HoJo Ent Rate Xcel Policy Before Changes and Other Vents :(

[tzeitel]

This past Jan I booked our reservations (2 rooms for 2 parties) - this was before the formal announcement regarding their new cancellation policy. Worried something might happen that would make us miss our trip (it was 9 months away!) I contacted the HoJo and was sent a new confirmation letter stating that our ressies fall under the old policy and we just need 48hr notice to cancel the room.

Today I learn that my friend cannot make it because of a family emergency. So I call HoJo (direct at the hotel) to cancel her ressie and was told that I could not cancel it w/o penalty. I talked to in-house reservations and was told the same, was transferred to guest relations and was told the same thing. Now, because I have the email she was able to "file a complaint". When I asked to talk to a manager I was told that someone would get back to me by Thursday .

I just checked the HoJo Innboards and even there they have a thread stating the new policy does not apply to reservations made before Feb. 1.

This is freaking me out since not only do I have this going on I also now have to book flights and figure out what to do about the Halloween party tixs I bought for my friend. She will give me the money for them but I just hate to see the tix go to waste. We did not budget for flights, we were planning on driving since there would be 3 drivers but now there is only one - and he has a bad knee that means no long distance driving.

Ufff, sorry I had to vent. Not great news with just 2 weeks to go

 

[mamaofthree]

I believe in house reservations is only open M thru F. Call the direct anaheim number tomorrow and I bet it will get cleared up without a problem.

 

[tzeitel]

I believe in house reservations is only open M thru F. Call the direct anaheim number tomorrow and I bet it will get cleared up without a problem.

Thanks, I will try calling them tomorrow. I just got the news and first thought was to cancel asap.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Hojo's in-house reservations are not open on Sundays, so if you called today, you were not talking to anyone on site no matter what you were told. In-house reservations are open Monday-Saturday, although the Saturday hours are shorter. I think the weekday hours are 9 AM - 5 PM. Make sure you ask specifically for in-house reservations when you do call, or you may still get transferred to the national reps even if in-house is open.

 

[Hojoanaheim]

They're right! You weren't speaking with in-house folks. Don't worry, we'll take care of you. Please PM your reservations email and I'll check it Monday AM.

Jonathan
GM

 

[sonnyjane]

They're right! You weren't speaking with in-house folks. Don't worry, we'll take care of you. Please PM your reservations email and I'll check it Monday AM.

Jonathan
GM

 

[tzeitel]

They're right! You weren't speaking with in-house folks. Don't worry, we'll take care of you. Please PM your reservations email and I'll check it Monday AM.

Jonathan
GM

Thanks so much!

 

[rentayenta]

Best. Customer. Service.

 

[skiingfast]

Best. Customer. Service.

I was say is far from best. If it was best there never would of been a problem. If it was good, the problem would of been fixed right away. It's just ok since they are fixing the problem caused by a problem caused by another problem.

 

[rentayenta]

I was say is far from best. If it was best there never would of been a problem. If it was good, the problem would of been fixed right away. It's just ok since they are fixing the problem caused by a problem caused by another problem.

 

[sonnyjane]

I was say is far from best. If it was best there never would of been a problem. If it was good, the problem would of been fixed right away. It's just ok since they are fixing the problem caused by a problem caused by another problem.

At work we had to attend a training seminar on customer service. They showed us a graph that said that when guests visited, if they experienced no problems during the visit, they were say, 80% likely to return or recommend us to a friend. Then the graph showed that if a guest experienced a problem but the problem was fixed to their satisfaction, they were 95% likely to return or refer. We joked that maybe we should go around causing problems, then fixing them to boost attendance.

 

[tzeitel]

At work we had to attend a training seminar on customer service. They showed us a graph that said that when guests visited, if they experienced no problems during the visit, they were say, 80% likely to return or recommend us to a friend. Then the graph showed that if a guest experienced a problem but the problem was fixed to their satisfaction, they were 95% likely to return or refer. We joked that maybe we should go around causing problems, then fixing them to boost attendance.

