r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk

A few days ago I was working my shift when this guest walked up to the desk asking if we had a phone charger she could borrow since she forgot to pack hers and it was too late in the day to go buy a new one. I had to tell her that unfortunately the hotel doesn't carry chargers. She seemed shocked and asked why. I told her we used to, but the problem was that we'd always end up losing them when guests never returned them. So finally, after replacing who knows how many chargers (both iPhone and Android) the hotel just stopped carrying them. She was upset, but then asked, "What about that one?" while pointing to the back desk against the wall where there was a phone charging.

My phone to be exact.

I told her the phone was mine as was the charger and therefore I wasn't going to lend it out. She said that wasn't fair, that she should be allowed to use it. I once again informed her that the charger was mine, not the hotels. She didn't care and actually said that since I worked for the hotel, anything of mine is part of the hotel while I was on duty and I was obligated to let her use my charger. I've heard some really weird mental gymnastics from guests in order to justify being given whatever request they're asking for, but THIS one was out there, even for me. I told her that she has no rights to my personal property and she was not going to be given my charger no matter what, and she walked off in a huff.

I found out later from my FOS that she came down and complained that I refused her request for the use of my charger. Apparently she became upset when told once again that an employee's personal property is just that, their personal property and the hotel would not force us to allow a guest to use it. The rest of the desk staff and myself are taking bets on whether or not she'll try taking this up with corporate.

Six years at the front desk of a hotel just off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville and I thought I had seen everything. I keep a mental ranking of the worst rooms I have been called into and I update it like once or twice a year. Today it got updated big time.

Guest in 214 checked out around 9 am, greeted and smiled at me on the way out, asked about the best trail access nearby and thanked me for a great stay. I was playing on my phone since I had nothing to do and 40 minutes later the housekeeping manager called down and said you need to come up here in a tone that made me rush. She has worked this property longer than I have and I have never once heard her sound like that.

I will not go into graphic detail but whatever that man consumed in the hours before checkout had made a series of very weird decisions and the room reflected every single one of them. My housekeeper looked at me and said she was not going back in without hazard pay and I had nothing to offer her. We pulled the room for two days. The man left 4 stars on the way out. Atleast they liked the bed.

I had a guy walk in wanting a room. I recognized him. He last stayed with us years ago. He was a lawyer for an oil company, and they paid for him to stay with us like they did their other employees. He was with us for like a year and a half, almost two years. He was a weird guest. Not bad. He didn't demand a whole lot of the staff, and he didn't cause any massive problems beyond the occasional the normal stuff that luckily didn't make us hate him. No, he was just... weird. There was a vibe to him that gave us the impression that he was into some freaky stuff.

Anyway, it had been years since he'd been too my hotel. In fact, the last time he was with us, our previous GM was still the one in charge.

So he walked in and said he needed a room while throwing his ID and three hundred dollars down onto the desk. I say hello and welcome him back, but then inform him that unfortunately I'm going to need a credit card to check him in. He says the cash on the desk should cover the room. Realistically he's not wrong. But what I tell him is that we no longer accept cash at check in (we stopped five years ago when our new GM took over) and that he will need to put a credit card on file. He says he's not doing that and to take his cash. That right there is telling me that he's doing something, or someone, he shouldn't be doing and he doesn't want a credit card trail. Like I said, we used to think that he was into some freaky stuff.

He didn't like it when I repeated the hotel's new policy. He then reminds me about how much business he gave the hotel last time and I tell him I remember how much his COMPANY spent for him to stay with us. He looked a little annoyed at my response. He then demanded that I call the GM, whom he referred to by name, to fix this. I inform him that the GM he's just requested I call no longer works for the hotel. Instead of accepting that, he actually demanded that I call her anyway. Instead I offered to call our current GM to explain the hotel's policy since he clearly didn't want to accept my explanation of it.

He ended up leaving, angered and ranting that he can't believe name dropping the GM's name didn't get him anything. Never mind the fact that he's dropping the name of someone who doesn't work there anymore. He also just moved himself from being just an annoying guest to just another entitled prick of a guest.

