Day 76 - Making a Bad Experience a Good One

I didn't write much in the last post about our campsite: there was a reason for this.

We usually stay within the National Parks where the campsites tend to be basic with vault toilets and occasionally, if we're lucky, flushing toilets and maybe sinks with running water. But the pros of staying in a National Park is the experience of being in the heart of a stunning location. For Bryce Canyon, we decided to stay outside the National Park for a change. We chose Ruby's Inn Campground as it was still close to the Bryce Canyon entrance; there was even a free Bryce Canyon shuttle stop just outside the campsite but it was also part of a town with bars, restaurants and other activities to do.

We really enjoyed staying at Ruby's for the most part but we did have one bad experience which nearly put us off ever returning.

It was difficult to choose the site we wanted as the tent camping area is not very big and there are a number of group campsites nearby which we have learnt to avoid if you want a decent night's sleep. We chose a site which we thought was far enough away from the group camping so that we wouldn't be disturbed. We were wrong!

We headed back to the tent after dinner and started to get ready for bed when we realised just how noisy the groups were. The first was made up of American kids who must have been young teenagers. They all decided to go for a shower at the same time, which was after quiet time and all we could hear was the screaming and shouting from them arguing over who was going in which shower. But at least the person who was trying to control them was also trying to get them to be quiet and eventually, with showers done, we didn't hear from this group again.

Behind our tent was a wooden fence which we'd assumed was the end of the campsite. It was actually a divider for a group campsite and behind the fence was a group of French students in their late teens. The noise from this group actually got louder and louder as the night went on. It was so bad, I called security 3 times. Each time, they came out, told them to be quiet only for the group to get noisier. There is certain noise I can tolerate especially when I know that people are having fun but the loud music (French (c)rap again!), a game of basketball right by the fence meters away from our tent, and then screaming and shouting all after midnight were a step to far.

The next day, tired and angry, I emailed Ruby's about the experience the night before and to my surprise I received an email back apologising, with details of how they have dealt with the noisy group and how they going to make sure this doesn't happen again. We were also given a full refund for our night's stay.

This one very well-worded email changed my mood completely and rather than us saying "we're never going back there", we're now saying "we'd try it again". Just shows what good customer service can do!