And on that note, welcome back to Tales from the Service Industry, where we sit around
and drink wine while we tell stories.
Tonight with me, it is Liz.
Hi, team.
And Gwen.
Hey, guys.
Unfortunately, Ms. B is taking a bye week this week.
I do have an empty chair next to me.
So unfortunately, we will have to catch up with her on the next episode.
But you've got the three of us tonight.
Yeah.
And we're going to bring it.
I'm sorry, and you're welcome.
Or possibly in the other order.
We don't know yet.
You're welcome, and I'm sorry.
Exactly.
So I know this is sequence wise.
We don't post immediately after we record.
But right now we are in spring break.
And I don't know how it's been for you, Gwen.
Well, unfortunately, I know how it's been for you, Liz.
Well, spring break's been pretty on the relaxation side.
My personal spring break has been five weeks and six days.
And my spring break ends tomorrow.
I will go back to work after surgery.
And you said it, I go directly into an event next weekend for work.
So it's just work at a golf course.
And like we check people into a specific tent at the golf course.
So that's three days.
In effect, I am not sitting at my desk catching up from leave.
And then the following week is my area's spring break.
That's good, though.
At least it's keeping you active.
You're not literally just sitting at your desk the whole time.
No, no.
And that was the benefit of really taking the six weeks is it gave me a chance to heal
even though I felt like I was ready to go back.
Emotionally or physically?
My doctor said physically.
Apparently, there has been healing going on the last four weeks and I don't know.
But when else am I going to get an opportunity to take a six week leave of absence feeling
decent?
I'm never going to get that opportunity unless I pop out a kid.
But that six weeks is you are caring for a newborn.
No, no, does not relate.
No, no.
I mean, here, I was going to ask if you could do me a solid and push me down the stairs
so I can break something and I could take six weeks off.
We can arrange that.
Just don't sue me after something.
Here comes Gwen out of left field with the have a kid.
No thanks.
Reality.
Yeah.
So reality starts again in less than 12 hours.
Our condolences.
Yes, thank you.
So I think from what I have heard, I've been in touch with a couple of people at work and
I stopped by about three weeks ago, I think I'm going to walk in asking the team what
I could do differently because I think they are flourishing.
Wow.
What's giving you that feeling?
What people have said like, no, everything's like been great.
Like nothing really to report.
Like no big hiccups or oopsies with your team.
And I'm like, that's freaking great.
What am I doing there then?
Well, not to gas you up, but I think that really speaks to your leadership style.
And that was the hope.
I pretty much sat down with my entire team and I said, regardless of I'm here or not,
you need to still like do a great job.
You know what you need to do.
You know what you are doing.
Don't mess around just because I'm not looking over your shoulder.
So hopefully you're right, Gwen.
I say congrats.
I think that's beautiful.
Yeah, we'll see.
But I do have a couple of people that are one in specific that I'm thinking of that
has failed a few times and I really want to sit down with that individual.
And I've heard specifically that they are doing amazing.
I kind of want to be like, how can we be a better team?
What in my absence helped you flourish and how do we keep that going now that I'm back?
So hopefully it's just a good learning and growing opportunity for the whole team.
I love that.
Are you planning on doing like one on ones with everybody?
I mean, you just said you had multiple things that you have to do in the next couple of
weeks.
Like how are you going to take the time to do those pulse checks?
I think I'm going to kind of respect the team and kind of go into it, kind of just observe.
And that's really what I did when I first took over the department.
I didn't ask many questions.
I was just like, okay, teach me.
How do you do it?
What are you doing?
So I think I'm just going to go kind of back to that and take a back seat and kind of let
them come to me.
That's fantastic.
So whatever they have improved upon, if it was my way or the highway before, if they
have a better way to do it now and a better way to be successful, I'm going to take their
lead on it.
I'm just going to kind of sit back for at least a week and kind of just let the team
come to me.
I used to have a boss that you don't anymore.
No, no, no, no, no.
You are the boss.
No, no, I may be the highest level person on property, but I've got bosses that have
bosses that have bosses all the way up.
So I'm a slightly larger fish in the very big pool.
No, what I was going to say is I used to have a manager that his whole mantra about good
leadership is that when you leave, if the department runs so incredibly smoothly that
you have to question yourself, God, why am I here?
You're a good leader.
You have the ability to teach and train and develop and your team responds to that.
If you left and everything falls apart because you're doing everything, you're not delegating
and you're not leading.
