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ok...for those who dont know, I got a new job last week working on the front desk of a hotel again. I have now worked for 4 days and have some stories to tell!
Complaints, Complaints, Complaints
I have done front desk for a total of about 6 years, and I have NEVER seen complaints like I see in this hotel. It may be because its much bigger than the hotels I used to work at (old hotels around 75 rooms...this hotel around 300). A lot of complaints are minor issues like needing more towels, pillows or what people expect from a hotel.
The part that has been getting on my nerves is that the general manager is spineless. We had one guest come to the desk today to complain that housekeeping took 7 minutes 25 seconds to get to her room when she specifically stated she wanted them in 5. My boss gave her a refund for her entire stay and a coupon for a free 2 night stay in the future.
Another problem that we have is that the hotel is under new ownership as of March and they are in the process of remodeling rooms, and advertise remodeled rooms. EVERY guest wants one. So spineless manager gives full refunds because they didnt happen to get a fully rennovated room.
Missing (adult) Daughter
had a lady come to the desk today to let me know about her daughter who went to a time share tour (we are a tourism area and a local time share organization brings people in for a "free" trip if they sit through a 90 minute presentation). the following conversation took place:
Guest: my daughter went to the timeshare thing and she texted me at 1 that she was done with the sales presentation and was on her way back. Its 2 now and shes not back...I just know that shes been in an accident....you HAVE to do something.
Me: ok..how old is your daughter?
Guest: 31
Me: ......................
Guest: I just KNOW they have been in an accident...why aren't you helping meeee? You are local....I'm not from here.......I don't know what to dooooooooo.
Me: I can give you the non emergency number for the police department they could probably help you more than I could.
the guest took the number, went outside on the cell phone...came back in and wandered around the lobby bawling her eyes out about how her daughter was dying and nobody cared. well lo and behold the dead daughter walked through the lobby door and gets SCREAMED at by her mother for not being there. The daughter explained that she had called about 5 times to let her know the presentation was running late. Mom says "oh...I turned off the phone after I got your text".
Church Lady
Now we are also a conference facility, and we have a church that holds services in one of our conference rooms every week in addition to getting a hospitality room that we provide for a cry room for parents to take crying children to. Church Lady came in and went off on us for not setting up her room right. We ALWAYS get the setup wrong, and if it was up to her she would switch to another conference facilty as soon as possible.
Her problem? Every week she comes in to set up, and part of that set up process is to take a measuring tape and measure the distance between chairs, the distance betweens rows of chairs, and the distance from the chairs to the outer walls. Apparently we don't measure right..........
Now a question...
Ok..now as a side question for those of you who work in the hotel industry...we have our computer system, and I just found out today that our pricing structure is totally based on the number of rooms we have open. The computer is set to automatically adjust the rate according to the number of rooms that are open. SO for example if you have 5 rooms out of 300 that are full you might get a $49 rate, whereas if you have 2 rooms available you might pay $400 for the same room. Has anyone ever heard of this before? Its my first time dealing with a structure like this?
I'm used to at least having posted rates so I can give people an idea of pricing off the top of my head. With this system, I HAVE to go into the computer, select a date, and select the pricing screen for every price inquiry.
Complaints, Complaints, Complaints
I have done front desk for a total of about 6 years, and I have NEVER seen complaints like I see in this hotel. It may be because its much bigger than the hotels I used to work at (old hotels around 75 rooms...this hotel around 300). A lot of complaints are minor issues like needing more towels, pillows or what people expect from a hotel.
The part that has been getting on my nerves is that the general manager is spineless. We had one guest come to the desk today to complain that housekeeping took 7 minutes 25 seconds to get to her room when she specifically stated she wanted them in 5. My boss gave her a refund for her entire stay and a coupon for a free 2 night stay in the future.
Another problem that we have is that the hotel is under new ownership as of March and they are in the process of remodeling rooms, and advertise remodeled rooms. EVERY guest wants one. So spineless manager gives full refunds because they didnt happen to get a fully rennovated room.
Missing (adult) Daughter
had a lady come to the desk today to let me know about her daughter who went to a time share tour (we are a tourism area and a local time share organization brings people in for a "free" trip if they sit through a 90 minute presentation). the following conversation took place:
Guest: my daughter went to the timeshare thing and she texted me at 1 that she was done with the sales presentation and was on her way back. Its 2 now and shes not back...I just know that shes been in an accident....you HAVE to do something.
Me: ok..how old is your daughter?
Guest: 31
Me: ......................
Guest: I just KNOW they have been in an accident...why aren't you helping meeee? You are local....I'm not from here.......I don't know what to dooooooooo.
Me: I can give you the non emergency number for the police department they could probably help you more than I could.
the guest took the number, went outside on the cell phone...came back in and wandered around the lobby bawling her eyes out about how her daughter was dying and nobody cared. well lo and behold the dead daughter walked through the lobby door and gets SCREAMED at by her mother for not being there. The daughter explained that she had called about 5 times to let her know the presentation was running late. Mom says "oh...I turned off the phone after I got your text".
Church Lady
Now we are also a conference facility, and we have a church that holds services in one of our conference rooms every week in addition to getting a hospitality room that we provide for a cry room for parents to take crying children to. Church Lady came in and went off on us for not setting up her room right. We ALWAYS get the setup wrong, and if it was up to her she would switch to another conference facilty as soon as possible.
Her problem? Every week she comes in to set up, and part of that set up process is to take a measuring tape and measure the distance between chairs, the distance betweens rows of chairs, and the distance from the chairs to the outer walls. Apparently we don't measure right..........
Now a question...
Ok..now as a side question for those of you who work in the hotel industry...we have our computer system, and I just found out today that our pricing structure is totally based on the number of rooms we have open. The computer is set to automatically adjust the rate according to the number of rooms that are open. SO for example if you have 5 rooms out of 300 that are full you might get a $49 rate, whereas if you have 2 rooms available you might pay $400 for the same room. Has anyone ever heard of this before? Its my first time dealing with a structure like this?
I'm used to at least having posted rates so I can give people an idea of pricing off the top of my head. With this system, I HAVE to go into the computer, select a date, and select the pricing screen for every price inquiry.
We'll just get all the names of hotels with such spineless managers, and SC our way across the country 
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