Hotel Front Desk
Los Angeles, CA
Male, 27
For the past two years I've worked the front desk at a boutique luxury beachfront hotel in Southern California. My job can range from simply checking guests in & out to many other duties, including: pretending I work in different departments so that behind-the-scenes chaos is never seen by a guest, shielding guests from stalkers that come looking for them, and picking up used drug paraphernalia from a trashed room. Ask me anything.
At our property there is an automatic 18% room service gratuity charge on all orders. You certainly don't have to tip beyond that, as it's meant to serve as the delivery person's tip, but I think typically anyone showing up to my door with any service will get at least a $2 cash tip minimum, just for the effort. Like all tips in hotels, I like to say that they're not expected, but always appreciated. Of course if room service bungles it completely, you may just want to leave the 18% on there and call it a day, or if it was absolutely awful, just talk to me at the front desk at checkout and I may be able to waive the entire room service order from your bill. Don't get in the habit of faking it, because I have a built-in bullshit detector.
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There are definitely moments with "down time" but more often than not I've got a steady, constant stream of tasks. Down time is usually when you catch up on what you couldn't before, and get to know your co-workers. At larger corporate hotels, there seems to always be someone manning each station. In my experience at a smaller boutique hotel, there's usually fewer employees per department. That means if the reservationist calls in sick, I may have to check you in while simultaneously booking a room over the phone for someone calling from France with a thick accent that's hard to understand. There have been days like that where the bellman has called in sick too, so as soon as I'm done with the other two tasks, I'll be taking you and your bags up to the room, maybe after taking your keys to your car which I'll park in valet later ('cause he could have called in sick, too). The overall goal is not to let you notice how close to chaos it's become.
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I am very sorry that the maids knocked on your door, and probably they are more sorry they did, too, because they have to greet you and explain why they were doing a poor job of looking for the sign! Typically the only reason the maids would knock is if they haven't been trained properly or they misunderstood the room number and thought the room with the "DND" left on the door was actually already vacant. I have become very close to our housekeepers and I can't say that many times they've accidentally knocked were their fault. Minimum wage, overloaded with rooms to clean, sometimes imperfect management, no health benefits and often a language barrier will lead them to sometimes overlook things. I would definitely bring earplugs for trips where you plan to spend mornings sleeping in. A lifesaver! If you don't have any, just ask me and if we don't have any (though we do carry them) I would literally step out on my lunch break and get you some, on the house.
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I've seen a major transition from magnetic keycards to RFID or Radio Frequency Identification keycards. RFID are awesome because it's literally going to take me 5 seconds to "re-key" your card or make you a duplicate of your existing key. The only problem with this new technology? It's fickle. If you bend the key, take it in the water, let it get too hot or cold or misplace it (ours are all blank with no room numbers, but I can "interrogate" the key and try to find out which room it's from...sometimes), I can make you a new one. Whether the fresh key I grab has been used before and is reliable, only testing it will tell, because they all look the same to maintain your anonymity as a guest. But if there's no one available to take you up to your room and try out the key, you may be calling the front desk to get a new one shortly after you walk up there. In an ideal world, I would escort every guest up to the room and give them a perfect intro to the features, but on a sold out day, you might get the infrequent bad key and we'd have to try twice. Why don't I make all the keys for today's arrivals in advance and go test them? Good question but there's like three people on hold and another five waiting to check in and another angry person standing to the side of the desk so as soon as I deal with them I'll get back to you.
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As far as I know we have to for a variety of reasons: 1. Fire code in each locality specifies how many people can occupy a room in a building, this is specified when the building is inspected and brought up to code. 2. Hotel policy - A. To make sure that each occupant is paying their fair share to stay which protects the hotel's bottom line. B. To make sure that the likelihood of a party or other potential disturbance or unsafe event is decreased. Do people get around this policy by just putting "1" on the number of occupants and then bringing in six friends through the back door? Of course! But if they create a disturbance, I have that reservation stating it's only for 1, and our security officer can reference that when he knocks on the door to investigate.
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Depending on pressure from ownership or management, if the celebrity arrived and I were told that they absolutely must have a room by my boss, I may have to "walk" or relocate an incoming guest to a neighboring and comparable hotel. The rule is, if I have to walk you, my hotel is paying your first night at the other hotel and any following nights until your room does become available. Hotels usually work with their neighbors to negotiate "walk rates" which are lower than usual so that we don't gouge each other when we need help. Likely the celebrity would have been told they were getting a specific room, that was already assigned another arriving guest who had probably been guaranteed said room and who knows, maybe already "pre-registered" for it, so they'll have already come to the desk and think their room is just a short wait away. Imagine how pissed off someone is when I have to tell them not only is their room not ready, but they're not getting it and have to stay at another hotel! I've had to deliver that news and deal with the fallout way too many times and it feels terrible. But if I want to keep my job, I have to do it. The reason you'd probably get from the front desk will vary but of course I'm not going to tell you that it's because of a VIP and who the VIP is...Probably my least favorite responsibility of the job. If you're already checked in, though, it's my knowledge that it's against the law for me to make you leave unless you are breaking a law/creating a disturbance or haven't paid your bill.
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Like leaving an envelope at the front desk that's labeled for a specific person, there's a large likelihood that honesty will prevail and it will get to the right person. There's an unspoken code of honor, but that's just where I work. I couldn't tell you what it's like at every hotel. In most cases if the amount exceeds anything that would normally be considered a housekeeping gratuity, like it's $50 or $100, then it would probably be brought down to the security department and the former guest would be contacted to verify if they actually wanted to leave it as gratuity or they left it behind on accident. Unclaimed items after a period of I believe 6-8 months for which all the former guests of the room it had been found in were contacted, but none were willing to claim it, these items would typically be donated to charity or given to another guest in need (think: power outlet adapter, not anything of great value). Cash though if unclaimed would go as gratuity to housekeeping staff as an even split. If it's hundreds upon hundreds ("racks on racks"), then there's usually a bigger story behind it so security would likely do a whole investigation.
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