u/LCupidx

The more I stay at this job the more I realize how people feel entittled to receiving anything they ask for even if it's not 100% guaranteed.

This weekend we have sports teams and a long holiday weekend. The worst combo possible.

On Friday night had a sports guest upset because i told him and his group to please go back to their rooms as it was past quiet time, during this time all communal areas are closed but guest are welcome to continue in their rooms. This is something i am required to do as our 'curfew' is 10PM. It was already 1AM. Guest was upset saying how in their 17 years staying here they never had to do this, we been under a new management for the past 2 years, new rules, there's also signs posted everywhere so i kindly pointed at the sign right in front of their noses. After a lot of back and forth, they finally left.

Then, unfortunately, I am required to report to work on Saturday night to Sunday morning, following the Fourth of July, and after a significant lack of sleep. It's been an interesting night, several requests, last minute bookings, and some weird phon ecalls that kinda sounded like someone was doing something perverted on the other line...

It's been a night but I am pushing through, until Mr. Facebook shows up at 4:30 AM requesting a late check-out. Our late check-out is noon, which is pretty generous if you ask me, but he wants to stay even longer. I can't let him, though. We have too many people leaving, and a bunch of folks are staying over. On the 4th, we were short on housekeepers and only cleaned rooms by request, so a lot of the stayovers haven't had their rooms done in a day or so. For the sake of our housekeeping staff, I can't give him anything else.

Of course, he gets upset. I say late check-out is up to availability, I can't grant it, is putting too much stress on housekeepers. He is still upset. Follows up with -

'I am talking to your manager tomorrow' - " No one is here until Tuesday."

I am a shiny member! - "ok". He is at the lowest tire, and even then I wouldn't grant it.

'I am a government rate!' - "ok, i see that."

'I work for Facebook' - "ok??"

During this entire interaction his wife is calling for him from the elevator so i just kindly told him his wife was waiting for him and he should go, check out is at noon.

He finally leaves. Now, I don't understand people, if you know your check out is tomorrow and you have not been officially granted a late check-out prior to going out, why show up drunk at 4AM?? That is a personal choice. Also if the guest had been officially given a late check-out, my peers would have updated the reservation, so most likely he was told it was up to availability.

Phishing calls have been around for ages, and now with AI at scammers' fingertips, their methods have really evolved.

​

A couple of days ago my supervisor and I received a call from what we believed to be our manager's assistant, let's call her M. It all started late at night, nearly 11pm, I was arriving for my night audit shift.

​

Supervisor receives a call from AI M, asking if there had been any guest complains and then requesting supervisor to send money through Chime. AI M's reasoning was as follows:

​

Guest had forgotten money and medication in safe (no notes of this from housekeeping), but now guest was at the airport with no money to go back home, so guest needed us to send money to M, so M could send the money to guest. Of course the story is b s, nothing makes sense. However, AI M sounded like irl M. There was a slight difference to it, which my supervisor did ask. AI M only said it was due to migraines (which is something irl M does experience a lot).

​

The interaction was confusing. The similarity of the voice it's what threw us off. Anyways, supervisor said they couldn't send any money as they weren't familiar with the app. Ai M then said they would arrive at the premise in about 15 minutes to have supervisor help her. Supervisor waited but they never showed up ofc.

​

Shortly after, AI M called me. Same story, same excuses. I followed with the story, managed to get name and email. Afterwards, i said i wouldn't do it unless they were present and to call my supervisor for further assistance. Funny thing, they went off on me, threatened to relieved me from my duties tonight as I was not following up with what I was told and they were the manager so they could fire me.

​

Which is a lie. Neither of us fell for it, at the time we were mostly confused given the similarity in the voice.

​

As night audit, we deal with a lot of scammers and pranks. However, this was my first time I encountered something like this. I have heard stories of scammers using AI voices to clone the voices of people and calling their family pretending to be in distress to get money. Just never expected this to happened.

​

So be careful out there. Had it been someone relatively new working that night they could have fallen for it. My team has now decided that each of us will have a unique safety question / answer to answer in case something like this were to happen again.

