2006-06-17
Don't Play a Playa!
Well today has been weirdly hectic and just weird.
Weekends are usually bad anyway because of weddings (sometimes 3 in a single weekend).
This weekend we have 2 weddings and 2 groups on site. This makes for some pretty stressed out people, in addition to people who need lots of directions to things and can't figure out that to dial from room to room all you do is dial the room number.
Interesting occurances today:
*Some old people who showed up convinced that they had a reservation with us but for a rate that we don't offer. We have no record of them making a reservation with us. Thankfully we had a room to give them but it's pretty sad.
*Lois telling me that when I put a room on hold I should be totally filling out the file in the property management software instead of just getting their phone number like I was trained to. She won't tell me why, she just says "I have my reasons, trust me"
*A guy who claims to have cancelled his room that he was supposed to be paying for on his own after a stay with a group and being really rude and deceptive about it. He came in to ask if we had any rooms avilable for that night just to see if we were telling people about his room. Also, we charge 10$ each, per night, for children and this guy shows up with a 10$ bill to cover his 3 kids for 3 nights. As if.
When we get to work we clock in on an old fashioned factory-style time clock where you punch your card in and out. People forget to punch in and out all the time, especially if you get to work at, say, 1:40 and your shift doesnt start until 2 you technically arent supposed to punch in until 5 minutes before your shift starts. If you forget to punch in you have to have someone else sign your time card to prove that you were there on time. I forgot to punch out so I had to call work on the way home and ask Caitlin to punch out for me, necessitating a break in her fifaworldcup.com viewing schedule.
In reply to a note from a reader it is important to address the "every dollar counts" mantra of hotel management. If we are charging someone a reduced rate and they don't show up, yes we bill them but a)It will result in a conflict with the guest and b)that room could have been sold for the rack rate to another guest. Additionally, because compared to hotels (which often have only a 24 hour cancellation policy) we have a 14 day one because our room setups are so specific. Think of us more as a resort in Cancun than the Holiday Inn down the street. We have very little walk in traffic and in addition to that are often totally booked at certain times due to a corporate group that comes in and books the entire resort. So while a coprporate guest decides to cancel and we can, and do, bill the group for their room, the rate is often, for example, 129$ while we could have sold the room to a leisure guest at 259$. This all adds up and is even more important because the resort is only really busy at any level between May and October.
moi at 11:14 a.m.
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