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.
Staff can enter the room even if a DND sign is displayed if for some reason they believe that a person or the hotel is in grave danger or a law is in the act of being broken. Think: Fire, Flood, or Blood. If a sink above your room is known to be flooding with the only access to a shutoff being in a ceiling panel above YOUR room's sink, we're going in. However, standard practice would be to knock loudly prior to entry and with the door slightly ajar, loudly announce that hotel staff need to enter the room, and why. After waiting a few moments, one would enter the room slowly and in stages, continuing to repeat a loud announcement of who is entering. In all situations we would try to avoid entering, but a DND sign is unfortunately not a guarantee of airtight privacy, as there are exceptions to when it will be heeded. Two staff members will always enter for emergencies unless the property is literally running on a skeleton crew. The reason for this is to have a witness, hopefully one from the security department or from a different department, to prove that the intent was honest and to testify to what was done after entering, should contrary and contradicting stories develop from the guest(s) afterward.
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The security department governs safes, and every single thing they do on a shift is logged. If a guest forgets his or her password, there is a master key that opens each safe. That master key is locked within its own safe, which is locked within a key box that has an exterior lock. Now understand that each safe is bolted into the wall from WITHIN the safe, and to get to the slot where you insert the master key, you have to even know where that slot is, which has a plastic cover on it anyway. Once the master key is inserted, the safe is opened, allowing one to reset the password. If the battery dies, the same process needs to be done to insert a new battery. Overall, you'd have to be someone in the security department to get into a safe for the wrong reasons. The only other way would be to cut out the drywall or flooring which would draw a lot of attention. I don't know the recipe, I'm just sayin'...
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You can always complain or ask to change rooms, however booking through third-party sites without doing independent research first, including contacting the hotel directly to ask questions, can often leave you not getting what you expected. If you call us directly to ask us what our hotel is like, we WANT to telly you and really appreciate the call. That way we can get you into the type of room you want, and if you're staying for a week, who knows, maybe we'll get you a better rate than bookit.com!
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Haha, I definitely do. The one thing that really doesn't matter to me is the toilet seat. It gets cleaned more frequently at a hotel than those at my own house, so I'm not really worried about it. If you are paranoid about bed bugs, you can always lift up the mattress to reveal the box springs and see if there are small black stains on the edges where the box's polyester screens are stapled to the wood frame. Bed bug excrement appears like dots of black liquid which leaves stains there and is a clear sign they have at least been in the room at one point. If you find protective sacks that are also of a poly material but are complete seals with zippers running along the frame that means the hotel has taken the best precaution they can - starving the bugs of their long-term food source which is that wood box spring frame. Other things I've learned about room cleanliness, definitely don't consider the coverlet over the sheets as frequently cleaned, the carpets (if the room has them) or the couch or other upholstered seating as anything you'd really want to be naked on or eat food from if you're easily grossed out by other people's germs. Otherwise, hotel rooms are cleaned quite frequently so you really don't have that much to worry about.
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Tattoo Artist
Have you ever messed up while giving someone a tattoo?
Car Salesman
Are women more likely to get taken advantage of when buying a car?
Waitress
Are you instructed to "push" certain menu items that are at risk of going bad?
If you can, try to delegate to one or more staff members, including yourself, a call-around to all of your incoming guests for the day (each day until the construction is to be done or roadway opened), warning of any route changes into the hotel. Maybe place a staff member or valet attendant at the nearby route change if possible with signage or uniform to "direct" traffic into the correct route. Also sending a blind email to all the addresses of guests coming in daily and weekly to advise them in advance. Then you've covered yourself.
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You do have the right to charge a guest for damage to the room. Should the damage be excessive, you'd have security take photos and document the damage, and the authorization taken out on the guest's credit card at check-in could be used to charge for the damage. If the card declines for any major costs, that's too bad for the hotel and is a loss they've built in (if they're smart) to take, but good luck to that guest every trying to book or check in there again! People can scream and deny all they want, but if the entire housekeeping staff and management are all in agreement that a room was inspected and passed prior to that guest's check-in, and multiple staff witness the damage, you've got a pretty good case on your hands.
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For non-payment of a bill the same structure would apply typically that would in a restaurant or other service situation. In most states there is an innkeeper's lawbook that would reference what the recourses are for a hotel manager to collect payment from or pursue legal action against a non-paying guest. The reason most hotels do not accept cash in the states is that by accepting and pre-authorizing a credit card for one night's room and tax (or duration of expected stay) plus usually an additional authorization (anywhere between $100-$500 or more per night), it guarantees the hotel can charge that card at will if necessary. In Paris, it could be a different situation entirely. If I were in another country, i would prefer not to get arrested or prosecuted, so i would reach out to friends or family to see if they could float the funds to pay the hotel through a credit card authorization form or other third-party payment just to make sure there were no issues getting home (or being stopped at the airport because there's a warrant out for you!).
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