Very true.
I think that that is probably the biggest compliment your team could ever pay you is
that it's just running really smoothly without you.
Yeah, I was expecting like to come out of surgery already having to like put out fires
with texts and phone calls.
So I really have had this chance to not stress and really decompress.
My doctor said the one thing that can help my nerves is don't stress and don't do any
really hard drugs, which I don't.
Why and how did that come up?
That was just in his spiel.
I don't know.
And then he said, no, like binge drinking.
I don't want you to drink alcohol in excess that you like black out and get sick.
And I was like, but a glass of wine every night, it's okay.
And he was like, yeah, that's perfectly fine.
So doctor's orders.
So apparently like ridding yourself of anxiety and stress can really help your nerves regrow.
And that is what we were hoping for.
So and since Ms. B is not here in body, but she's here in spirit, I just like to add,
look at Liz being all mature.
That's exactly what she would say.
I know.
And so positive.
I was going to say, is this going to be a positive podcast guys?
No, we can end that here.
No, because it's spring break and I have no idea where this episode is going to go.
Are you on spring break?
Yeah.
I mean, I'm working spring break.
Yeah, of course you are.
We had to clean rooms the night before last.
Had to clean a room tonight.
Yeah.
Wait, you cleaned one.
Yeah.
I will still see you get back in your house.
Right.
I will still throw it down with my team.
I have no problem with that.
You got to like keep the muscles working, the muscle memory.
You have to kind of bring it back.
I even got a compliment on the beds that I made.
No way.
By whom?
By a room attendant, no less.
Oh, was it in our survey?
Cause that's really what matters.
Okay.
No, it was not in our surveys.
I was thinking about this earlier, like how many years across the room we all have.
I'm coming up on eight years.
29 for me.
Uh, shhh.
Hospitality service industry, not including like other customer service jobs, cause I'm
sure we have more years of experience with that.
Oh, oh yeah.
I've got other jobs.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
I've got 10.
Yeah.
And then I'm sure Ms. B has at least 10.
In stereo.
Jinx, yummy, and soda.
My guess is 12 for her.
Okay.
So 29, eight, 12.
Okay, so that combined is 49.
59.
Almost 60 years of experience around this table.
Jeez.
Well, hey, we are on season three of the pod.
That's true.
So 40 some episodes in.
We can call it what?
Two and a half years of recording.
Yeah.
Holy moly.
I know two and a half years of therapy.
That's very healthy.
It's so healthy.
Is it, is it now?
Does it help you?
You know, yes and no.
Just keep going to your normal therapy too.
I was gonna say my normal therapist.
Where do you think I was last night?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, my therapist always tells me that this feeling will pass.
Yeah, when you pass.
Oh gosh.
Or it'll pass and come right back.
You know, five seconds and you're like, oh, there's anxiety.
Finds its way.
Any who's who.
So I shared a story with you guys about a guest that was upset about his stay and demanded
compensation.
Which time?
Last.
Yeah, give me a little more detail.
I need a little bit more.
I know.
I'm just letting you process.
The story went that the guest checked in, did not like the smell of the room and said
that there was a stain on a pillowcase.
So he contacted the front desk.
Front desk immediately moved him to another room.
The next day he expected to get service but did not because it's an every other day cycle
with the brand, right?
Oh, okay.
Yes.
I remember this.
Yes.
He wanted more.
He said, I know this is during your stay.
There was no way for us to verify it.
I'm really just going off good faith of what you're telling me being truth.
Like this is a favor to you.
Right.
So I gave him 10% off his whole stay.
Not one night, not the second night, but all of it.
What does my friend do?
Rather than saying thank you and moving on, he opens a case.
We closed the case.
Ding, ding, ding.
Closed the case.
We explained what the compensation was.
No further compensation closed.
Okay.
Three weeks have gone by.
Guess what I get yesterday?
What?
A reopened case.
The guy's upset saying that it still doesn't feel right and that if I don't do more, he's
going to go elsewhere.
He's going to ditch our brand and go to another brand.
How faithful is he to your brand?
He was a strawberry.
The lowest tier of the berries.
Yeah.
So you can find another brand.
You know, I don't like that attitude because it's always been easier to retain a customer
than to find a new one.
But it's the same token.
But his reason isn't justified.
Exactly.
His reason has no justification.
He wants his stay comped.
Why?
Yeah, I don't know.
