r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk

Got a 1-star review today because the receptionist (not me, a colleague) couldn’t explain in detail which bus/train the guest should take to reach a completely different place… and because we “didn’t give enough recommendations” for their 4-day vacation.

I’m sorry, when did front desk staff become unpaid personal travel planners?
We’re happy to help with directions, recommendations, maps, whatever we can. But some people show up having done absolutely zero research and then get mad we can’t instantly build their itinerary for them.

Like… you booked the trip. You knew where you were going. Why are you asking me at check-in to explain the transportation system of half the region and plan your sightseeing schedule from scratch?

The wild part is they acted like this was terrible customer service instead of basic adult responsibility.

Yes, yes, our product is not only the rooms we have but the service we offer. Yes, it is our duty to make sure everyone is happy and taken care of*

*Within reason

This is not some magical palace where all your dreams come true. The staff here are not indentured servants, yes-men, or personal lackies. Reasonable people know this. Reasonable people.

A lady approached the Desk and asked my colleague if there was a private room that she could use to pump. This colleague is new and was unsure how to answer (valid.) Our Assistant Manager, Fuego, took over the situation. I gladly stayed out of it, as I'm Just Some Dude™ and therefore inherently not qualified for this interaction. But, I did remain for the show.

The lady repeated her request to Fuego, who tried to kindly inform her that we didn't really have such a space. She suggested the bathroom, to which the lady rejected. She insisted on using a private room. Fuego then asked: "Are you a guest here?" The lady denied, identifying herself as a mere event attendee. Once again, that put them back at square one. It's also pertinent to mention that this was before check-out time, the morning after a sold-out night.

Seeing that she was getting nowhere, the lady got a little more annoyed and asked Fuego: "Is there someone I can at least speak to, then? Maybe a manager? I feel like there should be more help for something like this."

Of course, Fuego did the proverbial spin and identified herself as such. But, then she offered to talk to our Sales team. A few moments later and one of the Sales execs came out and told the lady she could use our special bridal dressing suite as it was vacant.

Fuego helped her up there and that was that. But, when she came back down, she was understandably annoyed. See, Fuego is a new mom herself, so she fully related to the woman's plight. However, she found it very pushy on the lady's part considering she wasn't even a guest here and yet somehow expected us to just 'do something.' Yes, she was eventually accommodated, but by means of what is typically a rented space that just so happened to be vacant at that time. And, once again, she was not a guest.

TL;DR - A lady, who was not a staying guest, came up to the Desk requesting the use of a private room so she could pump. The Assistant Front Desk Manager was trying to suggest other spaces as we didn't readily have one she could use, and the lady got upset and demanded a manager. The AFDM was still hospitable and was able to arrange the use of one of our rented spaces that just so happened to be vacant at the time. Though, she wasn't really pleased with the woman's attitude, especially given the circumstances.

okay, so maybe this is a weirdly specific thing to rant about at 11pm after a double shift, but I swear if I have to chase down one more barely-legible handwritten valet ticket I’m gonna lose it

we're a busy hotel downtown. Not crazy huge, but busy enough that friday/saturday nights our curb is basically organized chaos. and I don’t know who needs to hear this, but the amount of pens we go through?? Absurd. they grow legs. guests walk off with them. The valet guys lose them in the rain. and then the tickets themselves... ugh

had a guy tonight come back from dinner, said he lost his stub. Of course. So now we’re digging through the log, trying to figure out which key belongs to which silver SUV (spoiler: there were THREE silver SUVs checked in within 20 minutes of each other). The handwritten descriptions are either "grey car" or a drawing of a flower. Im not even kidding

the worst part is watching guests stand around getting frustrated because the retrieval takes forever when you can’t find the right ticket. And I get it. If I was standing there in heels after a 3-course meal, I'd be annoyed too. but we’re stuck between "old school paper system" and the GM not wanting to spend money on anything that is not new lobby furniture

We did finally get a demo for something called PUR valet last week which at least looks like it would fix the whole "lost paper" thing. The sms ticket idea seems kinda smart ngl. But convincing management to actually pull the trigger? That's a whole other battle. Right now we’re just bleeding pens and patience

anyone else dealing with this paper ticket hell? Or are your properties actually living in the 21st century? Because I’m this close to just printing QR codes on sticky notes myself.

(also if anyone has a pen recommendation that guests won't steal, Im desperate. Im down to my last chewed-up one from housekeeping)

Like most of the people on this subreddit, when I'm posting something, it's usually some form of ranting or venting because I've come across a guest who's the living embodiment of the saying, "You can't fix stupid." But on occasion, someone ends up posting a story about something good -- an easy shift, or the rare occurrence of dealing with an awesome guest. Today, I finally get to do that after who knows how long.

When you're a night auditor you find yourself not always being the guest's favorite desk agent. Mostly it has to do with the fact that as the auditor, your by yourself and therefore, for both the safety of the guest and, most importantly, yourself, you have to be a little more rigid with the rules sometimes. And that means maybe having to say no to something the guests might want. No sir, I cannot sell your drunk ass alcohol past cutoff time. Sorry ma'am, the pool is closed and I will not reopen it just for you and your sugar daddy. But this past weekend, I had this couple walk in. They were older, probably in their early-60s. They were dressed for a really nice night out. They came up to the desk and started talking to me, and since it was slow, I made small talk while doing my paperwork.

