Grand Hyatt NY Gets An “F” For Accommodations!

 

Grand Hyatt Hotel New York City

I just returned from a business trip to New York where I gave a presentation to a group of travel industry professionals. The conference went well, but that is not my reason for writing this. The problem was with the Hotel.

The conference hotel was the Grand Hyatt in New York City. This is a very large business hotel located right next to Grand Central Station on 42nd street. I was excited about staying at the hotel as I really enjoy the Hyatt brand. 

 

I arrived at 1250AM in stead of 1030PM as my flight was late from Chicago due to weather in the New York area. So I am now very tired, somewhat wet as it has been pouring rain for the entire trip from Newark Airport to the Grand Hyatt Hotel and I had to wade through the rain to get to the Super Shuttle Bus. I walk into the lobby of the Grand Hyatt and proceed to the Registration Desk. Now remember it is 1250AM on Thursday morning and there are at least 12 people waiting in line to check in. Now that would not be so bad, but there is only one desk clerk handling the check in and to add insult to injury, there are approximately 15 self service check-in kiosk that all say “OUT OF SERVICE – SEE DESK CLERK TO CHECK IN.” So now I am very tired, I have a bad headache and I am standing in a line that is not moving at all. 

 

20 minutes later I make it up to the desk clerk. I give him my name and my reservation number. He types it into the computer and then I see that look on his face that I have seen to many times before. You know the look of bad news at 115 in the morning. So he tells me that the room I reserved was not available. My heart dropped! I said you have to give me a room. He tells me that he has a queen size smoking room. I said to myself, “how bad could a smoking room be?” So I say to the desk clerk, I just need a room to sleep in, I will take the room. 

 

So he gives me the key card and I proceed to the 15th floor room I was assigned. I get to the room and open the door and walk in and then it hit me. This room REAKED of smoke! Oh did it stink, it just knocked you over. It smelled like someone chain smoked no-stop for a week! But again, I was so tired and I had this terrible headache and I just needed so sleep. So I climbed into the bed and fell asleep. 

 

When I woke up, I really look around the room for the first time. The window shade was all stained and looked as if someone threw a cup of coffee on it. The lights on the night stands did not work properly. The Desk lamp shade was broken and had a hole in it.  There was a floor lamp that was leaning over like someone bent the base.  And the final straw, the wifi in the room did not work.

 

I walked into the bathroom to take a shower. The bathroom look pretty good, so I get into the shower, close the curtain and turned on the water. I adjusted the temperature and then the tub started to fill up. Ok, so the drain was running slow. I hit the shower button and the shower turned on. It started to spray nicely around the curtain and on to the floor. I could not get a good flow onto me, but it did a great job of making a puddle on the floor of the bathroom, which I could not stop.

 

I was really frustrated by this time. I got out of the shower and threw two towels on the floor to soak up the water. I then dried myself off with a third towel, at least they gave me 4 towels and they were not the usual fluffy Hyatt towels, they were very scratchy and thin towels.

 

The service was just fair throughout the hotel. The public areas were very nice, but the service was poor at best. I stay in lots of hotel rooms during the year and this was a stay that I want to forget. I cannot recommend the Grand Hyatt in New York until they do something to improve the quality control of the rooms and the attitude of the staff.

No Customer Service at United Airlines Reservation Dept

 

United Flight Board at O'Hare

I just got off the phone with a United Reservation agent. I don’t know what country he was in, but it was no where near the United States. I was trying to use a denied boarding compensation ticket voucher I received because I was bumped off a United flight from Seattle to Chicago a few months ago. This agent did not know which end was up. I told him I was flying from Chicago O’Hare to Las Vegas. He then asked me if I was flying out of Ontario CA, I told him I just said I was flying out of O’Hare. He probably has never even been to O’Hare. I told him that I wanted to use my Denied boarding voucher. He told me I would have to mail it to a PO box and have it postmarked by Monday to use it. Well, I told him Monday was a holiday, Labor Day and there was no way I could have it postmarked by Monday Sept 1 as the post office is closed on Sunday and Monday. He said he was sorry but I had to have it postmarked by Monday. I could not believe it. I told him that he was making it very difficult for me to make this reservation and then he insulted me by telling me I was the one that was making it difficult. What a jerk! I then said, OK, I will go to O’Hare tomorrow to pick it up. He said I would have to get it ticketed at O’Hare by 7PM on Sunday as the ticket counter closes at 7PM. I told him that there are flight out of O’Hare after 7PM, how can the ticket counter close at 7PM. He told me people can check in but they cannot buy tickets. Now how ludicrous is that statement. What if you want to take a flight at 9PM but you don’t have a ticket. Well, if you talked to the agent I talked to, you could not buy a ticket. Maybe United should just close up shop and call it quits, as their employees don’t know what the hell they are talking about. Needless to say, I did not get my reservation and I just said thank you and hung up the phone in discuss. I will try this again tomorrow. Maybe I will get someone that can help me and not criticize me.

Are Cruise Ships Getting Too Big?

 

Relaxing on Royal Caribbean

This past week I have been reading up on Royal Caribbean’s new ship the Oasis of The Sea. This engineering marvel will weigh in at 220,000 GRT when it debuts in December of  2009. It will tower over the sea 16 stores. It will host 5200 people every week for 7 night Caribbean cruises out of the Port of Miami. The Oasis of The Sea will be the World Largest Cruise Ship ever built.