I'm not doing this because of a dirty pillowcase and your perception that your room should
have been cleaned.
I'm just, I'm not.
If it really bothered him that much, there would have been an effort made.
And there was no effort made.
There was no calls logged.
There was nothing.
So he sat in his room, huffed and puffed.
I was going to say.
His bed wasn't made grumpy.
And then went to bed.
Yeah.
So he took a thousand milligrams of grumpy butt and called it a night.
Oh, a thousand?
Yeah.
Doctor's orders, apparently.
So not the hard drugs.
I would have prescribed something else.
But I mean, at the end of the day, it's like, I'm just not going to give him anything else.
Everything that had been discussed before in the previous complaint, we recapped that,
sent it back, closed it.
So we'll see what he does next.
What was his purpose of travel?
Fun.
I don't really have a follow up to that question.
I just wanted to know.
I was waiting with a drum roll in the background.
See.
And maybe this is a topic for another day.
But I feel like our leisure guests are more demanding than our business travel guests.
You know, I think so.
But I think there's some caveats that add some nuances to it.
Fair.
I agree with you for the most part.
Until it's a Berry member, depending on how shiny of a Berry they are.
That know how to travel and they travel however many nights a year.
Right.
So most people are usually pretty cool when they're on business.
But when they are on their pleasure trips, they are Jekyll and Hyde because now there's
like this.
They know the expectation.
Well, yes.
But they're also there's that low key flex for their loved ones that are with them.
They're like, I'm a blueberry.
I'm a blackberry.
I'm a raspberry.
Whatever.
Don't worry.
I'll handle it.
I'm a blueberry.
Yeah, you're with me now.
But see, we're not talking about blueberries.
We're talking about strawberries.
Oh, I know.
But but look, strawberries have egos.
They have that aspiration of being a blueberry at some point.
And they think that they can skip over blueberry and the raspberry and go straight to the acai
or whatever it is at the top.
This is where positive Gwyn comes out.
What?
Oh, God.
Well, no, because here's like a big point of my training that I always brought to every
front office team.
I love that we're getting refills on this subject.
You know what?
If we're going to refill the refills, kind of quick tonight.
It might be a two bottle night.
My point of training with my front office team is that this is especially for strawberries,
their own hard earned money.
Right.
They could be getting all the points from business.
But the minute they turn leisure and they're spending their own money.
Yes.
And so I mean, we're talking about strawberries, right?
So easy numbers, easy brackets that I used to always explain to my team is, OK, we're
looking at that folio.
Let's say for easy numbers, thousand dollars.
OK.
We're used to seeing a thousand dollars.
Yeah.
We're not used to seeing all of the food and beverage from all the local restaurants that
they are doing to feed their wife and kids.
You got a family of five now, not including the airfare for two adults and three children,
not including the rent a car.
I've had toilet paper thrown at my head by a lady who was so upset because her room wasn't
cleaned.
She was upset because of COVID.
Clearly, like you're saying, the expectations, everything wasn't properly explained to her.
Oh, so she gave you a favor, giving you toilet paper.
She was upset.
No kidding.
She was.
She asked for four more rolls to steal.
She was upset because it was like a half a roll and she's like, how is my family of five
supposed to wipe their bleep at the end of the night when nobody's here to deliver more
toilet paper?
She's like, you should have done it throughout the day.
And so it took me a good minute to calm her down.
But once I kind of changed my perspective, she's not mad at the toilet paper.
She's not mad at me.
At that point, she's just taking all of her frustration out.
Yeah, it's not about the toilet paper.
It's not about the room was cleaned.
She's just mad.
She's just mad and wants to yell.
There's validity there.
And especially when it's a strawberry, because that is the money that they've been saving
for the past year, two years, three years.
This is your one vacation.
One vacation a year.
And it's never really about the toilet paper.
No.
It's about everything else.
It usually is.
But that's why I like strawberries and blackberries are the ones that give us the worst service.
Blackberries.
I would throw a blackberry in the second tier.
OK, OK.
Maybe the third.
It's the blueberries and the raspberries that their companies are paying the majority of
their stays.
The other challenge is, like, you know, for the brand that we work for, the rewards program
is a solo participant.
It's to you.
It's not to your family.
It's not to your friends.
It's you.
Yeah.
I think, unfortunately, this is a hill I'm pretty much planning to die on.
OK, let's hear it.
Is that your rewards program is for you as an individual.
And it's written that way?
That it's your soul, that it's for you only.
