Let me break this down from a hotel clerk's point of view.
If you think your hotel clerk is out to get you, you might be right.
Hotel employees are people, too — people under a lot of pressure. And although you might not have noticed it, there’s a price to be paid for the dirt-cheap hotel rates you’ve seen lately. The lodging industry is cutting staff, freezing salaries and eliminating perks for its workers.
Okay, first off, NOBODY is out to get you. We deal with our customers, even the shitty ones, with a smile (At least until you leave the lobby, then we may say a few choice words under our breath, but that's our right, same as you have.)
And yes, the hospitality industry is cutting jobs, freezing salary and getting rid of perks for the workers, but so is EVERY other damned industry.
On to his five points...
1. Make you wait.
Ever checked into a hotel, only to find your room wasn’t ready? Well, maybe it was ready, but the front-desk employee didn’t like your attitude. “For guests who are rude, drunk or just obnoxious, a clerk may well make them wait,” says Michael Matthews, a retired hotelier in Tucson, Ariz. How long you spend in “time out” depends on the seriousness of their crime, according to people who have experienced the wait (and I include myself among them). It may be a “Have a seat, we’ll be with you in a minute” for someone with a less-than-polite attitude to “Your room is still occupied, what’s your cell phone number?” for something more serious. “Guests really are not aware of the power of a front desk clerk,” adds Matthews.
How to avoid it? Remain calm. Sometimes your room really isn’t ready yet, and it doesn’t mean the hotel employee is necessarily out to get you. If it makes any difference, staying calm will get you into your room faster.
Okay, now hold on a second. If you're waiting, it could more than a few reasons:
1) You came in on the night shift, and in doing so, they have to charge you another night, since you came in TOO early. That's on a property by property basis of course.
2) You came in after a full night and we're running behind, so our housekeepers are trying their hardest to get the rooms cleaned quickly.
3.) We can't find your reservation (Another reason not to use third parties! They don't always come through!) so we'll usually tell you we'll call you if we think we're wasting your vacation time.
I can say personally, I try not to make people wait. I have done it, but it's usually because of a circumstance out of my control.
2. Freeze your credit card.
Hotels routinely place an authorization “hold” on your credit card that equals the full cost of the room nights, tax and an estimate of incidentals. “If the guest were particularly annoying, the clerk could place a huge hold on the card, rendering it unusable for any other purchases,” says David Chen, a hotel executive in Hawaii. He recalls it happening to a honeymooning couple that checked in with the only credit card they had brought along. Once the hotel placed its hold, their card was declined for all other purchases during the stay. “Even calling the merchant provider to release the hold did not fix the problem, because the reversal takes two to five days to work its way through the various provider networks,” he recalls. In that particular case, Chen believes that particular “hold” was unintentional. But others are not.
How to avoid it? Carry a second credit card or debit card. Or bring lots of cash.
We can't help how much the auth is charged, and the part that's bolded in this quote, is what I think is the best bullshit. Every program I've seen that's attached to a hotel, can't be used like this man says. You can apply extra misc TAXES, but Auths are premade and prelocked in the system. Nobody can FREEZE your damned card.
3. Assign you the least desirable room.
That’s probably the easiest way to get back at a guest for being rude or just looking like they don’t belong. Ian Spector was sent down a long hall to one of the worst rooms in the house when he checked in at an upscale hotel in San Diego recently. “I couldn’t help but think that because I was under 30, the check-in staff figured they could put me in the crappy room,” says Spector, a Web developer who was in town for a technology conference. “The in-room bathroom was really cramped and awkward.” Stories like this are the stuff of travel legends: The hotel employees take a look at you and decide you’re in the wrong place, or that they don’t like you, and you’re sent off to Siberia.
How to avoid it? Don’t check into a five-star hotel in a jeans and T-shirt, even if you’re on vacation. And for goodness sakes, be nice to the employees.
I don't care how you come in looking. A freaking millionaire could be wearing jeans and tshirt. And 99% of my guests are wearing jeans and t-shirts. Be nice to your guests. Now about the view: If your hotel has one, ASK for it. The worst that can happen is the rooms with a view are taken. In my case, it's two shops, an empty hotel, a business center and a high way on all four sides of me. Not much of a view.
4. Find an extracurricular way to torture you.
True story: When Margot Chapman checked into a New York hotel recently, she says she “may have rubbed a hotel employee the wrong way” when she complained about the size of her room, which was so small that the bed touched the TV. She was sent to another room, and checked out without incident. “I then was besieged by hundreds of obscene phone calls at my home and office over the next month,” says Chapman, who runs a marketing company in Chicago. The phone calls were traced back to the hotel, which, when confronted with the crime, offered her an apology and a free seven-night stay.
How to avoid it? A polite request made in person is preferable to a phone call, but short of being extra nice, it’s hard to see something like this coming.
No. No no no. This is a person with mental issues that probably shouldn't have been working in hospitality to start with. this doesn't even REFLECT the clerks I know. Trust me, we're so ecstatic when rude people leave, we wouldn't even THINK of bothering them again!
5. Make you pay — literally.
Hotel employees can wreak all kinds of havoc on your guest folio, adding late charges that don’t show up on your bill until after you’ve checked out, or putting in little extras that you assumed were included in the price of your room. “It is not uncommon for rude guests to have to pay for services that others might not have to,” says Webb, the ex-hotel employee. “This includes long-distance calls, the breakfast bar, drinks and food.” Other tricks include manipulating your confirmed room rate or adding unexpected extras, like charges for Internet, the minibar or pay-per-view movies. Rarely are they so overt, though. Usually, it’s something smaller that you discover a few days after you’ve left, like a minor late charge, like breakfast.
How to avoid it? Be nice. Polite guests are far less likely to have “mistakes” like this happen.
In fact, being nice may be the single-best defense against vindictive hotel employees. It works for travelers like Robb Gordon, a mortgage banker from Sedona, Ariz.
Here's an idea. Look at your bill BEFORE you leave, and ask for a copy (Only way you won't get one: You booked through a third party, and got the receipt in your email.)
Safe warranties, Wi-Fi charges (Which seems unlikely since it's free in 99% of hotels now..), Breakfast is 99% free, but if you think you've been charged incorrectly, call and ask POLITELY to speak to a manager. Managers are the ONLY ones who can refund money once you're checked out. Be nice.
Now, my turn. How to get the best out of your vacation stays:
1. Come in with manners. You don't have to be overly cheery, but since we say please and thank you, could you do it too? It'd make us feel more like people, and less like slaves.
2. Smile. A smile makes us feel relaxed, and we're more likely to work with you.
3. Don't keep problems with the room or your stay til checkout. Give us the chance to get to help you. It's what we're here for.
4. Fill out the surveys in rooms, or ask for a comment card at the desk. Let the hotel know what to change, and what you liked. Most problems are never fixed because we don't get any feedback.
5. If you have a problem with a desk clerk (Nasty attitude, Snide remark or whatever..) Instead of snapping back, ask to speak to the manager in the morning.
6. Remember: Your desk clerk and the staff are people too. We aren't minoins, slaves or there to bend over backwards for things we can't control, but if you treat us like people, you'll get more.