It turns out it was their anniversary and they were staying at my hotel because they got married here. To be specific they stayed with us for their wedding. The actual ceremony took place in the building the nightclub currently resides in before the club moved in and became the hotel's (and mine) archnemesis, but I'm digressing. They were just about to call it a night, but they wanted to have one more dance and were wondering if I could somehow play their wedding song over the PA system so they could dance in the lobby. This is where I felt kind of bad because I had to tell them that unfortunately I don't have access to the computer that handles the music. They understood, but looked upset and started to go towards the elevator. But then I remembered that when I'm doing my audit and the accompanying emails and tax stuff, I play music off my phone or the computer. So, I figured what the hell. Before they could get out of earshot I ask them what's their wedding song.

Islands in Stream.

Coincidentally, a song I have downloaded to my phone, and actually one of my favorite songs. I quickly connect it to my wireless speaker, turn down the volume of the overhead speaker, and let them dance in the lobby. I said this on one of my previous posts, and it still applies here: this is the part of my job I enjoy, I love helping people.

I work in a hotel in Spain, for me May is the easiest month, we get loads of guests from Ireland and the UK, so I can speak English all day and a lot of repeat guests. Here's a summary of the memorable guests.

We have one guest that asks us what chocolate we want and she brings over a few KG of chocolate in her suitcase, she took our 'order' last year and brought me a load of mint chocolate and a few boxes for the others in reception.

We have retired people who come over and chat every morning. One old lady got robbed a week ago by a fellow on the streets and my colleague put €40 on her account out of her own pocket, she fought for a while but my colleague won lol. She said it was going to be her last holiday but she liked the place so much that she wants to come back next year, she came over to take a group photo of us at reception.

Another old lady got hurt in a shop in town, since she didn't speak Spanish, the staff pretty much blew them off, she came back to the hotel nearly crying, I ran to the bar and got some ice and offered some chocolates and to call a doctor, she was ok the day after and wanted to send an email to the head office explaining how happy she was with the hotel staff, my colleague told her she can bring over some mint chocolate the next time she comes lol

We had a big blackout last year, it was a very difficult day, over 12 hours without electricity, one lady came over and said 'I'm sure today must have been a very difficult day, with people coming over and complaining all the time, but you did your best', it nearly brought tears to my eyes.

There are loads of other families that come back and we know on first name terms. In general we get nice guests who are chatty and grateful, we get the odd complaint some odd clients, that's for another day and some very problematic clients but the good totally outweighs the bad. A lot of stories here are negative, I just wanted to share a positive story

My job is nothing but piles of stress with a heaping of overwork and bullshit on top. Of course I'm a middle manager. I feel like I'm constantly shit on from above and shit on from the guests.

This past week has been nothing but a string of disgusting ingrates who think they have the right to scream at me over the most tiniest and trivial of inconveniences. My favorite was the piece of human garbage who called me a f*cking r*tard simply for refusing his late checkout request.... I mean, who raised these people, seriously?

I'm working 50-60 hours a week on salary. I don't get to spend time with my family. I haven't had a vacation in over six years. I don't bother even looking at job postings anymore because there's next to zero chance of landing a decent job with decent pay and the schedule that you need in this market. At this point I feel like my only option to escape this hell is to move in with my in-laws so I least could afford to only work part time... which would be just a different kind of hell, really.

I'm only venting here because at least most of you know how much this job sucks and wears away your mental health. I keep waiting for a miracle solution to present itself but it's pure delusion... anyway. I suppose I could ask for your favorite coping mechanisms? Thanks for listening.

I am not sure if this is area specific or just smooking.com being a 3rd party crap site as usual. Our tax rate is and always has bee 11% and it is reflected correctly on their pay at the hotel side of the bookings. However, on the prepaid, when the virtual card comes across it is only at 10.67%. It is not just our hotel but several we have all written the proper channels anyone else having this issue and having to collect from the guest? I know its not a big amount but twenty five cents here and there over thousands of guests cost hotels money.

Booking from a 3rd party came in, let's call them "AGoober". I am going to use the actual name on the reservation because it is so generic that there's noting to bother protecting:

Customer name: LEGAL LAW FIRM ETC

The address is that of Agoober as is the phone number and email address.

I wrote Agoober hotel support:

>Please contact the guest and update this reservation with a correct "legal" name or we will cancel it...with prejudice.

Their response:

> Kindly be informed that according to GDPR policies and in order to protect the personal information of our customers, we’re not at liberty to disclose any customer’s personal information without their permission.

Ok. Great. The reservation is cancelled now. Thanks for the support.

EDIT:

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. A major privacy law from the European Union (EU) that came into effect on May 25, 2018. Its purpose is to protect people’s personal data and give them more control over how that data is collected and used. The GDPR does NOT prohibit sharing guest names with a hotel when it's required to fulfill a booking.

