Taming the Guest from Hell

[CelebrationNM]

This was published on hospitalitynet.org this morning:

Taming the Guest from Hell | By Steven Ferry

Article discusses the idea of creating an international database of extreme SGs, with some great SG stories and an interesting commentary on the difference between "normal" SGs and the guests that consistently try to commit fraud at hotels.
Nick

[SRT_GB]

Good article. I'm glad he tried to draw the distinction between a guest from hell and a guest with a legitimate gripe.

Even though I didn't work at the Front Desk, I had lots of guests from hell demanding comps for this or that. This was especially true when the Showstoppers (6-year-old cheerleaders) and DECA (co-ed "business" fraternity) were in the DLH. With both these groups, we had the guests from hell who were part of the groups, while on the other hand we had guests who weren't part of the group who were rightfully pissed off because of all the SGTs the groups were pulling. Those guests were comped, while the DECA group was told never to return (or so I was told).

[vixen101485]

INteresting article.
A woman I know from offline and speak to on the phone seems to fit that category (tho I dont think she does things intentionally..she just really believes what she is saying is the truth)

Case in point...last fall she had something shipped down to one of the Disney resorts. The box had a bunch of little bags of items in it. Kinda like treat bags for a party..tiny little stickers, metal charms, that kind of stuff. Nothing expensive or valuable. The bags were not sealed individually so stuff was able to fall out. Apparently when she got there and picked up her box, it had been opened and resealed and a lot of the small items were at the bottom of the box and 2 or 3 larger(but still small) items were missing. She blamed whoever received and or delivered them to her room and mousekeeping for them missing. I suggested to her that the post office may have done one of the random checks on her box and maybe had accidently not put something back in. MIND YOU...these were things that no one really would want. keychains, etc. Or that maybe she had counted wrong when she put them in...there were A LOT of them. She was extremely upset that things had fallen out of the bags...packing properly plays a big part in that. She complained to Disney enuf that they wound up comping her for part of her room stay. Value of stuff missing, maybe $5-7. Money she saved on her room...over $75

Dont get me wrong I really like this lady and I do think that she just had such a mindset that someone stole them, she would not listen to reason and take other scenerios into consideration.

[DisneyMom]

Hehe, reminds me of our clinic where at least a dozen times a day we go through Find the Member's Card.....
Member- Do you have my card? I can't find it! (I have never seen them before this moment)
Me- did you look in your purse/wallet?
Member- Yes! You must have it around here, maybe the Doctor has it(our Drs.never use the cards for anything)
Me- I'll go look for it, but look for it in your wallet or purse ONE MORE TIME,please.
I look and return several minutes later. Patient is gone.
Me-what happened to Patient who lost card?
Co-worker- Oh, they found it in their purse/wallet and left!
Me-

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Very good article. I would think (hope, actually) that large companies (WDW? DLR?) would keep track of SG's so that if they encounter them again, they could have the information from another employee/CM that had to deal with them.

I make the assumption that security would have some sort of database of SG's that have been give the boot. I remember many years ago of going to City Hall to ask about something, and the couple in front of us being told by the CM that they were being banned from Disneyland for a period of one year. (I don't know WHAT they did, but the both appeared to be intoxicated) so they must have some way to document the SG's!

The sad part is that I know that WDW and DLR seem to bend over backwards to accomadate SG's who complain.

[SRT_GB]

I make the assumption that security would have some sort of database of SG's that have been give the boot. I remember many years ago of going to City Hall to ask about something, and the couple in front of us being told by the CM that they were being banned from Disneyland for a period of one year. (I don't know WHAT they did, but the both appeared to be intoxicated) so they must have some way to document the SG's!

Yikes! I can imagine them telling a SG that in the Security office (or the back of a police car), but not at City Hall on stage.

I know information is kept on hotel guests and I'm sure it includes any complaints, comps, etc., but I don't know where that info is kept, who can access it, how long it's kept, or what it's used for. Same goes for APs, like the lady who got a lifetime AP ban for groping a male CM, or the guy who got multiple 1-year AP bans for, um, let's just say he was making Disneyland the Happiest Place on Earth for himself. As for other park guests I'm sure Security has a database of people they have issued trespass warnings and/or banishments to. Otherwise those warnings that I've seen them give would mean nothing.

[EeyoresButterfly]

I know there is at least some kind of system since we do ban people from the parks. Several people have been banned for what appears to be cumulative acts.

I just don't understand people sometimes. If something goes wrong, by all means, tell somebody (but nicely please). I can't imagine intentionally creating problems to get a free stay. If something happens and they offer to comp you or give you a discount, consider yourself lucky. I remember having an...interesting...experience at a Radisson a couple of years ago. I was staying there for my birthday. I got into the room and the TV wasn't working properly. I also had the only room in the hotel that did not have it's own adjustable thermostat and it was boiling. I called serveral times but was never able to get it cool enough to get comfortable. The next morning, I ordered room service. It was delicious, but when I went to open one of the jellies it had completely moulded over. I finished the breakfast, kept the jelly with me, and went to customer service. I explained about the temp and tv, and then I showed them the jelly. I told them that I ate the breakfast and it was wonderful, I wasn't looking to get anything for free. I just wanted them to know about the jelly so they could check the expiration dates on the other jellies. The woman was wonderful. I got back that night and the temperature was perfect, the tv was fixed, and I had a message stating that the breakfast had been taken off of my bill. When I went to check out the next morning, I found the woman and told her thank you and how surprised I was that the meal had been comped. She said that she had told the manager of the restaurant what I said and that I had specifically said I didn't want it comped. He decided to do so precisely because I hadn't thrown a fit. They've now made a loyal customer out of me.