Edited to fix a typo caused by my dyslexia 🤦‍♂️😂🤦‍♂️😂

So, there I was, peak "Holiday Weekend" madness. I’m at the front desk of a 200-room hotel, nursing a caffeine headache and trying to convince a guest that, no, I cannot magically make the rain stop so they can use the outdoor pool. The lobby is packed. It’s a symphony of rolling suitcases, screaming toddlers, and the general smell of overpriced lobby candles and desperation.

Enter: The New Guy. Let’s call him Kevin. Kevin is a new hire in Housekeeping. Kevin is also apparently incapable of understanding "subtlety" or "professional discretion."
Now, we have a very specific protocol for "Unwanted Six-Legged Guests." We call it a Code 15. It’s clean, it’s clinical, and most importantly, it doesn’t make guests want to set their own luggage on fire.
Two weeks ago, Management—in their infinite, ivory-tower wisdom—issued a memo: "ALL RADIOS MUST REMAIN AT MAXIMUM VOLUME AT ALL TIMES. FRONT DESK IS NOT RESPONDING FAST ENOUGH. DO NOT TURN THEM DOWN."
Malicious compliance? Meet your creator.
I’m checking in a lovely family of four. I’ve got their credit card in hand, I’m doing the "Welcome to our home away from home" spiel, when the radio on my hip—set to Jet Engine volume—absolutely explodes. Kevin: "HEY! YO! FRONT DESK! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Me (praying): "Copy, Kevin. Please switch to Channel 4 or call the desk." Kevin (ignoring me, voice cracking with pure, unadulterated joy): "YO, ROOM 116 IS EAT UP WITH THE BEDBUGS! THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! IT’S A CARNAGE! I FOUND THE MOTHERLODE!"

The lobby went silent. It was like a movie where the music stops and everyone just freezes. I could hear a pin drop, if that pin was covered in tiny, blood-sucking hitchhikers.
See, our hotel offers a $100 "Bounty Bonus" for reporting and assisting with the remediation of bedbugs. Kevin wasn't just reporting a maintenance issue; Kevin was winning the lottery. Kevin: "I’M GETTING THAT HUNDRED DOLLARS tonight, baby! There’s like a million of ‘em! It’s a bedbug rave in here! I’m gonna go get the vacuum! CODE 15? MORE LIKE CODE CHA-CHING!"

He wouldn't shut up. He was narrating his discovery like he was Steve Irwin uncovering a new species of crocodile.
I look up at the family I’m checking in. The mom looks like she’s about to faint. The dad is clutching his suitcase like it’s a life raft. And their five-year-old daughter? She’s the MVP. She looks at me, eyes wide, and starts chanting at a volume that would rival Kevin’s radio: "YUCK! BEDBUGS! BEDBUGS! DADDY, WILL OUR ROOM HAVE BEDBUGS? ARE THEY GOING TO EAT MY TOES?!"

A guy three people back in line literally just turned around and walked out the front door. Didn’t say a word. Just left.

I spent the next three hours explaining that "Code 15" actually stands for "The Room Needs Extra 15% More Fabric Softener" (I’m a world-class liar) while Kevin continued to victory-lap over the airwaves about his "hundred-dollar bugs." Needless to say, the "Radios at Max Volume" memo was rescinded by 9:00 AM the next morning.

Management forced us to keep our radios loud, a new hire found a "bounty" of bedbugs, and now a five-year-old girl is probably going to have nightmares about her toes being eaten until she’s thirty.

Edit: No, I did not get a bonus for the psychic damage.

I was an AGM at an extended stay hotel. We often had groups stay with us for 6-8 weeks while training for their new jobs. One Friday I had been out of town helping at another property and was on the road to my property when my Nokia started ringing non stop. When I answered, my FD person was freaking out - the police were there, when was i going to arrive, there was a dead goose in someone's room. When everything had been sussed out, this is what happened.

Part of this training group had gone out drinking Thursday night. In the middle of the night, when the NA was there (the sweetest, kindest man you could ever meet), a guy came up and said he locked himself out of his room and needed another key. NA asked his name, guy gave it, it was a name that could be for a male or female. NA has seen this person around the hotel for a month and had no reason to think he was lying about his name. After he had the key, the guy wrung the neck of a goose that was hanging out around the property, used the key to enter a room of co workers, and left it on the table in the common area as a practical joke. When the two women in that room came out in the morning and found that goose, all hell broke loose. It was awful.

