Every now and then I go off topic and to some of my older enterprise passions, as I started out my professional career in CRM, originally in Sales Force Automation, but that quickly expanded to overall CRM. And with that you get a lot of background on customer centricity and the customer being always right etc. 

After a delayed flight back from the East Coast to Las Vegas, I made it to the Mirage shortly after midnight, and was still in a good mood - tweeting that only in Las Vegas you have a line checking into a hotel after midnight...

But then the challenges started to pop up fast and furiously:

  • Despite having a non smoking room reserved the receptionist told me that they had only smoking rooms left. Not a good start.    
     
  • In my hope that my MLife loyalty would change something - I wanted to provide my loyalty card number, only to note that I didn't have it. But I knew from other MGM properties that the receptionist can look that number up with the address. Not so my receptionist - she said it's not possible.... But I pressed and she then 'found a way' to do it, excusing herself for a 'brain fart' (her words!).

    [Epilogue - she gave me a number - but it wasn't mine as I discovered back home...]
     
  • So I make myself to the room - enter, can't find the light switch, but can see the bathroom, find the 'standard' setup of the light switch and ... there are toiletries on the sink. As I make my discover a female voice says faintly 'Hello?' - to which I retreat with profuse apologies that this was my room according to the front desk and my key opened the door... I doubled check once outside again - and yes it was my room.

 

  • So off to the service phone on the floor (22nd) only to find out - that it doesn't .... work.
     
  • Next down and to the service telephone at the bottom of the elevator...
     
  • Receptionist asks me to come back to reception, which I politely decline with my luggage and given it's almost half a mile and its quarter to 1 AM. So he says he will re-program my key and give me a new room over the phone. Incredously I ask if that worked, as I never have seen that working - but he reassures me this will work.
     
  • Back to 22nd floor and of course... it does not work.
     
  • Back down (service phone broken) and guess I sounded irritated - as the switchboard offers to connect me with the hotel manager... I though the cavalry is here.
     
  • The hotel manager can't offer an apology but says he will send someone with the key. 15 miniutes later as I am picking up the phone again - a young gentleman shows up and gives me the new keys... promises to call me if I make it in the room (...).
     
  • I make it to the room and find new - never seen equipment - an air purifier.

  • Needless to say I never get a call in the room - and being 1:10 and having a 5 AM start I resort in my fate... needless to say the most smoke stinking room I ever was in. Luckily I was able to open the window, but let me tell you that the slightest move in the bed of a smoking room unleashes plenty of smoke.
     
  • The next day - on a conference call I took from my (smoking) room - the house cleaning maid walks in on me - no knocking whatsoever. Before your phantasies go wild - I was decently dressed.
     
  • Around 2 PM - I was supposed to get my new room assigned by noon - I call myself the hotel manager. The reply is 'oh yeah - let me send someone'.
     
  • And yes - 10 minutes later another young gentleman shows up and gives me the new room keys.
     
  • I was glad to be in my new non smoking room. 2 more house cleaning walk ins - I know use the deadbolt. And they left me a present:

 

  • Also it looks like taking away trash guests need to leave lying around - as there was no dust bin - does not get picked up either. Or hotel dishes: 
]
 

  • Generally it looks like the Mirage Las Vegas is falling apart - just two pictures from my bath room door. Door handle not secured by screws and broken off wood at the door.
 
Throughout my 3 day and 3 night stay - where I documented all of the above on Twitter, no one of the Mirage bothered to reach out to me. It was like all of this did not happen... 
 

MyPOV

Humans make mistakes. My receptionist probably did not check that we just passed midnight and did not exclude checkin guests... Rooms get sold out. Room keys don't work. Etc. But what matters in customers service is how enterprises react when something goes wrong. And that's where the Mirage Las Vegas is an utter failure and I cannot recommend anyone staying there.
 
P.S. And if you have a Twitter account in 2015 - with over 10k followers - you really should monitor it (@TheMirageLV).