[svickersart]

Very interesting article, something like this needs to be done, there are too many people out there looking for something for nothing. I've seen a few comments here about guests trying to get things for free and have experienced it myself. I cant tell you how many cars we tow by order of law enforcement where the driver is arrested and the first thing they say to me when they call is "I hope my stuff/daimond ring/$10,000/picasso is still in my car". I have had people claim damage we didnt do many times, claim theft hoping for free tows, had a driver do damage to a car a few weeks ago and the guy wants us to pay almost what the POS is worth and he keeps the car. Over the years I have had thousands of people use AAA cards that were not intitled to the service, I've heard just about every sob story you can imagine from people, usually people who were arrested trying to get their cars back for free and I cant tell you how many times people have threatened to sue my or the company.

We had one guy roll his car, take out a city water main and flee the scene. The cops wanted to talk to him so they put a hold on the car, he would call and I would tell him go talk to PD but he wouldnt go see them (he was known to them, a regular customer I guess) and he wouldnt come to my shop. He calls me one day and says his $5000.00 stereo is gone from his car, I ask him how he knows this and he said he went into my yard and looked and it was gone. I told him to file a police report, he said he would just sue us for $5000.00 and I told him to go for it, which he did. He showed up to court with pictures of his wrecked car in my yard with him in the pictures and pics of a cut fence. I told the judge he never came to our shop to be properly IDed to see the car, it was on PD hold (PD moved the car to their yard once he started claiming theft) and he didnt have permission to be in our yard and was not escorted by one of our employees, plus the fence wasnt cut the day before he said he was there. I told the judge that the only person i could prove had been in my yard without permission was this guy and he brought pictures of himself, and his father tresspassing. He then tried to lie his way out of it by claiming he was out of town when the stereo went missing and his father tried to back him up in the lie but since they thought they were smarter than me they hadnt figured on me turning their own evidence against them and didnt have time to get their lies strait. We won the case and we never heard from him again.

I assume as an AP holder Disney keeps records on me, not just address and the such but how often I visit DL, WDW, that I went to a DVC sales pitch, comments I make at City hall, that sort of thing. But I did talk to someone once who claimed she was a Cm who got termed and had been banned for life from DL 3 times and here she was back at the park so I smelled a little BS there.

I also keep track of some problem customers, a few that have tried to rip us off and a few that have succeded over the years, and some that are a real big pain in the ass.

We like to tease new drivers with telling them they havent earned the right to be a driver until they go out and service a customer call "Itchy". Shes a person, kinda old hippy type that has all these big dogs, drives an old orange dodge pick-up with heavy wire mesh on the windows so the dogs dont get at you. Live on a sorta farm, truck and her smell like a combo of wet dog and dog crap, dogs are fleebitten mangey lookin things. She always went to this shop in town run by this old biker guy/drunk/real asshole. She went in one day and was talking to the girl in the office who was married to the head mechanic who was also there when she lifts up he top and then lifts up one of her breasts and scratches underneath it, right in front of both of them. they named her itchy after that, I told them itchy or scratchy worked either way.

I also know some retailers keep lists of people who return things, my ex was a natorious returner, every gift I ever gave her went back for cash and half the stuff she bought herself she would use for a couple weeks then return it and spend the money on something else, she even returned our wedding rings and spent the money, and no she wasnt a doper, just a shopaholic. Theres not reason the hospitality industry and theme park industry should keep track of people who creat problems, these people are on private property, if they dont want to cooperate then dont come at all.

Steve

[Big Wallaby]

Yesterday, Little Wallaby and I went to see Caspian and Iron Man. In the gala scene of Iron Man, there were some film issues, and the picture was messed up for a good five minutes. After the movie, I went to the front counter and told them, but I was nice about it and presented it as I don't want other people claiming a bad movie experience and then getting their money back when it's not bad enough for that. They at least acted thankful.

It's interesting... I have notified management there about stuff enough times (after a movie and without wanting anything for it) that I am sure they know me by sight... Only once have I been comped by the theater, and I didn't want it. But I never present it as being angry or that I want something, except to have it fixed.

Amazing how managers at AMC can go from being annoyed with the customer complaining about something ahead of me (often having to comp them or whatever) and then when I say something, they walk away with a slight, sincere smile.

Of course, it also helps that managers, when I get their attention, don't know if I am going to notify them of an issue or tell them about the great service one of their employees gave me... and any of them that remember me know that I do, too.

Wow, I really went off on that one. Anyway, I really was posting here to say

Interesting article. I'll be forwarding this to my dad as well, whose company deals in the hospitality industry.

[SRT_GB]

I assume as an AP holder Disney keeps records on me, not just address and the such but how often I visit DL, WDW, that I went to a DVC sales pitch, comments I make at City hall, that sort of thing. But I did talk to someone once who claimed she was a Cm who got termed and had been banned for life from DL 3 times and here she was back at the park so I smelled a little BS there.

There's really no way to enforce banning/trespass warnings unless that person gets in trouble again when they return, or the CMs involved with the banishment see that person when they return and actually remember. And given how many guests and CMs are in the park on any given day, the latter is pretty unlikely.

But you're right....3 lifetime bans - that sounds like a bunch of BS. If they got a lifetime ban and then came back and did something that would get them another lifetime ban, the system should have caught them and they should have gotten charged with trespassing.