When I was in Springfield, Illinois last week, I stayed at the fanciest hotel in town: The Crowne Plaza. When I checked in at 7:00 PM at night, there were 9 people in line with only one person at the desk to check us in. While Bill at the front desk did a great job trying to check people in quickly, there was no back up for him to help out. The front office manager’s card, Michelle Skube, was on the counter encouraging me to report the situation to her. Bill needed backup. I of course did send her an email that evening and I have heard nothing since I sent it on Thursday. I never excuse poor customer service. But when you offer to help or resolve customer service issues, at least answer your email! With Michelle not even answering my email, it makes a bad impression even worse.

I won’t even discuss that it took an hour to get a hamburger at the hotel dining room that evening….