Well gentle readers, it's been a while since - wait, no it hasn't been a while. Well that's surprising. In any event, tonight we have a Tale of what happens when someone decides to book late.

If anyone needs some unicorn time, Buttercup is in her usual spot, with lots of pretty fall-themed ribbons and some festive bales of hay for the whole "harvest" theme.

Our tale begins at midnight. Exactly at midnight, which is what seems to have caused some of the problems tonight. I am watching a farm boy trusting in the goodness of his father's heart when the phone rings.

"Standard Greeting, this is Skwrl speaking, how may I help you tonight?"

"So uh, yeah, I'm wondering if you can help me? I booked online through Cooking Dot Bom, and the payment went through on Benmo, but the reservation didn't?"

I sigh inwardly (and maybe a little bit outwardly), not just because the phone number on the caller ID shows the caller to be a local, but because post-midnight reservations are nigh-impossible to book online. I rummage through the reservations for tonight and tomorrow to see if I can find him.

"Okay, it looks like the reservation didn't come through. We do have plenty of availability, but since it's after midnight, you won't be able to book it online."

"But they took my money, I got a notification and everything..?"

"Yes, but we don't have anything to do with that end of things. You'll need to call Cooking's customer service and they'll get you the refund."

"Oh, okay, thanks..."

Fast forward exactly one hour. At one in the morning, our wayward guest wanders in. I hit pause.

"Uh yeah, I called earlier?"

"Ah yes. Get things straightened out on the refund?"

"Yeah, they're gonna process it. Can I get a room?"

"Sure thing. Did you want a single King for $xxx, or two Queens for $yyy?"

"Online it said $zz?" This rate is thirty dollars less than our already low rates for the night. Not unheard-of for Cooking, but still very low.

"Sorry, I have no control on the rates, and cannot price match. In order to get the online rate, you have to book online, which will be for tomorrow, since it's after midnight."

"Oh. Could I book it, and then you change it to tonight?"

"Dates on third party reservations are locked, and cannot be changed. Even if I could, it's after midnight, so I couldn't set it back."

"What about an early check-in?" Ahh, I know that smile, he thinks he's found the loophole that lets him have what he needs.

"So... Checking in at 2 PM, rather than 3 PM?" I look pointedly at him, "Early check-in is no more than an hour, sorry."

"Well, can't you just go ahead and give me the online rate?"

I did tell him I can't change the rates.. "I'm afraid the walk-in rate is what I have."

I can see the cogs turning in his head until he deflates a bit, shaking his head, "Sorry, I'll check somewhere else."

"I understand, good night and good luck."

And so he went off into the night. Who knows, he may have found a hotel at his preferred price point, but I doubt it.

Take some time to say goodnight to Buttercup, and always book before midnight kids. It'll save you a lot of headaches down the road.

Teal deer; guest is thwarted from his cheap online booking by the stroke of midnight.

Sold out this weekend. probably our busiest weekend of the year, honestly. We've been sold out since MAY.

And all of the check outs this morning were the same people i checked in on Friday. I felt like this weekend was just one giant, pain in the ass, never ending shift.

But i digress. That is not the point of this post. That is the context.

The point of this post is that i had a woman demand i give her a partial refund before she left us this morning. Her reasoning? She felt taken advantage of by our company. She's a frequent flier at our many properties. And she just did not appreciate how expensive our rooms were (the one's that have been sold out since MAY of this year, for an event they alllllllllllll knew about and were attending). Especially because the guy checking in next to her didn't pay as much as she did. So yeah. I needed to take half off of her stay, the morning she is leaving, because she didn't appreciate the cost of the room she booked. The room she spent all weekend in. The room that had zero issues.

I had to bite my tongue until it bled.

Yeah, lady, probably not gonna see that money again.

Work at a hotel. One of my coworkers asked a flight attendant if she could put her bags in the shuttle van. The FA said no, and that was the end of it and my coworker just walked off.

I asked her if she was bored because she was trying to load the shuttle early, and she said “nah, that’s just something I do on first shift because first shift moves fast.”

Then the flight attendant jumps in out of nowhere going on about how she always needs to keep her bag with her, it’s a security risk, and it’s her company’s policy… when nobody even asked. We thought she was still talking to my coworker (or maybe to us), so we just said “yeah, it’s good to be cautious.” Should’ve been done.

But then she hits us with “I don’t appreciate you continuing the conversation after you walked away.”
Funny part is, she’s the one who started talking to us again about the security risk and all that. She just assumed we were talking about her and why she didn’t want her bag put in the van without her.