What the template response tells me is they don't actually know who is staying but can't tell us that, so they're falling back on the "Sorry, privacy, blah blah blah" excuse.

So the past 2 and a half months we had this guest who works for Panera Bread and he stayed every week for a varying amount of days. They had a credit card auth for him and everything.
He was an older gentleman (early 50s).
I didn’t check him in the first time he stayed but he was immediately a problem.

He caused a huge stink because our fitness center was out of order due to minor renovations and we had to reimburse him so he can go to a local gym.

I got a little bit of his wrath when I checked him out from his stay early in the morning. He asked for a receipt to be sent to the email. I confirmed the email aloud and he immediately interrupted me with a nasty tone that it was the wrong email.
I was stunned and switched the email over.

Next time he stays, he was assigned to a King accessible room (that was the last standard room we had that week and it comes with a tub so it’s not fully accessible) and he called down flipping out because the ironing board in the room wasn’t full sized.
I didnt know at the time that the ADA requires smaller ironing boards??
But I brought him up a full sized one instead.

He had consistent issues every week and he always came down to complain. Some I can’t remember, but every single time he was nasty and he had this angry look on his face with a distinctive jaw twitch. Made me feel very dehumanized if that makes sense??

However, every time he addressed something, I handled it promptly and politely…..as you do when you work the hotel front desk.

He had a clogged sink drain one day. I apologized and asked when someone can come to the room to fix it. It was fixed and he ended up being very grateful for it.

I ended up becoming his “go-to” person and he was pleasant for the most part, but again, if anything goes wrong he becomes a completely different person.

But, this past two weeks of his last stays ended up becoming worse somehow….

He left us a 5/10 review complaining about the room’s being inconsistent and one of my coworkers, but praising me and saying that I’ve treated him very well and helped him out.

Last week he demanded a mini fridge with a freezer. Last time I was able to get someone to do that for him, but last week he didn’t get one. I asked maintenance (one older guy) if he can find a room that has a freezer and he refused to do it.

I then found out that the mini fridges with freezers are as old as the hotel (20 years) and that we’re doing away with them. I didn’t know this but when the guest asked for an update, I lied and said that we checked the vacant rooms and couldn’t find one. Mentioned that there isn’t many of them but offered that he can use one of the freezers we have in the back.
He refused and said he doesn’t want anyone to access his stuff. I promised him no one would touch them unless he asks but whatever…. He said that he’s only staying 2 days so he’ll live without it. Okay, fine.

Now this week was his last week. Thank. God. But shit hit the fan quick.
He complained that there was no pad on the ironing board??
Then that night we had a wedding. Now, this is valid because depending on the noise complaint, it’s definitely valid.
He called down after 10pm that the room next to him is being very loud and he’s trying to sleep and “this is unacceptable”.
Since I didn’t know what room was the issue, I went up to address it. Had to bang on the door 3 times to get them to be quiet.
Not even 10 minutes later, he comes to the front desk to tell me it hasn’t stopped. I apologized and I called the room in front of him, told them they can either hang out in the breakfast, be quiet or I’ll call the cops.
Night Audit did have to call the cops on them and he didn’t complain again.

The following day, he came to the desk and I apologized to him. He was quite pleasant and he understood, he heard and saw me take action. Did tell him we had to call the cops on them. He thanked me for addressing the issue.

And the finale?
His sink was clogged again. Also, the landscapers came by yesterday. He was outside, came in to the desk and said “I hate to complain about this but I was sitting in my car on the phone and the guy just blew shit all over my car” I frowned and shook my head, trying to be disappointed on his behalf. Then he continued “At this point I’m just done” and “I just got my car detailed and now I’m gonna have to wash it again” and “This is costing
me money” and I deadass told him that I can’t do much from there.

But now he’s gone and he’s going to a different location. Apparently he gave us two more bad reviews, 1/10s. I know my GM has gotta be FUMING because our scores are already not great for the month and this asshole just dragged it through the mud. Because of that, he is on the DNR list. I think he even talked to the Panera representative (?) to let them know, but I’m not sure. I’m back on Thursday so I’ll have to confirm but I won’t be surprised.

long time reader first time contributor.

working pm shift have a wonder "travel advisor" book a third party reservation for an obstructed room. she gets in the room and immediately asks for a upgrade. i lovingly tell her that due to it being a third party res. any changes must go through the orignal booking agency. "but im a travel advisor and this room just feels dark like a dungeon"

me internally thinkin: well you booked it and it clearly stated it was obstructed you lovely moron

me actually saying: i cant make any changes to room type without it going through rackspedia. they technically took payment and you did not book through the hotel so all changes have to go through them since they just gave us a virtual card, travel advisor or not.

keep in mind readers, despite her trying to say she sends people to hotels, she has NEVER sent us any guests so it still means nothing to me. however she does call rackspedia who in turn call me who is working alone. they put me on a nice hold while i have other check ins to handle. i tell them let me finish my check in and to hold......... rackspedia hangs.........up...............

now our lovely travel advisor is at the front desk after being told it was handled and they can now get their upgrade....even though i never got confirmation from the rack. another pointless phone call back to rackspedia to confirm they did authorize a upgrade they tell me they cant help me and call another line despite being given all the information with travel advisor in front of me.

now guest calls her self for them to simply say they did authorize it. instead of thank you kind front desker...i get from travel advisor "do you guys always make it this difficult to upgrade because we've gotten free upgrades on third party reservations before"...............for the last time... when you book a third party reservation travel advisor or not... they give us a virtual card that is only authorized for a certain amount...so no i cant just upgrade you because you claim youre someone special who has never stayed at my property before.

travel advisors please dont try to use that title as clout or status. the front desk agents are not going to trip over you.

