MGM Grand Las Vegas experience

My Vegas trip was just like other conferences - long hours of sitting thro' the sessions, being well fed, meeting folks and having fun. There were flight delays that kept me waiting at the airport for 2.5 hrs. But I felt blessed when I knew all flights to Vegas was delayed that day and some were even stranded in the runway!!! During my flight, little did I know that my worst waiting experience is yet to come.

The computer network in MGM Grand Hotel was down all day and so there were a few hundreds waiting in line to check in. My company had a welcome reception dinner and it was dinner time when I entered the hotel. We were asked to have dinner and then come back for check in. Hotel management complicated the situation by asking us to wait at the conference center to get our room keys. They started bringing the keys but were getting only 10 or so in an hour. Later, we all realized that they were calling out names of people who had already received their keys. So everyone started showing their frustration out loud. Hotel staff asked us to go to the lobby and line up for the keys. It was already 10:30 pm when they said that. We walked back to the lobby and lined up. After waiting for a couple of hours, I got my keys at 12:30 a.m.

It took the hotel staff almost half an hour per person to check-in. This country is so not set up for any manual processing. Lots of folks who left with their keys kept coming back to the front desk complaining that they went to their room and there was already someone in there. Boy..that is ridiculous and scary. What would it be like to enter someone's room after mid night? I asked them to call my room to make sure there was nobody.

Well...although they cannot figure out how to manually process they sure can show excellent customer service. The hotel left gift baskets or service credits for all those who underwent pain. :) The service credits were for food or entertainment some even going up to $200. People who got just gift baskets flocked the front desk and demanded for service credits. Everyone who asked got some to enjoy food, drinks, shows or spa at the hotel's expense. That was a nice gesture!