If this last snowstorm taught me anything, it would be the vulnerability of the computer reservation system of Hotel Chains. When Atlanta was hit by its last snowstorm, I decided to leave a day early. Cancelling half the flights, which were all the mainline flights, made the decision easy. I called the hotel directly at 3 PM guarantying the room with a credit card. This was to be the best thing I did that night.
When I finally made it to the hotel after an hour waiting for a gate to park the jet, the line was 40 people long. It seems that so many flights were disrupted, the airline started calling the automated systems to find room for the passengers. Unfortunately, the automated systems had crashed and the fail-safe in the computer program was to make a reservation weather there was room or not. There wasn’t any more room, but people were still booking rooms over the phone.
When the people at the hotel waiting in line about the computer glitch, well lets just say it got interesting. The receptionists at the desk were trying to take care of the people and call headquarters to tell them to stop booking people. After waiting for an hour, it was my turn to check in. The person behind the counter had a long face anticipating she was going to have to tell me there was no more room. Her long face turned into one of surprise. She then said I had a room because I call the hotel directly and talked to a human being.
I love technology, but I love it better when it screws up royally and bites the behind of the geniuses that decided to outsource the human jobs. The lesson here is it is better to talk to a human then to trust automation when things are going South, link snowstorms. The second lesson is I say to talk to a human. That person in line with me who shouted “GIRLFRIEND, I know customer service and you are on the loosing end of this deal’ didn’t really understand who was on the loosing end. I hope he enjoyed his sleep outside in the snow.
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