The guy who killed the good got dragged out in handcuffs. My NA had already left for the day and I had to call him back to the property. The contact for this client wanted him fired, but I pointed out that their employee bargained on my staff member recognizing him and not questioning the name because the NA was just too nice to insist on an ID when the guest said he'd been locked out. My poor NA was so upset over the entire thing, sobbing in my office. There was no way I was going to fire him. We didn't lose that contract and the other members of that training group felt terrible.

Overt criminal activity is not a common sight at my establishment, thankfully. That's what makes this situation all the more obtuse, because every fiber of it is.

A seemingly non-descript middle-aged couple was skulking around a very packed lobby one night. Not only was the hotel sold out, but there was a large event taking place that had many members of the general public also roaming the grounds. Therefore, anyone just meandering through didn't cause any of the staff to raise an eyebrow.

This couple, however, forgot the key detail of subtlety.

They already put a target on their backs by coming up to the Desk and requesting we fetch them a taxi. There aren't any reputable services in the area, so my colleague informed them they'd have to get a rideshare service via their phone. The female, "Opium," immediately protested: "We're old! We don't know how to do any of that nonsense!" Her male companion, "Codeine," grumbled a bit before ushering her away off to the side.

They puttered around for a bit longer before Codeine then made the interesting decision to remove his shoes and then paced some more. At this point, we were watching them extensively.

The pair then found residence on a couch directly in front of the Desk. Along with their little dog, they milled around for a bit. At some point, Codeine produced a bag of chips that he proceeded to eat like a toddler. Seeing this, we were prepared to get firm, but he made quick work of his chips, and they all then departed the lobby.

Consequently , we figured the trash took itself out and hoped they wouldn't re-emerge. They didn't for a while, until a few delivery drivers made some subsequent drop-offs. See, the hotel was sold out primarily as a result of a large sports group staying over, and they were ordering a lot. Thus, paper bags and drink trays aplenty were being deposited left and right throughout the night.

During one such aforementioned rush, Codeine had reappeared amidst the sea of people and quickly scooped up one of the bags. A random guest came up to the Desk moments later looking for her food. Where do you think it went?

Codeine was hiding it in his jacket, and now he and his posse were trying to make a quick exit. My colleague sprinted out the door and saw him awkwardly holding his chest. "That's NOT yours!" she yelled. Codeine got spooked and declared: "Man, I don't even know how that got there!" before dropping the food on the ground and high-tailing it down the drive.

The lady was thankful her food was found but, unsurprisingly, a bit fearful it could've been contaminated at this point. There was nothing else we could offer her, so she simply took it away.

All this time we thought Codeine and Opium had come for the event. As it turns out, we later discovered from the shuttle driver that he had picked them up at the airport. They asked for a ride while he was waiting for some other guests, saying, "We'll get a taxi from your hotel after." He didn't think anything of it, and that's how this whole series of unfortunate events had been set into motion.

Little did he know he'd be an accomplice to grand theft cuisine.

She comes every few months and has been staying for MANY years.
But, she’s the pickiest most nastiest old lady you could ever meet.
Her room needs to be PERFECT and to HER standards or else she will be nasty.
She’s been nasty with me over the phone before and acts like she’s never even met me…. I’ve been here for 2 and a half years, but only two of my coworkers are the only ones that she remembers. I’ve seen her so many times and she acts like I’m new.
Even with our last new hire, she got nasty with her too. Like….imagine being nasty with people you don’t know. She can even be nasty with the coworkers she tolerates but it’s rare….

I just got off the phone with her a bit ago needing 4 dates next month. I looked and told her we are unfortunately sold out on June 13th.
She just scoffed and said “I am (name)” and I just go “ Okay??” and then she asks for my two coworkers and our old manager. I told her that manager hasn’t worked there in over a year and she didn’t believe me.
Then she told me to put her in for those dates anyway and I explained to her that the system quite literally will not let me since we literally have 0 rooms available.
Then she says “Well, obviously you don’t know who I am” and I replied “I know exactly who you are” and “All I can say is we will try our best but I’ll leave a note for them”…. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I DON’T LIKE HER!!!
What’s funny is that she stays to visit her sister used to also stay with us often and she is one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet.
It’s just the pure entitlement she has that gets on my nerves and if something doesn’t go her way, she gets rude and nasty. I just don’t get it. It’s gotten to the point where I refuse to help her or answer her calls.

