Sold out night, just after midnight. Everyone's in and I am wrapping up audit paper work. I see a woman walking in with her suitcase.

Her: "Checking in, [Last name]."

Me: "Wonderful, can I see an ID and the card you would like to use for verification purposes?"

She happily provides both and I check our in house reservations for her name. Nothing comes up. Check arrivals for the next business day and of course, there it is.

I explain to her that her reservation is for the next night and apologise that we have nothing available to check her into right now.

Her: "You do realize that I'm going to have to sleep in the lobby right?"

Me: "I am more than happy to call around and find you alternate accommodations for tonight, I imagine that'd be more comfortable"

I awkwardly laugh and start dialing some of our neighboring properties. After about 5 minutes calling different places I find one just a short distance that is willing to price match and hold the room until they run audit so they can sell out, as well. I jot down their information and look up to find her laying on one of the sofas.

I approach and explain to her what I have been able to find for her, explain where it is and how to find it, that they will even lower their rate to honor the rate that she had booked at. We can go ahead and cancel her reservation here, with no penalty if that works for her.

Her face drops and she asks "How come I can't stay here?"

Me: "I'm sorry, we don't have anything that I can check you into at this point in time, being that we have no vacancies."

Her: "Ok, but I'm a shiny member, I have a reservation for here, I can wait till check-in, just let me sleep in the lobby."

Me: "I understand, and we will be more than happy to accommodate the reservation you have, should you wish to keep it, when a room opens up. We can also store your luggage and all, but in the interest of your safety and the enjoyment of other guests, I cannot let you sleep in the lobby."

Her: "So let me get this straight, I made the reservation a little bit ago, I'm paying to stay here, I have my reservation for today, but you're telling me to leave because I don't have a reservation for today? Does that make sense to you? Help me understand, because I don't think you're making much sense."

Me: "Sure, so the business date and the calendar date are not the same thing. A hotel night starts at 4 pm, that is when we begin taking check-ins for that night. I understand that you made a reservation for the earliest possible date, or what would be today's calendar date. Unfortunately, we're still operating for the night of the previous day, which would need a reservation for yesterday. Additionally, we don't have any rooms for you to check into anyway. It's an unfortunate scenario, but that is why I went through and secured alternative accommodations for tonight. If you are still looking to stay here tomorrow night, we can keep that other reservation, or we can cancel it at no cost."

Her: "You don't care. I was just complaining about this earlier to a friend and she agreed the service at [brand] has gone down majorly. All you guys care about is money and squeezing more and more, and providing less."

Me: "Once again, you have my sympathies for the situation at hand, and I'm sorry you feel that way, but I'm sure as a frequent guest for our brand, you wouldn't appreciate someone else commandeering our dining area to use as a makeshift bed."

Her: "You used to be able to book a room and they'd take care of the rest, and now I'm being kicked out as a PAYING GUEST."

Me: "You are being asked to find alternative sleeping arrangements until the check in time on the date of your reservation. I offered a solution in hand, you may take it or not, but there is nothing more I can do for you."

Her: "Cancel my reservation, and DELETE MY SHINY ACCOUNT. I never have been so poorly treated as a customer before in my life."

She snatched a business card for the manager and the paper that had the name, number, and address of the other hotel as well as the quoted rate, matched rate, and my name before storming out.