The Pirates of Treasure Island
My wife and I are going to Las Vegas for a vacation and I just tried beating up our hotel, Treasure Island, for some promotional freebies. I got an email promotion from them that said they offer a room upgrade, 2 for 1 buffet breakfast, and a complimentary drink in the bar. But you have to book on the internet. So I called them up and said I had an existing weekend reservation and wanted to add these upgrades to that. They gave me all sort of BS that I could only get these upgrades if I book over the internet. And I said I didn't want the hassle of canceling and rebooking, that it should be easy to press a button and add these upgrades to my existing reservation. So they transferred me to the supervisor, and in the tradeoff I got hung up on!

So I called the hotel front desk and went through the same deal, and they transferred me to the supervisor and she immediately started bickering with me that the only way to get these upgrades was to book over the internet. And I said that was ridiculous, that it should be easy to add these things to anybody's reservation since the hotel is in control of its own offers. And she said that she knew I was just trying to get these upgrades at a lower price (what I paid for my existing reservation versus what is required to get the internet deal). And I said that these same goodies are available midweek for $25 less than what I paid for my existing reservation, so it really shows that price isn't the factor in determining who gets these upgrades. And I said that I know why the internet deal was put up because it is trying to drive reservations and you really don't want this difficult customer service experience to drive away reservations and make people cancel because of the lack of cooperation. And the woman still wouldn't budge! So I said I would call back after I thought about whether or not I wanted to remain a guest in their hotel.

Geez. To stand firm on something so stupid as a coupon to their stupid tasteless buffet and a watery drink from their bogus bar. What a joke! That's it, I'm going to get enormously hammered at their gaming tables and reenact some of the antics that Nick Cage portrayed in the move Leaving Las Vegas. I am sure barf on green felt is a bitch to clean up!