Don’t use our web site

Now, you’d never tell anyone not to use your Web site, would you? Of course you wouldn’t. At least not on purpose. But that’s the very message I got from Marriot Hotels when I recently needed to change a reservation. Nobody said it to me, but that was the conclusion I drew. If you’re not careful, your customers might be learning the same thing from you.

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I don’t want anyone to think I am bashing Marriott, because I am actually a big fan. They are one of my favorite hotels. I stay there numerous times each year and am rarely disappointed.
I’m not even bashing Marriott’s Web site. I’ve used it many times in the past and have always been happy with the experience. Until the other day.
I had to change my reservation for a Marriot stay. It was well before the cancellation deadline and there were rooms available for my new date. The problem was the rate of the new room–I was using a corporate discount provided me by my client and I could not get that rate online, even though the Web site showed that the reservation I was changing was at that very rate. In order to make the change, it would cost my client over $100 a night.
As someone who has run big Web sites, I decided to get on the phone and plead my case. I knew it would probably be difficult, but I wanted to save my client all that money. (I am a real cheapskate, if you couldn’t tell.)
But it wasn’t difficult at all. The Marriott rep I called could not have been nicer or speedier. My reservation was changed in no time to the right dates with the corporate rate. No muss, no fuss.
Except for one thing. From now on, I will always wonder whether I should be calling Marriott instead of doing business on its Web site. Could I get a lower rate? Or a room for a night that the site says is sold out? Clearly, the phone people have access to secret good stuff that the Web site does not. My lesson? Don’t use the Web site.
Do you have the same problem with your Web site? If your Web site can’t do what your call center does, what message does that send?