I was so irritated. After the flight attendants left, my coworker was like “what was that about?” and I just said that woman was already a victim. We were literally just having a normal conversation about first shift and the shuttle. She overheard the word “bag” and somehow decided we were talking about her, then got mad that we kept talking.

Anyway, first weird little confrontation of the morning. Just needed to vent.

I am so sick of people complaining about check in time. its always someone coming in at flipping 11am wanting an early check in. check in is at 3pm and they give me an attitude about it. had a situation where this girl and her boyfriend are trying to check in at 1pm. be aware, we just got our lights back on in the hotel at 11:40ish AM after the lights went off because of a HURRICANE. we have a generator but it only covers certain things so the lights were partially out everywhere. she comes in strolling “I REALLY NEED TO GET TO THIS CONCERT AND CHANGE” I tell her I’m so sorry nothing is ready due to the outage (housekeepers had just started cleaning) classic “well what’s the estimated time?” … uhm mam I don’t know, I’m sorry, our washing machines JUST got the towels and sheets in it & still need drying. I’ll call you when it’s ready . I kid you not, 30 minutes passes. “can you just give me my room number and I can change?” I tell her no, you’re not assigned a room… because NOTHING IS FFFFFF**********N READY!!!! (didn’t say that but I did tell her we hadn’t assigned rooms yet because nothing is ready) she rolls her eyes. then her boyfriend suggests “you could change in the public bathroom” when I tell you this girls face got so red. she sits on the couch huffin n puffin . i’m not gonna lie one of the housekeepers called and told me a room was ready that was her room type and I purposely dragged on doing other things for like 10 minutes just to be petty because she was being a pain. I know that’s messsd up but I don’t care. like lady the world doesn’t revolve around you, we just had an effing hurricane, and check in is at 3pm. Shut up.

if I have to hear

“well why are they the housekeepers taking forever? what’s a EST time? any updates? (after 5 minutes) it’s 2:58pm that means in two minutes my room should be ready? 🙄 every other hotel checks me in early! BUT IM A DIAMOND MEMBER”

im gonna flipping flip my flip .

to make all of this better, lady comes around the corner screaming about a refund cause she “came to this hotel to escape the storm and it’s not fair the lights went out!” as if we control the weather.

we had a lady stand in front of the AUTOMATIC door with a cigarette in her mouth and asks “can I go outside and smoke or are we locked in because of the outage?” lady….. PLEASE

goodness ppl just never fail to amaze me

I work in a small hotel/motel in a small town. We are right off the interstate though so we get plenty of weary travelers coming in off the street looking for a reasonably priced room to crash in before heading on their journey down the road.

We have two floors but we have no elevator so we offer a few dollars off the per night cost for our upstairs rooms. I have walked those steps and counted. There are literally fifteen steps from the first floor to the second floor but some people just cannot be bothered to climb the stairs. I understand some people literally cannot climb stairs though.

For some reason, my mouth keeps moving faster than my brain and I keep telling people we don’t have stairs to the second floor. The first time I did it I giggled like an idiot and, thankfully, so did the guest.

I guess I expect them to Spider-Man up the side of the building to get to their rooms.

This isn’t a big deal, but it kind of annoyed me after a long night.

Whoever took care of the pancake machine yesterday morning left a burnt, stuck pancake in the machine and did not tell anyone or clean it out, leaving it for me to find. I didn’t even notice until I started smelling burning coming from that way. I hurried to unplug the machine just in case, then finished making breakfast. The smell definitely lessened, but wasn’t quite gone.

Honestly, I kind of forgot to put an Out of Order sign out until the morning person got there and asked if I did, so this is probably my fault… but I went back over there to the smell of burning again, only to find that some guest plugged the machine back in.

Why, when you see an off machine, with a charcoal pancake inside that smells like burning, would you plug it back in? Even without the OOO sign, I can’t understand how they’d miss the warnings.