I am looking forward to seeing this ship. As a veteran of 86 cruises and 30 of them on Royal Caribbean, I am questioning if cruise ships have gotten too big? With more than 5200 people on board, will there be quiet places to relax? Will there be places to meet new people and make new friends? Will there be massive lines for everything? Will you need a segway to get around?

I love a smaller ship after sailing on all size ships. The reasons I like the smaller ships, you are able to make friends with the crew and passengers much quicker on a small ship. The walk from your cabin to the pool or anywhere else on the ship is much shorter then on the large ship and the smaller ships are able to get into some seculded ports that are not available on the large ships. But there are lots of pluses for sailing on a large ship and that is why the cruise lines keep building them.

The jury is still out on what people will like and dislike on the Oasis of The Sea, but I am sure the Royal Caribbean will do a “Royal” job on this new vessel.

Avis Rent A Car Offers Mobility Scooters

 

One of the scooters you can rent

For travelers with disabilities, Avis rent a car is now making mobility scooters available nationwide. So if you know people with disabilities that need a mobility scooter when they travel, let them know about the Avis program.

 

Avis tested the program in Las Vegas and Orlando and found that the customer response was extremely strong.

The Avis mobility scooters can be reserved directly through Scootaround at this URL http://www.scootaround.com/avis/

Delta goes to $50 on Second Checked Bag!!

 

Delta aircraft taking off

Delta Airlines announced today that they are increasing the fee from $25 to $50 for a second checked bag. 

I have to give credit to Delta for not charging for the first bag. American, United and US Airways are charging $15 for the first checked bag.

Delta states that the fee increase is essential to generate the necessary revenues to offset record fuel prices. What they don’t get is that people will just stop flying or cut back on how much they fly. This is not the answer, it is just a ban-aid.

I don’t know when all of this airline fee nonsence will end, but it has to end soon or soon there will only be 2 or 3 airlines left. Until then, hold on to your wallets….it’s going to be a bumpy ride!

Open Letter to United Airlines CEO on Checked Baggage

                                                                            I sent this letter to Glenn Tilton, President and CEO of United Airlines. I guess the Airlines just don’t get it!

Dear Mr. Tilton,

I am a loyal fan of United Airlines. I just completed a wonderful flight from Seattle to Chicago on United. Everyone from the gate agent in Seattle to the flight crew on the aircraft, were just great. It was the best flying experience I have had in months and I want to thank you for that.

And now for the main reason for this letter. I just received an email regarding United’s new baggage policy. I have to tell you that I am appalled. This is no way to run an airline. I have been in the travel industry for 37 years and I am currently a consultant to the travel industry. I wrote a piece on American’s $15 baggage charge where I questioned the policy and wondered if in fact the management at American were trying to put the airline in bankruptcy. The cold hard fact is $15 for a checked bag is a way to nickel and dime your customers away from your airline. This does not address the real problem, which is the escalating cost of running an airline. Fuel is now a major concern, but $15 per bag is not the answer. You have to price your product correctly. Charge your passenger what it costs to transport them from point A to point B and include the costs associated with that transportation, which includes at least one checked bag. You understand that you are forcing more and more people to carry on more luggage. A carryon suitcase clobbered me 2 weeks ago by a passenger that did not want to check her bag. She hoisted it up into the overhead and then it fell out and hit me in the head. With this additional carryon luggage, the boarding process will be slowed and there will be gate delays. It just does not make sense.

 I will give you some free advice. Don’t implement your $15 baggage charge, just raise your fares to cover your costs and make a profit. You will then have a profitable airline and you will have happy passengers, happy employees and happy investors. People will pay the price for a “Great Product” so make your airline a great airline by delivering a great customer experience. Try it, it works.  If you don’t, you will drive your customers away from your airline and then everyone loses.

I really hope that you, Mr. Tilton reads this letter and not one of your assistants because I would like to hear back from you, as you are the driving force behind this airline. Looking forward to your reply.

If it has wheels, some people think it’s a carry-on

I guess this is my rant for this week. I just returned from a flight on American Airlines from Las Vegas. I was in boarding group 4, I don’t know how I always get in boarding group 4. I check in at home 24 hour in advance and I still get boarding group 4. But anyway, I board the plane and get to my seat, an aisle seat on a 757 and sit down. Within 30 seconds, this women comes down the aisle dragging this huge suitcase and bumping into everyone that has an aisle seat. She gets to my row, row 21 and stops. Now mind you, there are maybe 15 people behind her and now she is standing in the middle of the aisle with this suitcase (yes it has wheels) that should have been checked. I have no Idea how she got it through security. Now everyone is backed up out the door of the plane waiting for her to hoist this boulder into the overhead rack. So she tries to lift this thing by herself into the overhead rack. After the first try, it fell on an empty seat. The second try it fell on the passenger in row 20. I get up to try to help her and it falls on me. There was no way that the suitcase was going to fit into the over head rack the way it was packed. So she starts taking things out of this suitcase and putting it in her carryon bag. Well, to make a long story short, the flight attendant was able to finally cram that thing into the overhead after she emptied about 2 pounds of stuff into her carry on bag but now there was no space for any ones carryons except hers.

So, please the next time you fly. Be respectful to your fellow passengers and bring a small carryon that will fit without any problem in the overhead rack. And remember, just because it has wheels, does not make it a CARRYON!

Ok, I feel better now.