It Never Hurts to Ask

My wife and I were in San Francisco this weekend visiting with a couple old friends. We stayed at the JW Marriott just off Union Square. Since we were all planning to share a hotel room to cut costs, my wife booked a room with two beds and a cot. When we arrived, though, all that was available (at first) was a room with a single king bed. Despite our original protests, we accepted the room and resigned ourselves to being squished in a too-small room with two extra cots to take up any leftover space. My friend Tracy, however, would not let this state of affairs go un-protested, so she gave a call down to the front desk pretending to be my wife and gave them a significant piece of her mind. To make a long story short, the additional protesting paid off, and we were upgraded to an Executive Suite for free. While the Executive Suite still did not have two beds, it at least had a pull-out couch and plenty of extra room for a cot.

There is a very simple lesson here: do not be afraid to ask for what you want, because you just might get it. This applies not only to hotel rooms, but to all areas of personal finance. Don't like those late fees? Ask to have them removed. Don't like your high interest rate credit cards? Ask to have the rate reduced. In fact, I myself am on an interest-free payment plan to get my ginormous credit card balance paid off once and for all. All I had to do was ask for a reduction in interest so I could make the balance actually decrease, and Citibank immediately offered to waive the interest if I set up recurring electronic payments. One hell of a deal, but the key was asking for what I wanted. (Ramit from www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com would be so proud!) A little self-exertion can go a long way to creating the kind of life you want to live.