Is this too much compensation? Men’s room mixup nets guest $200 gift card from Marriott

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This column is usually called, “Is this enough compensation?” because frankly, the travel industry often doesn’t have a clue about customer service.

Then again, maybe I’m clueless.

Here’s why: Back in April, I received a note from Mark Gross about an uncomfortable incident at the Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel. I didn’t think it was worth bringing it to Marriott’s attention. Neither did a majority of my readers.

But apparently Marriott disagreed with me about the seriousness of the problem, and compensated Gross very generously.

Did I misjudge this case?

First, a few details.

Last spring, Gross stayed at the hotel for a conference. During a break, he went to the restroom, which was clearly marked as the men’s room and was, in fact, the men’s room (it had urinals).

While sitting in the stall I was surprised at how noisy the bathroom was becoming.

I was shocked when I came out of the stall and saw half a dozen women in the bathroom. They were even more shocked than I was, and they viewed me quite suspiciously.

Luckily a female friend was among the women. She assured them that I was OK as she escorted me out of the bathroom.

I really was mortified.

When I left the bathroom I saw that one of the Renaissance staff had covered the men’s room sign with a ladies’ room sign. I could understand the reason, as there were more women in the conference than men.

However, no staff entered the bathroom to see if a man was inside before they made the switch.

OK, who hasn’t at one time or another accidentally walked into the wrong bathroom? I know I have. It’s embarrassing, absolutely.

I’m not sure if I would have done anything about it, other than to apologize to all present and to assure them this was a misunderstanding.

But that’s not the end of Gross’ story.

I complained to the hotel manager, who laughed, said it was a mistake, and offered to investigate it for me. I gave him my name and room number and asked him to follow up.

Though I could imagine, as part of good customer service, he could have offered me a dinner, a drink, or at a minimum some sort of formal apology, he did nothing.

I am pretty sure that if it were a woman in the stall and they had changed the ladies’ room to a men’s room, the response would have been quite different.

In any case, I really did want an apology and an acknowledgment from Marriott. When that didn’t come, I wrote to the general manager of the hotel, Jim Bartholomay, in May.

When I got no response from him, I wrote the President and COO, Arne Sorenson, at corporate headquarters in July. To date, he hasn’t responded.

I am quite surprised at that poor level of customer service and am curious if I should have done something else. I really expected much more from Marriott.

I agreed with Gross that his incident was troubling, and offered to write something about this issue, but didn’t contact Marriott, because I wasn’t sure if this rose to the level of needing a consumer advocate’s intervention.

Well, Gross followed up with me late last week with what he called a “happy” ending:

I had to make reservations at another Marriott in Orlando. I was so impressed by the incredibly solicitous reservation person that I asked her if she had a phone number or an address for customer service/follow-up to address a concern I had at another Marriott hotel.

She gave me a phone number, I called, and in less than four days I had a $200 Marriott gift card FedExed to me. Your affirmation of “troubling” really allowed me to keep my hopes for justice up.

I find that surprisingly generous. I don’t think I would have pushed for that kind of compensation. But Marriott has a rare track record of overcompensating guests with grievances. Here’s another case.

I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing, actually.

So here’s my question: Did Marriott go too far?

In a survey of 700 readers you said: yes.

This case makes me wonder what else I’m wrong about. Errors are inevitable collateral in the pursuit of truth. But still.

I haven’t written anything about the TSA in 48 hours. Maybe I should listen to the commenters who want me to stop covering the pat-down controversy?

(Photo: bitch cake sny/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • Bunnee

    While I suspect he was being compensated for lack of follow-ups from the other executives he contacted rather than for the bathroom incident itself, I think a $200 gift card is a bit excessive. But, maybe he is a really good customer and they want him to keep coming back.

  • David Z

    Marriott may have so-called overcompensated in this case. But…that’s their so-called money to compensate as they please.

    We all draw the line somewhere. I guess theirs happens to be quite longer, wider, etc.

  • http://www.monicap.travelonly.com Monica

    I don’t think it was over compensation since it took so long to get any sort of response. Had they given him that compensation much earlier at the time of his original complaints, I probably would think it’s too much. But since he constantly received no response or apology and it came months later, it’s was just right.

