And Then the Party Started...

While travelling around Scotland, we stopped at a lovely little hotel for one night after driving and touring most of the day. We were all tired, and were happy to find a place with nice architectural character, friendly staff, and clean, well-appointed rooms. We had a lovely supper, and then turned in for the night, looking to recharge for the next day. And then, the party started.

It turns out that the rooms we were assigned were directly above the banquet room, and a wedding dance started cranking up at about 9:30pm. The music was loud, as if the speakers were directly in our rooms. None of us could sleep, but we gave them the benefit of the doubt, expecting things to quiet down at a reasonable hour. At 11:30, we called the front desk to ask for help with the problem, and they respectfully said the music would be stopping at midnight. At 1:00am, the music was still going, and another complaint got a sympathetic response and promises that the party was just about over. At 2:15am, the music finally stopped, but within minutes, staff started clearing the banquet hall, breaking down tables, moving chairs, with doors opening loudly and slamming shut; and then the workers cranked up some music while they worked. With another call to the front desk, they helpfully suggested that perhaps we could move to another room. Since our belongings were all unpacked and we were in bed, we weren't keen to move in the middle of the night, especially since it was staff making the noise. The work went on until about 3am and we were finally able to sleep, until 6:00am when another crew came in and started setting up the banquet room for another event, with more banging, loud talking and music playing.

On checking out, we requested some concessions for the sleepless night, and the front-desk staff apologetically clarified that their policies didn't allow them any leeway. They were surprised and wondered why we had been put in those rooms when there were several other vacant rooms away from the banquet hall. We left a letter of complaint, and eventually did get our money back, but all-in-all, it was a night of sleepless hell in an otherwise lovely trip.

Good service is not just being polite and understanding, it is about seeing things from the customer's point of view, and setting your systems up to avoid problems. The desk staff were all cheerful and sympathetic, but lied to us several times to pacify us, failed to anticipate a problem that must happen repeatedly, and didn't see a need to grant us any concessions. Quite a poor service experience for us, despite their "friendly, helpful" service (as stated in their brochure).