a pall over the whole vacation

I may have mentioned that mom left items behind in our room in New Orleans.  Had it been her shampoo or a single item l would have felt pretty good about telling her to suck it up and get over it, however she left behind to bras, underwear, 3-4 pairs of brand new unworn socks, a new blazer, a new scarf and two boxes of chocolate purchased to take to the ‘cousins’. 

We checked out of the hotel Tuesday morning, discovered the loss Wednesday and called the hotel on Thursday.  That call went unanswered; literally the phone rang about 15 times before I hung up and called again.  That call too was not received by a human, an answering machine, nor a homeless person walking through the lobby.  We called at 9am the next morning and spoke with the front desk clerk who was so nice and said that he would call me back in an hour with some information.  10 am.. no call… 11am I called again and spoke with a gal who said that she would also call me back in an hour.  I nicely explained that we were driving back to New Orleans and that we could stop by the hotel and pick up our items that should be safely locked in the housekeeping managers area of the hotel.  We were told that we would have to talk to the head housekeeper and that a message would be left for her and that she would call me back.  (are you sensing a theme?)  We called again at 3pm and asked to speak to the head housekeeper, who doesn’t have voicemail – the phone was allowed to ring over 15 times before it rang back to the front desk and we were told that a message had been delivered.

When we arrived back into New Orleans we asked the new hotel (at the airport) if they had any inside contacts at the Best Western St. Christopher hotel.  The agent didn’t but offered to call anyway – I was hopeful that the hotel to hotel communications might be more fruitful than the bitchy customer to hotel conversation.   She did get more information, but it was not what we wanted to hear:  the housekeeping manager has lost items locked in her office and she’s gone home for the day.  Call Monday.  Grrrr.

So, after talking mom off the ceiling I waited patiently to Monday and called for the head housekeeper and left ANOTHER message.  Monday afternoon I had escalated to fully pissed and called and asked for the general manager.  The desk agent sent me to a voicemail box where I told my story and that I really needed some help and would appreciate a call back.  I even shared that I had worked at a hotel and that I’m aware of how these things work (generally stuff it held for a period of time and then “thrown away”) but that what I really needed was a call back.

Monday afternoon I called the Best Western Customer Care line to open a ticket – which the hotel has 7 days to respond to.  I did get a phone call Tuesday morning from a terse man who in addition to not seeming to understand my request kept pronouncing my name incorrectly over and over again (it’s tp gal NOT tp GALS!)  I tried to politely tell him my name and what room we were in and he said he had it and would call me back ‘that day – by the end of CENTRAL time’s business day.’  He was really specific so I felt pretty good that he would call.  Alas… end of the day… no call.

It is currently 3:30 central time the following day and still no call.  I’m holding out little hope that my mom’s new clothes are still at the hotel, but because at no point has anyone from the hotel shared with me a policy of how long they hold lost items before disposing them nor have they said that the items aren’t there.

At this point I am ready to state for the record that in spite of how grand our stay at the Best Western St. Christopher, New Orleans was…. I do not recommend it!  Their customer service ends the minute your credit card is charged!