A couple of hotel stories....

[KuariKaydrith]

We're coming up on a long weekend here in my neck of the woods, and the hotel is fully booked. It has been fully booked for at least the past month for this weekend. Not that it stops folks from trying to book in anyways, and when they can't find something online they will call in and demand that I make a reservation for them. Now, we're not big enough to even attempt to overbook and it's not a practice that we utilize anyways. Basically, once we're full, that's it - if a guest doesn't show we charge their card for one night's stay and that's it.

So, tonight I've already fielded at least three calls from people demanding to book a room for tomorrow. When I tell them we're fully booked I've been told that 1) I'm lying about our availability, 2) I must be holding a room for myself for the long weekend, and 3) that they know the owner who guaranteed them a room.

I'm actually off this weekend for the first one in way too long so I'm not going to be anywhere near the hotel if I can manage it, which means I don't have a room booked for myself. Two, the owner has been in daily and knows that we're fully booked up, and he always gives us a heads up if any of his friends are looking to stay so that he can make sure there's a room available for them in the first place. And I think we're one of the few hotels whose availability online is exactly what we have in the booking system at the front desk. I just don't understand people.

Then there was the email from a missus who wanted us to plan her entire itinerary for her stay...and didn't even know what dates she wanted to stay. She expected us to go through our booking system through to the end of August and tell her what's available for a room for at least a week, and then plan such things as a boat tour, a haunted hike, and so much more. At least she admitted that she was too lazy to check what was available at the hotel. I nicely emailed her back and advised that unless we know what dates she is planning to come in we really can't advise what may be available during her stay. I did give information about some of the events going on this summer in the hopes that she'd get back to me to see about booking around any of them, but no response. If she does respond I have a feeling it will be too late for her to get a room. I don't mind helping guests so long as they have some idea of when they are wanting to stay, but for the amount of info she was wanting she'd have been better off going through a travel agency, tbh.

[earl colby pottinger]

Has anyone called saying they know the owner while the owner is there?

Then you can say, "Okay, just talk to him and he will arrange everything.".

[KuariKaydrith]

Has anyone called saying they know the owner while the owner is there?

Then you can say, "Okay, just talk to him and he will arrange everything.".

Not yet. At least not while I've been on shift. I kinda hope it does happen though because I'd love to see/hear the reaction of the potential guest!

I did have a situation where I asked the guest what the owner's name was and they supplied the former owner's name. I had the pleasure of raining on the guest's parade as I explained that he named the former owner who sold the business to the current owner back in 2011 so any arrangements with that former owner did not have to be honoured with by the new owner or team. Dude left with his metaphorical tail between his legs and it was all I could do to not laugh in his face.

[Slave to the Phone]

I've never understood why people would think a worker would be lying about stock of any kind. Hotels are in business to make money. The way they make money is to rent rooms. There is no reason in the world to not reserve all of the rooms whenever possible, that is how the hotels can make the most money.

As to 2) It doesn't matter who the rooms are reserved for, what matters is that other people reserved them and they are not available.