the someday hotelier

A guest apologized to me other day.

It’s a situation that almost never happens. There was a mix-up with his reservation, and housekeeping entered his room after check-out time, thinking it was vacant when it really wasn’t. A misunderstanding in our conversation from the night before had caused this, and he became very angry and raised his voice to me at the desk.

The next day, as I saw him walking in the front door and towards me, I’ll admit I was a bit fearful. But a surprising thing happened. The guest said he understood where I was coming from - in my urge to help everyone (and eventually get to the gentleman behind him), we’d misunderstood each other. He knew my intents were good, and did not mean to raise his voice. He was just frustrated. I completely agreed with his take on the situation, and he went back to his room, taking with him a weight off my shoulders.

I’m posting this desk story because although we love our guests, sometimes they just make us want to punch things. They want what they want how they want it and NOW, and sometimes pleasing them is exhausting. And when they get mad about these tiny things, we tend to roll our eyes behind the scenes. But the surprising experience I had the other day reminded me that we’re all just people.

I was trying to be the perfect agent that day - there were so many people, and with less-than-normal staffing, and a great teammate recently leaving my hotel, providing the same level of service was a bit of a challenge. And therefore, my service suffered.

So thank you, Mr. S, for your valuable lesson in taking the time with each guest. Because sometimes even The Someday Hotelier forgets how important treating each guest individually is.