Some guests just can't be pleased.

I got a public bad review, one that everyone who searches the hotel will see. The thing is, I tried to go above and beyond for this lady.

She stayed with us for four days. She called the desk, asking if she needed to buy pots and pans for her room. I told her, in a joking manner, that sometimes the pans walk away, but it was no matter and I would make sure she had what she needed when she got back to the hotel. When she got back, she came down and told me she realized the dishwasher was not an oven. We laughed it off and I tried to ease her embarrassment by telling her many people think that. She was disappointed that she didn't have an oven. I apologized and said I would be more than happy to move her to a room that has an oven the next day because we were fully booked in that room type for the day. She declined and said she would work with what she had. I told her please don't hesitate to reach out if she changed her mind and we would be more than happy to help her.

She came down asking where my other coworker was over the next two days and I told her that he was not here but I did ask her if there was something I could help her with and she said no she'll just wait till she sees him and she'd go do whatever she was gonna do.

Saturday, she came down while my coworker and I were both at the desk. We greeted her, but she ignored me. She asked about where the closest Targét was and I told her I would find it and she ignored me again. She complained about thumping above her room, which we both apologized for and told her to please call the front desk when it starts so we can address it on the spot. Then she told my coworker, with me standing right there, that she was going to leave a review and put him and another coworker's name in it but she was staring at me while she was saying it. I'm not sure what her intentions were by doing that because she said it two more times before she left the desk.

It is boggling to me why that guest would write a bad review when I greeted her with a smile and a hello every time. When I asked her how her day was going or told her to have a great day every time she left. I don't let guests get to me like that and this honestly hurts because I did nothing wrong to this lady and she's basically saying I ruined her whole stay to the point where she wants a refund.

I know I shouldn't let it get to me. I have tons of great reviews, but no one ever mentions my name. This lady put my name in the review twice, putting emphasis on it. I feel like she tried to bully me but I don't understand why.

Gallant- Hello, thank you for calling the Grand Tales From the Front Desk Hotel how may I help you?

Goofus- I NEED to book for THE wedding!

Gallant - Sounds great, what are the dates you would like to book your stay with us?

Goofus - I'm coming for THE wedding!! I don't know?! Its in August and it's happening at the Grand Hotel!

Gallant - No problem, what is the name of the wedding party I can look up the dates for you?

Goofus - I DON'T KNOW (sounds of papers shuffling) Don't YOU know when THE wedding is? It's happening there!

Gallant - Unfortunately not without more details, but if you have the name of the wedding party or your dates I would be happy to.... (insert guest's exasperated 'how dare you' sigh cutting in here)

Goofus - Fine just a minute let me find the invitation - oh here it is July 4th it's my cousin Jasper's wedding!

Gallant - Screams internally while completing the tedious remaining 20 minute process of dragging basic booking information from Goofus for THE wedding. Gallant will not be surprised when Goofus is a No Show for Jasper's wedding and then tries to file a chargeback to dispute the fees.

And yet, some guests continue to find it logical to do so. It astounds me every time, just as it has today.

A guests shoots us a message asking for their bill. Fine enough, so far. But, then I read the next line.

They went into a bit of detail about their stay was "so horrible" due to various issues that occurred. My colleague saw the message first and had already replied. After apologizing for the trouble, they asked the guest: "Did you approach the desk at any point?"

Not acknowledging anything else that was said, the guest just replied back a sharp: "Nope. Was too mad."

I'll also like to add this individual was here for nearly a week. They also checked out over a week ago and only now did they decide to speak up.

The situation is in the hands of my manager; therefore I won't exercise any further brain capacity trying to understand which plane of existence this person lives on.

So for those who don't know, Manic episode is a prolonged period of one's mood being abnormally elated, irritable and high energy. Usually lasts for more than a week. The common signs can be high energy, no need to sleep, racing thoughts, gradiosity, fast talking, impulsive and odd behavior. Each individual is different from another.

I just had one the other day. For disclaimer, I had no idea what Manic episode was before the incident. I felt like an experimenter poking a bear and wait to see different reactions, trying to understand the odd change of behavior.

