Don’t fall into the black pit of customer denial.
How customer service failed me at a massive corporation.
I was traveling to Las Vegas and was part of a terrible customer experience recently.
MGM Resorts, a publicly traded company, was recently hacked by a cyber company, which took down all their systems.
This hack occurred four days before my arrival, and I wasn’t reading into the headlines as I thought those issues would be resolved within a day or two.
This wasn’t the first hack in Vegas.
We also read that Caesars Entertainment had a similar issue a couple of weeks earlier and paid the ransom to clear up any issues within a couple of days.
We were assuming that this would be the same case.
The day before our arrival, we felt better when we saw a publicly released announcement from MGM on X, stating that everything was operational, including restaurants, accommodations, and the casino.
But then we started browsing what customers were saying online.
There were posts about staff having to check customers in with paper and pen, and none of the online services like mobile key cards, room charges, or slot machines were working.
We were a bit nervous, but still had hoped that the issue would be cleared up when we arrived.
We were wrong.
Our Las Vegas Arrival
We were checked in with a paper and pen system, and would be receiving a phone call when our room would be ready.
That wasn’t all. They wrote down our credit card number for room incidentals on a piece of paper.
Things were really archaic.
When we finally checked in our room we realized this was going to be a different visit to Vegas than anticipated.
During our first full day of our visit, we headed over to the pool and found a good spot to enjoy the nice weather.
We ordered a couple of drinks with our waitress and asked to charge up to the room.
We couldn’t do that.
So instead, we had to use our credit card and asked to open a tab.
We couldn’t do that.
Because of these inconveniences, we were getting frustrated with our stay at the resort.
We were on vacation and didn’t have to want to think about all these extra charges and ways to enjoy our time.
We had enough.
After a day of this, we asked a couple of staff members if they felt anything was going to be improving anytime soon.
We kept getting uncertain answers with words like “maybe” and “theoretically” which didn’t give us much confidence in the rest of our stay.
It landed up that nothing was resolved or improved during our stay, and when we departed, we are very sad with our visit to Las Vegas.
As we departed, I realized there were a lot of things MGM could’ve done to enhance our less than average stay.
What They Could Have Done…
RESORT CREDITS
Because systems were down, we couldn’t use any of our account information to purchase or cover any food or beverages during our stay.
They could’ve softened the blow with a free drink and/or food credit at their properties.
MORE CLARITY
Every time we would be asking questions about if they thought the system would be back up, the answers were very surface, and we started to feel like we were having wool pulled over our eyes.
If we had been provided a better understanding of what was ordered was not working, we probably would’ve felt better.
OPEN THE MINI BAR
After all we were in Vegas. Because the systems were down, our minibar wasn’t even able to be used.
Another perfect reason as to why free drink coupons would’ve been welcomed.
SHOW TICKETS
Most people visit Vegas and see a show (we already had planned to see Adele — thank god!).
It would’ve been a smart choice with the several properties in Las Vegas for MGM Resorts to offer show tickets for our stay.
MGM Should Have Known Better
Ultimately, the bottom line was that we felt we were not accommodated or appreciated it during our stay.
I’ve never worked in the hospitality industry, but I would assume that a big conglomerate like a MGM Resorts would’ve known better on how to handle this situation.
As a frequent traveler, I felt that this was one of the biggest examples of a mistake that I have been a part of.
Knowing that the systems were down, things were going to be changed for gas, and there was no clarity on when things were going to clear up, things could’ve been handled better.
One of the biggest mistake they made was acting like everything was fully operational when they clearly were not.
This really was a deceitful way of trying to keep complaints and customers at bay, without changing your travel plans.
Looking back now, if we knew that our stay was going to be a fraction of a full experience, we may have changed our city entirely, and visited somewhere else.
There is a fine line to saving face and keeping your reputation.
For me, this was a big loss from a standpoint of the business and consumer side.
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