangers home as a gift from the hotel. They could, of course, give away the security hooks. But those hooks are harder to install at home. One must take the rail out of the closet and slip the hooks on at the end. Besides, the underlying assumption is that most people don't want that sort of hanger in their closets. If a hotel really wanted to give hangers away, its best bet would be to throw out its ball hangers and change its hardware implementation of the no-theft policy.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Hypocrisy of the day
Wordnet defines hypocrisy as
The first is cost savings. It almost certainly costs less to print the cards than the savings the cards yield in reduced laundry and towel replacement expenses.
The second is a failed attempt at public relations. They may foolishly imagine that some of their guests might actually be naive enough to believe that the hotel is concerned about the environment and might therefore feel better about the hotel.
an expression of agreement that is not supported by real convictionEither way, the word was brought to mind by the card left in the bathroom of the Radisson hotel where we're staying. (In fact, it seems to be ubiquitous in hotels.)
insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have
Dear Valued Guest,Does anyone seriously believe that the Radisson management cares one bit about its impact on our natural resources? It seems to me that there are two reasons hotels leave these cards in guest rooms.
To minimize the impact on our natural resources, you have the choice of re-using your towels, or having freshly laundered towels provided daily. If you prefer to not re-use towels, please place them in the tub, and we will gladly provide you with fresh towels.
The first is cost savings. It almost certainly costs less to print the cards than the savings the cards yield in reduced laundry and towel replacement expenses.
The second is a failed attempt at public relations. They may foolishly imagine that some of their guests might actually be naive enough to believe that the hotel is concerned about the environment and might therefore feel better about the hotel.
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