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The thing about scammers is that apart from the obvious moral failing, they’re quite creative when it comes to pulling the wool over other people’s eyes. Unfortunately, some con artists just don’t have that skill and might end up in a lot of trouble because of their scams.
This is what happened to a woman who thought she could get away without paying a dime for an 8-day resort stay just by complaining about it. The problem is that the customer service rep in charge was one step ahead of her, something she hadn’t anticipated.
More info: Reddit
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It’s always funny to see a grifter getting caught by their own schemes and having to pay the ultimate price
Image credits: vh-studio / Magnific (not the actual photo)
The poster shared that when she was working in corporate guest relations, a customer sent a long complaint list detailing everything that went wrong during her 8-day resort stay
Image credits: DC Studio / Magnific (not the actual photo)
The poster decided to cross-check the woman’s issues with the resort’s complaint log, but she realized that nothing had been officially mentioned to the staff working there
Image credits: pressmaster / Magnific (not the actual photo)
The poster tried to make things right with the woman by offering her a complimentary 4-night stay at the resort, but she insisted that she wanted a full refund of $6,500 instead
Image credits: SkelDry / Magnific (not the actual photo)
When the woman realized that corporate wasn’t going to refund her money, she began begging the poster to help her out, as she couldn’t pay the price at all
Image credits: SkelDry / Magnific (not the actual photo)
The woman did everything to try and get her money refunded, like claiming she had kids and really needed the cash, or sending hate mail to their corporate office
Image credits: MrsRononDex
Luckily, the poster had a recording of the woman admitting to her scam, so the company flagged her hotel membership and banned her from all their properties
The Original Poster (OP) shared that when she was working in corporate guest relations, she received a long complaint-filled email from a guest about one of their beachfront resorts. The issues the woman mentioned ranged from a crack in the sidewalk outside her room to dirty sheets, all of which she supplemented with photos.
According to professionals in hospitality, it’s important for employees to address unhappy customers with patience and care. Rather than treating them as a bother, if the worker understands the underlying issue the person is facing, they might be able to provide a better experience and leave them satisfied.
In this case, since the woman had detailed nearly 100 different issues, the poster decided to contact the resort to check whether they had a log of any of these complaints. When she found that none of the customer’s problems had been officially recorded, she questioned the lady about it and realized that she hadn’t said a thing to anyone.
When dealing with an unhappy guest like this, experienced hosts say it’s important to ask them for evidence of any issues they may have encountered on the property. This can then be used to cross-check with the hotel records and footage, and if everything holds up, the service provider can then find a solution to the problem.
Image credits: studiomay / Magnific (not the actual photo)
Even though there seemed to be no official record of the woman’s complaints, the poster told her that she could accept 4 nights free at the property as compensation. The worker also explained that if she had any issues the next time she stayed there, she should inform the hotel so they could make things right.
The guest completely refused to accept the free nights at the resort and demanded a full refund of the $6,500 she paid for her 8 nights there. Even though the OP explained that she wouldn’t be able to return the lady’s money, it turned into an argument with the woman threatening to talk to corporate.
If a customer refuses to pay their dues at the end of their hotel stay, lawyers explain that this can become a legal issue. The company should record the guest’s claims and nonpayment, then take the matter to civil court so they will have to pay what they owe.
The problem is that when the woman realized she would actually have to cover the cost of her stay, she panicked. She sent many messages claiming that she couldn’t possibly pay the hotel, which the poster used as solid evidence to report her to corporate. The hotel chain then banned the woman from their properties and revoked her membership as punishment.
What do you think is the best way to deal with a con artist guest like this? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Folks were glad that the woman had to face karma after trying to grift the hotel with fake complaints
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What do you think ?
Tabitha 4 days ago (edited)
I worked at hotel front desks, reservations, and night audits for 15 years when I was younger. We had a name for people like this; Rebaters. They check in, go to their toons, and you don’t hear one peep out of them UNTIL they check out. That’s the time you hear about the toilet that overflowed and left the entire room flooded with 2 inches of standing water, or the A/C or heat was out ALL night and they were miserable, etc, etc, etc. When you ask them if they called the front desk about it, of course they did not. When we sent maintenance and housekeeping to inspect their room (immediately while they’re standing at checkout, if possible), 99 times out of 100 there’s nothing wrong, and that 1 time is something extremely minor. Plus, it generally happened when we had plenty of other rooms to move them to. At more than one place I worked, we were told that, if they complain like that at checkout, but did not call us during their stay, to give us a chance to move them to another room, or fix whatever issue they were having (maintenance or housekeeping), or upgrade them to a better room and comp that night, or whatever it took to make their stay better, then NO we would NOT give them a refund. Too many hotels were being scammed that way, and they had had enough—-and this was back in the eighties and nineties. Needless to say, even though it’s been 30 years since my last front desk job, I STILL have no stomach for, or patience with, Rebaters. Even those in other industries besides hotel/motel/resort.
James016 3 days ago
I used to work in the head office of a tour operator sitting very close to the head of customer services. When anyone ever phoned or emailed him making a complaint or wanting a refund his first question was always: Did you report it to the customer service team in the resort? If not then that was that, too bad, if yes then he followed the process and spoke to the hotel etc
Tabitha 4 days ago (edited)
I worked at hotel front desks, reservations, and night audits for 15 years when I was younger. We had a name for people like this; Rebaters. They check in, go to their toons, and you don’t hear one peep out of them UNTIL they check out. That’s the time you hear about the toilet that overflowed and left the entire room flooded with 2 inches of standing water, or the A/C or heat was out ALL night and they were miserable, etc, etc, etc. When you ask them if they called the front desk about it, of course they did not. When we sent maintenance and housekeeping to inspect their room (immediately while they’re standing at checkout, if possible), 99 times out of 100 there’s nothing wrong, and that 1 time is something extremely minor. Plus, it generally happened when we had plenty of other rooms to move them to. At more than one place I worked, we were told that, if they complain like that at checkout, but did not call us during their stay, to give us a chance to move them to another room, or fix whatever issue they were having (maintenance or housekeeping), or upgrade them to a better room and comp that night, or whatever it took to make their stay better, then NO we would NOT give them a refund. Too many hotels were being scammed that way, and they had had enough—-and this was back in the eighties and nineties. Needless to say, even though it’s been 30 years since my last front desk job, I STILL have no stomach for, or patience with, Rebaters. Even those in other industries besides hotel/motel/resort.
James016 3 days ago
I used to work in the head office of a tour operator sitting very close to the head of customer services. When anyone ever phoned or emailed him making a complaint or wanting a refund his first question was always: Did you report it to the customer service team in the resort? If not then that was that, too bad, if yes then he followed the process and spoke to the hotel etc
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