So that night while I was doing my NA work, Mr. A(a hotel guest) brought this guy with him back to the hotel, let's call him Mr. W. He is 62yo, tall, thin, wearing a fashionable sunglasses at night time. My first impression, He was a VERY chatty person. Even though I just met him, he just talked your ears off. I was just nodding and nodding with him, trying to tune out because I was typing something important on my screen. My co worker next to me who also didn't have anything to say, just nodding like me. What should have been a Hello and GOOD NIGHT turned into 3, 4 whole minute of him yapping to 2 strangers. In short, i dont like him but 1 thing for sure, HE CAN TALK.

On the day of the incident, Mr. W was in my lobby, mr A was not with him. He was oddly running around in my lobby, frustrated about something. He saw me, someone he recognized, and approached me for help. I greeted him, expected a very long convoluted explanation for this behavior. However,on this day, he had turned MUTE.

For some reason, he could not speak that day. He was like a mime, high on cocain, aggressively acting it out with his hands. But beside the fast hand movement and the inability to talk, what stood out to me was his facial expression, it was like the face of a thirsty doggy, wide mouth open, with the Hehehehehh mouth breathing sound, minus the stick out tounge though.

I don't know what game he played, I gave him a pen and paper, telling him to write what he wants to say to me. He could only write just 1 random word at a time.

"SATURDAY", "SUNDAY", MANIC", "JULIA", "MARIA", "WILLIAM".

Those were the words he wrote. That didn't help at all.

I told him "FOCUS, STAND STILL, COLLECT YOUR THOUGTS and write me a full sentence so I can understand". He couldn't, continued to write random words and made me guess what he was trying to say.

Unable to communicate to me, he suddenly ran off ...then came back 15mins later and cursed to me " You go and fcking get Mr.A RIGHT FCKING NOW". "Oh so now you can talk" I thought to myself.

Usually when someone using this tone with me or my staff, I would call security right away or i tell them i would call police if they don't calm down. However, out of respect for Mr. A, I called him first. Mr. A came down to see him, and he sent him away after 10mins talking. Mr. A then apologized to me about this whole trouble. He explained to me that this Mr.W guy is just someone he met in a club nearby, not a close friend, he got kicked out by his brother and is having a manic episode. He then gave me permission to call security next time because Mr A no longer wants to associate with Mr W. I agreed.

Later, 2:45 AM, Mr W came back. He turned MUTE again, same dumb face expression. One last time, I told him "WHAT DO YOU WANT? i know you can talk, stop wasting my time". And once again, nothing making sense came out of him. "Get out" I told him.

Later, 3:30AM, he came back again. This time I didn't even bother open the door for him. He angrily banging the door and cursed to me "Wait until I fcking see you outside".

Needless to say, I declared to ban him from the hotel and I shared with my FD team about this guy.

A day later, I heard he came back during lunch time. And this time, my GM personally handled him. Long story short, my GM thought this guy was wack and called the FD team to ban him, same like me.

I’m night audit at a Boston hotel and I am puzzled. Every year the parents descend on the hotels in this area and for the life of me I cannot figure out where some of these kids got the smarts to get into these universities from, because quite a few of the parents have ZERO common sense or any other outward signs of intelligence. Rich, entitled and dumb. If the grandparents are tagging along I’ve found that interacting with them is far easier and way more pleasant.

I hate graduation season. When I worked in the hotel business in DC, it did not seem this ridiculous.

*Rant*
Each day that I see a third party reservation that’s already been prepaid.. I lose a year of my life. Accidentally booked the wrong date? You might get charged a fee regardless if the hotel says the third part can waive it. Every time I say they can waive it. Even the managers say that they can waive it. Problem with the room or have a family emergency and need to leave? You have to go thru the third party hassle to get a partial or full refund.

The first guests that walked in were a couple. Of course when I see that I don’t see their prepaid reservation, it’s always either they booked it for the wrong date or wrong location. I saw that their reservation is for next Sunday. Of course the culprit is the third party. So they had to wait for a good twenty while third party goes thru their process of talking to the guests, then calling the hotel, then calling back the guest. At that point the guest had gave up with third party and just booked directly with us. Usually something like this happens, I just give them some type of discount to make their lives easier.

Now this second guest was an older lady and she actually got on my nerves just a tad. I tried to also offer her a discount for her room if she booked with me directly because of the inconvenience of the third party had caused. At first she said no. So I had to explain the whole process of what happened with her reservation. She had me do everything with third party on her phone until she got to the calling part. I had to deal with the chat agent for ten minutes straight. The moment when the agent actually calls her on the phone, she somehow misses the call. 🫠 she tried to call them back and got the automated agent on the phone. It took another ten minutes just to get somebody on the phone. The agent is talking about cancellation and rebooking fees. They charged this lady’s card three separate times while trying to edit her reservation dates on their end. Finally, the third party woman says that they have an “error” and just refunded all her money. That’s when the guest finally decided to just book her room directly with me.

The same exact thing happened last night. A family had booked our suite room. Problem is. The family had their reservation booked for next weekend too. Also, someone else was already renting out the suite. The third party was also trying to charge them an $85 cancellation fee because of course the suite wasn’t available last night. All they could do was just change the room to a standard room or pay the $85. Even though we already said to waive it. Thats when the family just decided to take the standard room, and we (the hotel) comped them a second room.

