You are the general manager of Colonnade Hotel and Resort, an independent property in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Having worked at the Colonnade for four years, you are no stranger to customer service complaints. As the general manager, you rely on your front desk agents to provide quality service and prevent most issues from being escalated to you; however, of course not all customers can be satisfied. When you arrive at the property on Monday morning, you are faced with one of those customer situations that require your attention. As you open your email inbox, you see a message with the subject line "Shut out of the Colonnade" that reads as follows:Colonnade hotel General Manager, Since I couldn’t speak to you directly when I was in town, I’d like to bring to your attention a HORRIBLE experience I had with my family last week at the Colonnade. As I’m sure you know, 15 of us booked rooms (10 rooms total) at the hotel eight months ago, so we could celebrate my parents 50th anniversary celebration. We had heard good things about your establishment and were looking forward to the trip. However, when my wife, son, and I arrived at about 10pm last Friday, we were told by Kathy, your front desk agent, that the hotel was BOOKED and no rooms were available for us. HOW COULD THIS BE, when we pre-paid for our rooms so far in advance My brother and his family ALSO were shut out (although all other family members had already checked in earlier). My family and my brother’s family were both sent to different hotels in different directions. The inconvenience was staggering and made what should have been a seamless experience into a logistical nightmare. Yes, you took care of our stay at the other hotel, but I think you really miss the point: we all wanted to be in the same hotel. We live in different cities and don’t get to spend much time together. I want to understand your policy. HOW CAN THIS HAPPENBottom line: I would expect and anticipate that you will find 100% justification to reimburse ALL our families for ALL our lodging expenses while we were in town, simply for all the hassle and inconvenience you caused. There’s simply no excuse for what happened. You ruined this experience for us. Thanks a lot. Looking forward to your response. Kevin WardAs an experienced manager, you know to gather more information before responding to the guest. You discuss the situation with Kathy briefly over the phone (you haven’t seen her since the incident), who confirms Mr. Ward’s version of the incident and tells you that his son "got the whole thing in video."Assignment:Write a letter to Mr. Ward (the message should not exceed 1 page; also, feel free to use return and reader addresses of your choice). In your message, you will want to acknowledge and apologize for the incident and invite his family to return to the hotel. However, you must let your reader know that you will not be reimbursing any of his family members for their lodging (beyond what policy permits and beyond reimbursements you’ve already provided for him and his brother), as he requested you do in his email. Audience: If written well, your letter will encourage Mr. Ward to view the situation differently. For example, while you could never make a customer do so, Mr. Ward might actually be encouraged to post an update on TripAdvisor that presents Colonnade Hotel and Resort more positively, despite his having request denied. In your response, consider how much detail to provide about the overbooking policy. Regardless of your rationale, overbooking may be difficult for even the most agreeable customer to accept.