Not an ACCORdial welcome

Internet age. Good. Convenient? Yes. From the warmth and convenience of your study room you can plan and book all your air tickets and hotel bookings and even get a confirmation on your bookings. But be careful if you happen to deal with the ACCOR hotel chain. On reaching your destination abroad and on the strength of the hotel reconfirmation that you received on your booking, you would naturally expect to receive a welcoming reception and then be promptly directed to your room.

That is not necessarily the case and, from my experience, I would say that mostly it is not the case. When I was in Frankfurt last September/October, I too expected a hassle-free check in and then to go straight to my room. But the receptionist, after punching a few keys, said there was no booking in my name nor did they have any rooms available. The hotel was full to the brim. She coolly shrugged her shoulders, implying she could not be bothered and callously turned away to do other things.

When I insisted that I did receive ACCOR's reconfirmation of my booking, she started demanding to see that reconfirmation. Fortunately, I was carrying it and fished out the hard copy of the e-mail reconfirmation for her and from then on things were different. She then started earnestly to check and ascertain where they went wrong. Suddenly I realized that the shoe was now on my foot. The ball was in their court and she could no longer wish me away. I made her make another booking for me elsewhere and got it reconfirmed before moving out from there. All that was possible on the strength of that piece of paper of reconfirmation that I was carrying. Otherwise they would have thrown me out into the cold October street to fend for myself.

Once bitten twice shy. While in Germany itself, I reconfirmed my booking with the ACCOR's member hotel in Amsterdam and to my absolute chagrin once again they had no booking in my name in their system. Fortunately, they had a room available. I have already got their apologies for goofing up on my booking. Notwithstanding that, twice to have similar experiences within a short span and in different countries was too frequent for me and I suspect the Central Reservation System of ACCOR member hotels only sounds good and modern, but on the lobby floor things could be different.

Hence, you should be ACCORdingly beware to carry your reservation copies on the trip if you have one to avoid such an ACCORious experiences that could leave you high and dry!

MATHEW WADAKKETHALAKAL

Jakarta