When I am getting close to checking out of a hotel room, I obviously clean up as much as I can and leave a tip. But one extra thing I do is remove all the blankets, sheets(not the mattress cover), and pillow cases and put them in a pile near the door. Does this actually help the cleaning staff? People often find it odd when I do it.
Hi everyone! I’m 19 years old, and tomorrow is my first day working at a hotel as a front desk associate. I’m super excited, but also really nervous because all of my previous jobs have been in customer service, a coffee shop, and a boutique. This feels like my first real business job, so it’s definitely outside my comfort zone. I am majoring in Business, so I’m really excited because I feel like this could be a great stepping stone toward my career. At the same time, I’m worried about making mistakes or freezing up since everything will be so new.
What should I expect during my first few days? What are some things you wish someone had told you before starting at the front desk? Any tips for calming first-day nerves or learning everything faster?
I went out and bought some business casual clothes because I wanted to make a good first impression. 😅
I’d love to hear any advice or stories from people who have worked hotel front desk before. Thanks so much!
So l've accepted a job as a housekeeper at premier inn but I'm so nervous as I was told at the interview they're strict and expect good standards understandably. I forgot how many rooms you have to clean but I think it's 10 with 15 mins per room.
I'm really nervous because I don't think I'm the best cleaner but I'm practising making the bed quickly. Is it as scary as everyone makes out? What advice would you give? Any cleaning advice? If you work as a housekeeper how do you find it?
Thank you!
Editing to include: this is a 4-star, was 5-star one year ago, hotel/resort on the beach. I am traveling internationally with my BFF to celebrate my birthday and am not from the country where the hotel is located.
The room I originally thought I was getting was way closer to the beach & better pool access. The room I got is close to the road/lobby, and apparently bar lol, with a lot less privacy (see my update comment & below)
- people can see us changing/showering/toilet as they walk past our room through gaps in wooden shutters (not the shutter slats I want to clarify, it is vertical gaps going up and down the whole vertical length of the shutter panels.) above the tub. Especially at night when the lights in the bathroom are on and it is dark outside. I went up to the lobby to ask for a sheet to hang to block it for the night and you can see into our bathroom even from there(!).
Yes, I still got the same type of room I paid for. But the location of the room couldn’t be more drastic than the one I thought I was going to get - my bad for getting excited and then feeling disappointed.
Yes I waited in the lobby next to my bags, with all of my important things to travel, but it is a big lobby with several couch sections, people going in and out, etc. & bags all over the place, again, right next to the road. Our large suitcases were literally right next to the road, by the guard, but still anyone driving past could have easily grabbed them if the guard stepped away for toilet or whatever. The lobby is up several flights of stairs from the main entrance to the road - open air concept.
I haven’t complained or been rude to anyone working here, literally posted here to vent and get feedback.
Hi, first time poster in this sub. Does anyone have any insight on what I could/should do in this case? I typically am a very understanding person, but honestly feeling very confrontational about the situation and I would like to hear other thoughts/opinions.
Just happened when I checked into my hotel. Context:
We arrived several hours early to the hotel, I never asked for an early check in, was completely fine to wait for my room.
This is in a country where I don’t speak the native language (SEA)
My luggage was tagged while I waited to actually get into the room, it was tagged A101.
I am with a partner, I told my partner I was going to walk the hotel grounds and look around while we waited, and I saw that room A101 was in a great location!
The hotel has rooms that open up to a giant pool, and this was further from checkout/road area, more in the “prime” zone.
I waited in the lobby, several times was asked if I wanted to go to a “waiting room”, which I declined because my bags with important things were left out in the open with many guests walking by them.
I know the staff kept an eye on things, but I would rather be safe than sorry. and for my own sanity, I would have just been constantly needing to check that my bags were still there anyways.
When it was time to go to the room, I was presented with a keycard that said A107. I did say something about the numbers being different, but they did not really answer me. I thought ok I will see, and maybe language barrier.
Honestly after several hours of waiting I just wanted to get to my room. I was led to a room in the literal worst spot for the room type I booked. Close as possible to front desk/road area, smaller section of pool in front of my room, and not very nice views. The room also has a not-good smell in the bathroom, like sewer coming from the pipes.
