LoyaltyLobby reader sent me an email about the problems her family had had with the Ramada Bismarck Northeast hotel and how the issue was resolved.
Let’s starts with the TripAdvisor review that was left for the stay:
And the property responded to it:
There is often problem with the wiring of even new hotels. Why they cannot have enough plugs?
I am dismayed to inform you that your hotel, the Ramada Limited in
Bismarck ND is a completely unacceptable place for me or my family to
stay in the future. I made a reservation there over a month prior to our
stay, the last night on our anniversary vacation.To start, when we arrived, late on Saturday the 230th of July, there was
no one at the desk. I rang the bell, and waited. And waited. And waited,
for a full 10 minutes by my watch. When the night clerk finally arrived,
he made no attempt to apologize for keeping me waiting so very long.When we checked into our room, there was a very noticeable odor of old,
stale cigarette smoke in the entire room. It’s my understanding that all
hotels in ND are non-smoking, so it appears that whatever methods were
used to “clean” the room after the law changed had been miserably
inadequate. In particular, the smell was pronounced by the old, broken
down couch, and in the shower.When one requests a non-smoking room, there is an expectation that, if
smokers have used the room in the past, the cleaning will have
eliminated, not just blunted the effects of years of smoking there.Even worse, when my husband went to the desk to tell the clerk that the
room smelled of smoke, he tried to blame it on smokers outside the door,
which was 20 yards away, rather than attempting to make it right.I wrote a review on TripAdvisor. The manager, rather than apologizing
for the issues I raised, was combative in print.We would appreciate a refund of our payment for that night, as we did
not receive a room that was close to adequately descriptive of
“non-smoking.” Given the lead time for our reservation, there was ample
time for the facility to inform us that the only rooms available had
been smoking rooms in the past, and could not be guaranteed to be
smoke-free. Had we known that, we would, of course, have made
reservations elsewhere.
My advise always is to send a message to corporate if the hotel is unable or unwilling to resolve the issue. Ramada is part of the Wyndham and the reader had sent the above message to customer service.
I hope all is well.
I am in receipt to your concerns involving the Ramada hotel located in
Bismarck, ND. I truly apologize for what you have encountered. I would
like to ensure this is addressed accordingly; therefore, I’ve created a
customer care concern within our offices. I will be addressing the
nature of your concern with the hotel’s owner/operator. You will be
contacted back no later than 08/09 to ensure this has been taken care
of. It is my understanding that other traveler’s accompanying you had
concerns as well. Please advise them they are more than welcome to
contact our office at 800-828-6644 so we can ensure their concerns are
addressed as well.I appreciate your patience.
Sincerely,
K….
Brand Specialist
Wyndham Hotel Group
Phone: (605) 229-….
Fax: (888) 565-7707
The reply from the corporate customer care came very fast. The property didn’t respond to it any other way than sending a copy of the refund slip.
What surprised me was this TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence bad on the hotels TripAdvisor page. The hotel is 2-star one and the TripAdvisor has four stars for it from the reviewers that puts it in middle of all the hotels in the area. Couldn’t find the reason for this “Certificate of Excellence”. Maybe they now give these for all hotels that bring cash in for TripAdvisor?
Conclusion
It is always a good idea to contact the corporate if the property doesn’t make it right. The reader here wrote a bit longer email than what I would have done. It was not a rant, however, and included a solution (refund) that they would prefer.
