Case Study Nick is the night manager at the Pearl, an upper-upscale hotel with 460 rooms. His shift begins at 11 P.M. and he always starts his shift by reading the log book because it is the most valuable source of information about what happened at the hotel since the end of his previous shift. He learns from the afternoon entries a frantic effort had been made to secure a couple of extra rooms at neighbor properties of the same category because the Pearl was running short on rooms. Those efforts met with limited success: only one room had been put aside by the Mandarin Hotel in case the Pearl had to walk a guest. The hotel had been overbooked by three rooms at the start of the day, which did not look like a major problem. Unfortunately, that afternoon a family gathering occupying five rooms decided to overstay their reservation by staying for an extra night. Losing those rooms meant the Pearl was sitting at minus-eight rooms before arrivals started to trickle in. With the situation suddenly looking bleak, the evening shift logged an entry canceling the five 6 P.M. holds. When two early departures were detected by housekeeping, it looked as though the situation might work out after all. This leaves Nick with only one potential problem, a late arrival named Mr. Walker who has no room assigned in spite of the Special Attention code. This code signifies a guest who is not a VIP, but who is a regular for whom special care is offered in the form of possible upgrades and welcoming gestures such as a fruit plate. Nick has an uneasy feeling about the situation, so he scans the afternoon 92 Chapter 6 room status verification report one more time in hopes of finding another dis system shows an occupied status for it, but Nick has no such luck tonight, He learns that it is a queen bed on a low floor, recently renovated, for $3.4 hes night clerk promises to hold it until Nick calls to release it. They are close to fin. up to capacity. Nick is not looking forward to breaking the news to Mr. Walker that the p doesn't have his room. He has heard rumors that Mr. Walker is a short-temp business executive in the high-pressure field of hedge-fund management, doesn't have Iong to wait. A black limousine pulls up and Mr. Walker COm.s ing through the main entrance, apparently agit they can get away with. I book my own flight, I provide the payment, I bown seat, I check service whatsoever, they got lousy planes, rude personnel, ridiculous food for they are totally unreliablel Nobody knows where my luggage is. I'd be luch atd they locate it somewhere across the Atlantic. I should have arrived at 5:30ck if afternoon and look at this: it's almost midnight! My evening schedule -30 in the messed up." He reaches the front desk and angrily tells Nick that his night to bly started when his flight out of Chicago was delayed, which led him to misghthat necting flight and arrive too late for an all-important business dinner linedis COn. tonight. Now he just wants to get into his room so he can return a ton of 4p for and deal with other pressing issues. He only needs to pick up his k of messages his way. Nick listens patiently to Mr. Walker's tale of woe, wondering if he can keep the irate guest's anger directed at the airline industry. When Mr. Walker pauses to take a breath, Nick quietly remarks, "I am so sorry for your troubles tonight, Mc. Walker. However, I'm afraid I have bad news for you." "Don't even think about that. I've had more than my fair share of mishaps for one day." "Well, I don't know how to say this but we have an overbooked situation righ now. We are fully committed and ran out of rooms for the night. I can't give you the room we thought we would have. There were guests who decided not to check out and that has left us a number of rooms short." "You've got to be kidding me, right? This can't be happening to mel" "Tam afraid we will have to ask you to spend your first night at another hotel and be back for your second night tomorrow. It's only today that we are short of rooms. We secured a room for you and we will fully absorb all the costs of..." Unfortunately, Nick can't complete the sentence. Mr. Walker cuts him off abruptly and loudly vents his frustration with a barrage of expletives. Nick manages to keep his calm while Mr. Walker is yelling at him, reminding himself that the guest has had a string of misfortunes and is not mad at him personally. So he lets Mr. Walker blow off steam until he calms down enough to explain that moving to a different hotel would be a catastrophe. A number of people are likely to stop by looking for him at The Pearl, Mr. Walker explains, because , he all other staff members to promptly forward any messages or deliveries to the Mandarin. Mr. Walker grudgingly accepts the taxi chit and allows Nick to personally escort him to a waiting cab. Nick assures him that things will work out and promises to call the airline and put a rush order on his missing suitcase if they manage to locate it during the night. He says he expects to see him back at the Pearl tomorrow. Nick returns to his office and prepares a log note recording a brief summary of the events and a to-do list for all involved in dealing with Mr. Walker's needs. Then he telephones the Mandarin and asks for Mr. Walker's room. When he is put through, he inquires whether the room is satisfactory and if there is anything else he could do for him. Nick also asks Mr. Walker to give him his room number at the Mandarin in order to speed up the transfer of communications and deliveries. Mr. Walker returns to the Pearl the following afternoon looking much more relaxed after having had a much better day. He is greeted by the afternoon duty manager but he doesn't stop to chat and heads straight for the elevator, eager to get to his room. Upon arriving in the suite that he has been upgraded to, he discovers that a handwritten welcome note is waiting for him propped up by a bottle of his favorite Bordeaux red wine and accompanied by a cheese plate, all compliments of the Pearl. When Nick comes in to start his shift that night, he is surprised to find an internal mail envelope on his desk. There is a note inside, addressed to the Gen eral Manager of the Pearl, who has forwarded a copy to Nick with the remark "Well done, Nick!" The note reads: "Thanks for the welcome gestures today, muc appreciated. The way I was treated last night and today really goes to show ho much the Pearl cares about me and this will keep me coming back here, althoug I was redirected to another hotel (a good choice, the Mandarin). In fact, I did 94 Chapter 6 skip a beat; got all my messages, deliveries and even my suitcase was there wh w wo had a hard day and he was very professional and helpful. After this incid last n ight, be an even more loyal Pearl guest! You guys rock! Best, P. Walker." Discussion Questions 1. How did Nick handle the situation? 2. Is the guest always right? 3. What were the keys to turning a potential disaster into an opportunity? 4. What are the revenue management implications of dealing with a guest such as Mr. Walker