Day 12

Day 12: Mirror Mirror

            Guests like to ask the front desk staff for ludicrous requests and bits of information. Examples include, exchange rates for Finland, requests to cut their hair, and how to pack a bow and arrow set for flights. My coworker and I developed two different approaches to dealing with ridiculous guests. My approach is to slow my speech, appear doe eyed, and act stupid. I figure that the guest already thinks that I am young and stupid, so I play up this fact.

            My coworker developed the perfect mechanism to cope with guests. She mimics them. She adopts their speech patterns and cadence. If they are loud and boisterous, then she is loud and boisterous. If they are overly sweet and condescending, then she is overly sweet and condescending. The results are amazing. Once the guests hear themselves reflected in her speech, they change into a normal speaking voice. 

            Often I wonder if the guests know that they sound ridiculous. She proves that even the guests don’t like to spoken to in the way that they speak to us.

Below is an example of a conversation between a front desk staff and a guest.


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Hope that this aids your survival.

            Good luck. Godspeed.

Day 11

Click on the video and then read post.

Day 11: Patience is the Lost Virtue.

            There are times when the front desk staff will feel self-conscious. The guest will trick you into thinking that you are slow or unreasonable.

            When the guests check into the hotel, they immediately expect a long an arduous process, yet unless the guest is interrupting our flow my coworker and I rarely provide an inefficient check in experience. We have achieved thousands of efficient check-ins, yet the guests perceive it as our first time. We do not waste time. We anticipate your questions and needs.  The average check- in takes us about 40 seconds. If the guest is as attentive as they expect the staff to be, the check-in should have no problems.

            Inevitably a guest will stand at the desk and throw their credit card at the front desk person, and then tap their fingers on the marble counter as though we are taking too long and wasting their time. The staff must not feel self-conscious. Any purchase at a fast food establishment will take longer than our check-in. In fact, our check-in process lasts as long as the video above. 

Day 10

Day 10: Sometimes Hyde keeps Jekyll under control.

           

            We have already discussed how quickly a guest can turn on the staff, but the in between phase can be quite rewarding. One of the pleasures of working in a business hotel is that here are plenty of regulars. The staff gets to know the guests and their families quite well and vice versa. We ask about their sons’ baseball games and in turn they ask about our university exams.

            Some are even nice enough to bring back snacks for the staff on their way back from dinner. There are even those singular situations where a friendly guest will bring a more substantial gift for the staff, usually in the form of chocolate. Yesterday was one of those occasions.

            A very nice man who stays at our hotel 3 days a week for the last several years presented that staff with a nice card and baked confections. Imagine delicious donut holes injected with custard and covered in chocolate. The staff was astounded. Not only is this guest always friendly and never complains, he brings us thank you gifts.

            Of course, we must always still vigilant of the tipping point where he might forget that we are human and explode all over us. Until that time comes, life is good.

Hope that this aids your survival.

Good luck. Godspeed.

Day 9

Day 9: Motivation for the least.

In these tough economical times most luxuries and incentives have been stripped from the staff. The hotel owners often state that they would like the staff to “sell out”, but there is the opposite of an incentive to do so. Why would the staff sell every last room when we don’t have maintenance on call and trouble seems to run rampant?

Often people will come in without a reservation and try to negotiate the price with the front desk staff. They are under the impression that the staff has any desire to sell every last room. We barely have any desire to sell a single room. When the staff encounters a person who has no reservation and tries to bargain, we only see another guest who is going to cause us problems. Their $180 is not worth it. The staff does not even see any benefit in this transaction. It is just putting more money into the pocket of the individuals who took away any incentive.

It should be noted that this sentiment is only reserved for those who are confused about our motivation. We still want to do our job. It the guest who are confused as to what our job entails. We have no qualms about selling you a room, and will not deny you a room. However, if you allow your ego to drive the conversation, the staff has no motivation to stoke your ego. That is all.

Hope that this aids your survival.

Good luck. Godspeed.