Yes.
Terms and conditions clearly state it is an individual account.
Period.
I should read those just for shits and gigs.
Maybe.
If you want to lose part of your soul, sure.
I am a rewards member.
I probably should have read what I agreed to.
So every maybe.
Every single day, I've got people checking in on their spouse's account and their spouse
is not here.
I had it again this evening before I left.
So the guy comes in, he's like, oh, yeah, you know, I'm here to check in.
And the girl that was working the front desk says, oh, you know, you know, what's the last
name?
He gives the last name.
And I'm heading out.
I had one more thing that I wanted to look at on the system and I'm out the door.
Fortunately, I'm also listening to this conversation.
You're trapped.
I'm stuck.
You know, and it's like he says, oh, yeah, you know, my wife should have already checked
in.
So we pull it up and the account's not checked in.
So then the girl tells him, you know, it's all right.
It's not checked in yet.
Is your wife joining you shortly?
And the guy flat out says, no, she's not here.
What?
It's like, well, wait a minute.
Well, pump the brakes, Holmes.
How is it that your wife was supposed to have checked in if she's not even here?
Oh, did he tell her to do a mobile check in?
Probably.
So that's exactly like a little check in.
Oh, it check in.
Yeah.
Oh, it should have been checked in.
Like I just wanting a key or something like that's what he was trying to do.
I think that's what they intended to do, but she didn't get it done.
So then he explains to us that she's not even here.
And it's like, well, well, you know, hers is the only name on the account.
I can't check you in.
And there's this instant.
Oh, you're the only hotel.
What am I supposed to do?
Well, first off, let's pump the brakes just a second and let's walk through this.
So he ends up calling her and we made the exception for him.
Oh, but we removed the reward number from it.
So they're not getting rewards for their because because an individual account, he's here,
she's not.
And she has no intention of being here because she's in another state.
But what pissed me off was that he tried to make it seem like she was going to be here.
Oh, she's not checked in.
Yeah.
It's like, come on, man.
And it's been like this every single day this whole week, multiple times because it works.
And it's always the you're the only hotel.
Really?
I am the only hotel out of thousands of properties.
I'm the only one that's actually adhering to the policy.
So forgive me really quickly.
I am the only one out of thousands of properties that actually adheres to the policy.
Absolutely not.
No, no, no.
I just thought of something.
Remember back in the day when we used to have our guests check in and they'd be like, you're
the only hotel who's ever charged my card incidentals.
Oh, yeah.
I get that every day.
You still get I was going to ask because I haven't been on property in almost two years
now.
I remember that always being the biggest thing that was always, in my opinion, bigger than
it's my wife's account.
It's my husband's account.
You're the only hotel who's not going to check me and da da da da da da da da da da.
I've never been charged an incidental.
I had a blueberry like two weeks ago that got all up in my because of that.
I travel all the time.
And keep in mind blueberries are what?
Hundred nights a year or whatever it is like they're up there.
And he's trying to tell me he never ever gets charged an incidental.
No, you just don't notice it, sir.
Come on, man.
You're not looking at your corporate credit card statement.
So we've talked about this in the past when it comes to people using like weird debit
cards or what were they preloaded?
Yeah.
So when you go to charge them for like room and incidentals, the money runs out on the
card.
Yes.
Can you just please use a real credit card?
Don't use a debit card.
Don't use any loaded thingamabob from who's it bank.
Just use your credit card because then you truly won't notice it.
There's a lot that the guests can do better in those situations when it comes to checking
in under a spouse's name or whatever.
And then there's also something that I think that the guests need to remember that it's
not because we're humans.
It's not because we're trying to make your life hard.
We're doing it for your own safety security, which reminds me of a story when I was back
on property.
I love when I was on property.
Screw you.
It's like you're sounding like a blueberry.
I do.
I am.
I'm sorry.
Very shiny blueberry.
The shiniest inorganic, freshly cleaned lifetime blueberry.
I mean, obviously I think in our collective almost 60 years of experience, we have checked
in a spouse or a friend or whatever that wasn't on the reservation.
And it's bitten us in the butt.
Not every single time.
No, no, I'm not saying every single time.
But the one time it does.
It only takes once.
You don't make that mistake again.
Never.
And I'm sure your associates who you've worked with on property and Bill, your current associates
probably are still learning that.
It just takes that one time.
Here's my gripe with all of this is that everybody has this weird view of hotels as being like
swap meet barter.
