Professor Stinson once had a very unpleasant experience while staying at a nationally known franchise inn. At the time, the inn had a corporate service guarantee stating that if a guest was not 100 percent satisfied with his or her accommodations, the guest would not have to pay. On a particular night, the inn was bustling and all of the rooms were occupied.
It became apparent that the guests in the room adjoining Dr. Stinson were having a party, and they were being very loud. The volume of the sound, combined with the thin walls, allowed Professor Stinson to distinctly hear everything that was being said. She called the front desk about the noise and asked if she could be moved to a different room. The front desk clerk was very abrupt with her, his only response being, “The hotel is sold out tonight, and there is nothing I can do about your problem.” As Dr. Stinson continued to pursue the problem on the phone, the clerk was decidedly discourteous, repeating, “The front desk is understaffed, the hotel is very busy tonight, and there is nothing I can do about your problem.” After several minutes of somewhat heated discussion, the clerk finally agreed to send someone up to the room next door to request that its occupants bring the noise level down.
Unfortunately, the noise continued unabated. After a considerable amount of time, Professor Stinson called the front desk a second time. The same front desk clerk with whom she had spoken earlier answered the call and pointed out again that the front office was too busy to take care of her problem. Finally, the people next door left their room.
A few hours later, while the professor was sleeping, the people next door came back. This time, not only did their noise disturb her sleep, but their lights did as well, as they shone through from under the connecting door. As it was well after midnight, she decided not to complain to the front desk this time, figuring that her only source of satisfaction would be the hotel’s guarantee that she would not have to pay for her room.
The next morning when Dr. Stinson was checking out, she told the front desk clerk that she was not satisfied with her stay and that she didn’t want to pay for it. This clerk was not particularly courteous and told Dr. Stinson that she had received no information regarding any guest complaints from the previous night, and the professor would indeed have to pay for her night’s stay. Dr. Stinson pointed out to the clerk that the guarantee of the inn stated that if a guest was not satisfied with his or her stay, that guest would not have to pay. At this point the front desk clerk abruptly left her station, saying, “I can’t do anything about this, you will have to speak to the manager.” Several minutes later the manager appeared and before even discussing the matter simply stated, “Because the hotel was sold out last night, I couldn’t have done anything to solve your problem.” He refused to honor her request. Professor Stinson paid for her room but was very upset about the treatment she had received. Following this experience, she wrote a letter of complaint to the company, to which she received no response.