With another Stash enrollment contest on the horizon, we felt it was probably a good idea to touch on the importance of making sure guests actually want to be enrolled in Stash before signing them up on the Front Desk Hub.  We know most are legit, but when you mark the box saying you have received verbal permission from the guest, that actually needs to have happened.  Here’s why:

1. It makes otherwise happy guests angry, annoyed and litigious.  Guests become irate when they find out they have joined the program unwillingly – they feel violated.  And they have.  How would you feel if you began receiving emails about your travel history from a seemingly random company out of the blue?  Here are just a few examples of emails received by Stash Customer Service:

“Stop emailing me. I never signed up for stash rewards”

“STOP – STOP -STOP – STOP – STOP – STOP – STOP – Stop emailing me this bull****! I REFUSE to login to an account I never created just to cancel my account. If this continues I will be forced to take legal action.”

“I did not enroll.  This enrollment was against my desire. I specifically told front desk not to send me or have any third-party send me solicitations of any kind.  It is this ignorance that prevents me from doing business with the establishment in the future.   I am thoroughly disgusted with businesses assuming they can send email without any regard to customer just because customer did business with them.  REMOVE ME ASAP.”

“I have no idea how you have my information. If I receive another stash rewards message I will literally sue you.”

Get the idea? Enrollment without permission makes all of us look bad.

2. You jeopardize the PERK and Showdown points you would earn, or possibly worse.  As we start to detect a pattern of misuse, we will bring it to the attention of your hotel’s management team.  Hotels have been known to take further disciplinary action towards employees that disregard the policy of obtaining verbal permission before enrolling in Stash.  Here’s what Stash is prepared to do if we feel a GSA is out-of-bounds:

• 1^st offense:
  • Removal of PERK/Showdown points for that one enrollment
  • Notification of hotel management
• 2^nd offense:
  • Removal of PERK points for the one enrollment
  • Removal of ALL current Showdown points earned to date
  • Disqualification for duration of the Showdown
  • Notification of hotel management
• Multiple offenders at one property
  • Notification of hotel management
  • Consider Showdown disqualification for entire hotel

3. It’s just not good service.  These are your guests – as hospitality professionals, you risk your hotel’s reputation when this happens.  With so many choices for a guest to consider, why give them a reason to stay at your competition?

That said, Stash points were designed to provide added value to your guests’ experience and, through programs like PERK, Showdowns, and other contests, we want all GSAs at Stash partner hotels to be able to travel to places they may not have otherwise had the chance to visit.  Please be sure you are complying with the wishes of the guest before enrolling them in the program. It’s just not worth risking your integrity, your reputation, and your guests’ perception of the hotel for a handful of points.