  • http://CommonManRants.blogspot.com Will B.

    I agree with Monica….the first manager laughing, and then a complete lack of followup (he only wanted an apology) deserved the compensation provided.

    I would have to disagree with David, though, in that there *can* be too much compensation. What happens when one airline takes away free checked bags? The other airlines follow suit. What happens when one store discounts the price of charcoal? The one across the street does, too.

    In the travel industry, I think more than other industries, setting precedent is a huge factor. If this hotel offers $200 regularly as compensation, other hotels might feel inclined to do so until the day comes when $200 is a “standard” compensation for even the smallest issue.

    I am exaggerating a wee bit, perhaps, but only to illustrate.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Bunnee: I agree with you that it was probably compensation for the lack of follow-ups from the hotel general manager and Marriott corporate rather than for actual incident.

    @ Monica: I agree that if the On-Duty Manager didn’t laugh and apologized to Mr. Gross initially, Mr. Gross would have been okay and he won’t have contacted Chris, etc. Given the lack of follow-ups, I think that $ 200 is reasonable.

  • Bill

    I agree that Marriott is probably reacting more to their earlier poor showing than to the bathroom event.

    I have occaisionally absent mindedly gone into the wrong restroom. It is no big deal. Usually doesn’t take long to figure out the problem even if it is unoccupied. I actually find it interesting that the OP took this incident as far as he did.

    There’s an evil side of me that would have tempted me to take down the temporary sign if this had happened to me, and share the grief so to speak.

  • Cliff Woodrick

    I feel that he is due the $200 as he could have been arrested. We have a dual standard in this country where a man goes in a women’s rest room he can be arrested but if a woman goes into the men’s rest room nothing will happen. This has happened in New York.

    Have a wonderful SNOW day – Cliff

  • BillC

    While I probably would not have complained. I do not think that anyone can be over compensated. Marriott has now set the bar for other guests(at least those that visit here).

  • Kairho

    $200 would have been excessive if that’s was how they had handled the incident while he was still at the hotel.

    But after ignoring his complaint (regardless of its merit) it is probably a reasonable amount to retain a customer.

  • Jonathan

    Voted no on the over-compensation poll. Bottom line, if you go to a Marriott in most markets, by the time you pay for your room for a night, all the taxes and buy breakfast, you’ve spent $200. Basically what Marriott did was give the client a free night. If he is a frequent guest, this is the ideal way to keep them happy.

  • Kevin

    Typical jerk looking for something for nothing. What is the big deal, he sounds like a chronic whiner and complainer.

    I agree 100% with the hotel manager, laugh it off. This guy is a nut job looking for a story to tell and to get something free.

    His motto must be if it is free, I’ll take 3.

  • Sarah Di

    Marriott could have saved themselves $200 if the employee who changed the sign had checked the bathroom first or if the manager had taken the complaint seriously and followed up as promised, instead of laughing and failing to even look into it. The manager could use a refresher course in customer service imo.

  • Carl

    I don’t think it was excessive as the ramifications for the guest could have been serious had he been accused by one of the women or had someone recognized him. There is such strong punishment of sex offenders, that he was at risk of major hassles had someone accused him of anything for being in that restroom.

  • Dave

    @Cliff: Yes. Similarly, if a man sees a woman naked he’s arrested for being a Peeping Tom, but if a woman sees a man naked he’s arrested for exhibitionism.

  • Jay S

    I wouldn’t worry about the financial health of a billion dollar international corporation. In any case, the $200 probably was no more than a refund of the man’s room charge, which I don’t see that they comp’d.

  • cjr

    “It is no big deal.”
    “laugh it off.”

    Just because you and an idiot of a manager at the hotel can laugh it off doesn’t mean the individual in question can. Nor is it for you to decide what is an embarrassing situation or not for somebody else.

    And then re-read Cliff and Carl’s comments about how this kind of situation can lead to serious consequences. This person didn’t ask for this – he only wanted an apology which was refused to him – yet if one of those women had chosen to complain about him, there was the potential he could have been arrested. But that makes him a ‘nut job’? Give me a break.