This weekend we had a lady go crazy over how comfortable our pillows are. Saying things like, "oh my god, these pillows are the most comfortable I've ever slept on. I must have one!" And things like that the three days she was in house.

Checkout day comes, she asks me if she can buy one pillow from us (just one). And asks how much they cost. I tell her the pillows aren't for sale. She kept insisting and I told her an absurdly high number (to hopefully deter her from considering stealing).

She said out loud, "but, what if I steal one from you?" Basically admitting that that's what she was planning on doing....

I tell her that we have to buy the pillows in sets of four (completely a lie) and that a set is like $1000 (again to hopefully stop her considering it further).

Later at checkout time, I'm in the office watching cameras, and happen to see her with not one, but three of our pillows under her arms.

I call my manager, and she says to add the fee that I quoted her for a set of pillows.

So, we got an additional thousand out of her because she couldn't wait, call and ask where we got our pillows!

P.S. she also got out on our DNR because she stole from us!

I hope THREE PILLOWS WERE WORTH $1000! AND BEING BANNED!

P.P.S. I looked it up, and found the exact pillows we use for $30 for a pair! So, instead she chose kleptomania?

So I get a call today, and I can tell from the caller ID that it is from Suxpedia. I put on my best OTA-charming voice:

Me: Elwood City Super Hotel, frontdeskkoala speaking, how can I help you?

Agent: Hi frontdeskkoala, thank you for taking this call. I'm calling about a mutual guest who has a reservation for May 10, can you pull up his reservation?

Me: OK, May 10, what is the name on the reservation?

Agent: It is X____ Y____.

Me: (looking at the list of reservations for that date) I'm sorry, I don't see any reservation under that name...

We go back and forth a couple times, I ask for the spelling of the name in case I misheard it the first time, she also gives me a confirmation number which I repeat to her twice, and there simply is no reservation in our system with that name or number.

Me: I'm sorry, we don't have that reservation.

Agent: Are you sure, frontdeskkoala? Can you read me the confirmation number again?

I do exactly that.

Me: ... Are you sure you're trying to contact the Elwood City Super Hotel? Maybe the reservation was at our other property, the Elwood City Great Hotel? (Sometimes guests get confused.)

Agent: No no, I'm looking for the Rustic Motel.

Me (hardly believing my ears): Wait, what?

Agent: The Rustic Motel.

Me: Oh... We are not the Rustic Motel. This is the Elwood City Super Hotel.

Agent (angrily): WELL, WHY DIDN'T YOU START WITH THAT?

Me: That's literally the first thing I said.

I glance at the caller ID screen again. The agent has already hung up.

Suxpedia agent, where did you go?!! I was only ever nice to you! Why did you hang up on me? <insert crying emoji here>

Greetings, it's the nocturnal Countess Night Auditor here, still at a hotel that has two different brands in it. This story is from a little earlier this week, starring myself and a guest who is weird and hopefully never staying with us again. His words, but I echo the sentiment.

I had to do a shuttle run to the airport because my newest coworker, who is incompetent, showed up late to do so. When I got back and was finally able to log in, I got a call from a room where he announced himself by saying "This is Room [such and such]," and then went silent as if expecting me to know what was going on. Once I asked, he figured out I was someone else and asked to move to a different room because he keeps having noise complaints about the room above him.

I check the notes from the prior shift as soon as I get logged in and see where he keeps complaining, including asking to be moved to a top floor room the next day if one is available. We have those available that night and were nowhere near sold out, so I agreed to go ahead and move him. His attitude changed abruptly, acting all understanding that maybe it's just the family above him having kids and he doesn't want to seem like the bad guy. I assured him it wasn't a problem and no one would think he was the issue and after about 5 minutes he ultimately decided to move. I had to hear the same stuff when I took him the new keycard as well, including him asking if he needed to move to the new room tonight or if he could wait. Noting that odd question, I told him to move tonight. He claimed he would never stay at our hotel again after this stay, though.

