A look into the career choice I have chosen as an adult. While I understand customer service is not for everyone, I have been pretty successful in my chosen career as a hotelier and secretly, waaaay deep down inside, in the parts of my gut that I usually never listen too, I have actually convinced myself I love the hospitality industry and customer service…
Dear Valued Guest,
We regret to inform you our free coffee in the lobby will no longer be available. The brand has made the decision to transition and serve a wildly popular and trendy coffee which will only be provided in our restaurant, which, by the way, we are changing as well and is a totally new concept also. This trendy chain coffee will be available 24 hours, for a fee, served by a barista, when working, or a front desk agent, or a maintenance person or God help us all, the General Manager which in this case we ask you please designate an hour of your time while he figures out which one of the syrups makes it a Peanut Butter Mucho Mocha Whipped Latte.
We will still provide crappy little coffee pods in our guest rooms, which will be free, sort of. We thank you for your cooperation and understanding as we are sure you will have no choice but to enjoy this new concept.
(P.S. – We took away the breakfast buffet also.)
Regards,
Management
Actual (with a comedic twist) guest comments:
“Where’s the lobby coffee? Yes I received the letter you gave me at check in that its no longer provided. I didn’t think that pertained to me. I am a Super Duper Gold Plated Diamond Crusted Elite Member! I have to PAY for coffee now?”
“When I booked my room it said breakfast was free. I am not sure where it said it. I understand you never offered free breakfast, but the person I booked my room with said you provide breakfast. No they never said it was free, but they also didn’t say it was NOT free!”
“I understand you no longer offer a breakfast buffet, but I prefer a buffet! I want choices when I travel, I am not interested in your fresh prepared to order breakfast! I want to look through a sneeze guard and serve my own overcooked eggs!”
My introduction to hotel management was a surprise to even me. I had worked as a part time bartender in a hotel when I was 19 or 20. I got fired from that job by the Easter Bunny on Easter Sunday. The person playing the part of the Easter Bunny happened to be the Regional Director of Operations and had asked for a Bloody Mary before opening time. I thought I was doing the right thing by not serving the Easter Bunny before opening time, the Regional Director of (ruining Easter) Operations thought otherwise, and fired me while still in character less the floppy eared bunny head. At the time this was humiliating. Today when I tell the story, it really is quite hysterical and not many people can claim they were shit canned by the Easter Bunny.
After being fired by the Easter Bunny I instantly lost my taste for Easter, and the hotel industry, and followed another job path. Fast forward some years, add in some extended education that had nothing to do with hospitality and I was interviewing at a boutique hotel for an Executive Housekeepers position. To my dismay, I was informed by the Assistant General Manager who with his eloquent English intonation informed me bluntly, “You will be eaten alive by the wolf pack that work in housekeeping.” But, I hit the lottery when I was offered a different position with a well-appointed posh title, Director of Guest Services, really just a glamour term for a Front Office Manager. It was a great boutique hotel, working for an intense, results driven GM, who to this day I consider my mentor.
My first nail biting interaction with a disgruntled guest who demanded free was over a chip on a bath tub. I kid you not, chipped paint on a tub, not even in the tub, on the outside of the tub. He came to the front desk, asked for the Manager. I looked around for one and realized I was that manager on duty he so requested. This guest proceeded to tell me for 5 minutes how this chip on the bath tub was more dangerous than bathing in a bubble bath filled with razor blades and demanded his $209 room rate be refunded. “I refuse to pay for the danger you put me in!” Shocked, adrenaline pumping, I retorted with the confidence of a child on the first day of kindergarten and responded shaky voice and all “Ok..” and refunded him his stay while I choked on my own saliva as I apologized for the “appalling conditions” I exposed him too.
It is human nature to like free stuff. Just walk through Costco or BJ’s there are free food samples at every isle and you will see hordes of people buzzing like bees circling the Queen. Only instead of offering the hordes that hot Queen Bee stinger ass, they are swarming for a taste of her toaster oven cooked cocktail weenies and bite size chicken flavored empanadas.
Some people have made it an art form to take advantage to get free stuff. I am in an industry that is instructed, trained and required to trust everyone. In today’s day of uncertainty, where with a click of a mouse you can witness hundreds of atrocities going on in the world, we are still expected and are committed to trusting every guest who occupies our hotel. The mass majority of guests are great and trustworthy, but remember, it only takes a small cap of vinegar to spoil milk.
Think of this in a personal real life perspective: Your son or daughter brings a new friend over the house, you come home, meet the friend in passing as you walk in. To your dismay there is a big ole mess left by your child and new friend. You have a little swear jar on your counter, you curse the mess they left, and go to put a dollar in the swear jar only to find it empty. The money was there yesterday, it was there this morning when you spilled your coffee and deposited $5 in it after your expletive filled meltdown, but now it’s empty. Would you trust the next set of friends your child brings home? I think not! But we in the service industry do not have that option. Even after dealing with a bad guest, we have to believe as long as we provide and exceed the expectations you anticipate we have to trust you will be a great guest.
Enter the proverbial vinegar in the milk! The swear money stealing lil’ SOB who got away with squandering your hard earned curse jar savings from you, has now grown up to be a master manipulator. They have now figured out a way to exploit the fact we in customer service are required to trust everyone and use this to their advantage to get free stuff, a lot of free stuff, which usually costs us a lot of money!
In the hotel industry we get alerts about certain guests who have mastered the concept of milking the hotels they stay at. Sometimes these folks can cost the hotels thousands of dollars in compensation. These guests have formulated complaints at hotels they frequent so many times, that hotels have actually begun to send in complaints about the complainer because they complain so much! Ugh, I just went cross-eyed!
These complaints are tracked. The hotels these people reserve rooms at are warned they are coming to stay. We are given a list of complaints the guest has “incurred” during every stay, at every hotel they checked into, along with how much compensation has been given to date. We are then, instructed to make the guest feel welcome to ensure their stay is positive so they do not encounter the same issues they complained about at every hotel they stayed in prior…in their effort to get FREE STUFF! I know, now you are cross-eyed!
There is a bright side to this should you be reading this and decide to convert to the dark side. We are instructed to not offer any further compensation should they complain, even if I put them in a room with a chipped bathtub. Hey, no more free for you, you gluttonous swine!
As a good guest the best way to get anything free is…be nice. I have been walking out of my office seen a really nice family, said hello to them, struck up a nice conversation. They have no idea who I am, and BANG!
“Egg White Frittata’s are on the house.” Free breakfast for the entire family for the entire stay!
Another great way to get some extra freebies: Report (truthful) issues you may have experienced in the room direct to us. A hotel is like a house with lots and lots of rooms. Light bulbs may blow out on the nightstand lamp. Instead of writing a 12 page essay on Trip Advisor about your expertise on the engineering involved with changing a light bulb and interior illumination, let us know when it happens, we will change that bulb, and boy will we appreciate you and we will make it rain with reward points!
#Adulting 