The Tale of the Legendary Wrong Number: Marketing Blunders from the Front Desk
Every so often, a story comes along that perfectly captures the chaos, comedy, and camaraderie of working in hospitality. Today, dear reader, I bring you a tale from the hallowed halls of r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk—a story of ambition, oversight, and one very, very wrong phone number. Buckle up; this is a masterclass in how not to run a marketing campaign, as witnessed by the long-suffering hotel staff who had front row seats to the mayhem.
Picture it: the late 1990s, a time when marketing meant glossy flyers and the only clouds were in the sky, not the server room. Our protagonist, u/basilfawltywasright, recounts a legend from their time at a hotel, starring a gung-ho Director of Sales (DoS) with big ideas and an even bigger knack for skipping feedback. The result? An epic saga of wasted budgets, data entry nightmares, and a twist so delicious you’ll be dialing for reservations yourself.
Let’s set the scene. The DoS, eager to impress, dreams up a grand promotional flyer: a single mailer containing every rate and package for the entire year. It’s not a bad idea—get guests thinking about all the ways they could visit, all year long. But here’s the rub: each rate, package, and special (and there were dozens) had to be painstakingly reverse-engineered, calculated, and manually entered into a cranky old DOS property management system. What should have been a collaborative effort became a race against the clock, as the DoS, in her infinite wisdom, decided to skip the “feedback” step altogether.
Instead of waiting for input, she pulled the trigger—blasting 95% of the year’s advertising budget on printing and mailing hundreds of these flyers. By the time the rest of the team realized what had happened, the flyers were already on their way to mailboxes across the land. Cue the frantic data entry, the desperate attempts to reconcile overlapping packages, conflicting seasonal rates, and the absence of blackout dates for special events. (Pro tip: never underestimate the power of a blackout date to save your sanity.)
But wait, as the infomercials say—there’s more! In the midst of this chaos, our hero is called in for backup. The Front Office Manager (FOM), already buried under a mountain of spreadsheets and rate grids, asks for help proofing the flyer. After hunting for errors (and finding plenty), the ultimate blunder reveals itself at the very bottom: the phone number for reservations? Completely, utterly wrong.
Yes, after all that work, all those packages, and all those flyers, the number printed for eager guests to call was not the hotel’s. In a moment worthy of sainthood, our narrator points it out to the FOM—who, upon realizing this twist of fate, morphs from Sisyphus to seraphim. Suddenly, the disaster is averted. With the wrong number on every flyer, at least the flood of calls won’t start just yet. There’s time to fix the back-end mess before the public even knows the packages exist. It’s the kind of accidental miracle you only get in hospitality.
But, as with all great comedies, the punchline comes in the encore. The following year, the DoS repeats her one-woman show: same flyer, same lack of consultation, same frantic FOM, but this time, all the package details are correct. Our narrator is handed the updated flyer to proof… and yes, you guessed it—the phone number is still wrong. There’s just no substitute for learning from your mistakes (or, in this case, not learning at all).
Lessons from the Lobby: This story is more than just a laugh; it’s a cautionary tale for marketers and managers everywhere. Communication matters. So does proofreading. And maybe—just maybe—wait for a second opinion before blowing your annual budget on anything, especially if it’s headed straight to your entire customer base.
For anyone who’s ever worked the front desk, you know that moments like these are equal parts frustration and farce. They’re the stories you’ll tell for decades (and, as the narrator notes, the kind that everyone who’s ever worked with you will never let you forget).
What’s your wildest marketing mishap? Did you ever dodge disaster thanks to a last-minute catch or a happy accident? Share your stories in the comments—let’s swap some “great moments in marketing history” of our own.
And always, always double-check that phone number.
Thanks to u/basilfawltywasright for sharing this gem. For more hospitality shenanigans, check out the original Reddit post.
Original Reddit Post: Great Moments in Marketing History - #3