Riviera customer service...

[tprophet]

Re: Riviera customer service...

I had the same cardkey problem, but I'm actually glad that the Riviera wouldn't just hand me a key to the room just because I knew the name of who was supposedly in it. This is DEFCON, and it's also Las Vegas. If you happened to know certain names at certain points of the con, it may have been possible to steal badges absent proper security procedures.

That being said, security could have responded much faster. I wasn't happy to stand outside my suite for over 30 minutes. Also, the guard could have been less obvious about hanging around looking for a tip after letting me in (which he didn't get, I don't view correcting a legitimate problem as a tipped service).

As for other customer service problems - killer bees closing the pool, my room being on the public health department waiting room side of shabby, getting a smoking room instead of a non smoking one, being asked on-again-off-again twice to change rooms ... I could have done without all of those. However, it's the Riviera. They treat you like rotten dog meat because you're a DEFCON attendee, and no other hotel will have us. And you know it, and I know it, so bend over and smile and inspect thoroughly for bedbugs. Or help DT find a similarly sized and similarly affordable convention facility that is both willing to host DEFCON and sucks less than the Riviera.

I'm pretty sour on the Riv at the moment as well. The pool was closed more than it was open and they screwed up my reservation.

Also, did anyone else have key card problems? I had to have my key replaced 3 times! I really enjoyed being locked out of my room in a bathing suit and having some bitchy cunt demanding to see ID, when I clearly had no place to carry any. Oh, and waiting for security so I could get in my room and prove I was me was fun. I got so paranoid of being locked out that I wouldn't even go to the ice machine w/o id.

And it was fun being threatened with a ban for sitting around the penthouse with less then 10 people talking. Yes, this happened. We had no booze, no music, just people talking.

And I'm sure Soloman will want to share his story of security letting themselves into his room in the middle of the night looking for a party that clearly wasn't there.

[slimm609]

Re: Riviera customer service...

Agree that the riv service was less than impressive. I had an incident on sunday night that was also upsetting. I went up to the room about 8pm and the key didn't work. So i wondered back to the front desk and told them and showed ID and got a new key. With the new key went back to the room and sure enough that key didnt open the door. Went back down to the front desk and they gave me a new key and asked "do you need someone to help you open the door?" WTF?? So i wonder up to the room yet again and sure enough does not work. Finally pissed off i ask to talk to a manager and the manager said "oh your room has been blocked off because of the bees and you can't go in yet" and told me to go talk to security.

Over at the security desk i tell the guy whats going on and he asks for my ID. I hand him a Govt. ID and he asks for a Different ID. So I hand him a DL and he looks at both of them for like 10 minutes then gives them back and sends a cop up to the room with me so they can inspect the room. Finally to cop inspects the room and says its safe to go in.

Total time: about 1 1/2 hours
That is unacceptable for any hotel. No comp, nothing.

[theprez98]

Re: Riviera customer service...

Total time: about 1 1/2 hours
That is unacceptable for any hotel. No comp, nothing.

Actually, you're wrong on one point: it is acceptable at the Riv!

I was fortunate enough not to have any problems, but I've heard of many.

[barry99705]

Re: Riviera customer service...

They wouldn't refund my room deposit. No reason, just "no".

[flea]

Re: Riviera customer service...

I'm going to throw in on this one...

maids: several times during my 6 day stay the maids would make one bed and not the other. big wtf.

pool: while I understand that nobody could have seen this coming, in my opinion, the response was less than urgent. The pool being open on Sunday is one of the most important parts of con to me and MANY others. I talked to several hotel employees and was given a blow by blow of the events by an attendee that was privy to their progress. Nobody seemed to care all that much. Yes they worked to get the pool open but there was no sense of urgency.

