The Mount Rundle Hotel Banff Case Study
Background Summary Mr. McKenzie and his wife seldom get to vacation together due to their busy schedule but they were finally able to visit Canada. They booked four nights at the upper price range hotel, The Mount Rundle Hotel Banff, through Expedia.com at a much lower rate than directly through the hotel. When changes to their itinerary happen, they need an additional three night stay at the Banff. They were unable to book the additional nights through Expedia but were able to confirm the additional nights through the hotel’s website. The hotel confirmed his additional days and charged his credit card (Schroeder, Goldstein, & Rungtusanathan, 2013, p. 446). During check-in, Mr. McKenzie inquired whether he would pay the hotel or Expedia. He was informed that he would pay Expedia. Although check in was quite pleasant, the McKenzie’s woke to the smell of bacon and eggs. Their room was directly over the kitchen. This was not the only inconvenience that plagued the McKenzie. Their room was not always cleaned or restocked with basic necessities such as towels, soap and shampoo. They often ran into staff playing football in the hallway with towels. The McKenzie’s felt that their overall stay was good (Schroeder, et al., 2013, p. 477). The problem occurred seven months later when Mr. McKenzie’s credit card was charged by the hotel. Not only did the Hotel Rundle Banff charge the higher room rate but also tacked on additional charges due to the difference in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Canadian currency plus extra for the hotel’s accounting error. When he attempted to rectify the situation by supplying documents to support his booking through Expedia and payment, “the hotel claimed that McKenzie owed the money and that, even though he had booked through Expedia, the hotel had not received payment from Expedia” (Schroeder, et al., 2013, p. 477). Mr. McKenzie did not dispute payment when he realized that Expedia had not charged him but he did dispute the amount of the charges the hotel applied to his credit card without permission. He requested a refund of the additional charges applied by the hotel. The hotel refused to refund any of these charges. When Mr. McKenzie aired his complaint online, the hotel accused him of slander. Mr. McKenzie decided to escalate this issue by informing the Banff Lake Louise Tourism development board, the office of the Banff’s mayor, and the Better Business Bureau of Southern Alberta, Canada and onto the Encore Hotel Group, the owner of the Rundle Hotel Banff (Schroeder, et al., 2013, p. 478). In the end, the hotel agreed that they had handled the situation wrong. They partially refunded Mr. McKenzie but it took them four month to do so (Schroeder, et al., 2013, p. 478).
Introduction Have you ever heard Kurt Vonnegut’s saying from his book Cat’s Cradle, “In this world, you get what you pay for? (Goodreads, 2015). This saying has been repeated time and time again when it comes to service quality. It seems to imply that a person is cheap or shouldn’t expect anything better when they spend their hard earned money on a product and/or service. Well, in the case of The Mount Rundle Hotel Banff, it seems the hotel’s general manager, Sharon Henry believes that Steve McKenzie, the unhappy customer, received what he was charged and felt that Mr. McKenzie was being unreasonable. Could this be true? You be the judge.
What symptoms indicate that a customer service failure has occurred? The first indication of a customer service failure was at the front desk when Mr. McKenzie checked in. The front desk supervisor assured Mr. McKenzie that payment for his hotel stay would be arranged by Expedia, which was incorrect based on this current situation. Next, there was no elevator to their room and finding assistance was not easy. The following morning, the McKenzie realized that their room was directly above the
