First of all, they charged me $1 apiece for half a dozen toll free phone calls!! One of which was to the customer service line for their own high-speed Internet access (which I paid an extra $9.95/day for)!! Ya know what the problem was? Some twit had plugged the high-speed modem into the wrong jack in the wall! Now, how does that happen from one traveler to the next? Hmmm? I have a suspicion that some hotel employee deliberately plugged the modem into the wrong jack so that I would make a call that they didn’t have to pay for but that they would charge me for anyway. The desk clerk who checked me out said that, if I had mentioned it, he would have taken it off the bill, but this shouldn’t have happened in the first place. There is, of course, the possibility that somebody from housekeeping accidentally knocked the plug out when vacuuming and, not knowing which jack it came out of, put it back in the wrong one. It is this possibility that kept them from the Blacklist. However, since they know of the possibility, they should LABEL THE JACKS!
Secondly, the room needed more sound insulation. When I turned off the air conditioner, the ambient noise in the room dropped only a few decibles, as the street noise from outside had the same pitch as the A/C and was only partially attenuated by the walls. It was also too easy to hear other guests in the halls.
They score points in several areas, though…
- The staff was very friendly and helpful. You get the distinct impression that they are glad and even proud that they work for this particular hotel instead of another.
- The room was nicely appointed, if a bit small. The bathroom was sizable and clean, with very nice marble countertops, and stocked with items that a traveler would conceivably need (e.g., Q-Tips, cotton swabs, and an emery board in one box, and a shower cap in another) toothpaste was missing, but health regulations might account for that. My only real beef about the bathroom applies to every single hotel I have ever stayed in: They stock that horrid Scott sandpaper-on-a-roll John Wayne (it’s rough, it’s tough, and it doesn’t take sh** off anybody) toilet paper instead of a quality wipe like Charmin Plus with Aloe. I should also point out that the bathtub was elevated a good six inches off of the floor… not a problem for an over six footer like myself, but I can imagine shorter people knocking their shins on the side of the tub as they get out of the shower.
- Discovery Channel and History Channel free. No Sci Fi Channel, though (hint, hint).
- The bed was wonderfully comfortable and, if anything, I had a surfeit of pillows, with two more in the closet.
- The robe in the closet was a nice touch.
- Do not charge for either toll free or local calls. I don’t care if “everybody else” is doing it, either. If everyone else were jumping off of the George Washington Bridge, would you do that, too? You don’t want to be telling me, “We’re just like all the other hotels.” Instead, you want to be telling me, “We’re better than all those other hotels. We give you local calls free and toll free calls free, as well, where everyone else is charging for them.”
- Stock your bathrooms with Charmin Plus with Aloe. No hotel will ever get a perfect score from me until that do that.
- Add Sci Fi Channel to your cable offerings.
- Improve the sound insulation in the rooms. I understand this would be quite expensive and it is not a condition to stay off of the Blacklist, but you really should have done it when you remodeled and it will improve your standing, not only with me, but also with every other traveler who stays at your establishment. You might check to see if there are inexpensive “after-market,” as it were, ways of improving the acoustic isolation of the rooms. Just a suggestion.
- If I were in your shoes, I would also do something about the possibility of short people hitting their shins on the edge of the bathtub. Again, just a suggestion. Also, I don’t know if this is possible, as I only vaguely understand the physics of the effect, but, if there’s a way to keep the shower curtain from billowing inward when the shower is running, that would score you some major points, too.
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
What They Did:This is an extension of the Blacklist entry for the Buena Park Honda Service Center. As I noted in the Blacklist entry, motor mounts seem to be a favorite “add-on” recommendation at Honda dealership service centers. They have been recommended at more than one dealership (each with independent ownership), which leads me to believe that this is a company-wide directive to boost service center profitability. While I am not accusing them of fraud, recommending service that does not need to be done, does look a mite suspicious, and it deserves having a watchful eye fixed upon it.
What They Need To Do:
Two words: Be honest. If I trust you to do good, competent, accurate work for a fair price, I’ll keep coming back to you. If I feel as if you’re betraying that trust (whether that feeling is justified or not), I’ll take my business and my money elsewhere.
