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.
As with any internet network to which you do not completely own the access and privileges, use a hotel's wifi and plug-in ethernet at your own risk. Sure, a hotel could look at different URLs visited by guests, but that would involve combing through thousands of logs not to mention would not be warranted unless a criminal investigatoin were underway. Let's just say most hotels would not want to waste their time doing so. However, with the prevalence of iPads provided by hotels in-room these days, especially with custom-built apps for each brand and property (that cost quite a lot of time and money to develop), there's a good chance that all activity on that app can and is being tracked to gain marketing information that will better predict guest needs, wants, and preferences to further hone in on what a hotel needs to do to increase profits.
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The security department governs safes, and every single thing they do on a shift is logged. If a guest forgets his or her password, there is a master key that opens each safe. That master key is locked within its own safe, which is locked within a key box that has an exterior lock. Now understand that each safe is bolted into the wall from WITHIN the safe, and to get to the slot where you insert the master key, you have to even know where that slot is, which has a plastic cover on it anyway. Once the master key is inserted, the safe is opened, allowing one to reset the password. If the battery dies, the same process needs to be done to insert a new battery. Overall, you'd have to be someone in the security department to get into a safe for the wrong reasons. The only other way would be to cut out the drywall or flooring which would draw a lot of attention. I don't know the recipe, I'm just sayin'...
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You can always complain or ask to change rooms, however booking through third-party sites without doing independent research first, including contacting the hotel directly to ask questions, can often leave you not getting what you expected. If you call us directly to ask us what our hotel is like, we WANT to telly you and really appreciate the call. That way we can get you into the type of room you want, and if you're staying for a week, who knows, maybe we'll get you a better rate than bookit.com!
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If you can, try to delegate to one or more staff members, including yourself, a call-around to all of your incoming guests for the day (each day until the construction is to be done or roadway opened), warning of any route changes into the hotel. Maybe place a staff member or valet attendant at the nearby route change if possible with signage or uniform to "direct" traffic into the correct route. Also sending a blind email to all the addresses of guests coming in daily and weekly to advise them in advance. Then you've covered yourself.
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You do have the right to charge a guest for damage to the room. Should the damage be excessive, you'd have security take photos and document the damage, and the authorization taken out on the guest's credit card at check-in could be used to charge for the damage. If the card declines for any major costs, that's too bad for the hotel and is a loss they've built in (if they're smart) to take, but good luck to that guest every trying to book or check in there again! People can scream and deny all they want, but if the entire housekeeping staff and management are all in agreement that a room was inspected and passed prior to that guest's check-in, and multiple staff witness the damage, you've got a pretty good case on your hands.
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Haha, I definitely do. The one thing that really doesn't matter to me is the toilet seat. It gets cleaned more frequently at a hotel than those at my own house, so I'm not really worried about it. If you are paranoid about bed bugs, you can always lift up the mattress to reveal the box springs and see if there are small black stains on the edges where the box's polyester screens are stapled to the wood frame. Bed bug excrement appears like dots of black liquid which leaves stains there and is a clear sign they have at least been in the room at one point. If you find protective sacks that are also of a poly material but are complete seals with zippers running along the frame that means the hotel has taken the best precaution they can - starving the bugs of their long-term food source which is that wood box spring frame. Other things I've learned about room cleanliness, definitely don't consider the coverlet over the sheets as frequently cleaned, the carpets (if the room has them) or the couch or other upholstered seating as anything you'd really want to be naked on or eat food from if you're easily grossed out by other people's germs. Otherwise, hotel rooms are cleaned quite frequently so you really don't have that much to worry about.
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Of course! You can definitely ask for a specific location, but due to the nature of the hotel business, and by law, if a guest continues to pay the asking rate on a room, they can extend indefinitely. This law may vary from state to state and country to country, but in California, if you booked a specific suite, but the person staying there before you decides to extend, unfortunately the hotel will have to give you another room or suite that is comparable or greater, IF available. If no other rooms are available at all? We have to "walk" or relocate you at our expense to another comparable hotel, at least until we can provide you nights at our hotel that you have booked. (A side note: if you are walked to a NICER hotel, we are not legally obligated to keep paying for your nights there if your original, comparable, or better room opens back up at our hotel). Sold out weekend, and the person who is supposed to leave is trying to extend in the room that YOU booked? We will make it as difficult as possible for them to stay, as in, the rate will be at a premium and we certainly will explain to them that there's a guest or guests booked for arrival into their room, but believe me, some people just don't care, and that's the risk we run when operating at full capacity. As regards the ability to place you out of reach of noise or any other sometimes natural occurence at a hotel, we will try our best, but it's almost like your asking if you can stay only on days when the sun will be shining. It's very hard to predict occupancy (what block of the hotel will be empty) or to predict whether there will be an all-night party that unexpectedly pops up in the room next to you. The best rule for a quiet stay? Bring earplugs or ask for them from the front desk, so you can control the noise yourself, do your research so that you know if the hotel is a known party or nightlife spot, and ask if you can be located away from pools, bars, elevators, ice machines, street-facing location, or other typically louder areas of the hotel. With any of these special requests, at least at our property, they are always requests, never guaranteed.
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