What gets me even more is the fact that it’s always the same third party that does this. Of course I can’t say the exact third party on here. I really don’t have this problem with any other third parties. Sometimes I wish third party reservations weren’t a thing.. at least the prepaid ones. Unfortunately, my hotel uses them though.

So...

A guest made a reservation on Suxpedia "accidentally". A non-refundable reservation. They cancelled it almost immediately, which is within the grace period.

But Suxpedia already charged the guests card. So now Suxpedia is asking for a refund.

I told them that the virtual card hasn't been charged so there is nothing to refund and the cancellation has to be approved by the GM tomorrow morning after 11 AM to be classified as no-penalty.

So the guest decided "if we can't get a refund we might as well go" so they are now trying to un-cancel their reservation.

But appearently Suxpedia can not reinstate a cancelled reservation. The guest has to make a new reservation.

So Suxpedia is asking for a refund once again. And I keep telling them there is nothing to refund. That the virtual card hasn't been charged yet.

They hit me with "but the guest has been charged"

...

BY YOU!!! YOU are the one who charged the guest... I am supposed to charge you, but I haven't. So you can void your virtual card and refund the guest without my approval...

Or just make a new reservation and transfer the guest's payment to the new reservation...

BUT NOOO... they have to cancel and refund the guest so the guest can be charged again... for the same reservation...

Here is the note I just wrote in the pass down log for the front desk at my hotel. I think it speaks for itself.

“I was here for some of the original [guests’ names] drama. They have been on the DNR list since at least 2022, and for good reason. I personally don't think they deserve this chance given to them, based on everything they have put this hotel and its staff through. There were some truly horrible and depraved things they called the FD agents, including myself, and they literally screamed in our faces. [son’s name] makes the women agents uncomfortable due to his 'flirting," which is just gross, overt sexualization of us, that he says we should take as a compliment, and [mom’s name] is just all around awful to us. For example: I took a call from them back around the beginning of 2024 and when I told them they were not allowed to stay here, they cussed me out until I was in tears and had to hang up on them. It got to the point that we were told that if they made a reservation to cancel it right away, and if they showed up we were to immediately call the police. They have been told on many, many, many occasions to not make reservations here and that they will be trespassed if they show up. In the past, they have been known to try to get around our DNR by using fake names, or acting nice until they are checked in and then flipping the script and proceeding to be awful for the rest of their stay. And all of this isn't even touching on all the money issues they have caused in the past. I know it's not my call, I just thought I would offer my two cents.”

Essentially, they stayed here several times between 2022-2024 and caused so many issues that they were placed in the 'Do Not Rent' list, and were told on many occasions to not come back and that they would be trespassed if they showed up.

Well, they made a new reservation this week and I happened to be out of town and I wasn’t able to catch it. A newer agent checked them in without realizing the situation, so my new boss decided to give them a second chance and if they are good this time they would be taken off the DNR list. They have been in house for 2 days and are already causing some of the same exact issues. This is the note | left when I got back from vacation and read all the notes explaining what has happened with them.

hi everybody i’m on shift right now and I was curious if anybody has slept with a guest and their story…getting caught, what happened after etc…

My story is that, we have teams that will stay at this location and one of them called down to the front desk and asked me to come to his room. and guess what. i did lmaoo. it was cool I thought it was good ahhaha they stayed there for a couple days. so we had hooked up 2x within that stay. No one to this day knows. Im close with my coworkers but I don’t know what the will think or say. so please make me feel not crazy and share stories hahahah

Dearest readers, I have a confession to make. It pains me to say, but I find myself quite disliking children nowadays. Maybe it is my aging womb crying out for children of its own, maybe it is due to my position as an old maid. As I find myself staring down the rapid approach of my twenty-second year on this plane, I realize more and more every day that I am not a fan of the youth. I find them quite loud and rambunctious. Perhaps I feel the need to be the loudest and the most rambunctious in whatever room I am in. Maybe it's my tendency to swear like a sailor who hasn't gotten his land legs back yet. Either way, most people in my life find my remarks on children's volume to be quite hypocritical, and then say something like, "please use your inside voice."

Sorry, I'm feeling a bit dramatic today. There's been so much going on lately, so let me give you the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good: I finally graduated college (yay!), and that means I'm starting to work more! More stories and shenanigans! The bad: One of my coworkers was fired this week, and I really liked her. The ugly: I had to call 911 (on my own phone, because the hotel's were down!) because of a head on crash outside the hotel last week, and there's a wanted poster for a murderer on the back of the office door that is definitely ugly.

Due to the schedule changes, I have finally been released from the prison known as "weekend morning shifts." This is the best thing to happen to me ever. I no longer have to deal with my arch-nemesis the breakfast lady, and I don't have to get up at 6:30 am on weekends. My social life rejoices. My liver and lungs, not so much. But they'll survive, as will I.