Problem solved, right? Well, about 30 minutes later, he came down to the desk, hand me the key packet, and said he wasn't moving rooms. He refused, but he still wanted me to do something about the room above him. Now I was convinced he was actually the problem, but I still called up and asked them to quiet down.

But wait, there's more! He used our text-based service to then complain about our hotel, saying he never complains, but he's been trying to deal with the room above him being loud all night. He approached the desk and we refused to do anything about it, instead treating him like he was the problem. When I messaged him asking what else he'd like done after attempting to let him move to a new room as he asked, there was no response.

And that, finally, was that. I got a feeling he either messed up the room and doesn't want us finding out while he's at the hotel, or he's got a stash hidden in the room. He's more suspicious than a biker wearing sunglasses inside who wouldn't stop watching me every time he was in the lobby.

Working the AM SHIFT on this random Thursday, getting my rooms ready and you know the normal things mornings shift do…. Guest called for a late check out for 2 but we were very booked so I could not accommodate that but gave him a 1pm CO guest always ask for a late CO so I didnt think much of it ps… he has been with us for three months. After I clocked out I thought everything was good, passing down the message to my coworker and everything was fine, 5 hours later I get a call from my manager saying guest killed himself and wanted to know when he called to let detectives know and I was at my other job and I just couldn’t believe it I was in shock bc I was the last person to talk to him and he was so calm on the phone and nice so to find out he had ended his life kinda took a toll on me… the first thing I thought was I should’ve never said yes to that late check out, I only gave him the late check out bc I knew him he was such a nice guy I wish I never gave it to him or just let him stay till 2pm idk if there was something that could’ve prevented it but I feel terrible… I did not see the scene but I can’t get rid of the smell it is a smell I never want to smell again… I hope his soul rest in peace

Im a receptionist at a hotel, shitty minimum wage student job, she comes to me completely outraged claiming she found a bed bug in her room. I apply protocol, go take a picture of the bug, and inform my boss. Then I tell her I can give her a different room. She says I should refund her and the hotel should pay for her stay somewhere else. I tell her I can’t do that and make it clear that I CAN NOT, as in I don’t have the card for those. « Well you should book a room for me and then your bosses will refund you for it. Or I will post this on social media. » girl POST IT. This isn’t my dad’s hotel I couldn’t care less.

Ps: the hotel is clean. We get monthly inspections and teams to come spray and check everything. Ive worked here for 4 months and this is the first and only complaint.

Update: my colleague who works the next shift arrived and we called the big boss, she said it's very likely staged (One bug only. On top of all the covers. Already dead.) and we can't refund rn or get her another room. I tell the woman to send an email explaining and asking for the refund, and she proceeds to stand outside for two hours telling clients we have bed bugs. She gets two people to cancel without even speaking a word to me, and the craziest part is : she convinced a couple, and got herself invited to stay the night at the girl’s place.
So yay ! Love my job !

Several years ago I was working night audit at a smaller hotel, only 63 rooms. For a good stretch I was the only guy at the front desk. Every time a guest said an employee said they could do something that sounded weird I'd ask what their name is. Every time the guest didn't remember it but they would say "It was a woman, if that helps". It didn't. But one story in particular stands out because any physical description of the other front desk employees could not describe me. Here's what the conversation.

Me: Good morning! Checking out?

Guest: No. I need you to print off some documents from this flash drive.

Me: I'm sorry but I can't put your flash drive into my computer. Hotel policy.

Guest: But an employee has already done it several times in the last two days.

(they weren't lying. An employee was doing that.)

Me not believing them at the time: I'm sorry but they shouldn't have done that. Can you tell who it is please?

Guest: I didn't get their name. But they had a nose ring.

Me: I'm the only one here who doesn't have a nose ring.

Guest: It was a woman.

Me: I'm the one guy here. So we're still at square one.

Guest: They had a tattoo.

Me: I'm the only one here who doesn't have a tattoo. I'm *sheepishly* afraid of needles.

Guest: She is black.

Me: I'm the one white person at the desk. Not counting the AGM.

