I am so disappointed to have to post this, as we used to stay at the Best Western Golden Canyon location every year and loved it. Unfortunately, potential customers should be warned that PAT is the most HORRIBLY RUDE manager I have ever encountered, and Best Western does not care how you are treated. They will, however, note your mistreatment in their files, in case they decide to care in the future.
This past March my children and I were preparing to make our yearly trip to the Renaissance Festival. I knew the hotel would be pretty full with reservations so I called on that Monday prior to make sure there was a room for us and to book it for Saturday 26 March. I spoke to an older lady who booked our room and sent me my confirmation notice via email. When we arrived at the hotel on that Saturday we were informed by the same older lady at the front desk that they had no reservation under my name. I pulled up my confirmation notice and discovered that she had not booked me for 26/27 March, but rather for 30 March. There were no rooms available there or at any of the locations close by. I was not very happy, but we problem-solved and ended up staying all the way out at the Holiday Inn in Fountain Hills (and had a great time--very friendly staff, by the way, but that’s another post!). The staff at Best Western Inn Golden Canyon did not apologize and did not offer to assist or compensate us in any way for the trouble THEIR mistake caused, so I sent a complaint in to Best Western’s Customer Care department when we got back to town.
I received a response back from Gail, who indicated that the Golden Canyon location would be contacting me soon to respond to and address the matter. Oh, I was contacted, alright…
I received a call from Pat at Best Western Inn Gold Canyon and she came out of the corner like Godzilla as soon as I answered the phone. She refused to let me speak and was clearly not interested in my issue; she started raising her voice at me and implied that I was going after her employee. She began to tell me that the employee who took my reservation was the nicest person she knows (don’t know her; not disputing that claim) and that she would NEVER make a mistake. (Maybe I should recommend that people stay there after all—apparently Best Western has employed a female version of Jesus.) The conversation went from bad to worse when Pat said she did not think there was enough ‘evidence’ to back up my claim (and she blamed me for not reading over the confirmation). This is what really got me--when she went so far as to infer that I was somehow being dishonest. She refused to back down and listen to me, and I was not going to continue being insulted, so I hung up on her and contacted Customer Care again.
(Let me say that it was never my intent to get the employee in trouble. Somehow, a mistake happened, and yes I should have looked more closely at the dates on the confirmation, but because we had just spoken by phone I trusted that everything was okay. I just wanted them to make it right, at least with an apology, but the whole thing suddenly became this ridiculous Jerry Springer episode).
I notified Gail at Customer Care of Pat’s behavior and she defended her, saying that the hotel responded to and addressed my concerns, as promised. She said that she was ‘very sorry for the confusion and inconvenience’ this had caused me. Oh, I get it—I was ‘confused.’ You see, I did not realize that responding to and addressing a problem involved being yelled at and called a con-artist by a hot-headed woman with an accent. Because I was so ‘confused’ Gail let me know she was sending me a $30.00 Best Western Travel Card because ‘Best Western values’ my business (and using me for a Festivus pole). I promptly let Gail know that I was NOT prepared to accept a $30.00 Travel Card in exchange for them messing up my reservation and then attacking my character when I asked for compensation. I felt at this point that being comp’d a room in exchange for what I had put up with was not only appropriate but customary. She did not agree, but countered by offering 8,000 points on my rewards account (Which means I could reserve maybe ¼ of a room, if that?).
Needless to say, I got nowhere with her or anyone else in that office and declined both the card and the points. I let Customer Care know that this issue was apparently symptomatic of a problem with the company as a whole, rather than the one location, and that I would no longer be staying at any Best Westerns. I even went so far as to send an email to the President and CEO of Best Western, Mr. David Kong, in hopes that they would look into this problem and prevent other customers from being ‘confused’ in the same way as yours truly. His office responded with the same uncaring attitude as the rest of the company. They continued to call the situation just a ‘misunderstanding’ that would be kept on file, and they hoped I would use the Travel Card/points and keep giving them money in exchange for being treated like a deposit from the north end of a south-bound pachyderm.
I have to say I am truly amazed that this even happened, but I can only control my actions, so… Never again. There are too many other places who know how to treat people right. I would rather give them my money in exchange for accommodations and no ‘confusion.’ :)
- Best Western Apache Junction
- Apache Junction Best Western