Front Desk #1: Big FU to your fail. The day I checked in, I was told I didn't have a reservation. I explained my situation and suggested maybe she look for misspellings since the hotel has done this EVERY YEAR. She flat out told me that she wouldn't and that I just didn't have a reservation. I asked to speak to somebody that could help me, she pointed me to the RESERVATION DESK. Then, she smirked at me. This is when I became less than polite, I told her that I didn't think this was funny and didn't appreciate her amusement. I told her that little smile was what was going to get her in trouble. Thats when she decided to actually look for my reservation, turns out, misspellings on both mine and queegs names. Thanks again for nothing.

Front Desk #2: Upon checkout I found that I'd been billed for a porn I didn't watch. I explained to the lady (I THINK the same one) that I didn't watch it and I would communicate with my roomate to see if he had. After talking to queeg we discovered this:

3:42am - ashley goes to college billed to my room
3:51am - I msg queeg that I'm headed to the room
appk 4am - I arrive at room, tv is off.
appx 4:10-am - queeg arrives at room.

Of course somebody billed this to our room, they told me flat out it was impossible for this happen unless somebody in the room pressed accept on the remote. haha, I was REALLY hoping major would walk by. He didn't, no biggie, I wasn't mad about it. My bill for the week was 31$ including the porn, I just wasn't mad.

I also had an issue in the Chinese restaurant, the sitdown one, not the pukey one. The served me horrible food that the refused to take back. whatever.

Next I wanted to express my displease over the maids and the pool but since the clerk helping me wasn't hearing ANYTHING I had to say, I asked for a manager. When I got the 'manager' (she later told me she wasn't one, just a clerk designated to answer manager questiosn) I tried to explain my issues, everything was met with an argument. I explained to her that I wasn't interested in arguing and that since my bill was 31$ I wasn't trying to get ANYTHING out of this. My goal was to register my displeasure in the hopes that what happened to me wouldn't happen to others. argue argue argue, sigh sigh sigh, try to explain again.

In the end, I gave up, they had no interest in listening to the problems their guests had, instead they just wanted to argue, this was even more frustrating than all of the other problems combined.

RIVIERA LISTEN TO ME!!!! LISTEN TO YOUR GUESTS!!!! YOUR ISSUES ARE SERVICE BASED AND FIXABLE IF YOU'LL *JUST*LISTEN*TO*US*

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: Riviera customer service...

I tried to explain my issues, everything was met with an argument. I explained to her that I wasn't interested in arguing and that since my bill was 31$ I wasn't trying to get ANYTHING out of this. My goal was to register my displeasure in the hopes that what happened to me wouldn't happen to others. argue argue argue, sigh sigh sigh, try to explain again.

you hit it right on the head as far as i'm concerned, man. we are generally pretty flexible and polite people. i know that at times in a restaraunt i'll make a small remark when leaving (after having paid, etc) regarding something that they might want to pay a little more attention to next time and actually have to stop the manager or wait staff from trying to give me some sort of refund.

it's not about the money, it's about the system itself... fixing it for the next individual who comes along. heh, we don't report bugs to software companies in the hopes that they will knock $10 off our license fee, we do it so that the next version will work better.

you and i both seem to have encountered the Riv's total unwillingness to be part of that process. maybe they are used to dealing with assholes, for whom all complaints are just a precursor to demands for money... but that's not what you or i were trying to communicate.

we were at the point where we just wanted someone to acknowledge a problem and try to assure us that future guests wouldn't go through what we went through. total fail on the hotel's part.

[greatscott]

Re: Riviera customer service...

Now, full disclosure here, due to the nature of my role with Defcon I work with a lot of different folks at the Riv so my opinions may be slightly colored. Overall, I find the interactions with the Riv people to be pleasant. However, there is one noteable exception to that: the front desk. What is the deal with the front desk folks? are they all out on work release or something? Last two years I have only had unpleasant experiences with the people working the desk.

Last year it was the girl at the VIP check-in flipping out on me because someone at the main desk sent me to her (my room is on the defcon account, so sometimes our check-in procedures are a little wonky). She kept telling me 'they shouldnt have sent you here' and me saying 'ok, sort that out at the end of shift, in the meantime *someone* needs to check me in'.

