sabato 26 giugno 2010

Some time ago a regular guest of the hotel came to the reception in quite a distress. His wallet had been stolen. So goodbye credit cards, cash, documents etc. Unfortunately for us that meant that he couldn't pay his stay with us.
I knew the guest and of course I was concerned about his problem and we decided that he would make a bank transfer as soon as he got back home.
He never did.

At that time I was in charge of trying to make people pay for their outstanding balances. Normally it would be travel agents or companies. Some had cash problems, some simply forgot.
Every time I saw the open account of our former regular guest (of course he wouldn't show his face again) I felt betrayed and made fun of.

I called the guests mobile phone. Nothing. I went on the internet to retrieve his adress and home phone number. I wrote letters and called. Nothing. I even called in the middle of the night from my personal mobile once, just to see if someone would pick up. Nothing.
Months went by and it was getting really personal. My collegue Antonio and I started thinking about what we would do to that guy if we ever would get ahold of him. And let me tell you, the expressions used were not too nice...
Suddenly, almost 6 months later, my collegue tried to call again. Somebody picked up! Antonio started immediately to explain the nature of the call in a polite but determied tone. But soon he started studdering, even apologizing and finlly he hung up.
I looked at him quizzically and he explained: The person who answered the phone was not our man, but his son. He went on explaining how his father had been involved in a fatal car crash and died some weeks earlier.
We kind of felt sorry for the bad things we had said over the last months and it goes without saying that we dropped the whole thing.

What, you might ask, if this was only a scam? Well, where I live we believe that if you say something like this and it isn't true, it will happen to you eventually. So liers beware!

sabato 19 giugno 2010

There are few places where you see so many different nationalities as in a hotel. And let me tell you, this thing they say "We are all the same" is not true at all.

As you will know, in hotels there are many different categories and types of rooms. Large, small, smoking, twin etc. Of course most of us would love to get that huge, non smoking room with view. But we never do. Why? Well it might just depend on your passport...

What to do if you have got a lot of twin rooms left? Give them to the Japanese of course! They seem to love it. A while back you could give them to the Germans as well, but apparently that has changed now.
Another type of room you can assigne to Japanese guests are the small and, lets face it, crappiest rooms of the hotel. They simply won't come down to reception to complain and ask for a different one. If they ever do, it will be when they are back home and someone other than us will have to deal with that. And if there is a bathtub in the bathroom, chances are that they will never ever think about complaining.
What to do with smoking rooms? When in doubt give them to the Greek or Italians. Either they all smoke or they just don't seem to bother. Actually you can risk this one with Japanese guests as well (we just love Japanese guests!).
Eastern Europeans tend to always enquire if they are be given the best room in the house. "Of course", you will answer and, as long if it's a half decent one, they will never wonder if they spoke to Pinocchio at the reception. There is also a great chance for an upselling!
If your goal is upselling you can also check Middle Eastern clients into small rooms, only to wait for them to come back to reception where you will propose an upgrade (which is of course not free of charge) to a bigger, nicer room. This will also make the day of your luggage porter: tips for the first trip, tips for the second trip.

The real problems arise when checking in Americans. Airconditioning which turns the room into a fridge is a must. Big TV, large bed, away from elevator and/or icemachine, high floor, quiet room, large room, widows that open, away from street but with view (guys, if it's away from the street it will face our nice courtyard!). These are just a few of the standard requests they have. So don't try any games. If you still go for it they will make you pay for every tiny, little detail that is not to their liking!

So next time you arrive at a hotel think about it: Where are you from and what type of room do you get?