So you can argue about the rate.
Like you know, you walk into a hotel, it's like, hey, I need to get a room tonight.
Okay, well, it's gonna be $200.
Well, you know, what could you do for 150?
I can refer you to another hotel for 150.
That's what I can do for you.
You know, it's like a brand two miles away.
That'll take you.
Yeah.
And then at the checkout, it's like, oh, well, you know, they didn't replace the plastic
cups in my bathroom.
So I want a comp night.
It's not how it works.
You know, there's just this weird view of how the hotel industry works.
And that carries over to reservations also.
Why is it that people think that I could go check into a hotel under Gwen's name and that
they're gonna be just like, oh, okay, well, welcome, sir.
You know, it doesn't work that way.
I can't show up at the airport with someone else's name.
They're not gonna let me on the plane.
I mean, if I show up for a rental car, are they going to give me a rental car under your
name, Liz?
No.
Why is it that they view hotels as being like inconsequential?
I mean, it's all fine until you're fooling around with somebody and your spouse busts
in the door with a key because the name is the same.
So that was the story I was going to share.
Sorry, I didn't mean to jump ahead.
I didn't know.
But you crawl over the Internet and it's stories of that are everywhere.
I mean, I've known, fortunately, it's never been in a hotel that I've worked in, but it's
been for brands that I've worked for where people have done dumb things like that.
No, it's resulted in like severe injuries and death.
I mean, spouses that catch cheating spouses, things go sideways really quick, really fast.
I'll say it's not their fault, but let's not defend anybody.
Let's not defend any actions.
But going back to my last hotel, I got a call one morning from my boss, can you come in
early this morning?
And I'm like, yeah, is everything OK?
They're like, yeah, we just want to do a property walk with you.
There's some stuff that we kind of just need to sort out today.
We kind of want to get a head start on it.
I'm like, sure, no problem.
Fast forward, I show up on property.
Boss is waiting for me.
So he's like, let's go check out the fitness center.
Let's go check out the pool.
You know, let's just go see.
Those are so nerve wracking.
Sorry to interrupt you, but so nerve wracking.
Especially when it's your responsibility.
Yes.
That's exactly what I thought.
I was like, did my boys not restock the pool?
Are there dishes?
Yes.
I'm like, what happened last night?
Who closed?
This is bringing back nightmares of my job.
Exactly.
Like once a month.
Instead of our one on one, let's go on a walk.
And I'm like, oh, shit.
Who's working right now?
Literally.
Yeah.
Who worked in the past few days I've been worried about.
Yeah.
So fast forward, we're walking around the pool and I have housemen and engineers picking
lingerie out of trees.
I have a woman.
What?
I have a woman sitting on a chaise next to the pool holding her head.
I have an engineer fishing out what looks to appear luggage from the pool.
Did your boss know about this?
Like before walking on the pool deck?
Oh, I 100% think so.
Okay.
I think so.
Yeah.
I think it was a test.
Yeah, I think so.
This is one of those, uh, Gwen, do you notice anything amiss?
Uh, literally.
At the pool area here?
Literally.
So come to find out.
One of my girls who typically works in the back office noticed our team needed help.
So she jumped out.
Okay.
She had previous experience, so I've never had a concern with her before.
She took the gamble.
Woman came up.
Again, resort area.
This is something that people need to think about.
Education moment.
When you're checking in with your entire family and the front desk person says, is there anyone
else you want to add to the reservation for security purposes?
You say yes.
And if you're making the decision that your wife or your husband or your 18 year old kid
cannot be added to the reservation, you need to understand you're assuming sole responsibility
for the room.
You're not going to get a key.
If you're in a meeting and your family's at the resort or your family's where damn bad,
which results in chaos at the front desk, don't get me wrong.
Just add the other person.
Please.
It takes three seconds.
Please.
You don't have to have an ID.
In this situation, again, resort area, leisure guests, they don't always do that.
They're like, oh, whatever.
Nope.
Just leave it under my name.
Oh, my phone's on me all the time.
I don't have to worry about it.
We're going to be out and about.
We're probably not going to be at the hotel much any day.
We're all going to be together.
Yes, 100%.
So as a front desk agent, you're used to that spiel.
So in this particular incident, the girl who works in the back decided to help out in the
front.
Wife comes up.
I lost my key to my room.
It's my husband's room.
I need to get into the room.
I have a meeting.
I need my wallet.
This sat in the other whatever she said.