Today I'm working three to eleven, which seems like a breeze after the doubles I've done lately, and the night audit shift with an 8 hour turnaround into an afternoon shift I did yesterday. I did volunteer for all this, so I shouldn't complain too much. Maybe I'm a bit of a masochist, maybe I need money, maybe I get bored now that I'm not in school and crave a little adrenaline.

And adrenaline I shall get! When I walk in, I'm greeted by a guest complaining profusely about the state of the sheets in her room. Now, I get it. Wrinkly sheets aren't fun. But this isn't the Ritz Carlton, this is the Worst Eastern Nowhere City. My coworker is apologizing, which I believe is half the job. They should put that in the description. I digress, though-- this lady is very unhappy with her sheets being wrinkled and requests a change, then leaves. I ask housekeeping if they can stop by and switch sheets, but they let me know they don't have enough people (evident by the fact that all rooms aren't ready, but I have to ask anyway), and that they're not even sure if they have sheets that would be up to this lady's standards.

My coworker gives me the rundown. She's amazing, and fresh off a 16 hour overnight shift, she's still able to communicate without it turning into endless screams, like I tend to do after a double. She lets me know that our current "problem room" is still here. Every day I pray to a god I don't believe in (different one every time, I'm just rolling the dice) that these people leave and return to the hell from whence they came. Based on their accent, I'm betting it's Texas, but that's pure stereotyping to be fair.

These people do not seem to understand the concept of a reservation. They are under the impression that they can extend day by day, at the same (discounted, long-term) rate, in the same room, for an indefinite amount of time, without any form of payment ahead of time. This is not true. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would understand this.

Well, today these devils from Georgia had to switch rooms due to availability. Surprise, surprise, if you don't reserve the room, we will sell it to someone else. My coworker managed to get them physically into the new room, but they kept delaying giving payment. They're apparently going to stop by the desk to pay this evening. I shoot them another text through our messaging system to remind them to stop by and pay, and inform them for the zillionth time that they need to pay before checkout time, or we can't guarantee their room. I add a "I'd hate for us to sell out and you have to leave, because we love having you as a guest!" I lie like a politician, I swear. They say they'll be back before 5 pm to pay. As of this writing, it's 7 pm. They have texted to say they are stuck in traffic. I am skeptical, as Nowhere City doesn't have 2 hour traffic jams. We barely have traffic. God, I cannot wait until they leave.

Anyway, back to my original topic-- the cheerleaders we have staying this weekend. Now, they're not particularly doing anything wrong, so to speak. There's just a lot of them and they're children, which as I mentioned, are not my favorite guests. When I get in, my coworker and the housekeeping manager/work mom inform me that all rooms are not clean yet. Understandably, guests are a bit peeved about not being able to get into their rooms at check-in time. I apologize over and over, as I am very skilled at.

As rooms get cleaned, I check people in. One woman is so furious she won't meet me eye or talk to me. Thankfully, as I told my work mom, I'm quite experienced at people being angry at me. Excuse the trauma dump for a moment-- I grew up with one of those dads that likes to yell. He's only really able to process emotions through anger. Unfortunately, mine also got louder and more angry the more you reacted to his anger. The poor man feels bad, then, you see, for making me upset, so he has to process that emotion, and as you might recall, he defaults to anger.

However annoying and vaguely emotionally scarring this part of my childhood was, it has made me very good at the smiling and nodding that is necessary in customer service jobs. Throw in a few apologies, position yourself as an ally to the guest ("This definitely shouldn't be happening, and I will make sure management and housekeeping knows about this so it doesn't happen again."), etc. etc. and so on until you've turned into a people pleasing machine. I offer some sodas to some guests upset about their room not being ready, as we're out of the water they asked for. Dentists hate me.

I get to flex those muscles again as the sheets lady returns, this time with corporate on the line. I offer her up to $35 off the night for the "inconvenience." She informs me the bathroom is also dirty (manager later noted it was not). She leaves for a moment and when she returns she's in line behind two check-ins. I get a call from corporate, but have to put them on hold due to the line that's growing like my disdain for humanity. I'm running between making keys, checking in reservations, answering the phone, letting people into the pool, and communicating with housekeeping, who is now pulling me aside to let me know that housekeeping has discovered that the air conditioning in 304 doesn't work. It's hot as hell here today, and we have someone assigned to that room. They're also in the room next door, where they're already checked in. I curse another god (I'm up to the Slavic ones by now), and continue to check people in while trying to figure out what to do with that reservation-- they're already a bit annoyed they had to wait an hour after check-in time to get into their room, so I'm not looking forward to giving them the news.

Thank Bast (on to the Egyptian ones!), we have one more room open tonight. And, due to the grace of Ra, it's right across the hall from their other room, AND an upgrade from their current room. I reassign it and try to call them, but they don't pick up. Sheets lady is at the front of the line again, with corporate still on the phone. I hear the entire conversation as she's talking to the customer service rep, who says they tried to call the front desk but I was busy. I say loudly that I had to put them on hold due to the line, and the rep is understanding. The lady notes aloud that there is no line *now.* Of course, there's not, I just blasted through the line like I was backstage at SNL during the cocaine years. Corporate calls me back, I explain everything, and the customer service rep thanks me and calls the guest back. She speaks to the guest again, who once again refuses the discount and says she'll be leaving.