True but I called them to cancel 1 reservation and get my other extended for 1 night - I knew I would not get the Ent rate but that was fine. Because of the problem - and the agent who would not let me get a word in - I booked my other night elsewhere. She said to call back since she could not transfer me back to reservations - it was one of those ppl that sound really "nice" even when they are not paying attention to what you are saying. It just sounded like she wanted to get me off the phone and would not let me talk at all

 

[merrrydeath]

True but I called them to cancel 1 reservation and get my other extended for 1 night - I knew I would not get the Ent rate but that was fine. Because of the problem - and the agent who would not let me get a word in - I booked my other night elsewhere. She said to call back since she could not transfer me back to reservations - it was one of those ppl that sound really "nice" even when they are not paying attention to what you are saying. It just sounded like she wanted to get me off the phone and would not let me talk at all

As it has already been stated(even by HOJO themselves) you were obviously not on the phone with in-house reservations. I would give them a call back tomorrow during their normal business hours and I am sure they will do everything they can to resolve the problem.

 

[tzeitel]

As it has already been stated(even by HOJO themselves) you were obviously not on the phone with in-house reservations. I would give them a call back tomorrow during their normal business hours and I am sure they will do everything they can to resolve the problem.

Yep and I have already stated that I would. I even took Jonathan's offer and PM'd him.

 

[GrandBob]

I was say is far from best. If it was best there never would of been a problem. If it was good, the problem would of been fixed right away. It's just ok since they are fixing the problem caused by a problem caused by another problem.

Here's how I look at it. I believe that HoJo Anaheim is indeed one of the best places around for customer service. But the HoJo national reservations office is mediocre to poor. If you're savvy enough to know to call only in-house reservations during office hours, and to keep on insisting on in-house when national lies to you and says they're in-house, then you can get excellent customer service.

It's unfortunate that HoJo Anaheim can't seem to exert enough influence on the national reservation center to train them to deal with Anaheim's customers as a special case. Or at least to tell them to correctly identify themselves and suggest the customer call the in-house number during office hours. If Jonathan could only succeed in doing this, they'd have a lot fewer customer service problems.

P.S. Jonathan, I'd even go so far as to suggest that you disable your roll-over feature, where your in-house lines roll over to national's if yours are busy. I think it would be better, for both you and your customers, if the customer simply gets a busy signal and can try back later, rather than information that's maddeningly incorrect.

-Bob

 

[Hojoanaheim]

P.S. Jonathan, I'd even go so far as to suggest that you disable your roll-over feature, where your in-house lines roll over to national's if yours are busy. I think it would be better, for both you and your customers, if the customer simply gets a busy signal and can try back later, rather than information that's maddeningly incorrect.

-Bob

This is something that we have debated quite a bit! The national reservations center actually handles a tremendous call volume for us. There is really no way we could handle all the calls “in-house”. Hold times would soar, and our level of service would decline to an unacceptable level. The majority of calls can be handled by the national call center without issue.

Clearly, “boards” users are more savvy about discounts, room locations, etc., and can get frustrated by the call center agents’ lack of familiarity with our specific property.

This looks like an opportunity to create a direct incoming telephone number to our “in-house” folks that would not get forwarded to the national call center. Stay tuned, and I’ll see what I can come up with…

JW
GM

 

[Hojoanaheim]

Direct to HojoAnaheim "in-house" reservations (no national call center and bypassing hotel operator).

(714) 618-6036

 

[Mama Who]

Okay, I've never understood why HOJO was such a BFD to people.

This thread makes me seriously consider booking it for a future trip.

 

[GrandBob]

Direct to HojoAnaheim "in-house" reservations (no national call center and bypassing hotel operator).

(714) 618-6036

Outstanding! Jonathan, again you demonstrate your commitment to excellent and on-the-spot customer service.

Okay, I've never understood why HOJO was such a BFD to people.

This thread makes me seriously consider booking it for a future trip.

Yep, a case in point. I've only stayed at HoJo 3 or 4 times, but this is why they're always the first place I look at when booking a trip.

BTW, I also have a Retro Rate reservation for November which I booked in January, prior to the non-refundable policy. Fortunately, the trip is still on. But I never had any doubts that if I had to cancel it at the last minute (but before 48 hours), they'd cheerfully take care of me.

-Bob

 

[tzeitel]

OK so Jonathan sent me a PM and I PM'd him my info last night. This morning bright and early I got a cancellation confirmation - except the the attachment was a regular confirmation for the reservation.

So I emailed and got a nice response asking for my info (even though it was in the email under their reply), I sent it again and got an interesting question - "do you want to cancel the reservation?". So I emailed back that yes I wanted to cancel it. Got a response that it was cancelled - but I did not get a cancellation number. So I had to email back to get it.

I know, I know I should have just called but I did not think it would take so much back and forth.