I am such a bad ass...
So today in my hotel, I called maintenance for the second time due to a communication issue with the internet and TV...
The maintenance guy stuck around for about 45 minutes as he was happy to chat with someone technical... That would be I!
He still did little that was actually useful to troubleshoot the issue except reveal that the service provider is Lodgenet...
So he called to the front desk from my room and asked that they call lodgenet to have this fixed once and for all...
Satisfied that something was being done, I went to supper...
Upon returning, I stopped by the front desk and asked what was the outcome after speaking with Lodgenet. The lady at the front desk seemed completely clueless and showed me a note with the name Terri on it and requesting that Terri contact Lodgenet. On the note were the tech support number and the site ID both of which are essentially "keys to the kingdom" to get technical support with the service provider for the hotel....
Being the arrogant bugger that I can tend to be and figuring I can probably do a better job working with the tech anyhow, I responded to the front desk lady, yup, this note is for me!
I returned to my room with the note and contacted Lodgenet with both the support number and the site ID in hand!
I call Lodgenet and speak with Jeff who is shocked to see that I have the contact info to speak with him in the first place... ;-) I give him some line that I am helping the hotel out which is crap but I am ok with it since fixing the issue will get me internet access and movies tonight. Jeff and I run through some preliminary diagnostics and he determines that some work at the main terminal must be done and so suggests that he speak with the front desk.
I confirm with him that he is aware he is about to speak with someone non-technical and he replies that he must anyhow...,
OK, so here is me bursting from the room and running down six flights of stairs to get to reception in time to intercept the call to actually get this looked into!
As I arrive at the front desk the phone rings... Lodgenet! Bingo!
As I suspected, the counter lady is again... clueless...
I suggest that I speak with the tech and she hands me the phone, Jeff again who is beyond himself that he is talking to me again...
Now the hotel lets me at the actual terminal to do some real troubleshooting with the Lodgenet tech. We determined that the system is having some real issues which only an onsite tech can solve... Incidentally, he confirmed from the logs that communication has been down since Thursday night.
Next time you have an issue with a technical service in a hotel, and they quickly blame something trivial like the weather, question whether anything is being done at all about the issue!
BTW, while I was on the phone with Jeff, he informed me that internet and TV were served by seperate equipment and he re-established internet communication for me right there... the weather... bah!