I have never been insulted more in my life than working as a FD receptionist at a hotel during night audit times. Insulted by drunk people, teens, or just anybody that doesn't take a no for an answer or doesn't get things their way.

​

I am usually indifferent to any sort of reactions I get from people, but there's a limit and my supervisor had mentioned i do let things slide a lot. Tonight i didn't.

​

2 hours into my shift, I get a call-

​

"Good evening, you have reached "hotel name", how can i help you?

​

Guest- Just wanted to make sure i have the right hotel, do you have a reservartion for xyz

​

"I do not see it on my end, this is the hotel at 'address', and it is for the 13th correct? (It's already the next day on my end and only got two arrivals left for the 13th, none which the name matches"

​

Guest: "Yes"

​

Then i hear

​

Guest: "stupid bitch"

​

So i was about to hang up, but instead reply - "don't use that sort of language, i don't have anybody under that name"

​

Guest hung up.

​

​

10 min past and as I am looking more into it, i noticed this is a no-show from a night ago, friends and family team rate. Additional guest matched caller ID from guest that just called.

​

20 min go by, she shows up. I confirm the name, explained the reservation was from 1 night ago, processed to continue arguing about it, shows me confirming email. Yes 1 night ago. That's when i re-confirm, is this xyz the guest that just called and was disrespectful to me? Smile

​

Only then, does she realize the mistake. Takes a seat by the lobby, makes a call to what I think is the primary guest with the special rate. Primary guest calls hotel, I explain the situation, what exactly happened, and how it goes against the rules of special rates. Only then primary guest gives an excuse in behalf of additional guest, something about a family emergency and death of a loved one, which i am terribly sorry, but really does not excuse the treatment.

So i let primary guest know everything that just happened, the disrespect, allowing ineligible guest access the special rates as all go against the policy and will result in a report and do not rent list.

​

Only then, 15 minutes later, addional guest comes by to apologize, after she had realized that actions have consequences. Could i have been nicer? Maybe. But on my end there's nothing i can do. She being added as an additional guest without primary guest being present does result in a repor and probably banning primary guest from special rate. Not to mention the original reservation was from a night ago.

​

Oh well, probably won't be the last time i get called something. At least she was the only bad interaction i had all night. Thankfully some other guests were really nice so it helped me lighten my mood.

​

​

​

​

This weekend has already been something else. Story is long, but so has been this week.

I work night audit shifts. Clocked in, PM tells me they had to call 911 for a DV case. Perpetrator flee the hotel before police could arrive. PM switch victim to another room for her safety but she endedup leaving as well. As far as we know? She still has access to the room as we can't check her out yet. So, at this point we all wary in case the perpetrator comes back.

Around 1AM a guest on the 3rd floor calls me, there's someone screaming for help in the room above them. I called the room twice, no answer, went up there to knock and no answer. I can't hear much from the hallway due to highway noise. Made my way back downstairs to call again and no answer. At this point I am worrying, the room I was verifying was not the earlier victim's room. Different name and all but at this point you never know, perpetrator could have booked the room as we have no information whatsoever.

So i have to follow procedure, call 911. Before I do so, called the guest who initially reported the issue. I asked if they could confirm they could still hear someone screaming for help. They confirm it. I called 911.

Calling 911 was a whole issue on it's own. As I was calling the dispatcher they ask for the basic info - address, situation, names, room number- I gave the info. I had to repeat myself multiple times as the dispatcher kept saying "that's not the information you gave me earlier." At this point i was also frustrated bc what do you mean it isn't if i been repeating the same thing over and over!?

But i am not about to argue with anybody just waited for police to show up. Ofc they go to the previous room victim's room and that's when i realized. They think it's related. It did not click at the moment i was just frustrated at the fact we were wasting valuable time.

Several officers showed up, I was able to get them to the right room number. They pound on the door and finally and older lady answers. She was ok but it wasn't here. The police is making rounds and they can't hear anything, they knocking for other guests if they have heard anything with no leads.

Older lady calles me, upset which i understand as at this point is 1:30AM. I kindly apologized, explained what had happened, explained it was a safety procedure given the report and apologized again but i had to leave as i had to talk to the officers.

