For all the talk that hotel executives do about customizing the experience for guests, am I the only one who would simply settle for easy access to a hotel’s email address, in order to make pre-stay plans?
Many hotels encourage phone calls over emails
Let me just cut to the chase — am I the only who is amazed how hard hotels make it to find their email addresses? For example, it’s common to receive a pre-stay email from a hotel (especially if it’s one belonging to a major chain), which will often encourage you to let them know if you need anything, whether it’s a restaurant reservation, transfer, etc.
However, the email is often sent centrally from the hotel group (and not property specifically), and the only property contact information is a phone number.
For example, I’ll be staying at the Le Meridien Cairo Airport soon, and the hotel sent me the typical pre-stay email. The hotel offers a complimentary airport transfer from other terminals, and asks guests to arrange this at least 24 hours in advance. There’s only one issue — the hotel’s email address isn’t listed on the website, so the only obvious option is to call.
Some may say “well don’t be lazy, just pick up the phone and call.” Okay, I hear you, but:
- Personally I prefer to confirm any sort of arrangements in writing, so that you can reference the details, in case anything goes wrong
- Hotels have a lot of international guests, so making international phone calls can be costly, or requires using a different calling service
- Phone calls are just inefficient for things like this, since you’ll often spend a lot of time on hold, not to mention there are situations where you can send an email but can’t call (like on a flight with Wi-Fi)
Anyway, I’m not meaning to pick on this hotel specifically, but am I the only one who wishes that the major hotel groups proactively listed email addresses on each property’s website, just like they force them to list other details?
Hotel chat features can be useful in place of email
While I find Marriott is really inconsistent with providing property email addresses, I do have to give the hotel group credit for its great property chat feature. Within a couple of days of arriving at a hotel (and during your stay), you can chat with the front desk through the Marriott Bonvoy app.
Like all things Marriott, it’s consistently inconsistent. Sometimes the front desk associates respond right away, while other times it takes quite a while to get a response. Regardless, Marriott deserves credit for having one of the better chat features, and it’s something I wish we’d see all hotel groups offer.
Bottom line
I really wish we’d see the global hotel groups list the email addresses of properties on each individual webpage, so that it can be easier to contact them. All too often you get a pre-stay email inviting you to customize your experience, only to see that there’s only a phone number, and not an email address (and the email was sent from Marriott centrally, so responding won’t get you far).
Am I the only one who would love to see this more consistently?
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