  • Liz

    I voted no, and agree with the others that the amount of compensation is appropriate more because of the length of time it took Marriott to resolve the issue than what actually happened. I know people are busy, but you’d think that these service companies would figure out that delaying, not responding, etc. almost always ends up costing them more (in public goodwill, if nothing else) than dealing with the problem when it arises.

  • BucksterSF

    “Your affirmation of “troubling” really allowed me to keep my hopes for justice up”

    Justice? I would have had a good laugh and a good story. We’ve really become waaaaaay too over-sensitive.

  • Monica

    (Different Monica from previous poster)

    I definitely think this compensation was more for the lack of follow-up and behavior of the manager. Is it too much? Maybe. Since all he really wanted was an apology, I think the hotel was generous. I’m glad he got something.

  • Sara

    I voted no, but as others have commented, only on the basis of their lack of communication and lack of even an acknowledgement of his complaint. All they would’ve needed to do from the beginning when he first brought it up was to acknowledge the issue, apologize and that would’ve been it – maybe treat him to something inexpensive extras at his stay at that time. At least from my view of Marriott, that is the least you would expect from them. Their response was sorely lacking, and it is that which he was compensated for, I believe.
    Instead of sending the gift card they could easily as well have given him a free night’s stay on his next visit though; it would likely come out to about the same.
    I still don’t think that it was worth a consumer advocate’s intervention. It’s a minor complaint where all that was needed was a simple response from the company. However, if there had been a real incident stemming from the empoyee’s oversight (for example police called, or even just the women taking it up with the hotel and them “going after him” for it), and the company still didnt’ react – then I would’ve called for intervention. As it was, no harm, no foul – except a simply missing apalogy.

    Personally I would prefer to see you continue with the cover of TSA and their antics. If people start going quiet about what the TSA are doing, the TSA will say that they were right all along, and continue, and even step up, what they are doing now. Why wouldn’t they, if nobody’s raising a stink over it?

  • Abhi

    I still believe this case was considerably different than someone walking into the wrong rest room inadvertantly on his/her own. Mr. Gross was in the appropriate rest room when he entered. When the hotel changed the sign outside from ‘men’ to ‘women’, it put him in an embarassing situation through no fault of his. Compensation was long overdue for his embarassment. If anything of consequence was seen by the group of women is irrelevant. It was an accident not caused by any action on part of Mr. Gross. It’s an indeliberate attempt on the decency of an individual, just like an attempt of any other crime. Accidents and attempts of such kind are inexcusable in daily life about many things and this shouldn’t have been an exception in the first place.

  • Duke Nukem

    Excessive! Unless, of course, they took it off of that idiot manager’s salary…who’s laughing it off now? I know Mr. Gross is!

  • riroon

    I have no problem with the compensation as long as it was generously offered by the corporation and not done under some kind of threat by the OP.

    No, it shouldn’t become the ‘gold standard’ by which all other hotel potty cases are judged, but kudos to Marriott for remembering that the key word in ‘hospitality industry’ is hospitality.

    P.S. — I agree that the compensation may be less about the restroom incident and more about the manager being a jerk. Comping him a drink or a meal would have settled things right then and there instead of a half-year’s pursuit of an apology from this guy’s higher-ups.

  • Michael Ryan

    IF the manager had taken immediate action to apologize then the $200 would be excessive. As it is, the $200 is fine, and really does not represent a $200 loss to the hotel, but probably about half of that. For example $200 in restauant charges would really be about $50 worth of actual costs to the hotel.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Jonathan – “Bottom line, if you go to a Marriott in most markets, by the time you pay for your room for a night, all the taxes and buy breakfast, you’ve spent $200. Basically what Marriott did was give the client a free night.”