Also they wrote different numbers on the tags several times, trying to disguise A101 to A105-A107?? Just so strange.
Honestly, it still is beautiful, but after expecting A101 and then being given this I am just angry. I am exhausted - went to bed after midnight, woke up to go to the airport at 4:30 am, flight, then ride
OH MY GOD AS I AM IN THE MIDDLE OF POSTING THIS A GUY LITERALLY PULLS UP WITH TWO BUCKETS OF WOOD STAIN AND STARTS STAINING THE DECK DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF ME. The smell is so strong, like what???
Anyways, ffs, the room is the same type as the one I booked but just feeling so disappointed. If I hadn’t been expecting the better room I honestly would have been a bit dissatisfied but not as bad as I am feeling knowing I could have had - did have?? - better and for some reason was put here instead.
I honestly think the front desk people did it on purpose because I didn’t leave the lobby - I went to the toilet and came back, and they were lounging on the couches in the lobby but immediately jumped up and went back to “post positions”.
I told them with a smile and laugh that they didn’t need to do that, but I understand the need to be professional.
I could tell they were talking, & wanting me to leave in a language I can’t understand.
Tbh, I would have loved to go to the waiting room in the AC instead of outside in the 31 degree weather, but I didn’t feel good about leaving my bags.
I wasn’t being weird, just sitting there scrolling and then I journaled a bit.
Also it is my birthday trip. I guess my expectations are a bit high because I want to have a nice time.
I booked through 3rd party app and honestly just want to stay one night, then try to get refunded and go somewhere else. I just don’t have the energy or want to have to go fight about this, but it seems like I will need to or just deal with it. I don’t know. What do you think or what would you do?
TLDR:
Arrived at hotel and my bags were tagged with a great room number. When it was time to go to the room, I was given a different room, in the worst location for the type of room I booked. Feeling sensitive, tired, and just annoyed. Are my feelings valid, or am I overreacting a bit?
Slightly curious, slightly tempted to leave my current hotel (though it's not just the workload that is tempting me).
On average, I have maybe two hours during my shift that feel like the common saying us night auditors don't do much during the shifts, that it's mostly boredom and running audit.
The rest of the time, I am doing laundry, making coffee, filling the front desk supplies, filling the pantry, delievering the paper folio's under doors for guests checking out that day, prepare third party guest reservations for that day, make the little key card things, grabbing the dirty pool towels and replacing them with new ones (side note, dirty pool towels? Gross. On the weekends it's a horrific nightmare. I'm a smaller dude and I have to make like three trips just to get them all into the laundry room.) And that's not including stopping to eat.
I always try to get everything on my checklist done and even try to do extra stuff for the day people to make it easier because they deal with more people and chaos. I like being helpful and I genuinely want to be a good night auditor. Working in hotels has been really fun so far (aside from the pool because again, that is... so gross.) but I kind of took this job because it would be easier to do schoolwork at night and less overstimulating than the day, but I'm running all over the hotel to do everything on the checklist.
I don't know if I should do a different kind of hotel or if this is just the real night auditor life in general but I'm so tired man.
I am visiting NYC on 4th of July Weekend &staying at Hampton’s Inn on the 41st Street ( Near Times square)with my wife. I am travelling from India and its my first time in the USA, How much tip is expected by the Housekeeping? I had a very bad experience at an Irish pub in Boston,where I left 3$ tip on a 30$ bar bill and the waitress got offended and gave me the money back while passing off a comment. I must say that 1$ in my country can get you a one time full meal for her it might have been less but for me that was 5x what we give back in my country. I dont wanna leave a bad impression on people ,so please help me out
Hoping for assistance - my sister made a reservation with a hotel (fully cancellable 24 hours ahead of check-in per confirmation). The hotel took the full amount from her credit card a few days after reservation made (large amount). She's been after them for months because they tried to retroactively apply a "no-refund policy due to FIFA" which was never communicated until 3 months after & not on orginal res confirmation. They have since apologized but she's over it and cancelling her stay. They now need to do full refund but said "tried to refund but her bank is refusing". The bank has confirmed multiple times there are no issues/restrictions and see no attempts of refund. Her online booking shows "cancelled" so it's officially gone, but they keep coming back to say "you bank is refusing the refund sharing a screenshot from their syestm that says "Failed to settle amount on credit card/Please Retry". They give no other reference/transaction, etc. And the GM is very non responsive.