This year it was attitude and apathy from the front desk. I walk up to check in to my room and begin using the little kiosk thing. I swipe my card, follow the check-in procedures, then get my key. I ask the gal if I can have an extra key and get told 'you need to have the other person on the room check in to get their key'. I explain that the other person isn't coming in till Thursday, but for tonight I have someone (Xodia) crashing in my room. She gives me a heavy sigh and says again 'sir, you need to have the other person check in and they can get their key'. I ask if she didnt listen to anything I just said and I get another sigh and an eye roll. I finally say screw it and decide I will check in the other person so Xodia can use their room key for the night, except the system wont let me do that unless I have a credit card with their name on it. Front desk gal seems to be getting annoyed with me and says rather gruffly 'sir, what are you trying to do?'. I finally begin to lose it on her and say 'look, I'm just trying to fucking do whatever I need to fucking do so I can get an extra goddamn key. Now are you gonna help with that or just sit there and give me a bunch of fucking attitude'. This point she rolls her eyes again, pushes A SINGLE FUCKING BUTTON to generate me a second room key, then hands it over.

Really? REALLY? All of that bullshit because this cow couldnt be bothered to push a single button to get me what I was asking for? I know the Riv just let a bunch of people go, this broad should be happy to have a job and should be doing what she can to make sure that guests are happy, rather than acting like her job was cutting into her day. With any luck, the Riv will free her from this terrible time-suck that pays her bills.

Outside of the front desk, though, its nothing but smiles and good times. Obviously I get along with Riv security better than most, but I had nothing but good experiences with other hotel staff too.

Seriously! That front desk has issues - I think you probably had the same lady when my girlfriend and I tried to get a late check-out on Monday, that - no joke - escalated into a screaming match on the phone between the desk lady (who started it) and my gf (who called her a total bitch, and well played I might add, who was then promptly hung up on). We were offering to order full room-service and pay for an entirely new NIGHT just to check out late, and this lady wasn't having it.

Anyways, we called back and spoke to her manager, who wasn't particularly helpful on the phone - so we said f*ck it, "we'll just check out when we want to check out and see what happens." So we checked out around 3pm, and it turned out to be totally anticlamactic -> went smooth and I guess the manager noted in the system it was cool to check out late :/

I also almost got into a fight w/ the luggage people by the front desk too. An acquaintance left his phone in our room, and I went to simply ask the people at the luggage counter by the front desk if they knew of somewhere I could leave it to pick up later as I was leaving - they somehow were hell bent on thinking I meant if I could leave the phone with them. I kept having to *calmly* correct them that I didn't mean I wanted to leave it at their counter, but they just wouldn't *get it* (I guess there's a reason why they have that job). It got to a point where I told them to calm down (big mistake)... the guy blew up on me, and I just had to call it a loss and walk off.

On the other hand - checkin for me was a breeze, and the guy who helped there was really nice and hooked me up w/ "nice" room (moved what I had).

[wiseleo]

Re: Riviera customer service...

I'm pretty sour on the Riv at the moment as well. The pool was closed more than it was open and they screwed up my reservation.

Also, did anyone else have key card problems? I had to have my key replaced 3 times! I really enjoyed being locked out of my room in a bathing suit and having some bitchy cunt demanding to see ID, when I clearly had no place to carry any. Oh, and waiting for security so I could get in my room and prove I was me was fun. I got so paranoid of being locked out that I wouldn't even go to the ice machine w/o id.

And it was fun being threatened with a ban for sitting around the penthouse with less then 10 people talking. Yes, this happened. We had no booze, no music, just people talking.

And I'm sure Soloman will want to share his story of security letting themselves into his room in the middle of the night looking for a party that clearly wasn't there.

I didn't stay at Riv, but a friend of mine spent 8 minutes swiping the key to open her door.

[icetre]

Re: Riviera customer service...

I wasn't expecting much from the Riviera but wasn't too impressed with their service.

Lurk moar.

