Can you change my room?
Sooner or earlier all travelers face with the same problem. You chose a nice hotel room by catalogue or made a reservation online and truly hoped to get the same as you arrive. Unfortunately our expectations don’t always come into reality. What should you do in this case? Don’t hesitate and ask to change your room!
“I never come directly to my hotel room assigned with us when we arrive with my wife. I sit in lobby instead and wait until she accepts or declines the room”, says James Hurries, 52, entrepreneur. “She usually rejects first room and thank God if second one is what we need”. This practise becomes common. Shutters on the Beach hotel managers in Santa Monica, California, tell they have from five to ten customers a day who want to change their rooms and at 3,500-room Atlantis Hotel in Nassau at least 200-250 customers a day ask to give them another room.
Asking hotel management to change your room makes sense as often the same hotels have differently looking rooms for the same price. You can get an awful room somewhere in basement while hotel offers nice apartments for the same price. This is particularly true for old European hotels which sometimes try to keep better rooms free. If you arrive to your hotel and see that it’s not what you’ve expected, friendly ask hotel management to show you other rooms available.
At the same time hotel managers claim they have a huge number of clients who simply want to get more for less money. Quite often customers are dissatisfied with details like scuff marks, low ceiling or undesirable hotel wing. High-quality hotels usually prefer avoid confrontation and offer another room for captious customer. Some sharp-witted travelers use this technique to get luxury rooms for lower price.
The comparison between rooms often comes from renovation. Hotels are usually renovated floor by floor, offering new and sparkling rooms for the same price as old ones that are not yet rebuilt. That is the reason more and more travel agencies and reservation websites include room-by-room guides for many hotels, so you can say for sure what kind of room you will get.
If you are not sure about your future room, how can you increase your chance to get what you expect? Some travelers confess they use the most easy and powerful solution. Keeping something like 10 or 20 bucks in your hand while checking your room with desk manager makes a sense, however, many find this embarrassing. Usually customers underestimate reception manager’s ability and make a mistake as it’s a common practise that hotel has corner rooms, bigger rooms or rooms with better view for the same price and it’s desk manager who decides which one you’ll get. Certainly, in respective hotels most probably you will get a quality room you’ll be satisfied with. If not, why not to add some negotiating. Experienced travelers know font-desk clerks try to avoid any negotiation or claims and will get rid of you by giving a better room.
Specialists say women are most likely to change rooms in hotels while the majority of men accept first room in most cases. This may happen because women read more about hotel and usually want to see other rooms in order to prove they get the best for the price paid. Women usually plan family vacations and want to make all family fell comfortable. Businesswomen often consider hotel room as a second home and claim comfort while men are far more utilitarian.
If you arrive to hotel and find that you don’t like room number, furniture, overall room state or window view, tell your claims to hotel management and try to get the best for your money. Only complete satisfaction with all details can make you have a vacation you’ve dreamed.