Hi all, so I recently started working as a front desk agent at a 3-star hotel. The place I work at is extended stay and so far, I've loved everybody I work with.
However, I often feel like things are too disorganized or that we are uncoordinated, which creates an issue when helping with guests. For example, housekeeping does not keep up to date as much as they should with rooms, so sometimes they'll be marked as dirty as we are checking a guest into said room and we need to make them wait for housekeeping to confirm if the room is clean, which can sometimes be a minute.
It's not just housekeeping either, it feels like there are a lot of things we're not told about the rooms or what ammenities are offered by the hotel so that can create confusion between myself and my supervisors or other front desk agents. We are a smaller team so that might be why, but I've noticed I often feel like we're not kept in the loop; we don't have much written communication beyond emailing and limited written documentation.
Perhaps this is because I'm new as well but I'm established enough that I'm by myself most nights, so I feel like I shouldn't be having this issue now. Any advice or insight is appreciated.
I'm going to be going through Chicago twice this month, both times on a Saturday.
On the westbound trip,assuming my train arrives on time, I have a 12 hour layover between my connecting train from about 10 AM to 10 PM. I will have been up all night, unless I'm able to sleep on the train. I don't want to sightsee, because I'll be coming back to Chicago later in the week to do that with some friends (have tickets for the Obama Presidential Center). I want a place to hang out that day, relax, and maybe get a nap. I've looked at dayuse.com and found something I like that's only a mile from Union Station. Should I go ahead and reserve?
Or, considering how late some of the Amtrak trains can be, should I wait and find a day use room when I actually arrive in Chicago?
Then, the following Saturday, I have to check out of the Airbnb by 11 AM but my train doesn't depart Chicago until about 10 PM. So, same question, should I book a day use room now or wait until the day of?
I'd appreciate any advice from someone who has some experience with this. Are day use rooms more likely to book up during the week or on the weekend?
How do you manage a social life with the late shift? I work Thursday through Monday / 2:30-11 and I love my schedule but I’m finding it impossible to enjoy life and use my free will. Anyone else struggle ?
We offer a free breakfast and have eggs. So many guest have issues with it but its the standard item you get from like Sysco. Whats been working at your hotels?
I have a 13 room hotel and ive had two guest call me about a email they received which ask them to resend there credit card info to confirm there booking otherwise it will be cancled. I asked one of the guest to send me a photo of the email beacsue it couldn't be forwarded and it wasn't sent from us. This is some scam and im very worried. What can I do to stop it
I work the evening shift at a short-term rental/apart-hotel in Rabat, Morocco, 4pm to midnight, front desk. And honestly, before anyone assumes this post is a complaint, it's not. I genuinely love this job. I love hospitality, I love the rhythm of it, and I love meeting new people from all over the world every single day. That part never gets old.
But yeah, the schedule messes with a "normal" social life in ways people don't always expect. Here's what's actually worked for me.
Mornings became my new evenings. I stopped trying to force myself into other people's schedules and started treating 8am to 2pm as my prime time, filled with gym, errands, calls with friends who are flexible, even coffee catch ups before my shift starts. It took a while to stop feeling guilty about "wasting the morning" and start seeing it as just my version of after work hours.
I got selective about which relationships I invest in. Friends who need you to be free every weekend night just won't work with this schedule, and that's fine. The people who've stuck around are the ones willing to meet for breakfast, or hang out on my off days, or just text throughout the day instead of expecting evening plans.
Midnight isn't actually dead time. A lot of my closest friends now are people I met through work, other people in hospitality, guests who turned into real friendships, coworkers who get the schedule because they live it too. We'll grab food after close sometimes. There's a whole social world that exists after midnight if you let yourself find it instead of mourning the 8pm dinner plans you're missing.