    @ Sara – “Instead of sending the gift card they could easily as well have given him a free night’s stay on his next visit though; it would likely come out to about the same.”
    - – - – - – — – - – - – - – - – - – - – - —
    The Marriott gift card is good at any of the Marriott brand hotels. For $ 200, Mr. Gross could get up to three nights at Fairfield Inn and two nights at a SpringHill Suite or Courtyard for depending upon the market, etc. During the Thanksgiving holiday, we paid $ 70 a night at a Courtyard and breakfast was included. On the other hand, I paid $ 400 a night for a room at a Renaissance.

    I will take the $ 200 Marriott Gift Card over one free night.

  • Roberto Pascal

    Had he not had a friend in the group this could have turned out much differently for him. I don’t they overcompensated him but think they need to review the speed with which they address similar problems.

  • Nobody

    I think I saw a viral video of this prank on Comedy Central’s Tosh.0
    I guess if anything is posted on the Internet by anyone, it’s considered as public domain and can be telecast on cable.
    But, who am I?

  • Grant Ritchie

    I agree that $200 was appropriate only because Marriott management made Mr. Gross jump through so many hoops to get a simple apology. I’m the same way… when I think I’ve got an apology coming, I’m going to haunt somebody (or several somebodies) until I get it. Way ta go Mr. G!

    Now as far as you beating up on TSA is concerned, that really does need to stop, or you’re going to look mighty foolish the next time some “devout” Muslim sneaks something past TSA and tries to bring down a plane.

  • DJP

    This escalated to a higher amount because:

    (1) he was likely a loyal and regular customer. The customer service department has easy access tot his info that the COO doesnt where they go in and see this customer stays 20+ days a year at marriott hotels.

    (2) The poor response of the chain of command he went through.

    His argument is very valid one.

    What if this was a mens conference and they switched the ladies room to a mens room—except they forgot to see if a woman was inside FIRST. She would have sued them big time and won. Since He was using the urinal it would have been very easy to see him in there.

    If I was in his situation I would have complained to from a QC standpoint.

    The high compensation is a classical customer service thing because if you are a regular customer and a frequent customer you will get special treatment as well as more compensation than if you only stayed there once.

  • cjr

    “or you’re going to look mighty foolish the next time some “devout” Muslim sneaks something past TSA and tries to bring down a plane.”

    I can tell you right now: it will happen eventually, regardless of what TSA does.

    So, I’ll ask again, and maybe I’ll get an answer for once: what are you going to do when this ‘something’ is an item that still got past all of this security theater?

    Strip searches? Cavity searches? TSA at your front door?

    People like you scare me more than the terrorists.

  • Gary

    Not at all. The reason is simple:

    1. Marriott chooses to do so (as $200 is merely a free night).
    2. The seriousness of the original incident can be lead to a serious legal trouble.

  • Sarah Di

    I also don’t even think that this is so much about an apology. I see it as being more about wanting to ensure that there is a change in procedure and making sure that the management understands how they are supposed to handle customer complaints.

  • Steve

    I don’t think it’s the least bit excessive, considering that it was Marriott’s choice to offer the $200 gift card. And I agree with others who’ve stated that this is not a minor matter – had one of the women in the bathroom freaked out, he could have easily found himself being questioned by police or even arrested. Just because nothing bad happened this time doesn’t mean that it’s okay for a hotel to change the bathroom sign without telling anyone.

  • Aaron

    This bothers me. It was a simple mistake, the kind of thing most people would look back on and laugh. Okay, maybe if the genders were reversed it would be more serious, but they weren’t. No harm, no foul. Anyway, my problem is that there are lots of people with legitimate complaints, and silly crap like this is the sort of thing that makes it more difficult for people who have real problems to get taken seriously.

  • KD

    Thankfully he was in a stall. Had he been using the urinals the women may have called the police for him “exposing” himself. This is not too much compensation because this was at no point the fault of the consumer, it was the fault of the hotel and they should have made an announcement (it was a conference) or some other formal notice of the change. If he worked with any of these women on a day-to-day basis then he could have been looking at claims of sexual harassment or other uncomfortable issues. Even small issues like this can lead to long-term consequences.

  • Jennifer

    You weren’t wrong about this one, and I don’t think you should stop writing about the TSA. $200 is a lot of money for a simple mistake, and I don’t think Marriott should have done anything except instruct its personnel to check the bathroom before switching the signs.