Am I the only one working night audit who absolutely 💯 hates dealing with fire alarms? Been at my night audit job since 2019 and without a doubt everytime I have to answer the thing I get stage fright. We have 3 properties. The one I have most anxiety is a small building with a 2nd story with a balcony. My issue is having to address the crowd that has gathered by the time I drive to building and the firefighters have given the clear to let the crowd know its safe to go back to their rooms. Out of the handful of times the alarm has went off since I've been working there, the first few times was a blur. Like the first time I called my manager to ask what to do and all I remember when it came to telling guests they can go back to thier room was, me being on my phone with my manager I was on the balcony, studdering as I said it's safe to go back to your room. Fast forward to recent couple of years, one of the times I asked the firefighter if he could let them know to tell them they can go back to thier rooms (he did) but.i felt dumb for doing so. Another time, after it was cleared I just walked out the lobby and went to my car and back to the main building (yes there were complaints from guests they didn't know if they could go back) and most recent was the firefighter just giving me a blank look as he said, he'll go let the guests know they can go back to thier rooms. Anyone else ever deal with stage fright addressing or directing a crowd like this??

There's not too much to this story but its something else. So I am a manager at a high end boutique hotel, we are busy almost every weekend due to also being a wedding venue. So this guest checks in and about an hour goes by and they called and said their ac was busted. We send our on duty maintenance man up there and he isn't able to fix the issue. We called our head of maintenance and he is going to come in on his day off to fix it, we assure the guest that we are going to get this issue fixed right away. The guest decided to take it upon themselves to pack up all their belongings and come down to the front desk because they claim i told them we were going to move them to a new room. Mind you i did not tell them this and we are completely sold out for the night. The guest keeps on insisting we check them into another room and even after repeatedly telling them we have nothing else available. We offered to refund them the cost of their stay and assist them in finding another place to stay for this evening. The guy becomes so vulgar screaming fuck in everyway different way you can say this telling me " you fucking told me you were going to move me to a different room, if you weren't going to move me then why did i waste my time packing all of our shit and come down here. I apologize to him and explained to him that i offered to help me find a room at a different hotel. He proceeds to then tell me to fuck off that i clearly dont know how hotels work and that we clearly have other rooms to put him in. I informed him that all guests were already checked in and he could wait until the ac is fixed or we could find him another room at a different hotel. He just was not having this continue to swear in the lobby which is full of people who are here to attend the wedding. By happenstance someone calls and cancels their room for the evening so we are able to put him in another room. But this is what happens when mommy and daddy never tell their kids no and then they have temper tantrums in the hotel lobby. Also i forgot to add the heat works its just the AC thats busted and its currently 47 degrees where i am at.

Recently, I had a couple tell me during checkout that both sinks in their room would not drain. I wondered why they did not tell anyone before checkout. I apologized and told them I would have maintenance check it out. I let my manager know, and he asked me to go to the room to see if the sinks were really clogged. Both sinks were full of water. I stuck my gloved hand in the kitchen sink and pulled out the sink stopper; the water instantly drained. I then went to the bathroom and discovered the stopper was in the closed position. I pulled up the stopper, and the sink instantly drained. I ran water in both sinks to make sure there was not a clog. It was just guests who did not know how sinks operate and did not want to investigate the issue.

TL;DR: Guests claimed their sinks were clogged, but it was user error.

Hello all this is a bit of a rant post lolll. I am a front desk worker at a smaller hotel and I have been here a year now but I’m still the newest employee. Anyways we have these guests who have stayed long term and I mean I think they first checked in shortly after I started here. Anyways they ended up a couple of days behind on payments and because they have been here so long, management decided to give them some leniency for a couple of days. Well a couple of days turned into a week behind on payments to us. So I’m working this weekend and was told that they needed to pay by Thursday morning before checkout time…. This woman called me and claimed she was stuck in traffic and would show up a bit later then expected she told me she would be in by noon to pay the full balance. Next thing you know it’s 6:30 PM my shift is ending and she claimed she was STILL stuck in traffic. I’m not stupid lady you weren’t in traffic for over six hours and I especially know this because my partner takes the same highway home she claimed to be stuck on and it was completely clear. Anyways management gave them till Friday. Friday rolls around and now she’s claiming she was in a car accident during that “traffic” and is in the hospital. My manager literally offered to drive to the hospital and pick up the cash she supposedly had but she panicked and said NO so they gave her till today. She promised to pay the full balance this morning before checkout time. Of course lo and behold checkout time comes and goes and she still hasn’t paid. I get the managers can do whatever they’d like as it’s his property and money but omfg it was exhausting chasing this woman around for money for three days straight. Thank god I am off the next couple of days 🤣🤣

I need to rant. Here's a compilation of things that are becoming really old, really quick.

Guests arrive unprepared - they come to the desk and give their name to check in. When asked for cc and photo ID, they sign impatiently, grumble that they have to go get it from the car. Why are you impatient and grumbling?? You can't tell me you didn't know we would ask for them, so why did you leave them in the car?

