Private Things Should Be Done In Private

At my old hotel, I once read a GSS (guest satisfaction survey) that said our public computer should be in a more private area. It was in a very public space - by the front desk, next to the breakfast area door, so anyone who walked by could see the screen - but who cares? These computers are for essential internet usage: checking email, looking up directions, printing out work documents. They aren't there so people can spend hours on Facebook, Twitter, or whatever other social networking site you use to inform people that you're cleaning the house today. Upon reading this GSS, my manager remarked, "What does he need privacy for? So he can watch porn in the lobby?" Apparently, that's exactly what he needed it for.

At my current hotel, we have a business center with two computers, and a wall shielding the space from the rest of the lobby. Last week, my co-worker walked back there and returned to inform me excitedly that a guest was watching porn on one of the computers. Needless to say, I was surprised - though perhaps I shouldn't be, since the only pay movies the guests watch are porn.

"How can he even get to that?" I asked. "Isn't it blocked?"

Our AGM told us grimly that it should be, and she was calling internet support to find out why it wasn't. And that guest became known as "the guy who watched porn in the business center."

Seriously, do your private business in private.

Another Strange Phone Call

Why is it that there are so many weirdos who call my hotel? Is it that phone calls give them the safety of anonymity, so they can't see me laughing at them (not that I actually do that in front of guests)? Maybe it was a joke - I hope so, but I doubt it.

So this guy calls today, tells me he's from some travel website I've never heard of. I tried looking it up later and I don't think it was legit, so maybe it was a joke. But anyway, he tells me that he recently stayed and took some pictures for his website. Only problem is, he missed the breakfast area. So he wants me to "take a couple pictures with my cell phone and send them to his phone."

"Excuse me?"

He repeats himself. I briefly consider sending the phone call to my manager, but decide I will assist with this ridiculousness. I tell him no, but there are pictures of the breakfast room on our website that he can use.

Yes, he says, but they don't really reflect the actual lighting, and they make the space look bigger than it is. And a picture taken with a cell phone will give a more accurate rendering? Plus, I've gathered from what he's saying that he thinks the pictures on our site look too good, so he thinks an employee of the hotel will send him pictures to make it look worse? No. At times, I may not like my job, but that doesn't mean I want to lose it. I tell him, sorry, but no. He thanks me and hangs up.

That had to be a joke, right?

A Public Service Announcement

Greetings, readers. This is a public service announcement brought to you by your friendly FrontDeskGirl. A warning before I start - this has nothing to do with hotels, so if you're not interested, stop reading now.

I work at the front desk of a hotel. I also work as an SAT tutor. I don't usually do tutoring on my own; instead, I work for a local learning center. And I have to say, I am horrified at what our schools are producing. And before all of you jump down my throat for saying that, consider this - bright, academically inclined people will do well in any school. It is how our schools teach the not-so-academically inclined children that is the real test of their effectiveness. And from what I see, that isn't very effective at all.

I had an 11th grader come in who could barely read. A girl who, when I said the SAT is designed as an objective test, asked me what the word objective meant. Another student who couldn't recognize exponents. One couldn't tell me the difference between "it's" and "its".

So, my PSA announcement is this. Parents, make your children READ. Yes, I said make (as in force) them. And I don't care if that stifles their independence or creativity or whatever the fuck child psychologists say it is they need these days. Otherwise, your child will be coming to see someone like me when it's time for the SATs. And no matter how good I am, I can't make up 5 years of vocabulary, reading skills, and grammar knowledge in 5 months. Don't worry about the math for now - a lot of that can be taught. What is hard to teach is reading comprehension and vocabulary - because those are skills your kid should have been building his whole life! It doesn't matter what it is they read - just that they're reading.

So make them start. Today. I may start crying if I see many more kids like this.

Complaining and Why You Should Do It

Yes, readers, you read the title of this post correctly. People should complain when they are unhappy, and here's why.