Guest getting annoyed: Well she was young.

Me: *sigh* I'm the oldest one at the desk.

Guest: Well she's taller than you.

Me: We're still at square one. I'm the shortest person here.

Guest very annoyed: Seriously?!

Me: No. Only two of the women are taller than me. Was she only slightly taller than me or could she use me as an arm rest?

Guest kinda chuckling: She could use you as an arm rest.

Me: Okay that employee often does things that are against hotel policy. More than once she's left the property when she's the only one on the clock because she wanted to get something to eat. I'll have a talk with her.

I don’t want to generalize too hard but my worst and nastiest guest interactions are always from guests in their 50s–60s.

Just had a guy absolutely go off and cuss me out because his ID wasn't working for our check-in process. This guy even called back later just to say, “I just trashed you guys on _____.com.” Like okay? What do you want me to do with that at this point?

It’s gotten to the point where after a bad interaction, even if it's over the phone or SMS where I can't see them, I’ll check the guest profile later and I can usually guess the age range before I even look.

I can’t tell if it’s a generational thing, or if that group is just more comfortable being vocal about complaints so it stands out more. Also maybe just the city. Am I just deep in confirmation bias or

Came to work last night and saw that we had about 40 Motorcycles (all Harleys) parked in the lot. All the Riders were in one end of the building. They were in our Dining Room having a get together and were super respectful. They kept quiet (or as quiet as you 60 people can be), cleaned up all their trash and took it to the Dumpster eventhough I told them they don't have to. They washed off tables and then came out and told me how much they enjoyed their stay at our property.

This morning they checked out after an early breakfast and each and every one took a swing by the front door to say good bye. Turns out they were a motorcycle group from Canada and I even got to practice my French a little bit.

Of course long time guest was complaining all the way about the motorcycles, the many people at breakfast and whatever else he could think off. He went back to his Room after I ignored him for about five minutes.

A continuation from this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk/comments/1rv2jgm/guest_complained_10_minutes_after_checkin/

Basically:

• Guest book my property via OTA
• The guest complains on the room 5 minutes after check-in and we fix it right away.
• Then guest demands refund, ask us to PAY THEM DIRECTLY despite booking THROUGH OTA.
• I already told the OTA that the refund is accepted, but the guest have to contact the OTA on their part as well.
• I refuses and they keep saying that they can't do it, and pressure me to pay directly.
• Keep threatens to review bomb us and demand free stuff in the property saying "they deserve it.
• Stay for one night and the next day they shouted at me and the staff for not saying good morning and just smile so I kicked them out.

That's the story from the previous months/post

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And after they got kicked out, they still keep asking the staff online on the refund process, in which we are like a broken record at this point, tell them to contact their website directly.

But they still keep messaging us, one message even ask us for a letter in which we send it to them that we approve the refund.

And every time they message us, we contact the booking website that how's everything going and they said that if there's any update I will let them know. However, they do note that I have accept the refund.

But this booking is like a joint booking thing, where guest book from one OTA, but it shown to me in other OTA.

However, about a week ago, the guest threatens us to SEND MONEY DIRECTLY TO THEM WITHIN 3 DAY and provide their banking account, threatens that and I quote: "I believe this can still be resolved in a STRAIGHTFORWARD and FAIR way (and again, without any evidence like Booking website denied or stuff).

In which our team still stated no, we will only do it via OTA and we keep in touch with them.

And so the guest review-bombed us saying that I'm not supportive with the refund process.

...

..

..

.

Like its been a month,

I've been keep in touch with the OTA for a long time and they don't get any update on the other side.

I've confirm with the OTA several times that refund is accepted.

But the guest are saying that I'm not helpful?

TBH in a long run I don't really care about 1 star as this is the first 1 star out of 40 5 stars. And in this case I also write a review in third person talking to other reader that might read this review rather than talk to this guest as he probably not gonna understand anything at this point.

At this point I’m honestly just amazed by both the OTA process and the guest to some extent.

We’ve been confirming the same thing for weeks:
The property approved the refund already.

Yet somehow the situation kept looping back into us being asked to bypass the OTA system entirely and send money directly ourselves.

