I agree with you on both counts.  My irks are:

1) Booking in, the receptionist is checking you in, the phone rings and he/she answers that - immediately suggests to me that whoever is on the phone is more important than me and they don't even know who is on the phone - common practice in Holiday Inns in Europe, I find.

2) Cleaners who knock on your hotel door in the morning evne though they know that you are in the room because it is locked from the inside - especially irksome when its the weekend and its early!

3) ICH hotels that do not recognise your Priotity Club status - stop sending me marketing stuff telling me I am important and then when I get to the hotel, asking me to fill in a form with address etc - when you have the details. Not providing an upgrade even when the hotel is half empty - this does seem to be a growing practice in Holday Inns - Crown Plaza and Indigo have this right.

4) Posting a comment or Complaint to ICH and not getting a response!

Stop me now - I am turning into a grumpy old man.

People who are not Priority Club Members at the Priority Club Check in

desk !!!

Malc

Are you talking about answering the call and asking the caller to hold, or just answering the call?  I happen to be a hotel operator, and have to think that the phone must be answered.  We train our employees to answer the phone and ask the caller to hold, but to just ignore the call completely seems just as rude to the caller, as it would to you having the guest services agent take the call while you were checking in.  This is actually a big help to me as a manager, because I can use these discussions to better train my employees.

I agree with not being recognized as a PC member.  This is something that is not tolerated at our hotel.  PC members are VERY important to us, and I travel a lot myself.  I'm always testing other hotels on this and comparing them to our staff.

On a personal note, I personally, can not express the gratitude that I have to the members that post these topics on this forum.  I have found that I can train better off of information on this site, almost better than the training material given to us by IHG.  So, many many thanks.

Jon

Jon,

I guess I was talking about answering the call and dealing with it there and then, rather than answering it and asking the caller to hold - but that's only because the latter never happens in my experience and thus I didn't think about it!

Other peeves for you, since you're keen:

1) Upgrades for PC Platinum members. Yes, they're 'subject to availability' but so often I'm stuck in the room I booked knowing full well there are better rooms. No, a room on a higher floor is not an upgrade. For me, a corner room is, because I like the added peace and dependant on property, the extra windows. If no rooms are available to upgrade that's fair enough. Just say so. If they are, it creates ill feeling and, for me at least, just makes me less inclined to spend money in the hotel.

I appreciate that one shouldn't expect more that one pays for, but if I'm travelling for work I can't book above the basic room without justifying it. After a day's work, I don't want the stress of an argument over upgrades so I never ask - but if I don't get one and yet the hotel appears quiet, I'll sometimes check availablility online and if I've been stiffed, it makes me not so happy. If I drink in the bar it's on my dime, as the company doesn't pay for alcohol - so you can bet yourself I won't be coughing up if I feel hard done by.

It's not a feeling of entitlement, it's a published benefit. If I'm going to spend 50+ nights a year away from home, and then specifically opt to be loyal to ICHG (even where it means taking a less nice or less convenient hotel) on the basis of those published benefits, I don't think it's asking too much...

Obviously that's not aimed at you Jon (but I'm looking at you, HI Leicester, CP Gatwick-Crawley, CP Nottingham to name just three recent ones)

2) Replacing towels I've left over the shower rail. I would have thought that was obvious enough I wanted to keep them (the rule is leave them in the bath to be changed, no?)

3) I'm Platinum RA, my wife is Gold Amb. I wonder what level of status I must reach (and how on earth to qualify for it??) to get the benefit of have the TV remote control left by the bed where I put it, not back in the **** stand on the TV? So annoying!

Chris

In some IC if you do put them on the balcony to dry they are quickly removed as it spoils the frontage of the Hotel.

It is sort of like hanging out your laundry for the world to 'enjoy'...so I agree, the towels need not be hung out on a railing for all the world to see.

There are automated answering systems which will put calls in que. The call wait time is announced regularly, and there are options for getting basic information like directions, fax numbers etc.

Not that I LIKE those systems, but they are better than being put on hold with no idea of how long you will wait, and they usually give you an option to leave a message for call back.

The system also allows the Front Desk Clerk to give undivided attention to the guest registration process.

Hi, I had exactly the same thing happen to me on a couple of

occasions. my recent worst experience was at a Holiday inn express in Birmingham. I

am a gold car member and the reception i got on checking in was appaling. There was

no eye contact no urgency just asked my name and the girl had no interest

at all. I felt like a 2nd class citizen.check was the same not one word from the staff like thank you, good morning , did you enjoy your stay etc. absolutely nothing.

I stayed in a top Holiday inn hotel in krakow and it was similar on check out. i must have waited 30 minutes with everyone else, and regarding the points i had to ring them about 2 months later when i noticed they had not been added.took about 3 months all told.

apart from getting reward nights etc, this card has had little or no benefit when arriving at a hotel

I am in agreement with all these posters!  I won't repeat the stories, but we have lost the polite culture we once had~

Some of this is policy change for security reasons.  Gold and Platinum members receive the express check in, however your identities and card information are very important to us.  We have to verify that you are you, and have you sign the registration card.  I'd say our average check in time for Gold or Platinum members is around two minutes.

I agree with you. If there is a priority check in desk and one approaches it to check in this person should receive the courtesy to get recognized and checked in prior somebody else from the normal queue. It's like standing at the first class check in counter and the check in agent ignores you and calls the next person from the economy queue.

How about the:

dripping toilet or sink?

loud music from the bar area beneath the room

Would be nice if all ICs and CPs have a Keurigs in the rooms

What is one of those?

Combined heating and a/c units which don't actually produce any heat in winter......if I wanted to live in an igloo I would have moved to the North Pole!!!

Extra money added to the same meal that is served in the restaurant or bar when delivered as a room service meal - even more so when a small fortune is charged to deliver it!!!!!

Adding the 10% discrectionary service charge back onto your final bill when you have removed the cost from the signed tab and highlighted it

Finally don't call it a discretionary service charge when you add it automatically and expect the customer to remove it, ask them first!!!!

God I feel better now........pants day

Haven't an issue with paying $25 in the UK for a burger as you said they are ok.......but to charge me on top of the $10 room service charge an extra $2-4 for the same burger, cooked the same way to me is exploiting a person having room service. I don't know what it is like in the US but in the UK many ladies on their own stay in there rooms so is it a case of captive market and all that??????

All of the above has happened to me also BUT you should try the other hotel chains..................

It is for security purposes.  These days you can't be too careful with your credit card information.  This is especially true from the hotel's point of view, because they want to be very very careful with YOUR credit card information.  I actually prefer them to ask me for my card and ID.

Oh how much easier it was to travel before 9/11. No TSA at the airport and all the restriction we have nowadays. IIRC you were always asked to provide a credit card when checking in. Showing ID makes sure that you are the rightful owner of the CC. I don't think this has anything to do with 9/11, more with the CC fraud that happens nowadays. When you  travel in Europe, in some countries you have to surrender your passport when checking in to a hotel. Luckily we don't have to do this in the US.

Noise and a wrong temperature.

So many of 'us' are spoiled by the way things are within the USA... imagine being given an electric blanket if you complained about being cold here?

Not to say, you would not be warm, rather most people would not be happy!

Well at least you got some result.

Yes, yes, yes! I despise those old wall units. They are noisy and dry out the air. I also don't like it when I can't open my room window--even if it's just a crack. I much prefer fresh air when the evening temps are 50s - 70s to A/C units.

Threadbare towels or grey towels in the room grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Poor quality heaters in HIX in the UK................it's bloody freezing here in Scotland brrrrrrrrrrrr