Let me start by acknowledging that in the scheme of things that matter, this doesn’t even rank. But OMAAT is also about covering the little details of the airline & hotel industry (I mean, I write about my favorite airline boarding music), so please indulge me for a moment.
In this post:
Why can’t hotels spell my last name correctly?
When you check into a luxury hotel, it’s common to get a welcome amenity with some sort of a note that’s addressed to you, typically from someone senior at the hotel. Sometimes the note will be handwritten, and sometimes it’ll be printed. Sometimes it’ll be a scribbled sentence, and sometimes it’ll be quite long.
It’s intended to be a nice, personalized touch. After all, luxury hospitality is more competitive than ever before, and is all about the little details. But here’s the thing — a substantial amount of the time, my name is spelled incorrectly in the welcome letter (my last name is Schlappig, and they spell it “Schlapping”). I haven’t done the math on how common this is, but I’d say it’s misspelled maybe 25% of the time in these letters.
To me, this doesn’t seem complicated, no matter how difficult a last name is for someone. The hotel has a reservation in a certain name, and when that letter is written, you just have to copy down the name as it’s spelled on the booking. It doesn’t matter if the name is Ng or Tskhdjflkdshjfrkjeshrklesn.
I’m not trying to throw any one hotel under the bus here, but below is an example of a note I received a couple of days ago at a hotel. Like I said, this happens a lot.
Why do I even care, and why am I writing about this?
I think most hoteliers would agree that it’s the little details that guests notice about a luxury hotel stay. I also think first impressions matter a lot.
So when you arrive in the room and one of the first things you notice is that the hotel manager can’t spell your name correctly, it doesn’t make a great first impression. Again, none of this actually matters in the scheme of things, but I imagine the manager trains the staff to be focused on all the little details of service, so how can one expect such attention to detail from staff, when the manager can’t even get something so basic right?
Now, I suspect the manager isn’t actually the one writing these notes, but if he’s going to put his name on it, then I’ll take it at face value.
It’s not like I’m actually offended, or take it personally. It’s just a little negative detail I notice, and in a hyper competitive hotel market, hotels try to strive for perfection. If it happened once or twice, I wouldn’t think much of it. But like I said, it happens a decent percentage of my hotel stays.
I’m rather introverted and I don’t like to complain, but I’m starting to get to the point where I’m considering just bringing this to the hotel’s attention. It’s not that I want anything, I just want them to know they’re making this mistake, because I imagine if no one tells them, they’ll never realize it. And I imagine if they’re making this mistake for me, they’re also making the mistake with others.
But then I come to my senses, and realize this is petty. And as someone who is introverted and doesn’t really like to complain, I don’t feel like this will put me over the edge. When I checked out of the hotel, I was asked how my stay was, and it was mostly very good. I was tempted to say “good, but the manager couldn’t spell my name right in the welcome note,” and then I realized that’s just too minor to bring up. So maybe just being able to write a post about this scratches my itch on that front.
Am I wrong for noticing this, and for thinking it shows a lack of attention to detail? Does anyone else deal with this regularly? Is it totally crazy to bring this to a hotel’s attention?
Bottom line
Too many luxury hotels can’t seem to spell my name correctly in welcome letters, and it happens way more often than it should. Is this minor as could be? Of course. But if luxury hotels are all about the details, then a note signed by the manager being addressed to a guest with a misspelled name seems less than ideal, especially as a first impression.
This is so minor that I can’t bring myself to actually say something. But it also happens with such frequency that I feel the need to bring it up in some capacity… so thank you to OMAAT readers for scratching that itch!
Am I unreasonable for noticing this, and thinking it shows a lack of attention to detail? Is there a point at which you’d politely bring this up?
some people get bent out of shape over the correct pronunciation or spelling of their names. While I think there are more important things...
you do you...
Happy Birthday Ben. Hope you have a good day with your family.
I have a very unique first and last name (my last name also starts with an S) and I agree with you. I understand that I don't have a common name but they have my records with my full name spelled out so it does give me the impression that this property is not as detailed oriented as they could be. Same feeling when someone misspells my name in emails.
Schlappig, Ben… you are needing to be heard so I hear ya’! Admittedly your name is not the easiest to write phonetically for us in the English language… but I get it.
Being at the end of the alphabetical water line in school rather than an A last name was annoying for me too. Now I just find it amusing. The name Hogg in some parts of the country is quite famous… Even one...
Schlappig, Ben… you are needing to be heard so I hear ya’! Admittedly your name is not the easiest to write phonetically for us in the English language… but I get it.
