Paul Carr's Hotel Show-Tell: The Worst Customer Service in Las Vegas

Hotel number two on this Vegas trip is Rumor; a new "boutique" hotel, about 10 minutes from the strip. Spoiler alert: don't stay there.

It's not that the room was awful -- see video below -- in fact, it wasn't bad at all. It was, however, a bit grubby in places (stale water in the in-room jacuzzi) and a lot un-private (no net curtains and room that backed on to a parking lot) so I decided to stay one night and then check out early. I emailed the manager, who confirmed that would be fine.

And that's when my experience at Rumor went bad.

Despite getting an email confirmation of the early departure -- from the general manager, no less -- two days later an additional $300 was charged to my card. Ah well, mistakes happen. But no. When I complained to the same manager, he denied all knowledge of the early-check out and, on the subject of the refund, said he wasn't "going to get into it with [me]." There then followed a bizarre back-and-forth where I pointed out that, when it comes to unauthorized credit card charges, he doesn't have much choice but to "get into it" with me -- and he continued to stonewall and prevaricate.

Could he at least offer a quote for this review? "Write what you like..." he replied.

Things didn't start to get better until I started Tweeting about the whole ridiculous episode. At that point, Commercial Affairs Director, Michael Crandall got in touch, apologized profusely and very kindly offered me a free room to make up for everything. The refund, he assured me, was already being processed. I accepted his apology, but declined his kind offer of a room.

"One other thing," he said, "is there any chance you can delete those negative tweets? They could really damage us."

Crandall was charming and genuinely apologetic, even when I explained to him that I had no intention of deleting the tweets. But the fact remains, the only reason I'd got my money back was because I was in a position to publicly expose Rumor's horrible customer service. If I'd been any one of the thousands of other people who stay at the hotel every month (some of whom appear to have had similar problems), I'd be out of luck.

And, anyway, what was it the manager said? "Write what you like..."? Ok, I'll write this: don't ever stay in Rumor. The rooms are fine -- see video below -- but, when it counts, the service is the worst in Vegas.

 

 

 

Follow Paul Carr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/paulcarr

Comments

[OLDERBLUE]

02:16 AM on 07/20/2011

Paul... Gosh it s so good to hear a report from someone with a Platform that will be relevant. I am old enough to remember Las Vegas when Chicago and the boys owned it. The problem after that is that the corporations became more vile, more corrupt and more Customer Unfriendly than ever. So When I tell you that I am rolling with joy over the fact that it is losing it's Stance in this economic downturn, I am saying that it it is completely desrerved. I am also liking going there and tipping absolutely no one..!!! I just sit there and pretend I'm too old to think about it.

[s5cat2dog]

08:19 PM on 07/19/2011

You know....Vegas and the hotels are great....IF you don't run into any kind of problem or preference that they don't care to honor. And the further up the ladder of 'management' you go, the more unwilling they are to honor the odd, or not so odd request. I'm looking at YOU MGM 'Grand".

[Canuck1950]

11:30 AM on 07/19/2011

I had a look at the TripAdvisor link you provided. Lots of rave reviews and a few that agreed with your take on the place. The thing I noticed about that that was quite odd was that the reviewers providing the good reviews had never provided any other reviews. I checked another similarly ranked hotel and the reviewers all seemed to be providers of multiple reviews. Is it possible that there is a way to scam the TripAdvisor site with multiple bogus reviewers? These reviews all seem impossibly upbeat. For example, there is one by a grey-haired older fellow who loved the constant disco music they have blaring there. WTF? I am a grey-haired older fellow, too, and I would crawl a mile through broken glass to avoid that kind of soul-destroying environment. Something fishy here, methinks.

[lawFROMNEWYORK]

09:48 AM on 07/19/2011

When it comes to the value-priced hotel room, cute design and free wine are extras to most. I was a rooms division manager in a corporate hotel setting; a bit different but similar enough. Average to excellent service IS expected and a poor view is a risk. The Rumor could add window screens for the Las Vegas sun in future but for under $70 during the week and twice that on weekends they offer an appealing value and attractive design. Too focused on grabbing your money they seem to be but this is not the Ritz-Carlton. I think Mr. Carr does a fair job of reviewing them -- note they tried to get him to alter his review -- and he properly stood firm as a practicing journalist.

[AbeMartin]

06:34 AM on 07/19/2011

Many American companies routinely overcharge or tack on so-called "service charges" correctly believing that most customers will pay the bill without checking the charges, or if they do, meekly acquiesce to bullying tactics.  Telecommunications giants such as Sprint and Comcast gradually add charges, many of which are specious or duplicative, so monthly bills for services gradually grow by three dollars here or five dollars there.  Supermarkets deliberately post one price on shelf displays but scan higher prices at the check out.  Do the math.  If a supermarket chain--adds just $1.00 to 3 million customers charges each day, they sweep in nearly one billion dollars in unearned income each year.  Sweet!

[Mike in NOLA]

03:05 AM on 07/19/2011

So the rooms are fine, but you got one you didn't like. Instead of trying to switch rooms, you decided to check out early, which presumably means you reserved the room for more than one night. The manager graciously allowed you to do this. You then had a disagreement with this same manager, who sounds a little passive aggressive, over credit card charges. How was the front desk staff? Bellhops? Concierge? If I were looking to stay in Vegas, I would read this article, take to heart the fact that you said that aspects of the room were dirty, and ignore the rest as simple venting.

[zevonia]

11:52 AM on 07/19/2011

$300 is not just "credit card charges". Apparently if you were overcharged $300 by a hotel you would think "oh well, no big deal". But I can assue you no matter how nice the bellhops, concierge or front desk staff are, I would not recommend a hotel that tries to steal from me.

[max08]

01:50 AM on 07/19/2011

Well, Paul, now you've got the name of your next book. RUMORS, DON'T STAY HERE. Your Zagat for places not to stay.

[HarleyOpenRoad]

08:31 PM on 07/18/2011

Never heard of it.

Now I'll never see it.