EDIT: Now the guest make multiple account and review-bombed me lol

This one blew my mind today and really had me fuming cause I’ve failed to ascend from the desk after years in the industry.

I’m checking in someone who claims they’re an HR manager at a pretty huge hotel in my area. I ask for her ID and credit card she’d like to use and immediately “I already paid for the room”.

I’m like “Excellent. Then it’ll just be for the incidental hold”

I’m not going to go into detail of all the confusion her and her party had but they were acting brand new to like planet Earth.

For the most part I’ve noticed in the industry that there definitely is mostly promotion from within but I suppose maybe HR is different but she insisted she started at the desk. If that’s true how do you just forget like everything about checking in?

This irritates the fck out of me. I checked in a dude last night (an Adoga reservation no less). He came back down and said his keys didn’t work. I made a new set but went up with him to make sure he got into the room. HE WASN’T even trying to get into the right room. How do you mistake 408 for 421? Anyway, we get to the room and he immediately says he doesn’t want it because it’s too close to the elevator and it would be too noisy and HE HAD A VERY IMPORTANT MEETING in the morning . I had ONE other room on the opposite side of the hallway that looks out over the back of the hotel to a quiet neighborhood. 20 mins go by and by this time it’s 2:00am. Now he wants a view of Mass Ave which makes no sense if you require quiet for your VERY IMPORTANT MEETING. I told him as much and also relayed the fact that the room he moved to was my last clean room. I write it up in the log book because fck this guy.

Fast forward to tonight. I come in and am going through my routine and his rez pops up with CRAZY notes. They moved this guy 4 more times for: the window was blowing air into the room (then fucking close it), room too small, desk too small and finally: he didn’t like the vibes in the room.

For those of you at home: that’s 6 rooms that housekeeping had to check, 3 of which required the bed be made or other tasks to make VR. FOR ONE GUEST paying an absolute shit rate.

This should have started and ended with the room change I did last night. It took FOUR MORE changes before day shift finally put their foot down.

Our doors lock at 11PM (thank Gawd) so I get a knock on them from an Uber Eats driver about midnight. They have a delivery for Alicia in 308. OK. I double check. We don't have anyone in 308. Uber driver shows me the order. Yep. Alicia R. 308. Our hotel. Our address.

I look through the whole hotel - no Alicia.

I look at the history for room 308. No Alicia has stayed there at least for the last 3 months. Just checking to see if maybe they WERE in that room recently, and just forgot to update the address to where they are now.

Uber Driver is able to get her on the phone. What room are you in? 211. OK.... look up 211. No Alicia. But there is someone in that room.

What's the name on the room? Mr. Different Name Hayes. Nope. Not the name of the guest in that room.

Look in the rest of the hotel. No Hayes.

There are several (our brand) hotels in town. Are you possibly at the mall location? What's the address?

Gives us an address completely unlike ours. Oh, and this is when they drop the nugget that they are at an Uncomfortable Inn.

Ahhh! OK. Somehow you chose the wrong hotel. There is an Uncomfortable Inn by the river near (other town).

Nope. Not there either. Then she tells us that she is in (different city) in (different state).

And we both laugh and say she ordered this for (Our city, Our state).

And the guest just hangs up.

I hope they still charge her. It's not Uber's or McDonald's fault that she is fucking clueless.

Hope the Uber driver enjoys his McDonalds. Cause right now, I am craving McDonalds.

I don't know what policies other hotels have, and really, we don't have a set one. But tonight I am glad I double checked!

Are we even surprised at this point.

Saw someone on this sub call this particular OTA crooking com, henceforth that is their name.

Well, there is a guest let's call her Karen. Karen had stayed with us before and had some issues with her stay, mainly being that she booked a reservation that came through with a virtual credit card(VCC).

This virtual credit card was swiped-over by one of our newbies at check in. Needless to say Karen was not happy with the authorization the system put on her card. Understandably, that auth was over 400$.

She decides to give our hotel another try by booking the exact same reservation type that comes to us as a VCC. Now, we are usually a fairly lenient hotel when it comes to advance deposit, non-refundable reservations IF they are booked through the official webpage for our hotel chain. But when it comes to VCCs/OTAs, our hands are tied. A lot of them we do not give that courtesy of.