She obtained a key to the room.
She walked in on her husband cheating, but no wallet and got a key.
Damn security didn't escort her.
Nobody escorted her.
Nobody verified anything.
No.
Here you go.
So what happened?
She was on like the seventh, eighth floor.
He as it were.
She took everything within arm's reach and threw it off the balcony was which was directly
above the pool was said cheater in the room.
Yes.
So we just watching this go down.
He was caught.
We're talking like literally caught in the moment.
I don't go into those details.
All I know is his hand in the cookie jar.
All I know is that I know from the resident deviant.
All I know is I had a guest at the pool deck holding her head.
All I know is fell on another chick's head something fell on her head.
I'm pulling bras out of the tree.
There's luggage in the pool.
So homegirl packed for an overnight stay.
Somebody did.
Lingerie.
Somebody did.
And all of that got tossed off the balcony.
But was a girl on the pool deck.
She was so chill.
We're like, Hey, do you need medical attention?
Do you want to go to the hospital?
You know, just take an ice pack.
She's like, I'm cool.
She's like, I'm chilling and ice pack and I get to eat my popcorn watching this show.
Literally.
Why do you fish out lingerie?
She's like, can I actually get a refill?
She's like, I need a margarita.
Bring me a bucket.
Okay.
Like that would have been great compensation.
Like, I'm good, but I want margaritas comp for the rest of my stay.
I would 100% take advantage of that.
But that's one of those lessons that we learn.
I would hope that our members and our listeners can learn is that we do it for your own safety
and privacy and protection.
Yeah.
And if you had like a super common last name or anything, like imagine if you have the
last name Smith and someone could be a thief just walks up to the front desk.
I'm Joe Smith.
This is blah, blah, blah, whatever gets a key and comes and robs you.
There are so many instances where it's not like catching a cheater.
I mean, good for that girl.
I can't believe she got into the room.
She shouldn't have gotten into the room, but good for her.
I think I told the story about the, uh, there was a chain that I worked for where a, at
best, probably a C-list celebrity, but a bodyguard that was traveling with him came to the front
desk and got a key.
Now this was not at a hotel that I was working at first and foremost, but he got a key.
Yeah.
This is, this went through the brand.
Like we're being sued by this person because of this action.
So said person went to the front desk.
It was known that he was the bodyguard.
It was known that they were all traveling together.
So there was no question.
And the key was issued, but his name was not on the account.
So said bodyguard goes to C-list celebrities room because C-list celebrity is sleeping
with someone that bodyguard would prefer to be sleeping with goes into the room and ends
up whooping his ass.
Oh, like full on beat down.
Beat down.
No, it was medical attention.
Okay.
Straight up hospitalization because said bodyguard.
Bodyguard proved his resume by beating up that dude.
No references required on that one.
No.
Yeah.
So my last job, I beat this dude up and I got fired.
Yeah, beat my boss.
But at the end of the day, it was seemingly, I don't want to say acceptable, but it was
known that they were traveling together.
It was known that he was this guy's security.
Front desk probably thought no big deal.
It's his security.
I'll give him a key.
Yeah.
So he's not included in a resume or in some sort of authorization capacity.
Like if they're on the list of VIPs for that group.
Yeah.
Which a bodyguard, well, maybe not a VIP, but he's listed.
He's listed as a point of contact for sure.
Yep.
So long story longer, this is the hill that I'm willing to die on.
I would rather piss off 10 people than come into work one day with 10 cop cars and a corner
wagon in my parking lot.
Or just in like a stream of lingerie being thrown from a seventh or eighth flip.
So while I would not want to deal with that, there is a certain amount of humor in that
because that would be a pod worthy story.
You know what I'm saying?
It's material.
It's research.
But no one got seriously injured except for the free margarita girl.
We don't know what happened when Home Slice got home.
So we don't.
We can only say.
But at the property.
We did have charges pressed against us.
As you should.
Zero percent surprised.
100 percent.
As you should.
And I remember one of those where it was like.
You just sit down with your checkbook and a pen.
You take the L.
And how many zeros would you like on your checks?
Yeah.
Where's the comma in that?
Look at that.
Living here in spirit.
That was a hard one because I remember speaking with the associate about it and I was getting
pressured for automatic term at rightfully so.
I'm not going to argue that fact.
And so when I was face to face with the associate, I'm like, here's what we're looking at.
You get better.
Give me a damn good reason.
