Badly Implemented Tech = Death of Good Service

[TromboneAl]

In our recent trip into the real world, it struck me how poorly implemented technology is killing good service.

For example, at our four-star hotel, the staff was first-rate. Our luggage was late from the airport, and the staff told me that when it arrives, they would leave a message on our telephone. That is, they wouldn't call and wake us up.

But at 1 AM, the phone rings, waking us from a deep sleep ("Your luggage has arrived"), and it takes me two hours to fall back to sleep. Why? Because someone didn't understand the phone system, and rang the phone by mistake. Next day I told them to put a do-not-disturb on the phone from 9 PM to 9 AM, but they instead blocked all calls all day.

Without this fancy phone system, I'm sure that we would not have been awakened at 1 AM.

 

[REWahoo]

Without this fancy phone system, I'm sure that we would not have been awakened at 1 AM.

On a business trip, I requested a 5 AM wake up call. I got it...along with one at 1 AM, 2 AM, 3 AM, and 4 AM.

 

[TromboneAl]

BTW, I found a low-tech solution. I unplugged the phone at night.

 

[SteveR]

Back in my business travel days, whenever I could not get hotel maintenance to fix a problem, I just disconnected the cable TV line from the TV. I got a phone call from the front desk in about a minute. Worked every time.