The rep on the phone says that it seems like front desk has done all they can for her in this situation, and that I'm very nice. I add that to my list of compliments I'll lay in bed and remember. Sheets lady ends the call, and informs me she wants a refund. I let her know I don't have the authority to process refunds, but that she can send pictures of the room to our email and I will forward them on to my boss. She's upset she won't be getting a refund immediately, but I repeat that I can't help her with that, and promise to make sure my boss knows about the "issues."

She tells me she'll be calling the health department on us, along with the local tv station. She's also trashing the hotel to any guest within hearing distance. I apologize once again.

My manager is currently staying in the hotel as he looks for a place, so he gets informed of the situation. He tries to convince the housekeeping manager to flip that room for someone else for the night, but she does everything but laugh in his face. It's 4pm and she's been there since 7am. He can go clean it himself if he wants to flip it that bad, I say.

The guests who were supposed to be in 304 call down to ask about the second room. I let them know about the room switch, they check in and get their keys, and I cross that crisis off the list. I also thank Zeus that we are now officially sold out, and I don't need to worry about new reservations coming through.

I check two people in at once, switching tabs back and forth while also trying to finish making all the keys. Unfortunately, my multitasking skill fails me like it never has before and I hand a guest the wrong keys. He comes down a few moments later and asks why it's a different room type than what he reserved. I see his key sleeve and immediately realize my fuckup. I switch the keys back. Of course, my boss comes in from smoking at this point, not any of my amazing customer service highs of the evening.

Sheets lady stops by the desk for a final time to return the keys and to ask why the guest before her in line was given new keys. I explain there was a mix-up, and she tells me she believes she's being discriminated against as a woman. I am also a woman, but I don't say anything, just apologize again. She says she specifically thinks *I'm* discriminating against her. Like a broken record, I tell her how sorry I am her stay wasn't up to her expectations, and she finally leaves. My manager checks the room and says there's no issues. The housekeeping manager tells me I handled it like an angel, and that goes in my compliment bank as well.

I keep getting people asking for pool towels, but we're out, so I shoot out a text on our messaging system named after a certain bird begging people to return any pool towels they have in their rooms to the front desk so I can wash them. My work mom shows me how to use the washer and dryer. Apparently one dryer will only start if you sacrifice a goat to it while singing Believer by Imagine Dragons in the key of G, and then pull up on the handle when it says the door is still open. I practice my vocal warm ups for my sacrificial performance by hiding in the back and cursing out every guest in the hotel.

I am blessed with a time of relative peace and quiet. Someone asks me how the ethernet works, and I tell him I didn't even know we *had* ethernet, and text my boss to ask him. I make conversation about video games with the guest while I wait for my boss to text me back. On a completely random note, I hate when I'm talking to other gamers and they ask what game I'm playing and I can't answer because it's a "girly" game. If I give the real answer, they're going to dismiss me as a casual gamer because I'm a woman. I need to get back into gory blood-and-guts games.

The peace is broken by having to yell (read: politely inform) at children to stop jumping in the pool. I send out another mass text reminding people that hallways and the pool are shared spaces, and to please keep it down.

It's now almost 8 pm, and our southern friends have still not returned to pay for their room for tonight. I text my manager practically begging to put them on the DNR list. He agrees. I am not a vindictive person, I like to think. I think of myself as nice, sometimes too nice, even. However, I am looking forward to telling this couple they are not allowed to extend their stay with us after tomorrow morning.

I spend the next hour selling basically everything we have in our sundry area and getting people ice. We're now out of both pool and bath towels, which is going over very well with people.

Nine pm rolls around and still no payment. She finally sends me a credit card number over a text. I let her know she'll need to fill out a CC authorization form if she doesn't have the physical card with her. I keep trying to get her to come to the desk so I can officially let her know she's on the DNR list and will need to vacate tomorrow, but they seem to have managed to get into the room even though I locked them out.

They finally paid at 9:06 pm, 10 hours after checkout time. Since they refused to come to the desk, I inform them via text that we can no longer rent to them. She takes it surprisingly well, but I'm suspicious she'll try to make a new third party reservation tomorrow. I already have a note for the morning person advising them on this, though, so there's nothing else I can do.

I bitch and moan like I'm being tortured, but the secret truth is, like Marie Kondo, I love mess. I like getting my adrenaline going and getting moving. Finally getting off morning shifts has given me the opportunity to have some excitement again, and I get to interact with guests more, so maybe I'll get some name drops in reviews ($25 a review!). I wonder sometimes if I should become a bartender, because there's nothing I like more than juggling three tasks and two stories at once. Plus, I have a license to serve alcohol in my state now, as we serve alcohol here now because Athena has forsaken me.

As I write this, dear reader (I'm bringing the Brontë thing back), it's almost ten. In a moment, I will make sure all the gremlins are out of the pool and hopefully dine. I wish all my fellow hotel employees an easy night, and a good eve to all, and my thanks for reading.