1.) We don’t make the rules.
So don’t kill the messengers.
The front desk does not decide what room rates are, supply and demand does.
The front desk does not establish how many valet parking spaces will be designated, the corporate offices do.
The front desk does not determine how much internet will cost, the sales department does.
Even the general manager does not have the authority to decide these things, so please do not ask to speak with her.
Employees are all limited by rules and regulations, and may only make accommodations based on what they are empowered to do. Our job is to deliver premium service to ensure that your stay is ideal. Please do your research and determine what your costs will be. We do not run a business of customer exploitation nor highway robbery.
2.) Hotels automatically authorize your credit or debit card for an extra $50 per night.
The average guest, with parking, Internet, room service, and so on, will charge about $50 per night on incidentals. So, if you are traveling with a debit card, the hotel will remove this amount as a temporary authorization. It is essentially a security deposit to ensure that a guest has the funds to pay for services provided. The guest will not have access to these funds until he/she checks out.
If you do not want this authorization implemented, ask your front desk agent to prepay for room, tax, and parking. The agent will then remove your credit card to prevent an authorization, and “stop charge” your reservation. You will not be able to charge anything to your room, but you’ll have access to your money.
3.) When we say the hotel is sold out, we’re not lying to you.
Like all major airlines, hotels also purposefully overbook because there is a carefully calculated estimation about how many guests will not show up. When we tell you we’re sold out, we’re actually overbooked by a number of rooms. There is even a possibility that the hotel will send people away, and place them at different properties.
Most front desk agents, however, will be happy to help you find a reservation at another hotel.
So don’t kill the messengers.
The front desk does not decide what room rates are, supply and demand does.
The front desk does not establish how many valet parking spaces will be designated, the corporate offices do.
The front desk does not determine how much internet will cost, the sales department does.
Even the general manager does not have the authority to decide these things, so please do not ask to speak with her.
Employees are all limited by rules and regulations, and may only make accommodations based on what they are empowered to do. Our job is to deliver premium service to ensure that your stay is ideal. Please do your research and determine what your costs will be. We do not run a business of customer exploitation nor highway robbery.
2.) Hotels automatically authorize your credit or debit card for an extra $50 per night.
The average guest, with parking, Internet, room service, and so on, will charge about $50 per night on incidentals. So, if you are traveling with a debit card, the hotel will remove this amount as a temporary authorization. It is essentially a security deposit to ensure that a guest has the funds to pay for services provided. The guest will not have access to these funds until he/she checks out.
If you do not want this authorization implemented, ask your front desk agent to prepay for room, tax, and parking. The agent will then remove your credit card to prevent an authorization, and “stop charge” your reservation. You will not be able to charge anything to your room, but you’ll have access to your money.
3.) When we say the hotel is sold out, we’re not lying to you.
Like all major airlines, hotels also purposefully overbook because there is a carefully calculated estimation about how many guests will not show up. When we tell you we’re sold out, we’re actually overbooked by a number of rooms. There is even a possibility that the hotel will send people away, and place them at different properties.
Most front desk agents, however, will be happy to help you find a reservation at another hotel.
4.) Have your photo I.D. handy at all times
Hotels are very protective of their guests, and rightfully so. We do not give out any guest information unless a photo I.D. is provided. So if you lose your room key, have a question about your credit card, and forgot your room number, the staff will make sure you’re not a stranger. The front desk implements these rules to ensure your privacy, not to harass or inconvenience you.
5.) There’s no such thing as free at a four-diamond hotel.
Two-diamond and three-diamond properties (Embassy Suites, Courtyard Marriott, etc.) are limited service hotels, so they create initiatives to inspire you to stay there. They offer free breakfast, free parking, free happy hour, and free wireless Internet. These hotels have lower standards of service and are not usually 100% 24-hour operated. The rooms have fewer amenities and are not as nice as the ones at four-diamond hotels.
Four-diamond hotels, like the one I’m employed by, are 100% 24-hour, full service properties. We are equipped with a staff of bellmen, valet attendants, housekeepers, kitchen staff, engineers, and front desk staff 24-hours day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We are here to wait on you for the entirety of your stay, even when you’re fast asleep. Our service standards are incredibly high, and we want to ensure that you don’t need to lift a finger (if you don’t want to).
Because you are guaranteed service enviable and unmatched by other businesses, everything comes at a cost. There is no free breakfast, free coffee, free parking, or free WiFi. This comes to a surprise to a lot of inexperienced transient guests.
Please do your research before coming to a hotel. We don’t intend to surprise you with costs. You do, however, get what you pay for.
6.) Things you should know about Expedia, Travelocity, and other third-party travel websites.
I find myself explaining these things to guests with third-party reservations multiple times a day.
When you see a commercial for these websites on television, almost all of them will boast that hotels have rooms to sell and without Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity, etc., hotels would not accumulate as much business. And that’s true, but at a cost.
The rooms that hotels need to sell are sometimes the undesirable ones (smoking rooms, rooms near elevators, handicapped rooms). When you book with a third party, you are not guaranteed a certain room type. All these reservations are booked “house,” meaning that they are selected at check-in. So, if the hotel is sold out of most room types, guess what you’re getting. A smoking handicapped room on a low floor, near the elevator, with one bed and a rollaway cot.