This morning, a guest came to the front desk wanting to change rooms. When someone wants to change rooms, I will ask if there's a problem with the room, so maintenance can take a look if there is, but otherwise I don't care why. If people want to move, they can move. Whatever.

So this guy came to the front and tells us his neighbor must have sleep apnea because he kept him up all night with his snoring. Our walls are not that thin, so this neighbor must have been really loud. I find the guest a new room in a corner, so only one neighbor, and he thanks me. I then took him on the shuttle, and he thanked me again. He seemed somewhat apologetic about wanting to move, but he shouldn't have been. I was happy to move him - because I want the guests to have an enjoyable stay.

Look, people, you go and stay at a hotel, eat at a restaurant, really anything in the hospitality industry - the staff there want you to be happy. Do you think I want a guest to leave having had a miserable experience? No. And that is why you should complain - so we can fix it promptly and you can leave happy.

There was a woman who came to the front Monday morning with a laundry list of complaints - no refrigerator in the room, the tap water wasn't clear, and a few other things that aren't important enough for me to remember. We look up her bill and I see she was comped Friday night due to the New Year's Eve noise next door. Then the front desk person who comped her Saturday morning came by, and I tell her this woman came to the front to complain.

"She came down to complain again?" she said incredulously. "About what?"
I shrug. "She said there was no refrigerator in her room."
"She never said anything about that to me!"

Of course she didn't. Either she was biding her time so she could get more money taken off, or she didn't want to complain. I'm guessing the former is more likely. But had she complained, she would have either been moved, or the issues in her room would have been fixed. Then she wouldn't have had such a bad experience during her 25th* (her words) stay at our hotel.

So, please, complain. That's kind of why we're here.

*How many times did she actually stay previously? Five.

Employee Rate

There are two kinds of people that use the employee/family and friends rate. Some are actual employees. They usually go out of their way to be as little trouble as possible. I once had someone call from the next county over, on a highway that I'm not really familiar with. I got on Google Maps to try and help, and the entire time the woman was asking if I needed to go, very understanding about being put on hold, and just so nice. I marveled at these people, and when they arrived I realized the reason behind it.

The second type are the exact opposite. Pain in the ass, no knowledge about hotels (which confuses me), and generally just very time-consuming. I worked New Year's Eve, and for some reason there were a lot of people staying with the employee/friends and family rate. One guy in particular kept me on the phone for 10 minutes asking stupid questions. He called to confirm his reservation, two queen beds, and after I confirmed for him he said he had some questions.

Question 1: The parking, is there parking?
Me: Yes, there's parking. (He starts to speak and I cut in to add) Free parking.
Him: Okay, but does it matter how many cars I have?
Me: No, it doesn't.
Question #2: Okay, so I'm leaving early tomorrow morning, but the rest of my family is going to stay in the room later. Will I be charged a fee if I don't come check out myself?
Me: No, sir. You'll give us a credit card when you check in, and they'll put the bill under your door tonight. You can just leave the keys in the room.
Him: So I won't be charged a fee?
Me: (Isn't that what I just said?) No, you won't.
Him: And I wanted to pay with cash, not a credit card.
Me: Okay, well that's fine. You can pay with cash when you check in.
Question #3: But how much of a deposit do I have to leave?
Me: Fifty dollars.
Him: Really? I called before and they told me $250.
Me: Umm, no, it's fifty dollars.
Him: Really? Then why would they tell me that before? You guys all say different things!
Me: Well, if you like you can give us a credit card as a deposit and it'll place a small hold on that, which will be returned to you after you check out.
Him: Maybe I'll do that. So it will take a deposit and then I can come get that when I check out?
Me: No, it's a hold on your credit card. It'll come off in three to five business days.

And so on. He arrived, I checked him in, and he requests to not have neighbors and to be near a door. The second one I could do, the first, denied. Then his wife calls down with a request for a rollaway. We don't have them, so, denied. Then he calls down and the other front desk person picks up, this time to tell him that no, we don't have any rollaways, Nor do we have a room with two queens and a pullout sofa.