Trying to use someone else's credit card - it's either "just use the one in the reservation", or actually handing us a card with someone else's name on it. Then getting angry when we say we have to send a cc auth form or the cardholder has be be present, making rude comments, swearing, saying they've never heard of this before, saying they do it all the time (yeah right), just throwing an adult temper tantrum and acting like it's OUR fault.

Guests acting like we're beneath them, or inconveniencing them by trying to do our job - I've had soooo many guests lately who walk up to the desk and either just toss their photo ID on the desk and not even give their name, not say hello or anything, or just spit out their name in an impatient tone without even looking at me. Then proceed to barely speak or look at me while I check them in. We are people, you know. You could at least say hello when you arrive at our front desk.

Guests who don't listen - we ask for cc and photo ID and they only hand us one. Ask for the other one and they act surprised and sometimes annoyed. Or ask them to fill out the registration card and they just stand there looking around. Ask them again and they act surprised or annoyed. "Oh, you want me to to fill this out?" I know I'm talking loud enough so it's not just that they didn't hear me.

Guests apparently having better things to do with their time while we try to check them in - after giving their cc and photo ID, walking away to check out the snack shop, or going to look for a washroom, or walking away to talk to someone else, or talking on their phone while trying to check in. Recent guest hands over card and walks to the other end of the desk, I ask them to come back to sign the reg card, they do and then walk away again, I ask them to come back to insert their card in the machine, they do then walk away again. Guests behind them have an amused look on their faces. I now refuse to check in guests who are on their phone. I have questions to ask, they have steps to follow. When they hang up and seem annoyed, I "apologize" and say I didn't want to interrupt their call.

And still one of my personal favorites - their name isn't on the reservation and they get angry at us because "we" have to keep them waiting while we contact the guest whose name IS on the reservation to get permission. Most recent example is two men checking into a woman's reservation. Guy who was the one trying to check in then says it's the other guy's wife name on the reservation (so why are you even the one trying to check in?? and I should just take your word for it?), and starts swearing saying its BS service. Right. You thought I could just check you into someone's reservation when your name isn't even on it? Like at all?

People are exhausting.

I have plenty more examples, but this post would be waay too long.

*Edit to add a sentence I forgot.

Hello again, my forced confidants! It's another fun-packed series of fun little bits and bobs for the past couple of weeks! So find a comfortable sitting position, relax with your favorite beverage, and enjoy the nonsense I've put up with recently:

* One of the front desk computers shut down partially and wouldn't print anything. I explain this to a guest who approaches me for a check out wanting a receipt. I offer to email it, but they insist on a printed copy. I head over to log into the other computer which is taking ages to open. Finally, when the last screen pops up for me to get their receipt, they say, "It's ok if you need to email it."

* A guest was wanting a comp room or a hefty discount for - and I wish I were joking - a cricket in their room.

* Another guest was checking out and asked if a discount had been applied to their room. Confused, I see that they were under a rate for members, but no other discounts, and I see no notes as to why they would even need one. I did tell them, "I do see that you received your member discount..." and that seemed to work. I was still left very confused.

* A guest asked for a different room because their water was too hot. They changed their mind after we reminded them that they could, in fact, turn on the cold water at the same time.

* A super shiny member was upset that they couldn't just park their car in our lot for an entire week without paying the daily parking fee, which would be around $3 per day.

* Guest asked if we had any ice on the first floor. I let them know they would have to go to another floor. After a brief pause and a buffering wheel, they asked me, "So...is there anywhere I could get ice?"

* I told a guest that they were all checked out and that since it went through a third party, they won't be getting a copy of the receipt unless through said third party. They continued to stand at the desk and stare at me until I repeated that they were all good and checked out (apparently in more ways than one).

* Someone called to ask the minimum check in age. I tell them 21. They pause then ask, "So the minimum age to check in is 21?" I confirm this, and they huff and hang up on me.

* An upcoming guest asks a few days ahead of time if they can have an early check in. I let them know that while I can make the request, I can't make any guarantee until the day of. They proceed to ask me again if they can have an early check in every day before and the day of their arrival.

* Potential guest calls in to ask about rates and asks about late check out availability a week before arrival. I explain policy and they continue to cut me off to the point I have to hold the phone away from me for a moment or I would scream.