If this is your first con, you have nothing to really base it on. It was totally the shit this year. Surly employees, shitty heavy-handed security/management and totally blind policies.

They're one of the most retarded companies I've ever run into.

Seriously, and I've worked for SprintLink.

[MisterVandal]

Re: Riviera customer service...

It was an off and on thing, at Kadys we ran into people who were so happy to see us, they told us they were worried about losing their jobs and that the place had been dead, even though they were really busy, they had a great attitude and made us feel welcome.

Then the dark side.

The Penthouse, I don't need to say much more, but hey, at least I have a bracelet, and had a place to fall down for a couple nights. I saw people get harassed for standing in the casino smoking and not gambling, I couldn't figure that out, overall I didn't see a lot of gamblers anyways.

I realize we may not have the best of reputations, but we are a group of people who spend a good sum of money, I realize comparing the riv to the AP is a silly comparison but I am going to try my best here. They wouldn't let me take booze from the ABC store or the AM/PM back to the contest area, however, the AP let us do whatever and we were by far the best bar tab they had all year.

What I think this hotel fails to realize is that the more you tell us no, the more determined we get, if you're cool to us we'll be really cool to you.

[Evil]

Re: Riviera customer service...

I just recently switched jobs from retail into the hospitality industry. In the TWO WEEKS I've been in my new job I've learned that everything the Riv has beening doing is wrong!! If a guest has to be switched to another room they automatically get upgraded! If a key doesn't work and the guest has to get a new key we escort them up to their room to make sure it works. If it dosn't WE run back down to get another! Unhappy guests get meal vochers, discounted rooms, free shuttle, and free attraction tickets depending on the situation. And I work at a small hotel (169 rooms)!! We depend on our guests, they're our bread and butter!! The Riv is in Vegas!! Land of the comp!! They still have enough staff to cater to the needs of a convention of our size! The hospitality services (not the retail services such as waitress, ABC workers, bartenders, ect) were horrid!! If any of my guests had been treated that way, I'd be embrassed and unemployed!![PHP][/PHP]

[noid]

Re: Riviera customer service...

The Riv staff like to brag that they read our forums. Let's hope they are reading this..

[EggDr0p]

Re: Riviera customer service...

This year I stayed at Circus Circus. While yes there was clowns on the TV my experience was terrific. The staff was helpful during check-in and my room was nice. The walk to the Riv wasn't bad either.


I will say that walking through Clown Town was a totally different experience though....I would stay there again.

I walked into Circus Circus and immediately thought I was going to get hepatitis. I'm glad to hear they have nice rooms, but next year I will be at Caesar’s.

The Riv is a hole. My toilet was backed up when I checked in, it took 2 days to get it fixed. I had to tell the manager that I was going to shovel the “waste” into the hallway before they sent somebody up. The shower didn’t drain more than a drop at a time, which never got fixed.
Key card was replaced for two in my party .

[Abby_Normal]

Re: Riviera customer service...

The Riv staff like to brag that they read our forums. Let's hope they are reading this..

I hope so, because there is something they need to understand.

If they continue to try to force us to toe their line instead of trying to work out reasonable compromises WE WILL GO ELSEWHERE!

Did anyone see on dead the Riv was on the nights with off site events? How about their little pool party on Thursday night?

The Ninja's took their game to another hotel. Other parties will start doing the same. It's in the Riv's best interest to keep us on the grounds, but they are shoving us away instead.

I suggest if a compromise isn't reached, we all go off site, except for the convention. We don't have to stay in the hotel, we don't have to eat in their restaurants or drink in their bars. We don't have to party there. We don't have to gamble in their casino. We can turn that dump into a ghost town ever night of the convention.

So what's it going to be Riv? Are you willing to play well with others, or are we taking our ball and going home?

[netstat]

Re: Riviera customer service...

Wow, there are some horror stories of what went down there ... I was looking at some of the events I missed, B&W ball etc, since I went back to the Bellagio every night and thinking "I'm staying at the Riv next year so I don't miss out"

But these stories are quickly changing my mind.