Service with a Sneer

Years ago I tore out an ad in a local newspaper that touted a suit sale at one of the tri-state area’s most recognizable department store brands. I won’t disclose which one, but they have a rather large unit in midtown Manhattan. My current business wardrobe at that time had not been updated since the Carter Administration and was in the market for a suit and possibly a sport coat as well.

So, with the promise of a new look I began the process of matching, fitting and posing in the three-sided mirror and eventually decided on several items that hopefully would carry me for the next several years. But there was one problem. They had no tailor on the premises. I requested to see one of the floor managers and asked him point blank how his store could advertise a men’s suit sale and incredulously not have a tailor available should someone actually want to buy something.

He looked at me like a dim-witted contestant stumped on Final Jeopardy and mumbled a sort of apology. Needless to say I went elsewhere and have not been back since.

I mention this egregious customer service episode because I have just returned from an oceanfront resort venue (again I won’t mention which one, but it’s famous for salt-water taffy) where I was privileged to present before one of the state societies.

The first minor shock I received was that I would be hit with a $5 charge for checking into my room before 3 pm.

As someone who has been to conventions in Las Vegas and other points East and West well over 200 times, I have learned that your room is either ready or it isn’t. And if it isn’t, you simply wait and receive a text when it’s available.

The second surprise was that my room had no desk. I don’t think I’ve ever checked into a hotel room in a purported convention city that was sans desk. And truth be told, it’s kind of tough balancing a 15-inch HP computer on a small coffee table.

But wait it got better.

The Wi-Fi was virtually non-existent and I actually was forced to use the phone in my room to make a call, probably the first time I used a hotel phone in a decade. The switch for the bathroom light was broken, forcing me to leave the light on all night and finally, the room in which I was presenting, sprung a leak in the ceiling prompting a relocation of both host and attendees.

Like we haven’t gotten enough rain this season already!

It’s hardly a secret that the city in question has lost incalculable millions in convention business over the years to cities like Orlando and Las Vegas and in fact one of its newer gleaming hotels has just filed for Chapter 11.

But whether you run a department store or a hotel you have to give people a reason to come back.

Otherwise you’ll just present real estate opportunities for those that do.