And that was her reason was why else wouldn't I assume she checked the ID?
The address matched the address.
This is the spouse.
She verified the phone number because she was the spouse, verified the email because
she was a spouse, knew the blueberry number because they were a spouse.
So in that market, in that niche that we were dealing with 90 percent leisure at all times,
dealing with toilet paper lady who throws stuff at my head or whatever.
You take your best educated guess.
If I were in that associate's shoes, 6 a.m. somebody screaming at you, no manager on duty
in that area as well.
I'd probably make the same mistake because I'm relating.
I actually don't know where this area is, but I'm kind of relating it to my currently
area.
I understand why an associate would do something like that if they didn't have faith that they
were doing what they've been taught to do.
Very good point.
Thank you for calling me out.
No, there was a supervisor in the middle of said associate and you as a manager, right?
Dang.
I will no longer be hosting the podcast.
So I came across an interesting situation.
It was a general manager who was reaching out because he had a lot of fraud in his area,
a lot of attention in his area.
So he-
Should be.
I know.
So much fraud.
So he got a digital communication from the member stating, I'm not going to be there.
My wife is going to be there.
Please go ahead and check her in.
So his spidey senses went off, said wife comes in.
He gave some pushback, ended up checking in the wife.
So his claim to us was that, A, I want to make sure that this isn't fraud because this
is what we did.
And B, our company needs to do a better job at explaining to our members that it is individual.
So it was a two-parter.
So I looked over the account.
There was some stuff where I was a little questionable on.
There were a few yellow flags.
This is a little sus.
But because he was a super shiny acai berry, I did escalate the circumstance because yes,
technically there is some wrongdoing here.
The spouse shouldn't be having access to the account.
He's a loyal acai.
And so-
Which for our listeners, acai is higher than a blueberry.
Yes, top level.
Acai is the highest.
Top, top, top, top berry.
The shiniest of the berries.
So I escalated it because I'm like, ah, it is warranted.
I could send some communication regarding the circumstance.
However, we want to make sure that we're not upsetting them either.
Of course.
You're a loyal acai berry.
You don't want to piss them off if you're wrong.
Well not even wrong because I wasn't wrong.
Oh, go off, Gwen.
Go off.
I mean, it's black and white.
So you escalated it to your boss?
And their boss.
Who?
Well, because it's a valid thing.
It's something that we discuss frequently.
I like it.
Especially when it comes to these quote unquote high value accounts.
You always want to have a second opinion.
Yes.
If you're just making those judgment calls all the time.
C-Y-A.
That too.
100%.
Acai yo ass.
You ever heard that one?
Yes.
Oh, OK.
You didn't respond.
So I was like, wait, is Bill lost?
Because his blood is already boiling.
He already knows.
Your mind is already tinkering.
Oh my god.
I'm already chipping the name into my headstone and whatnot because I will die on this fucking
hill.
And I get it.
So in short, we decided that based off of the information that was in front of us, and
because he is the shiniest of acai berries, we kind of did a really quick cost analysis.
What if we lose him?
Not quite what if we lose him, but let's look at the past six to 12 months of activity.
How much of it is his versus his spouse?
Got it.
And in this particular circumstance, majority ruled, leave it alone.
Oh.
So the amount of business he was bringing in versus what was being quote unquote gifted
or what is being shared minus gifted.
Right.
Let's clap that.
No, no, I get that.
And I feel your face right now.
100% because honestly, if you look at if you look at the guidelines that are in place,
it is black and white for the property.
However, we also try.
So wait, let me get this straight.
Was it the husband or the wife's account?
Husband.
Husband, but the majority of activity on the account was husband's and the wife had a stay
a couple here and there.
Yeah.
In comparison, it was maybe 10 to 15%.
10 to 15% was in her name was fraud in her name.
So I guess technically it could be considered fraud because it's outside the policy, but
it's not fraud because it's not someone he doesn't know.
So what the basic lesson here is,
this is such gray area with spouses and rewards accounts.
No, it's not that it's gray.
It's that they will buckle like a belt for the dollar.
But see, this is the problem that I have though, is that like you hit on it creates the beast.
Right.
You hit the nail on the head though of what my gripe is with it is that it's your policy.
I'm enforcing your policy and then you're throwing me under the bus for enforcing your
policy.
So that loops back to the whole conversation point of just a few minutes ago of if your
employees know that you have your back, they're going to do what's right because they know
you will back them up for your policy.
