Men complaining from hotel
-
Lastminute.com customer service enquiries over the summer reported some of the strangest holiday booking requests that they encountered and David Beatley talks us through them!
A bum complaint: One lucky customer service representative was sent pictures of a holidaymaker’s red buttocks following a horse-riding holiday in the Dominican Republic. The customer named the offending horse and suggested it be removed.
- Foreign affairs: A customer requested not to be called back about his booking and suggested a code-word be used instead of his name because he would be travelling with his son’s wife – rather than his own.
- Holiday SOS: In a contrasting relationship scenario, a desperate husband begged for a last minute holiday which was guaranteed to save his marriage.
- Getting into hot water: A customer insisted on being told the exact temperature of the sea in Marrakech.
- Plant sitting: One customer expected lastminute.com to arrange a house-visiting service to water her flowers while she was away, after the representative had been asked to organise a water bed for her hotel room.
- Colour clash: A traveller issued a complaint to the customer support team after his holiday because the colour of the bed linen in his hotel had not co-ordinated with the curtains.
- Nice package: Customer agents often get detailed and embarrassing questions about the contents and usage options of ‘surprise packages’ in rooms booked as part of a romantic deal. One customer specifically requested a ‘sensual room’ with a mirror on the ceiling.
- Hotels with benefits: A customer called three different members of the customer support team, asking whether an escort service would be available at his hotel.
- Holiday hassle: On returning from holiday, a jealous boyfriend called the customer support team to demand that a club entertainer who had looked at his girlfriend be fired.
- Holiday crush: Also after a holiday, a customer emailed the team requesting the phone number of a pretty lady he had met while he was away – while failing to remember at which point in the trip he had met her.
Why do you think people feel that they can make strange requests on holiday?
Despite us travelling more than ever, holidays are still an adventure, and for those who do not travel abroad much it can be a daunting experience. This leads some customers to feel they need to make (what we might consider) strange requests but which they may feel are perfectly reasonable questions about their trip.
Which one have you found to be the most amusing?
My personal favorite is the customer who called to ask for a specific horse to be removed from a riding excursion after a particularly painful experience in the saddle.
Which one surprised you the most?
Not a lot surprises me anymore, a customer calling to find out if a hotel has an Escort Service would raise a few eyebrows, but calling three times is extremely dedicated!
Why are customer support teams for holidays sometimes overlooked or taken for granted?
The majority of customers will never need one to one support from our customer service team, however there are many people behind the scenes making sure customers have a great trip. Ultimately, we are glad customers do not think about the work of our customer support teams as we want them to focus on enjoying their trip.
To what extent do you think that complaints will only get worse as time goes on?
It is right that customers demand the very best from their Top Secret Hotel™ booking, European city break or holiday with us. At lastminute.com we work closely with our suppliers to ensure our products are the best available and we are continually developing our website to allow customers access to honest reviews, photos and as much information as possible so they are not disappointed. We also closely monitor social media as this is a great way for customers to get their voice heard and this often replaces traditional contact with our support teams.
Tagged in boyfriend