15 min pass by. Lady calls again, this time yelling thru the line. Demanding and explanation as if i hadn't given one already. But again apologized multiple times, explained once again, pretty much the whole conversation we had earlier, but she kept cutting me off asking how she would go back to sleep again. I told her i was sorry, again, they police had confirmed it wasn't her and she was ok, they wouldn't bother her. She went off. I apologized multiple times and then ended the call with something along the lines of- "your apology does nothing and I don't accept it" - hangs up.

Mind you the police was still in front of me hearing the conversation.

Once again i spoke to the officer, explained the situation they mentioned the previous incident, they still looking for the guy and thought both cases were related. So we don't know anything at this point but case is open. They leave.

20 minutes go by and I am in the back watching the cameras, taking a deep breath processing everything and updating my supervisor, when suddenly Someone pounds on my door and I walk out see and older lady with all her bags. She starts screaming at me and pointing fingers, Demanding to not be charged for tonight to which i replied it was a safety concern and i would have to speak to my manager. Then they went off about how the guest that reported the screams were stupid and so forth. Huh? They were concerned?? Yes i get it it's late but had the fire alarm gone off and been a false alarm would you have been annoyed? Yes, but at least you know you are safe. Forgot to mention they also kept fighting me over not hearing the phone calls or when i knocked on the door. Like yes, i tried getting a hold of somebody and didn't, so i had to escalate.

Both my supervisor and manager said I did well and handled the situation accordingly. But I was already far phone, lost battle, been a long, long week.

As far as we know, we don't know what room needed assistance. I made rounds around the hotel and it was quiet. I just hope whoever it was is safe.

Rant

I've been a night auditor for 8 months now. It's been exhausting, and I seriously salute anyone who's done front desk for years. The entitled guests and situations I've seen are probably nothing compared to what others have dealt with.

Prior to working as an audit i was working with kids, left because it became too much dealing with parents. Didn't go well for me as I ended up dealing with grown adults who don't know how to be decent human beings. Kids? I can somewhat excuse, they are a product of their environment, adults? Oh boy, basically grown children.

Someone came in late and passionately described how much she hated the ugly, mustard yellow lobby wall color. I agree, but what do you want me to do about it?

Others complain that breakfast during holidays started an hour later than our usual 6 AM breakfast. Good forbid workers want to sleep in or spend time with their families?

Don't even get me started on those parents who leave their kids alone for hours to go drinking, then get mad when I call them.

This week I had to deal with a guest who just couldn't grasp why I needed an ID and credit card to check-in, especially since we couldn't take Apple Pay or use the card on file. I explained our policy countless times: physical ID and physical credit card at check-in, Apple Pay is only for the market. Then he went on and on about how it was 2026 and nobody carries physical cards anymore, which, first of all, is a lie, and second, coming from the guy who thinks he's so "technically advanced" but couldn't even find the digital check-in button on his phone. It was so draining. I finally ended it by saying, "Well, feel free to contact our front desk manager, he'll be here tomorrow morning, but you'll get the same answer."

Oh, but he didn't stop there, he then messaged our front desk system about the same thing as if someone else would answer? Like, dude, it's 2 AM, just you and me tonight.

Then there's the impatient people. It's been quiet for hours, I step away for two minutes to handle some paperwork, constantly checking the camera, and see no one. I get distracted for less than two minutes, and suddenly someone's slamming on the counter to check out. I walk out, smile, and say, "It's okay, no need for that." Meanwhile, the husband smiles and hands me the keys, I check them out of the system, and tell them they're all set. The wife? Totally avoided eye contact.

So much has been going on, we're understaffed in every department, the hotel's infrastructure is outdated, beds are uncomfortable, sofas are broken, and AC? Forget about it. Maintenance can't fix anything because corporate won't approve the quotes, saying everything's "too expensive" - seriously? You can't cut corners on long-term maintenance.

Managers are quitting, staff is quitting. Those of us left, are overworked or laid off. The layoffs have been somewhat justified, but why do it when we're already short-staffed?

Maybe it's just at my property, but seriously need to get a job somewhere else. Funny thing, while interviewing at other places, same position and higher pay, I found out I was doing more work than I should. Fun, I guess.

Does it ever gett better?