Several Names

Well, wasn't that quite the discussion yesterday?

I need to start with an apology. I should never have put that up for a vote. When I wrote what I wrote I was very angry. Andrea asked why I was angrier than normal in those situations. In fact, that's approximately how I always feel when we've been left without a room after hours of travel. I just wrote the blog a little closer to the epicentre of my upset. We had simply made the mistake of trusting that our organization had worked, it's been a flawless trip thus far, and I was as angry at myself as I was angry at them. Well, almost.

But then it comes to the issue of putting their name up here on the blog. When I first started writing this I determined that I wouldn't use the blog as a vehicle to attack others or attack businesses. For the most part, though I've failed sometimes, I've stuck to that as a principle here on Rolling Around in My Head. I made this decision because I know me, and I know that my motivation wouldn't be to warn others, it would simply be revenge. My way of getting back at someone. I also knew that this would make me lazy about sitting down and writing letters to management, to owners, to advertisers, to whomever needed a letter. I write a lot of letters.

So on the drive down I thought about what to do. I've decided to write the hotel, write the chain (it's a big one) and go that route. I think that has the most likelihood of success. Though, honestly, I don't know what success would be. A promise is just a promise, an apology is just an apology, how do I measure if any of that actually means change? If anyone has ideas on this, I'll take them.

Forgive me for promising something and then not following through. If anyone is going to visit Thunder Bay, let me recommend two hotels that we've stayed at. The Valhalla Inn has accessible rooms, but the toilet hangs off the wall, something that scares me - I asked for something to be placed under it to ensure it held my weight and they did that gladly. Too, the Comfort Inn has inexpensive and basic accommodation but the accessibility for me was fine (I don't need a roll in shower - these hotels may have them, I didn't ask for one.) I think mentioning these businesses may be better than flaming the one that didn't hold my reservation. It feels a bit better to reward than to punish.

On that note, the Fairfield Inn in Sault Ste. Marie, has wonderfully accessible rooms and really nice staff. When I checked in, I asked as we do, if the room was accessible and it was. Then when in the room we got a call from the front desk and the woman told me about a couple of other accessible rooms that were available and let me know how they differed from the one I was in and asked if I wanted to choose a different type of accessible room. As it happened I did, so I came down, they switched the keys, and it was done. That's service.

We get home tomorrow.

We're tired.