It seems logical that if you hire a bellman to assist you with your luggage that you would tip him or her; however, that is not always the case. I’ve seen it time and time again when I see the Bellmen work their butt off to lug around a luggage cart filled to the top and help unload all that luggage just to get a “thanks” or “I appreciate the help” and not receive one cent. It pisses me off. These guys basically work on tips, to not tip them is to have them work for free. Would you work for free? I didn’t think so. The logic is simple; if you can tip a waiter/waitress then you can tip a bellman (it’s basically the same logic).

So I often check in some guests who automatically assume that just because the hotel is on the beach that all the rooms will be facing directly toward the bay.  It’s always the same story “my room’s facing the beach right?  That’s what I reserved.”  A guest would say, and I’d reply “No, you reserved a standard room which over looks the city.”  That’s when a moment of silence (or anger) comes into play.  The guest would either do one of two things: 1) accept the answer and possibly ask for a room with a partial view or 2) get angry and begin making a scene and make themselves look like complete assholes.  90% of the time the guest would prefer to do option 2.  Then there are the people who make their reservations on-line via expedia, orbits, hotels.com, kayak, booking.com, etc… and assume that they received a really good price for a bay front room, when in fact they ended up paying the same price (maybe $10 cheaper) for a standard room over looking the city; or over looking the hotel’s A/C units (depending how much of an asshole the guest was).  The majority of the time when people think I’m lying to them about their room type they pull out their confirmation from where they booked the room and pin-point exactly what they reserved.  I then look it over and read to them ” 2 beds standard room”  or “1 double room” (which translates to= 1 room with a full-size bed).  Bottom line is you get what you pay for.  Pay attention to the reservation you are making and don’t just assume you’re getting the best deal or one of the best rooms in the hotel because 99.9% of the time you’re screwing yourself over. 

Weekends in the summer (Mainly Saturdays for some bizarre reason) are the busiest time in the hotel business and with a mass amount of traveling families, conventions, etc.. the occurrence of running out of hotel rooms is inevitable.  When I go into work and hear “Guys we are sold out tonight”  I become excited because I wont have to deal with the burden of walk-ins (people who do not have a reservation) who end up making me do more work than I have too.  Basically, I like to see the number of arrivals when I go into work and I like to see the numbers drop from let’s say 80 arrivals to 0 arrivals (FYI it never drops to 0, we’ve been close though.)  Any way, I didn’t mean to side track this topic.  So as the sun begins to set and I’m standing in front of my computer checking how many arrivals are left or printing reports I begin to see a number of weary travelers enter through the hotel doors.  As they approach with their tired faces and fatigued walking motions I ready myself for either a a response of “I have a reservation under…” or “Do you have any vacancies this evening?”  When I hear the words of room inquiry I automatically reply “Sorry, we’re sold out.”  The person will either say “thank you” and leave ready to continue on their hunt or put up a fight and make an ass out of him/her self ” What do you mean you don’t have any rooms, I’m a Hotel Priority member; your hotel always has a room for me.”  I usually like to see the hopeful to sad looks on the faces of the really snobby/ghetto people who act like they can get a room before I tell them “we’re sold out.” It’s a priceless look, one minute they’re all confident and act like the world revolves only around them and then they slouch and drag their feet as they exit the hotel.  I once had a guy call me on the phone and asked if we had any rooms available for the evening (the night we were sold out) and I told him “No sir, we’re sold out for the evening.”  He then went on to reply “Well, what about at 12 in the morning.”  I then said “Yes, we will still be sold out then because people will be sleeping.”  As the night progresses I usually start seeing the more desperate travelers come through the front doors inquiring about availability, to be honest it does begin to get a little sad around the 10 and 11 o’clock hour.  The advice I would pass out to people traveling out of town would be to make reservations earlier in the day before they leave their homes so they wont be driving around an unfamiliar town for several hours and finally finding a place to sleep in a motel that should be featured in a horror movie.  

So I’ve gone to really appreciate the 1-800 number for the hotel. It’s the basic number where people can call to make reservations with an automated system or with a person from an out-sourced country. Any way, when it’s busy at work and I don’t have the time to stop what I’m doing to help the person on the phone I would just transfer them to the 1-800 number; at least then they’d get the attention they wanted. But I’ve been noticing lately that my fast-acting laziness has been backfiring (either that or the people at the call center are getting tired of answering phones too) and the call ends up coming back to me. Some people shrug off the fact that they were transferred in the first place. But some people get hesitant and say “I want to make a reservation with a real person, not a machine” or my favorite ” Can I make the reservation with you, I can’t understand what those foreigners are saying.” Either way the people’s reservations will be made. I’ve learned to pick and choose my transfer battles wisely (mainly when management is around).

So it’s a busy day at work, checking people in and having all the phones at desk ringing continuously; I’m just about done dealing with the guest I was checking in and I answer the phone. I speak my hotel greeting line and then I go on to ask what they needed. The person on the other line tells me that they want to make a reservation so I go to the reservation screen to set up the reservation. I ask what day they will be arriving and then I hear the dreaded words “Can you hold on for a minute?” I slap my forehead in disbelief and look ahead at a queue of angry looking people who are wanting to hurry up and check-in. I mean, I have the power to hang up and say we got disconnected but I’m just not that mean of a person…yet. Of course sometimes my “hold time” is less than 30 seconds, but then there are a few times when I’m holding for more than 3 minutes. The bottom line for this topic is that if you’re going to call to make a reservation please (for the love of god) be prepared and have all necessary documents available (i.e credit card info, day or arrival/departure). Next time I’m placed on a long hold I think I’ll just hang up and say we got disconnected.

I currently live in Corpus Christi but I’m originally from San Antonio. Even though I’ve been here since January 2011 I still haven’t found my way around town due to my school and work schedule. Any way, I’m always being asked where the nearest Wal-Mart or grocery store is; luckily there’s a list of near by shops always in stock behind the front desk. What really throws me off guard is when people ask where the nearest golf course is or where the yacht club is. Guests don’t like it when I tell them “I don’t know. I don’t golf.” I don’t know any short cuts on how to get to Port Aransas, I don’t know how much the ferry costs, I don’t know how many miles away South Padre Island is, I don’t know why it’s raining outside when the forecast is suppose to be sunny, I don;t know which bar/club is the best in town (I usually take my co-worker’s opinions on certain places), and I don’t know why your child was stung by a jelly fish. I really dislike when people call the hotel and ask if i know phone numbers to other hotels in town. When I tell them “I don’t know, I think you have to look them up on line.” and then they say “Well, can you look it up for me?” I feel like hanging up, especially when there’s a huge line of people trying to check in. Some times I’d tell the people over the phone the wrong number just to end the call.

I am currently a college student who needed to find a job in order to pay my way through college. Of course I could live off student loans, but I decided that being in debt is something I would try to avoid at all cost. So I decided to get a job. The one occupation that I could work due to my hectic school schedule was to work at a hotel. So after being hired at a popular chain hotel I began to dread the feeling of dealing with people. So I’ve been working at the same hotel for close to 4 months now and the stories that I have about the guests and hotel would make you think twice about how you should act at a hotel and what really goes on around the front desk after complaining about a dirty room or about your reservation. I am writing this blog to inform and possibly entertain readers who want to know how working in a hotel is really like. For those who say that working at a hotel is easy and relaxing, my blog should change your attitude. The names of the people I mention in this blog will be altered to protect their identity. So stay tuned for the next installment of : Secrets of a Front Desk Agent.