I stopped comparing my week to a 9-to-5 week. Once I accepted that my "weekend" might be a random Tuesday, planning got a lot easier. I use my off days intentionally instead of just recovering.
None of this fixed everything. I still miss things, still get the "wait, you work until midnight?" reaction a lot. But the job itself gives me so much energy, meeting new people constantly, that it balances out. Curious how others in similar shifts (hospitality, hotels, restaurants) have figured out their version of this.
It's the AI era, as we all know. People ask small and minor things to ChatGPT, and if we come to our hotels, then many tasks we do manully that can be automated, or with the use of AI software, we can make our hotel workflow smoother and improve our overall guest experience.
Maybe 4- to 5-star hotels are using this and getting good revenue and great feedback from guests.
Is there anyone who is using AI in their hotel tasks or using some kind of software that reduces the workload
If yes, please suggest!
Hello, not sure if this is the right place to ask but I dont know where else to go. My name is Rocco, and I live in Chicago and was looking for a job. I applied to Marriott, Hilton, and a few other places for various jobs whether it was housekeeper, dishwasher, laundry attendant, security. I did all of these applications online through Indeed weeks ago and still no email, call, or anything to indicate my application moved anywhere beyond being sent. Would it be better to walk in and ask about job opportunities? I read online that going and applying to their websites would be better. I did that for another place today, but for other places would it be better to just walk in and ask? I know Indeed attracts alot of applicants and it takes time but how long have you guys waited to hear back? Im in search of a job, I need a new one badly
I'm about to travel to Tucson today for vacation, which is just an hour from where i live, that's how cheap i am, gonna stay for 2 days. I didn't plan anything at all, just gonna drive up there in a few hours. Would it be cheaper to just show up at a hotel and rent a room or to use a booking site or to call them ahead?
hello everyone!
I am flying into chicago for Fourth of July weekend and I was wondering if it was possible for my dad to check into my room for me since I’m arriving hours later.
both of the rooms have my dad listed as an “additional guest” even though I’m the one that booked it. I’m 19 so under the 21 age rule. so they won’t let me check in alone. good thing is, my dad and brother are arriving more than 6 hours and before and since I’m arriving super late into the night, I just want to get my key and go to my room without waking up my dad and having him come down to check in for me. is that possible ? or difficult to do ?
Hey everyone,
Using a burner account because I don't want this tied back to my property. I’m a GM at a property with a bit of a sprawling layout (multiple buildings/floors, some tricky navigation to get to the pool/amenities).
This past weekend (we were at 98% occupancy), I had three separate guests check in, get to their rooms, and immediately come back down furious because the walk was too long or too confusing. Shuffling rooms last-minute during a sell-out night absolutely killed my front desk team and threw housekeeping into a tailspin.
I’m losing my mind over the negative reviews hitting our GSS scores for "poor accessibility."
Does anyone else have a property with a nightmare layout? How are you prepping guests for the reality of your property before they arrive so they don't freak out at check-in? We try to explain it at the desk, but by then, it's already too late if the house is full.
Appreciate any advice or just solidarity lol.
Thanks in advance.
Or as experienced FD agents and Managers, what was that one thing you did for the new front desk agent which made his or her learning process easier ? Could be multiple things too of course.
I'd really appreciate your help as a new front desk agent . Thank you
Over the last few months I've noticed a pattern of sorts:
- We will receive an OTA booking
- Sometime after the guest will cancel the OTA booking, and then make a new one... for the same dates, and with the same rate...
Sometimes this happens on the day they made the first booking, sometimes it will be weeks after...
However one important detail to mention is: there are absolutely no differences between the reservations:
- They have the same check-in date
- They have the same check-out date
- The guest names are the same
- They have the same room categories
They are absolutely identical.
But it will just keep getting cancelled and rebooked. Sometimes this happens 3-4 times with the same reservation.
I have no idea what is going on.
Is this some sort of scam? Are they hoping that I'll miss an update and try to charge the wrong virtual card, while they will try to claim to the OTA that they did in fact not show up and want a refund?