Thursday, February 5, 2009

Back to the District of Columbia Part II


Back tracking a little, before arriving at the OKC Airport. We stayed the night at an OKC hotel last night because our flight left so early. We stayed at one of those inexpensive joints on Meridian that has a shuttle to the airport. Here's how checking in worked, and I'll try to be as accurate as possible here:

I walk in to the front desk and hear something like "can I help you" from a back room.
I say "hello?"
"Yeah, what can I do for you"
"I have a reservation."
"Wit who?"
"Uhh, you."
"No, I mean what's the name?"
(And, remember up to this point I am still having this conversation with the other person not in the room. Finally they come up.)
"What's the name?"
I say "Holt" and hand her my confirmation sheet.
"And, uhh, what kind of room is it?"
"A two-bedroom suite."
"How many?"
"Two"
"And, uhh, what did you pay for it?"
"About $65."
"$65 exactly?"
"No, I think it was $65.33."
"And when you checking out?"
"Tomorrow."
"How much you say you pay for it again?"
"$65.33."
(Up to this point, she has never looked at the computer or wrote anything down. Finally she goes to the computer. I was kind of expecting her to ask what room number I was staying in next.)
Okay, yeah, uhh huh here it is.
"You need a receipt?"
"Yes, please." (Business expense here!)
She hands me a receipt saying I paid $0.00 for the room. I didn't even try to get that corrected.

One of the things we went over once I got to the convention was making the most of the face-time one has with his customers. This was a good example of the complete opposite of that.

This place in DC (actually we're in Maryland) is one nice hotel, and it is huge! It's built on the Potomac River (photo above). Everything is brand new, there's a shopping and dining center next door, but most of it's still being worked on. The resort it right on the river and it's very beautiful.

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