  • Bill

    I think Marriott dropped the ball originally….the $200 gift card was a good gesture on their part to make amends.

    Unfortunately, what I’ve noticed with Marriott (to do with other things, not bathrooms) is that they will offer compensation but not fix the problem in the first place, which is what one wanted.

  • David Z

    @Will B

    I mentioned Marriott may because, as you notice, people here have varying opinions whether they gave too much compensation or not. Of course, there’s really no right or wrong answer here, and Marriott did what they saw fit anyway.

  • http://www.cockam.com ajaynejr

    The $200. is not excessive given the time and trouble and back-and-forth communications involved (and described previously).

    Also a $200. gift card really produces a very small demand on an upscale hotel system such as Marriott or Westin because there is a very high profit margin on rooms, meals, etc.

    Note, also, that statistically, a great percentage of gift card value is never used. The late news commentator Paul Harvey put that non-use at 50 percent.

  • Mike Z

    Glad to see the OP finally got something. I remember this case and thought at the time that there should have been intervention. The customer clearly was wronged and the company/hotel did absolutely nothing to make sure it wouldn’t happen again. A simple letter of apology with an explanation of what would have been done to make sure no mistakes happen in the future would have been enough at the time. However, as time went on, the complete lack of caring at all levels made the most recent compensation fair.

    And to thos who think it would be no big deal… You should see the looks you get from women some times if you are waiting by the womens bathroom for your significant other or even a friend. Soem women look at you like they are trying to figure out the fastest way to grab the pepper spray out of their purse!

  • PauletteB

    People like Gross take time and attention, not to mention compensation, from people with far more serious claims. So he was made to feel uncomfortable. So what? What a wuss!

  • flutiefan

    what i wonder is if he can prove that the sign WASN’T there when he entered the restroom. perhaps he’d used that men’s room 3 times previously during his conference, and just didn’t pay attention this time when he went through the door. perhaps the “Ladies” sign was there and he just missed it out of habit. who knows?

    honestly though, if the situation were reversed, i would laugh it off and get a good story out of my embarrassment (and yes, i’m a woman).

  • Christine

    Only because I usually am complaining about something in the travel industry, I will have to compliment Hilton for a similar story. We used a reward certificate for a free night at a Hilton Garden Inn in Atlanta. We went to breakfast the next morning and when we came back to the room, our key did not work. My husband went to the front desk because we thought maybe it had been de-activated too early. The front desk clerk re-activated the key but we still couldn’t get in. Back to the front desk and we found out that that room had had problems with the mechanism. The manager came and opened the door with one of their special devices and in we went. The phone rang and the front desk manager said she was going to credit the number of points we had used for the room back to our account for the inconvenience. We were inconvenienced all of maybe 20 minutes and told her that it wasn’t necessary to do that but we wouldn’t turn it down either. Sure enough, the points we put back into our account. Kudos to Hilton Garden Inn!

  • Brooklyn

    A 200 dollar voucher is nothing for Marriott – a free night. And Chris, please don’t quit pushing on the TSA issue – in the long run, it’s more important than helping any single individual with a one-time travel problem.

  • Mike Z

    @Flutiefan, that is the difference here. It is actually normal and expected at many clubs and other big events that some women will enter the mens room to use it as the lines become quite long in womens restrooms. Men are far more comfortable with a woman entering their restroom than women are with men entering their restroom. With laws written the way they are for voyeurism and other sexual offenses, things like this should be taken very seriously. (An arrest can lead to job loss, loss of future income, and other financial and emotional harm)

  • Who Da Man 2000

    Why do they feel they need to change a men’s room to a ladies room anyway? As he said, they were using it to stand around and yak. They did this at a conf I was at where there were equal munbers of men and women, gave all the nearby men’s rooms to the ladies and we guys had to go into another building to use the restroom. Equality? and I have never seen them change a ladies room to a mens when there is a a conf with a lot of men, ever. And no, it wasnt too much compensation. Are you saying that because it was a man? if it had been reversed, a woman would have requested a refund and a free room.