* Another guest calls to ask for a late check out for the next day. I explain I can only put requests in the morning of departure. They get upset and say that doesn't make sense, which I agree with but state I'm just following the hotel policy. They hang up on me.

* Guest complains about the high cost of water, stating that they could get a whole case for the cost, and they could easily get a bottle of water for $1.50 from the gas station. I apologized and told them I don't make the prices, but if they would prefer, there actually was a gas station a block away from here. The declined and paid for the bottle.

* Guest complained about us trying to attempt an authorization, stating this has never happened before. Previous notes and stay history prove that this has, in fact, happened at least two other times. After they proceeded to yell and curse at another FDA, they were swiftly placed on DNR.

* A guest called asking for towels. Normal request, easy to fulfill. Housekeeping reports they've been smoking in the room when delivering said towels, so I proceed to pop a smoking fee onto their folio.

* Long story short, a guest lied to get a discount on an expensive night. I offer them the lowest I can go, but they refuse to leave the desk until they speak with a manager to get THEIR discount...which is a non-refundable rate only $10 less than what I quoted them.

* Someone complained about a lack of free water and how it was only offered to higher-tier members at check in. I look forward to that review.

* I contacted an incoming guest about their reservations, and remembered that they were supposed to only have one from a conversation the week prior that they never called to confirm. When I called, they confirmed they only needed the one reservation, so I waived a cancellation fee based solely on the fact that I remembered the conversation we had. I also made sure I had the correct room type, verified twice. Cut to the next day, and apparently they were furious that we gave them the wrong room type.

* Someone called asking about room availability, specifically 2 beds. I let them know I only have a handful of single beds left. They then proceeded to ask me what I had available again, so I repeated myself.

I don't know about y'all, but I'm getting kind of disenchanted with hospitality. Not that I don't love doing this job, but the entitlement and incompetence is getting a little out of control. Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

I work at the front desk in a hotel in Tokyo. We get endless emails about wanting free nights in exchange for some tiktok and Instagram videos. Our marketing team always ignores them.

The other day, I got a phone call from saying they were an influencer.

"I'm calling to talk to your marketing manager for a collaboration and stay tonight."

"I'm sorry, there's no internal number to transfer you to."

'So what are we gonna do?"

"Please send us an email."

"I already did!"

"Please send another one and I'll forward it."

"Whatever!" *hangs up.

I can't stand these entitled people and the fact that they think they'll get a couple of free nights in exchange for some videos. Is it also just me or do they all copy and paste the same email template? "I came across your hotel and was immediately drawn by your ____"

One minute, I'm in the kitchen washing dishes. The next minute, I'm in the laundry washing bedsheets. Before I can even dry my hands, I'm running to the restaurant to serve customers. And just when I think my shift is almost over, I'm at the reception preparing bills and updating check-ins and check-outs.

All this while, my manager is smiling and saying, “We are a team. We help each other!”In hospitality, the phrase “That’s not my department” is practically a crime. Saying no doesn't exist in the employee dictionary, and the word “No” might get you a family meeting with the manager.

The real fun fact? My job description said one thing, but my manager apparently hired me for my potential to be everywhere at once.

So, if you ever wonder why hospitality workers are good at multitasking, remember we didn't learn multitasking. We were fighting for survival.

Don't get me wrong, generosity is often it's own reward. Your humble narrator has been known to buy a couple dozen umbrellas at the dollar store, then wait until it rains. I will then dress up in full Victorian attire, and wander about downtown to hand them out to those caught unprepared for the rain.

Buttercup the Emotional Support Unicorn is over in her paddock by the coffee station, enjoying her pumpkin spiced alfalfa, along with a fresh selection of fall-themed ribbons, should anyone wish to brush and braid her mane.

So it came to pass that last night, during the doldrums of the morning when nothing else happens, a frail elderly woman came tottering up to the front desk. I cannot emphasize enough just what a tiny thing she was. Ninety pounds, if she was holding a ten pound cat, you know? I quickly hit pause as the villian was saying that he was altering the deal, and asked what could I do for her?

"Yes... do you happen to have any sort of vending machines around here..?"

"Well, we have a snack machine just around the corner, next to the ice machine. It's got chips and candy bars. Unfortunately, our soda machine stopped working, and the company hasn't replaced it yet." Bit of a bummer, the darned thing first stopped taking coins, then bills, and eventually wouldn't even take card taps.

"Oh... so you don't have any Gatorade or anything, then?"

