I am one of those old guys who will chat with a tree!!
I have become a firm believer in communicating with the service industry because I learned from 30 years on the job that your staff will rarely tell you what is happening.
If I have a good experience with the food or waiter I find a mgr and let them know. If I am not pleased I let them know too. I don't always send food back--sometimes it spoils the meal for others to wait or see you have nothing to eat. Sometimes I pay then take a mgr aside and make suggestions and indicate whether or not I'll return.
I'll speak to hotel mgt at headquarters level if I have been treated poorly or billed improperly like a $22 phone bill while I was at dinner.
My wife travels extensively instate and the only way she can tolerate it is getting a satisfactory room and she will talk to the front desk people enough to get what she wants.
Good organizations want to please you--if they don't take your business else where and tell them you are doing that!!

Just curious...

What is your goal in posting this?

and...

What is your profession? I certainly hope you perform PERFECTLY everyday and if not, that someone points out your inadaquecies and imperfections every single time you make a mistake.

I certainly hope that you invest as much time and effort giving positive feedback as you do giving negative feedback.

Your type is the reason why service workers dislike the public so much.

I must say that the Peabody mgt In Memphis was pleased to have someone tell them that the Cold Drink vender was loading the machines at 6am on the floors. A hotel mgr in Toronto was glad to be told the fire exit in an underground restaurant was blocked. The Mgr at The Grove Park in Asheville was very pleased to know the elevator operator gave a superb floor by floor tour and called me in my room to tell me that the employee would be receive a commendation. A new waiter was glad to be told he should give lots of ones in his change for tips.

absolutely. recently, at sheraton island marina in san diego, i had to talk to the concierge regarding a few things in the room. they were receptive,
kind, and proactive in solving the (minor) problems. good service to me is good service in not so great conditions. ;-)

"My wife travels extensively instate and the only way she can tolerate it is getting a satisfactory room and she will talk to the front desk people enough to get what she wants."

I realize this could be taken several ways, but somehow I'm reminded of many people I see at the check-in counter. Often they approach it with a "here I am" attitude. I've seen people walk up and before a clerk can say anything, the customer is saying things like "I want only the best room and I don't want to hear about how the hotel is sold out" or "I'm not going to put up with a room like I had last time". This is not unlike people being seated by a maitre'd in a restaurant who stand there before sitting and survey the entire restaurant just to make sure they are getting the best table.

Don't get me wrong, management needs to know about problems as well as positives. But I'm amazed how many people literally look for problems before they exist.

I find it irritating that guests stay at a hotel or B&B and when they return home post of Fodors that they wouldn't return but never spoke to the hotel management

If there is some part of your stay that annoys you so much that you wouldn't return to a hotel then you should certainly bring it to the attention of the manager.

He/she might not be aware of the issue, In which case you have potentially helped future guests.

Alternatively, what you perceive as an issue might be classed by them as 'finicky', In which case they will probably be polite to you but ignore your complaint - at least you put your point across.

Yes there are hotels I wouldn't stay at again - these are generally the Holiday Inn type chains - then again there are hotels I hope to return to despite minor issues.

I guess I've just been lucky so far.

My favorite hotel so far in the US?
The Cypress Hotel, Cupertino.

In the UK?
The Mount Somerset near Taunton.

that's not the way my wife works--she says hello everyday, she tells them thanks for the great room, she calls before she arrives and chats and asks is 404 available, it was great last time or are you still having problems with the a/c--she "talks" to them

I didn't get from the OP that he was a serial complainer or someone who expected great treatment (though, when you think about, there's nothing wrong with that).

I got that he informed people when they were doing something wrong and praised them when they were doing something right. What's worng with that?

I believe I understand what Fairhope is saying.

I owned an Insurance Agency for many years. Nothing upset me more then losing a client because the client was not happy about something (due to one of my employees) but did not tell me about their complaint. I could not be in the office building every moment and could not see and hear every employee. I would like to add I had wonderful employees with a few exceptions. I would also like to add that in most cases my clients complaints were reasonable and legitimate. But I always told them I wished they had contacted me before placing their insurance elsewhere so that I could have been given the opportunity to correct the problem.

We did not lose a lot of clients and with the ones we did within a year or two a good percent came back to our agency.

I note that Fairhope said "If I have a good experience with the food or waiter I find a mgr and let them know" etc. That is good. It is IMHO important to let mangement know when you are pleased as well as when you are not. I do that. It is a nice and productive way to reward someone who is truly doing a good job.

I always loved the old saying "A customer is not an interruption of your business, a customer is your business".

I took..from Fairhope's post that he tells Management when they have done a good job and also communicates any complaints he has. Good for you Fairhope!

I've been fortunate in that I've rarely had any major hotel complaints, most were minor that could be taken care of by housekeeping or the front desk.

I agree that management is interested in hearing visitor feedback. At a Hilton resort we stayed at I noticed that they never had enough towels at the pool area during our stay which was a real inconvenience. On the guest survey I pointed this out as something that needed to be improved on since the pool was heavily used throughout the day. But I also mentioned how great the entire staff treated us otherwise and gave specific details of their actions.

I was surprised to later receive a letter from Barron Hilton thanking me for my observations, both good and bad. So you never know who might be listening to your comments.

Geez, are some of those comments directed at me as if I were accusing the original poster's wife of being a problem?

What part of this is too hard to understand?

"I realize this could be taken several ways, but somehow I'm reminded of many people I see at the check-in counter."

Who said anything about it being his wife? I thought we were having an open discussion about talking with service people.

Patrick - I like posters who use the name of the poster that they are addressing. I always do - it saves on misunderstandings.

I hope my post shows that I was agreeing with Fairhope but having a discussion with all the other posters