Hotel Front Desk
Los Angeles, CA
Male, 27
For the past two years I've worked the front desk at a boutique luxury beachfront hotel in Southern California. My job can range from simply checking guests in & out to many other duties, including: pretending I work in different departments so that behind-the-scenes chaos is never seen by a guest, shielding guests from stalkers that come looking for them, and picking up used drug paraphernalia from a trashed room. Ask me anything.
There are definitely moments with "down time" but more often than not I've got a steady, constant stream of tasks. Down time is usually when you catch up on what you couldn't before, and get to know your co-workers. At larger corporate hotels, there seems to always be someone manning each station. In my experience at a smaller boutique hotel, there's usually fewer employees per department. That means if the reservationist calls in sick, I may have to check you in while simultaneously booking a room over the phone for someone calling from France with a thick accent that's hard to understand. There have been days like that where the bellman has called in sick too, so as soon as I'm done with the other two tasks, I'll be taking you and your bags up to the room, maybe after taking your keys to your car which I'll park in valet later ('cause he could have called in sick, too). The overall goal is not to let you notice how close to chaos it's become.
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At our property there is an automatic 18% room service gratuity charge on all orders. You certainly don't have to tip beyond that, as it's meant to serve as the delivery person's tip, but I think typically anyone showing up to my door with any service will get at least a $2 cash tip minimum, just for the effort. Like all tips in hotels, I like to say that they're not expected, but always appreciated. Of course if room service bungles it completely, you may just want to leave the 18% on there and call it a day, or if it was absolutely awful, just talk to me at the front desk at checkout and I may be able to waive the entire room service order from your bill. Don't get in the habit of faking it, because I have a built-in bullshit detector.
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Depending on pressure from ownership or management, if the celebrity arrived and I were told that they absolutely must have a room by my boss, I may have to "walk" or relocate an incoming guest to a neighboring and comparable hotel. The rule is, if I have to walk you, my hotel is paying your first night at the other hotel and any following nights until your room does become available. Hotels usually work with their neighbors to negotiate "walk rates" which are lower than usual so that we don't gouge each other when we need help. Likely the celebrity would have been told they were getting a specific room, that was already assigned another arriving guest who had probably been guaranteed said room and who knows, maybe already "pre-registered" for it, so they'll have already come to the desk and think their room is just a short wait away. Imagine how pissed off someone is when I have to tell them not only is their room not ready, but they're not getting it and have to stay at another hotel! I've had to deliver that news and deal with the fallout way too many times and it feels terrible. But if I want to keep my job, I have to do it. The reason you'd probably get from the front desk will vary but of course I'm not going to tell you that it's because of a VIP and who the VIP is...Probably my least favorite responsibility of the job. If you're already checked in, though, it's my knowledge that it's against the law for me to make you leave unless you are breaking a law/creating a disturbance or haven't paid your bill.
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I am very sorry that the maids knocked on your door, and probably they are more sorry they did, too, because they have to greet you and explain why they were doing a poor job of looking for the sign! Typically the only reason the maids would knock is if they haven't been trained properly or they misunderstood the room number and thought the room with the "DND" left on the door was actually already vacant. I have become very close to our housekeepers and I can't say that many times they've accidentally knocked were their fault. Minimum wage, overloaded with rooms to clean, sometimes imperfect management, no health benefits and often a language barrier will lead them to sometimes overlook things. I would definitely bring earplugs for trips where you plan to spend mornings sleeping in. A lifesaver! If you don't have any, just ask me and if we don't have any (though we do carry them) I would literally step out on my lunch break and get you some, on the house.
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Good question Geoff! I work for a hotel because I want to make people happy, so the last thing I want to do is charge someone a fee if I can avoid it. However, those fees exist because oftentimes when a hotel is close to sold out with few rooms left, let's say it's due to a conference being in town and all hotel rooms are scarce, there are people who will "hold" a room simply to hold it just in case they need it. By the end of the typical hours of check-in, often that person will either cancel at the last minute or not cancel at all (the most frustrating), preventing the hotel from selling that room to someone that really needed it. I've had nice families and others that were stranded due to delayed flights who haven't been able to get a room because someone was just holding a room, expecting they could cancel without a one night's room and tax penalty, and sometimes just forgot to cancel because they were lazy. It's that person who the fee was created for. If a hotel isn't close to sold out, isn't bound to a corporate rule book (ie: small, privately owned property), or the person canceling is part of a regular corporate account, a repeat guest, or just plain nice, then usually a reservationist will exercise some leeway and grant that person a pass.
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No. It should and would be against most hotel's policies, but the fact is that any job you can imagine can be filled by the most dim-witted of people, who may make mistakes. If such actions were done in the commission of a crime, then it is most definitely illegal, beyond simple invasion of privacy.
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I wouldn't think it's standard practice to lie to you. Bed bugs as you know can seriously impact the reputation, rating, profitability, and overall health of a hotel, so good management takes them very seriously. They aren't difficult to treat, however they are persistent and take time. What likely happened when you received the letter is you had some persistent bed bugs and you also had a manager inspecting who wasn't properly trained in how to look for the signs of bed bugs. Most good hotel chains will require professional training for all of their management in how to do this and already have the exterminator on call for if bed bugs be detected. At the end of the day, the hotel should take your word for it and offer to seal your bags, move you to another room, while they spray your current room.
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