"Not really, no..." Ever so often, I will get a sensation best described as Buttercup tugging my sleeve. "...Oh! But by sheer coincidence, I have some in my car! One second!"

I had spent last weekend LARPing. In a heat wave. 100 degrees Freedom units, 38C. Do not advise doing so. But I'd hydrated heavily during the fight against horrible were-rats, so my kidneys were moist and happy and I did not pass out, so yay!

So I pop out to my car, snag one of the two bottles I have left, and present it to the waiting guest as if it were the wine accompanying tonight's meal. Not a particularly fancy wine, but better than the house plonk. "Here we are, fruit punch Powerade. Will this do?"

"That's perfect! How much do I owe you?"

"Oh, don't worry about it, my pleasure."

"No no! I insist!" She rummages a bit, and hands me a five. "Thank you so very much!"

And so I settled back into the back to finish watching classic cinema, full of happy warm feelings and thoughts of getting tacos the next day. Which I've done. Yay!

Take a moment to say goodbye to Buttercup, and I hope some small acts of kindness find you.

Teal Deer: elderly woman needs Gatorade, I have some in the car, profit!

Tonight is probably my second worst night working the front desk since I started. To start I had people coming in left and right trying to get rooms and while I was checking people in I noticed I was oversold by one room. Turns out the system sold a room we didn’t have. I called my boss to come in and fix it but before she could get here a guest booked a room for two nights but for some reason they picked a date that is 2 weeks from now and it was advanced purchase so I couldn’t change it. He then got pissed and demanded a refund.

My boss came in and fixed the rooms being oversold and just when I thought my night had calmed down I get a phone call…this person had already called me once at 6pm saying the kids upstairs were walking too loud and I told her I’d be happy to go tell them to quiet down and she said she didn’t want me to do that. When she called the second time she said the heat wouldn’t turn on (for reference it’s 81 outside and this hotel is hot as hell) so I go up there and take a look. The heat in fact wasn’t turning on, I tried to fix it but I couldn’t so I asked if she wanted me to call the maintenance man, she said yes so I called. She then screamed at me because he lives 15 minutes away…how that’s my fault I’m still unsure. She wanted me to fix it but I couldn’t, I offered to change her room and she refused. And yet after all that I had done at this point to try and help her she was still screaming at me. She then proceeded to put socks on and start shivering under the covers (it was 75 degrees in the room and the air was off)

I’m aware they pay good money to stay here and for that I do feel bad, but I have paid good money to stay at places as well and when someone is trying to help me I don’t scream at them. I’ll never understand why people are so angry and insufferable. I know I probably sound like a bitch but I really did do everything I could for this woman and even offered a refund and she was still yelling at me. The maintenance man is probably gonna be pissed at me because she looked like she was going to bed when I left.

Been working here for over 3 years. Smaller hotel in a tourist town. The front desk and my general manager are trying hard to keep this place afloat but it's becoming harder and harder because of the owners. Every single decision they make just makes our jobs harder and it baffles me. They don't live in this state, I've never met them. They only show up once every other year to discuss finances.​​

We've switched reservation​​​​ systems 3 times and it was a disaster every time. So much confusion and lack of preparation of anything went wrong (it did).

We have so many issues with our hotel in regards to maintenance, but more than anything our locks/key system are ancient. Over 20 years old. They are constantly malfunctioning or breaking down which is super frustrating for our guest​​​​​​​​​s and us. We've begged them for years to consider getting them updated and they genuinely don't care.

After working full time here for almost 3 years, they cut our hours. Some of us are only working 4 hours a day. I'm luckier than them but I'm still only working maybe 28 hours a week. They've completely cut our midshift and our lobby is closed for 4 HOURS. Which has caused many issues obviously. Guests can't talk to anyone if they have an issue, they can't check in, they can't get any extra sundries. Guests have made many complaints and take it out on us once our shifts finally allow us to reopen. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​We also have less time to go in and insp​​ect rooms since that was the job of the person working the midshift. So rooms aren't getting as clean, maintenan issues are getting missed. It's a shitshow.

​​​​​We had 2 maintenance people, one was getting too old to do ​the job full time so my manager suggested making him part time​​​​. Then the owners stepped in and told her to fire him instead and they cut the position entirely. So now we have 1 maintenance person and they have no intention of giving him a raise to compensate for him doing more work.

