One More Time....

With the vacation and travel season upon us, I wanted to take a moment to put this post up again....and really, people, take it to heart! Thanks!

“Jodi’s Guide To Being A WELCOMED Hotel Guest.”

THE FRONT DESK CLERK IS YOUR FRIEND. Please be kind to these people. They are the initial point of contact for the hotel. They deal with A LOT of, pardon my French, SHIT. We also have MANY duties and tasks to complete in 8 hours. I can speak for all of my co-workers when I say we LIKE our jobs. We LIKE what we do, or else we wouldn’t be doing it. I like that I am able to help people enjoy coming to this area and exploring all there is to see and do, so that they can enjoy it as much as I did when I used to be a tourist 10 years ago. However, the front desk clerk is only human. And YOU are not the ONLY guest in the hotel. My property has 105 rooms…at 2 people per room on a sold out night, that’s a LOT of guests under one person’s watch. Please be understanding when the desk clerk says they will get to you and your problem as soon as possible. If you asked for towels or extra shampoo, be patient. The clerk might be working the desk alone, with phones ringing & people checking in & can’t break away to tend to YOU that very moment. The desk clerk is a human being too, with feelings, a family and usually a million things to do. And if you need more than one thing, group your requests together. Don’t call & ask for 4 towels and then call back for 2 more 15 minutes after I bring you the first 4. Get it all together. It’ll make things easier for everyone. We’re not opposed to giving you service; we just want to do it in the most quickest streamlined method there is so that everyone’s content.

STOP BEING UNREASONABLE. The desk clerk is a very resourceful person. However, the desk clerk can NOT aide you with situations such as inadequate parking (“Let me just drop everything, grab the paint & roller and go CREATE a space JUST FOR YOU.”), lack of stores in the neighborhood where the hotel was built, The view form your hotel window – after you said facing the wall “doesn’t matter” (“Well, just let me go tear down that 18 ft brick wall behind the hotel FOR YOU!”) or the fact that there’s cars driving up and down the street at 2am (sorry, that's what the STREET is for!), so please…STOP WHINING ABOUT IT. The desk clerk can assist you with many facets of your stay and can be helpful in many ways (I had to clean up and overflowed toilet in a guests’ room last night and it took me 20 minutes, but I was showered with praise at the attentiveness I gave that guest.), but there is a difference in going above and beyond what the job asks for and moving mountains. I ain’t movin’ no mountains any time soon. Oh – and if you WANT concierge service or room service, stay at a property that offers those amenities. Don’t call the desk clerk @ 10p, drunk, demanding that s/he order you a pizza. It’s not their job. You have a phone book in your room and I am sure you’re intelligent enough to know how to use a push button phone. You’re staying at a hotel…not an all-inclusive resort, nor a hospital, nor your Aunt Gertrude’s house. Desk clerks not there to hold your hand and wipe your ass.

IF YOU HAD A BAD DAY, DON’T TAKE IT OUT ON THE DESK CLERK. This also goes for ALL hotel employees – because we’re all in on it together…desk clerks are in tight with the housekeepers who are down with the maintenance guys & so forth. Unless the employee in front of you is responsible for the reason you are angry, please do not yell, degrade, belittle, insult or otherwise make yourself memorable in a bad way to the employee (and we all DO talk to eachother, so we warn each other about “NICE” guests). And even then- if the employee DID cause your “mood” -chances are, he or she is following protocol set forth by management of the hotel and or the corporation that OWNS said hotel. We’re just the pawns on the front line. And the employee usually has one hand tied behind his/her back that does not allow him/her to over ride authority. When s/he tells you that you must speak with a member of management to resolve your problem, they mean it. Nothing more s/he can do. So leave it alone. Let 12 hours pass…get some sleep and during the daylight hours (that’s when the bosses come out), ask to speak with someone who can assist you with your request. Most guest requests are NOT unreasonable, but that clerk last night did not have the authority or clearance to comp your room for you or lower the rate to $20.

ROOM RATES ARE PRESET 99% OF THE TIME AND THE DESK CLERK USUALLY CANNOT OVER RIDE THAT RATE PRESET IN THE COMPUTER SYSTEM. Desk clerks usually have NO SAY SO in what the hteol's rates are set at. If you agreed to pay $X online, then don't DEMAND a lower rate when you get to the hotel. POLITELY ASK if there are any other lower rates available THAT YOU QUALIFY for. Don't ask for the govern,ment rate if you've got the wife, kids and in-laws in tow for a weekender. Please don’t berate the clerk because you don’t like the rate. You’re free to stay someplace else (The No-Tell Motel?), because I KNOW you’ll get what you pay for. Just keep in mind - minimum wage DID indeed go UP this year and with the prices of GAS now - we employees have to get to work, too, and the only way to give raises, etc, is to adjust the price on supply and demand of one of those cozy, nicely decorated rooms you want in a specific location. Deal with it.

NOTHING IS GUARANTEED IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY. If you ask for a certain room or area of the hotel when you make your reservation and you are very nice to the reservation tech, they will usually accommodate you. HOWEVER…if you reserve room 200 for the 10th and the guest that checked in on the 8th got that room and wants to extend their 2 days stay into a 3 day stay, DON’T TAKE IT OUT ON THE DESK CLERK. We very well have no right to uproot a previous guest because YOU want to be in that room. And if you DO NOT place special requests at the time of your reservation (most hotel brands encourage this so the guest experience is a positive one), don’t expect miracles when you check in. By then it’s TOO LATE. In my job, I don’t guarantee ANYTHING to ANYONE. Some of my co-workers tend to have a bad habit of promising people the moon, and then when they get off work before 3p when check ins start, * I * am the one that ends up looking like an ass because I can’t deliver. So if there’s a mix up or a misunderstanding – don’t blow your top about it. SHIT HAPPENS. Get over it. As long as you have a room reserved at said hotel, be happy. And if you want to ask for a compensation for your inconvenience (“Sorry, you can’t have room 200 – how about the room NEXT to it?”) please do it POLITELY. You’ll be more apt to get what you’re asking for. If your karma is bad at the time, though, I can guarantee you that it’s going to come back to bite you in the ass.

That’s about it. Just remember that you’ll get more flies with honey than with vinegar. I have to deal with some guests that, there is NO satisfying them no matter what. Please take my word for it that your desk clerk on duty is doing THE BEST JOB s/he can or know how to FOR YOU, the guest. And if you know you are one of those insatiable people, PLEASE STAY HOME, by ALL means. If all you’re going to be is a thorn in the side of the staff, just don’t even come visit us. It’s a hotel, not Romper Room. (This just reinforces my theory that “Intelligence Challenged” people should have bright orange ear tag like cattle so that whomever is dealing with that person knows what s/he is up against.) Otherwise, come stay awhile, enjoy our town and please don’t ANNOY the desk clerk!