Then there was the travel agent who called five times, and the various people who tried to throw parties in the hotel. I guess I'll find out today if their attempts were successful.

Hotels and Credit Cards

I have missed my little blog. Haven't been working that much lately, so no new stories, but I always have tons of stuff saved up that I never post. This one is about hotels and credit/debit cards.

So, let me tell you all how it works. You check into the hotel. I swipe your credit card. And no, I can't use the one on file, because we need to swipe a credit card to show you were actually here in case the charges are disputed. So, anyway, I swipe the CC and a hold is placed on it. The hold will be for the full amount of your stay, plus extra for incidentals (you break something, you buy from the hotel store, you eat in the hotel restaurant). If someone's rate is $150, the hold will probably be a little over $200. This is the way it is. If you don't like it, don't stay in hotels.

This is just a hold. The actual amount will not be charged to your account until you check out. This is why you can change credit cards before you leave. Upon check out, the amount will be charged to your credit card and the remainder of the hold released, in three to five business days. Debit cards can take longer.

Unfortunately, because people have no money, they often want us to change this. And we can. It's just a pain in the ass. We need a bank fax number to send a letter authorizing the release of the hold. And some banks won't take that, so then we have to call and listen to elevator music for a half hour to get your hold released. It's not a fun process.

I once had this woman come to check in. A Hispanic woman. She did speak English, though with a thick accent. I asked for a credit card and she told me her mother, who would be arriving in about an hour, would be paying for her room. Well, that's great, but I need a credit card to check you in. She hands over her credit card, and I TELL HER A HOLD WILL BE PLACED ON IT. She says that's fine.

An hour later, I'm taking my break, and my supervisor, who's covering the desk, comes and asks me about this woman. I go back out, and the woman is now there with her husband.

"That's her!" she points at me accusingly.

It turns out the credit card hold means the woman now has no money to spend on this weekend. I say to her that I did tell her a hold would be placed.

"I didn't realize it would be on my credit card!" Her husband chimes in further to back her up, she didn't understand, blah blah blah. "And now what are we supposed to do? We're going to have to go home! We have no money to spend this weekend!"

Where else did she think the hold would be? I mean, I'm sorry if she didn't understand me, but I told her something and she said it was fine. When a customer says that yes, it's fine to place a hold, I take it to mean that it actually is fine. And if you don't understand what I'm saying, ASK. I'm not a fucking mind reader.

Stressed

Today at work, we had several groups holding meetings. The largest meeting was run by a pain-in-the-ass, high-maintenance, man. Holy crap, was he annoying.

I met him for the first time on Monday, when he wanted to start setting up his stuff in the meeting room immediately after the group that day departed. I said, sure, no problem, that I would call with an estimated time of when banquets would finish cleaning the room, and asked for a phone number. He tried giving me his foreign cell phone to call. Hell no.

Then today, he comes down and asks for copies to be made of several sheets of paper. Just one copy, he said. My co-worker goes to the back to make the copies, and comes back with his one. But now he's changed his mind. He needs more than one. Okay, fine. She notices that there are a few back pages, and asks if he wants those copied as well. Yes, he does. Except we don't have a two-sided copier, so it's going to take a little while.

She goes into the back to make his copies, and he stands there waiting. After a few minutes he's starting to get antsy, and asks me to go into the back to check on his copies. I go into the back and check, and my co-worker is standing at a desk, putting his papers in order for him. I come out and tell him "it'll be just a few more minutes". So we're standing, waiting, and this guy must be off his meds or something, because he's getting seriously agitated. He says to me, and I quote, "I'm getting really stressed about this. Can I go and check on her myself?"

"Umm...no," I say quickly. I give him a brief, fake smile. "We can't let you go in the back office." So we're standing, waiting, and I'm trying to hold back my laughter, and sort of succeeding. The huge smile on my face the entire time he was standing there might have given me away.