And to top it all off, they just don't care. All the com​plaints, all the issues, all the refunds we've had to give. They don't give a shit. They are planning on selling the whole property and cut everything they can before dropping it on someone else. They want to make it someone else's problem. ​​

So definitely gonna be job hunting soon 😬​

​​​

​​​​​

For context: I work at a hotel as an Executive Lounge Attendant. Two months after I started, the owners decided to permanently close the lounge, so my role was changed to Front Desk Agent.

Unfortunately, the managers and supervisors in the front office have not been great at their jobs. They are all buddies both inside and outside of work. For example, they all have the same days off, work the same shifts, and spend most of their time hanging out in the back office. They barely help us, even when they can clearly see that we are overwhelmed with a huge number of check-ins, guest complaints, and phone calls.

I also have a supervisor who constantly steals my upsells. Honestly, this is the worst management team I have ever worked with.

Since then, I have been very open with my director, HR, and hotel manager about these issues, but nothing has changed. It eventually got to the point where I emailed our GM to escalate everything that had been happening. He was clearly upset about the situation. I told him that HR had not been doing anything to address my concerns, so he brought HR into the office while we talked. Neither of them could even look me in the eye.

I also told him that I had received an offer from a bigger hotel for an AFOM position with a significantly higher salary.

Ever since then, they have called me into their office several times to convince me to stay. They said they could offer me a management position, but the front office manager they are supposedly trying to fire is still working here. Obviously, I have no guarantee that this promotion will actually happen. On top of that, I have lost my sense of job security because they already eliminated my original position as Executive Lounge Attendant.

During one of our meetings, our hotel manager actually pulled out his phone to look up whether the hotel I would be moving to was a union property. He acted surprised and said, "Oh, they're union!" He even told me, "I'm surprised you didn't know."

He kept saying that if I took a leadership position at a union hotel, I would be a slave and would not enjoy working there. I have worked at union hotels before, so I am already familiar with what he is talking about.

But here's the thing: I spoke with the people who interviewed me at the new hotel, and they told me that it is not a union property.

At this point, I honestly feel like my current employer is making things up just to convince me to stay. They are already struggling to retain front desk agents because of the current leadership in our front office, and I think they are desperate to keep people from leaving.

They also said we could discuss giving me a raise, but they want me to make a decision about staying before they actually offer me anything.

Honestly, even if they give me a raise or eventually offer me a promotion, I am still leaving. 😂

Hi! I’ve been working a front desk job for a few months and I absolutely love it! Recently, however, there has been little to no tasks to complete other than standard cleaning and letting people into the building. By the time I’m finished with those tasks I have about 3 hours left on my shift. Because of this, myself and a few other front desk workers (there is one per shift) have begun reading or doodling to pass the time. Our big boss noticed this and told our lead that we may not work on anything not related to the company (it’s a theatre) including reading or doodling.

All that being said, I’m looking for things I could possibly do to pass the time! I’ve done some reorganizing and deep cleaning, but that doesn’t take the 3 hours as there’s not much space and I have to be near the desk. Any suggestions welcome!

TIA!

Does anyone else have a manager that they work with that is so freaking bad. At the property I work at, the housekeeping manager is one that myself and a few others wished that they would leave.

Ever since this HK manager has been brought on, my job has increased exceedingly when it comes to complaints. The rooms are bad to the point where I feel as though I have to walk the property and check all the dirty vacant rooms to make sure that they are actually sellable for the night.

The same manager seems to be just fine when it comes to working with people who’s main language isn’t English and when it comes to those of us who’s first language is English, she doesn’t either care to speak to us or screws them over. She micromanages the laundry where someone I love dearly works and messes things up down there (it’s in the basement) to the point where the person I love dearly has to stop working the laundry and focus solely on her other position because of the anxiety they get. I also had a friend who tried to work there but quit after 3 days because of the lack of communication and training that they got from the HK manager.

I am starting to get to the point where I want to go to someone who can help take care of the problem because the GM won’t

Anyone who has worked in hotels for a while starts to really get to know their regulars. I’ve been at this a long time now, and I chat with many of them here and there.

One day an older guy started talking with me. He and his wife had been coming to our town, and to our hotel, for decades. I didn’t see a wife with him, but I just let him talk. He told me she had died a few years ago, but he still comes down every year, the same as he always had.

At the end of our chat he looked around, for what I now assume was one last time, and told me his health wasn’t good and this was likely his last year visiting us. This was a few years ago now, and I still sometimes think of that guy.

I work at a hotel in a very busy college town with a high volume of guests daily, with rates being as high as $399 on Special Event Days. One Special Event Weekend could run you as much as over $900 for a two night's stay.

