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Road Warriors Sound Off on Hotel Inspectors

We've written about hotel inspectors before, in cases where someone tirelessly checked into motels on behalf of AAA, or cases where (more fortunate) inspector viewing properties for the Leading Hotels of the World.

This past summer Smart Money magazine ran an article in the print version only about a sort of "secret shopper" inspector whose job it is to go around staying at hotels and then presenting the manager with the good, bad, and ugly findings. (A full written report is sent later.) It was all good fun, but what we like even better is the letters the magazine received from readers, now printed in the current issue of the magazine.

As road warrior Mark from Port Orange, Florida writes,

"Almost every one of my hotel rooms in the past year has had obvious issues that suggest management has never seen the room: lamps that don't work, sinks and showers that don't drain, door latches that don't fit, inoperative phones or air conditioners, etc. Until a hotel manager uses a checklist and visits three room a day in his property---and is made accountable for this---in-house inspectors are just niceties to make the home office feel good."

Ace from Montgomery, Alabama isn't afraid to name names:

"I am sitting in The Peabody Hotel in Memphis reading your story about hotel inspectors. It is 10:30 p.m. and housekeeping didn't make it to my room today. When I called the front desk, they said that everybody had left for the day. It raises the question of who was answering the telephone."

Dear hotel manager, when is the last time you scheduled a visit to every room in your hotel, preferably at check-in time, and saw how things really looked from a guest's perspective? If the guest is annoyed because the basics aren't covered, all the marketing in the world can't bring them back for a second stay.

Image via Diccon/Flickr

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