Being at the end of the alphabetical water line in school rather than an A last name was annoying for me too. Now I just find it amusing. The name Hogg in some parts of the country is quite famous… Even one of the daughters was famously named Ima. Not saying to rebrand to something similar or anything Ben, but at least you are not an Ima Hogg. Hope you find this amusing and inoffensive cause no one is sure any more how people take things online.
Klima
Ima Hogg, daughter of Governor James Hogg of Texas. A very wealthy, generous remarkable woman. She did not have a twin sister named Ura.
I have a name, that is so unique, that I get suspicious, when someone writes it down correctly. Like, are they spying on me? How do they know?
They even get it wrong on my degree, so I had to get it replaced. Also they missed it on my own wedding at the seating card.
Singita did that to me once. I absolutely said something.
It's just the human brain at work. Mamdani got his name mis-spelled and mispronounced so many times while he was running for office. NY Times even wrote an article about it.
Is it petty? Yeah, probably. But is it important? Yes, definitely! It’s your name. Without your name you’re nobody. Thus it’s important that whoever addresses you gets it right the first time. I have a similar problem with my surname where in the middle of the name it’s “elk” but often it’s misspelled as “lek”. I’ve gotten used to it over the years but it still irks me when they can’t get it right. To...
Is it petty? Yeah, probably. But is it important? Yes, definitely! It’s your name. Without your name you’re nobody. Thus it’s important that whoever addresses you gets it right the first time. I have a similar problem with my surname where in the middle of the name it’s “elk” but often it’s misspelled as “lek”. I’ve gotten used to it over the years but it still irks me when they can’t get it right. To me is more irksome that they failed at attention to detail than it is they spelled my name wrong. I work in an industry where a lack of attention to details has consequences, often times severe. So I tend to notice these things. And when I see them I say something.
In my first management job, one of my duties was responding to all the cases opened by corporate against the hotel on behalf of guests. I made some templates for common issues that I could copy and paste, then modify as needed. Once I forgot to change the guest name from the previous guest I'd sent an apologetic response to and it was the first time a guest ever CCed me on an email to...
In my first management job, one of my duties was responding to all the cases opened by corporate against the hotel on behalf of guests. I made some templates for common issues that I could copy and paste, then modify as needed. Once I forgot to change the guest name from the previous guest I'd sent an apologetic response to and it was the first time a guest ever CCed me on an email to the CEO of the entire hotel chain and the corporate escalations team taking over the case. Instead of a 5,000 points recovery it turned into an entire comped stay issue.
I was careless. People's names are important and if you aren't even going to spend the bare minimum of a few seconds to make sure you have the right name, it's a sign that you just don't care about that person. Which, to be fair to past me, I didn't particularly care about this guest or their made up issue, but you still can't show that.
It is not you Ben, human brains work that way. That is why even with typo you can extrapolate correct words. When they see i and ends with g common English auto-suggestion on brains make it -ing. I don't think any point to understand more. Happens with many other names :)
True John. It helps that we know Ben is German and say his name “in a German style” and hence leave off the “n”
I suspect many hotel staff - especially those outside Europe - will struggle to even say his name close to what it is too.
When John and Sebastian wish they were born with crazy spelling last names.
John Oplhebsjbeklheimersriksj
Sebastian Phhduwjgjkwhdhwjgfafjkkx.
They would each get a free night everywhere they stay because someone always misspelled their names.
Looks like the Rosewood Bangkok.
Today on what grinds Karl’s gears: luxury hotels addressing welcome notes to Mr & Mrs when we are a same sex couple.
I have a name like Phillip Owens and the amount of ‘Owen Phillips” “Mr. Phillips” I get are ridiculous. I think something about the human brain just seems to want to switch the S to the other name. Apparently the human brain really likes “ing” at the end of words. But I get it, as it has to be very annoyig.
You are complaining about a hotel misspelling your last name? You should see my mail. LOL!!!!
Santos L. Helper on your Amex?
I have a double first name and I frequently get called by just the second one.
My theory is this is because the first one is John, which can be tough for some non-English speakers to pronounce.
We need more enforcement, not less, of consumer benefits, so, yes, Ben, and others, please do complain, get petty, louder, more!
Complain about the 2 men who harassingly misspelled your name by pool and leave a bad TripAdvisor review about it after you 'think' you see the same person in the lobby few days
Hi-yo, Eskimosabe, away!
Ben, please stop triggering me. My first name is Denbigh and they've been writing Denbeigh, Denby, Darby, Declan, and who knows what else for twice as long a you've been alive. so yeah, my heart bleeds but I'll see you and I'll raise you.
If it triggers you so much, why not change your name.
Why don’t people learn to read instead? The name is already spelled for them on the reservation.
They're just trying to be real sneaky about how they don't want you to find out they know about your blog