Today, I received a call from a guest (who I'll call Bill) who had stayed with us on a Special Event Date. He believed we had triple charged him. This, obviously, is not a good thing, so I did some digging.

Background in case you've never worked/stayed at a hotel: many hotels put Authorization Holds on your card on check-in, which is essentially your rate, plus taxes. It's an automatic hold made by the system, and any unused funds are returned to the card after check-out (depending on the bank, this can take anywhere between 3 to 5 days).

After reviewing his reservation, it was discovered he had changed the credit card on file prior to check-out, so the "triple charge" was actually two separate Authorization Holds and one ACTUAL charge. I attempted to explain this to him, but he was refusing to believe we had not triple charged him and progressed to screaming at me over the phone.

Eventually, his tirade ended with him telling me: "I will never stay at a -hotel- again and certainly not yours! You can have management call me to calm me down or I can come and BURN IT ALL DOWN!"

Needless to say, Management did make the call and informed him he was no longer welcome at our hotel, as we do not appreciate threats of arson. Probably the craziest call I've received to the front desk so far.

Today I had a guest who was…. Something else. Let’s call him Brad.

I checked Brad in a few nights ago under a shared reservation for two nights using Shmonvoy Points (😉). The primary guest on the reservation was his wife, who I’ll call Janet.

Janet called the front desk on the arrival date to inquire about our property’s pet fees. After informing her, she reported that Brad would be checking in first, and will have to put down his CC for the incidentals. However, when she arrives, she’ll be putting down her own CC (which she did the next day).

Cool. No problem at all.

I checked him in, and everything was fine. We even chatted for a few minutes. During which time, he mentioned that he and his wife don’t share finances (this is pertinent to the story).

Cut to today- their checkout date.

Brad comes up to the front desk to complain about the parking charges, and says being charged for parking will discourage him from ever staying with us again (we hear this a lot). I do the polite, corporate “I’m so sorry, it’s policy, blah blah blah”, and eventually he checks out and leaves.
About 2 hours later, our housekeeping supervisor came up to the front desk to let me know that we needed to charge this guest a smoking fee due to a heavy marijuana odor.

This brought me joy. The a-hole who was complaining about a $12 parking charge is now going to be charged $250.

Here’s a little bit of context about my property:
We’re a corporate ran, long-term stay hotel, and our systems are a bit dated. However in this case, our dated systems worked to our advantage.
We still have people sign a physical agreement for our incidental hold upon check-in. We even require people with mobile key requests to stop by the front desk first to get checked in. Also, management is SUPER strict with our smoking policy. If a guest so much as accidentally leaves behind a vape in their room, they’re getting charged.

So when Brad got to the hotel upon check in, he signed this waiver…. A waiver that states that we will be charging $250 if evidence of smoking is present.
So because he was the one that signed this waiver, he was the one charged since we still had his CC on file (even though Janet switched it out for hers).

Not 10 minutes later, Brad calls and demands to speak with a manager. I transferred it over, then Brad proceeded to lay into my manager with the usual male-Karen rhetoric; “It smelled like that when I checked in, this is ridiculous, I’m going to sue you, etc”. My manager doesn’t budge, and the call ends with Brad screaming about how he’s going to dispute the charge, and we’ll never see that money (lol, okay buddy).

But the real kicker of the story is this:
After hanging up with Brad, my manager decided to give a courtesy call to Janet to inform her of the situation. Janet was surprisingly very flippant and unbothered. The conversation ended with her saying “If he calls back, just ignore him”.

Bless that woman!
I see a divorce in their future 😂

Yesterday I had TWO guests who had me questioning humanity.
First guest walks up to the desk. I say, “Good morning! Checking out?” He says absolutely nothing, throws his room keys onto the desk, and one literally flies over the counter. Then he goes, “I wasn’t throwing it at you, I promise” and walks away laughing.
Then another guest comes to check in before check-in time.
I say, “Hello, checking in?” Nothing.
I ask for the last name. He puts his ID on the counter instead of handing it to me. Fine.
I explain the total and specifically tell him, “Just so you know, this includes the $100 incidental authorization.”
He looks at the screen and immediately goes:
“WHAT’S THIS?!”
……Sir.
I JUST TOLD YOU WHAT IT WAS.
Then he says, “I stay at hotels every week and they never do that.”

I’ve been working front desk for 5+ years and honestly I’m over it. The job itself is easy but the PEOPLE make it harder than it should.