Why is it, tell me, do the OTAs have to question our policy, rather than sticking to their own?!

So Ms. Karen messages us through crooking's website to cancel due to "unforeseen circumstances."

When she doesn't get a response, instead of calling the hotel to confirm, she decides to just... not show up to her reservation instead of cancelling it. Well, it's processed as a no-show which incurs ALL charges for her entire reservation, as it was booked as advance deposit, non-refundable. WITH a VCC which we take very seriously. (If we don't, they can/will come at us with all sorts of chargebacks and no one wants to deal with that.)

The next day, she calls, FUMING, saying that she was charged and she didn't even stay in the room. She asked to cancel the day before checking in (We have a 48hr cancellation policy) and never got a response so she assumed she wouldn't be charged. Well, I was the one that took this call. I inform her that unfortunately we never got confirmation to cancel that reservation penalty free, and that she did not show up to her reservation, so it was processed as a no-show, AND it was a non-refundable reservation, so there was nothing else I could do. She gave me the whole story about how her work moved her elsewhere and that she booked using her personal card and because she never stayed at our hotel, the company wasn't going to reimburse her for it. I apologized, and advised that next time she books, she book directly, as that gives us a LOT more leeway to make any sort of modifications, even to non-refundable reservations. She was not happy with that response.

Well, I thought that was the end of it. Hung up all angry, I figured it was over. Next day, crooking calls and asks that we process a refund for this guest. She said "I understand it was a non-refundable reservation, we are hoping you can make an exception in this case." I told her no. It was a GNS, not a cancellation. We held that room far past 2AM as we process GNS around 4AM. We would not be offering a refund.

This lady proceeds to tell me that this guest is "Loyal" to our property, and we still won't make an exception for her?

I just repeated myself, laughing on the inside that "Loyalty" to them is one night, "I'm sorry, it was already processed, she was not approved for a cancellation, she did not show up to check in to her reservation, there will be no refund." The employee simply says Thank You, and hangs up on me.

I'm sure she was giving these poor employees a run for their money, because holy schnitzel were they FUMING the next day.

My AM associate had it in her notes that a different person called regarding the same reservation, and upon getting the same kind of answer, started poking and prodding at the price that we charged, saying that we should have only charged for one night (hotel policy) she had to explain to THEM, that THEIR POLICY, is fully-paid-for-in-advance, non refundable, and that Karen would not be getting a refund. They asked to speak to the higher manager, AGM/GM, who was not in that day because it was the weekend. They were told to call back between 10AM-12PM the next day as our GM had very important meetings on Monday.

Well, they called back, and were just as pushy as before, but at 2PM in the afternoon, right in the middle of her meetings. They were told to call back later, or to email to get a response sooner, and they did. Sent us an email asking for a refund for the cancelled reservation. It was promptly denied by our GM.

They call again like a few days later, and are even more pushy than usual. The employee that called was an absolute asshat and kept interrupting me, asking me what my position was, asking to speak to the manager, refusing to be put on hold, ETC, so GM comes around the corner hearing the annoyance and the curtness in my voice, takes the phone.

This man goes off on my GM for this reservation. Says that the guest is loyal and had to cancel for unforeseen circumstances, again, asked for grace, but did not stop talking and interrupting and arguing. It was an absolute mess. Eventually, my GM had to say, "I have already responded to your emails. My associates have already given three different people the same answer. If you call me again regarding this reservation, my associates have been informed to hang up. This is harassment. Do not call my establishment regarding this reservation again."

I didn't get the full details of what he said to her, but she was mad. Luckily, they stopped bothering us for a while after that.

But guess what they decide to do?

Sent us an email for an "unknown charge" for Karen's reservation, showing that the card was only supposed to be charged for one night, (This email had her previous reservation's confirmation number, that was weeks ago, mind you) and showed that the full amount for the second reservation was charged. Saying that if the card was not refunded or if they were not provided receipts there would be a chargeback.

I almost feel bad for the poor crooking associates, as I can only imagine this lady gave them hell, too. I've never had an OTA be so persistent before. Not only to glaze over our policy, but over their own!

Truly appalling.

TL;DR, guest gave crooking com hell, they gave us hell, guest still did not get her refund.