Third-party reservations are also set in stone. The hotel cannot modify them. They are prepaid, non-refundable reservations. So if you need to cancel or change your arrival date, you cannot. And you will not be refunded your deposit.
So, if you’re celebrating a special occasion, or are particularly set on a certain room type, book through the hotel’s website. You may not save as much money, but you will be guaranteed a room type and will be able to modify the reservation as needed.
7.) Your room keys are magnetic.
And they become demagnetized by cell phones, magnets (including the one in your designer handbag!), and sometimes even other credit cards. Please be careful.
8.) We love you, but we’re not in love with you.
Your hotel staff doesn’t offer “special” services, if you know what I mean. As with bartenders, flight attendants, and servers, don’t hit on the front desk staff. Don’t take advantage of the fact that we cannot breach professionalism. We’re paid to be nice to you, not to be sexually harassed.
9.) Tip your valet attendant, bellman, and housekeeper.
Valet attendants and bellmen, like servers, only make about $3 an hour because their jobs are tip-based. They rely on tips as their main source of income, and when you leave them empty handed, it’s almost like they’re doing their job for free. Housekeepers are paid minimum wage and are some of the hardest workers in the hotel. They clean upward of 16 rooms in a shift.
Standard tip for valet and bell staff is $5. Standard tip for housekeeping is $2-$5 per day.
We take tips, too.
This may be controversial, but I’m not implying that you tip the front desk staff when they check you in or out. Sometimes, however, it is requested that we complete tasks that require a lot of extra work. When the hotel is sold out, we go out of our way to find you a reservation at a different hotel, even if the hotel is outside our brand. When you have a wedding party, we ensure all your guests receive their gift bags by manually putting notes in their reservations (sometimes for 100 people!), in addition to making sure they’re safe. We sometimes act as concierges and get you a table at a restaurant whose queue is backed up six months. We’ll illegally take you to our rooftop so you can have a romantic and private proposal to your girlfriend.
Please, if you’re asking us to do something bordering the absurd or impossible, tip us. Even a dollar shows you have good faith and appreciate our going the extra mile. We don’t get paid any extra to do these things, nor receive recognition for it.
10.) You do not need to check out. (Get the fuck out!)
Hotels put your folio underneath your door for a reason.
Unless you want to dispute a charge, or change the method of payment, you are free to go.
Please do your research before coming to a hotel. We don’t intend to surprise you with costs. You do, however, get what you pay for.
6.) Things you should know about Expedia, Travelocity, and other third-party travel websites.
I find myself explaining these things to guests with third-party reservations multiple times a day.
When you see a commercial for these websites on television, almost all of them will boast that hotels have rooms to sell and without Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity, etc., hotels would not accumulate as much business. And that’s true, but at a cost.
The rooms that hotels need to sell are sometimes the undesirable ones (smoking rooms, rooms near elevators, handicapped rooms). When you book with a third party, you are not guaranteed a certain room type. All these reservations are booked “house,” meaning that they are selected at check-in. So, if the hotel is sold out of most room types, guess what you’re getting. A smoking handicapped room on a low floor, near the elevator, with one bed and a rollaway cot.
Third-party reservations are also set in stone. The hotel cannot modify them. They are prepaid, non-refundable reservations. So if you need to cancel or change your arrival date, you cannot. And you will not be refunded your deposit.
So, if you’re celebrating a special occasion, or are particularly set on a certain room type, book through the hotel’s website. You may not save as much money, but you will be guaranteed a room type and will be able to modify the reservation as needed.
7.) Your room keys are magnetic.
And they become demagnetized by cell phones, magnets (including the one in your designer handbag!), and sometimes even other credit cards. Please be careful.
8.) We love you, but we’re not in love with you.
Your hotel staff doesn’t offer “special” services, if you know what I mean. As with bartenders, flight attendants, and servers, don’t hit on the front desk staff. Don’t take advantage of the fact that we cannot breach professionalism. We’re paid to be nice to you, not to be sexually harassed.
9.) Tip your valet attendant, bellman, and housekeeper.
Valet attendants and bellmen, like servers, only make about $3 an hour because their jobs are tip-based. They rely on tips as their main source of income, and when you leave them empty handed, it’s almost like they’re doing their job for free. Housekeepers are paid minimum wage and are some of the hardest workers in the hotel. They clean upward of 16 rooms in a shift.
Standard tip for valet and bell staff is $5. Standard tip for housekeeping is $2-$5 per day.
We take tips, too.
This may be controversial, but I’m not implying that you tip the front desk staff when they check you in or out. Sometimes, however, it is requested that we complete tasks that require a lot of extra work. When the hotel is sold out, we go out of our way to find you a reservation at a different hotel, even if the hotel is outside our brand. When you have a wedding party, we ensure all your guests receive their gift bags by manually putting notes in their reservations (sometimes for 100 people!), in addition to making sure they’re safe. We sometimes act as concierges and get you a table at a restaurant whose queue is backed up six months. We’ll illegally take you to our rooftop so you can have a romantic and private proposal to your girlfriend.
Please, if you’re asking us to do something bordering the absurd or impossible, tip us. Even a dollar shows you have good faith and appreciate our going the extra mile. We don’t get paid any extra to do these things, nor receive recognition for it.
10.) You do not need to check out. (Get the fuck out!)
Hotels put your folio underneath your door for a reason.
Unless you want to dispute a charge, or change the method of payment, you are free to go.
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