Tip on making things right

Regarding “How I Got a Hotel Refund,” On the Spot, by Christopher Reynolds, Feb. 3: My wife and I learned the fine art of complaining about accommodations while in Chicago.

The first room we were in was small, and the mattress was awful. It was well worn and robbed us of sleep. We went to the desk the next morning to ask for a new mattress. The clerk curtly informed us that wasn’t possible. The clerk said he would change our room.

Of course, we wound up in a smaller room next to the elevator. When we returned to the hotel after supper, the evening desk clerk asked us cheerfully how we were enjoying our stay. As my wife told the clerk our encounters, her jaw dropped. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “Let me make it up to you.”

She had us moved to the penthouse (at the room rate). As Reynolds said, don’t let the hotel decide what to offer to make things right. Ask for the moon; you just might get it.