I have no faith in the brand at this point because every time I turn around, I get stabbed
in the back.
When a corporate just says, it's okay.
When a guest does something wrong and I call them out on it and they report it to the brand
and then I get an email.
And when I'm reading through the email and the guest is blatantly telling that person
at corporate, I'm not there.
I do this all the time.
And I did blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
They're in violation of the terms and conditions and I'm the asshole.
And the guest is telling that person at brand, they're doing things that are against the
terms and conditions.
But he was mean to me.
Yeah.
And then I'm the bad guy and they don't back me up.
And that's really frustrating.
And at some point, I understand why a lot of hotels just be like, okay, fine, do what
you want to do because I'm not going to be supported.
And they're inviting more of the problem.
I think we're hitting on too many points tonight.
But that's something that I think so.
It's too much wine.
Where's another bottle?
No kidding.
Sad to say you probably don't even know the half of it.
I am absolutely certain I know less than half of it.
Yeah, because my guess is like 30%.
It's a game of banana phone.
And by person 12, there's like three words.
It's a completely different sentence or completely different message.
It's a completely different everything.
Well, that's what you're looking at.
And that's why I have so much empathy for these properties.
We see that again.
That's what pisses me off is that I'm upholding your policy.
In return for upholding your policy, I get stabbed in the back and the problem gets pushed
back to me to make some sort of resolution of the property.
But I'm being told only a fraction of the story.
So you're asking me to make a decision on your policy based on a very small piece of
information that may or may not even be accurate.
What's being regurgitated.
Right.
Yeah.
So again, how am I providing good service when I don't know the whole story?
I'm being chastised for your policies.
And look, I get it with, you know, staffing changes and all of that.
I get it.
But it's just not right.
It's not fair.
It puts us at such a disadvantage at the property level.
It puts everybody at a disadvantage.
Well, I think it's hardest to the ones who are face to face.
It is the hardest, hardest to the front desk staff and hardest to the member, regardless
of what they are saying to the front desk and corporate.
Like those stories could be totally different.
They could be times and corporate one thing and they could be telling the front desk,
well, I heard this from corporate.
Corporate told me this corporate told me you would give me this.
And the front desk is just like what expected to just bend over and comply.
Yes.
No drink, no Vaseline.
Just bend over, grab your ankles.
I was going to say, do not pass go, do not collect $20.
No kiss, no Vaseline.
And pray that you just keep your job, keep your livelihood.
Like the hotel put you in this position for a reason to uphold these policies.
And the minute you do, they're like, oh, well, yeah.
And I cannot even tell you how many times I have guests that threaten my employees that
I'm calling your boss tomorrow and I'm going to have your job.
Yeah.
I'm going to get you fired.
Well, you know, there's so many trashy managers out there.
I would not pass some people.
Oh, for sure.
To me, that's an empty threat.
Right.
Like I got to the point.
But that's to you.
How many years in the industry?
All together?
Yeah.
I like eight years.
Okay.
That's you with eight years of experience.
And you've got that new desk agent that's, you know, 20 years old.
This is like his or her first real job.
Or that's their career passion.
And somebody says to you, I'm going to have your job.
You freak the F out.
Right.
And that's also part of the job.
I'm sorry.
No, no, no.
It prepares you or warns you for that part of the job.
Even though with us having almost 60 years combined experience, we know it's part of
the job.
Yeah, totally.
No, I totally agree with you.
I have associates all the time and like he said he was going to get me in trouble.
I'm like, I don't give a who that is.
Yes.
And they don't know it because it's first circumstance.
I'm privileged that I get repeat customers who are members every single day.
I can kind of weave through before I actually hear the complaint of being like, okay, this
has weight to it or no, you're just the asshole that complains every other forking day.
Right.
His opinion doesn't mean anything to me.
I appreciate your hard work.
Let it go.
I try to let it go.
But it's hard.
Thank you.
So hard.
Well, it's doubly hard when I see that their behavior has such an intense negative impact
on somebody else.
That you care about.
Yeah.
This person is a part of my team and you are making a threat to that person.
Threaten me.
Yeah.
And it's like, I always tell my people, please do not do what I do because if I mess up,
I'm accountable to my boss.
If you mess up, you're accountable to me.
Correct.
So I'm telling you, you need to be professional.
You need to follow the steps, so on and so forth.
If I tell somebody something that you're shocked at, please do not repeat it to the next person.
Do as I say, not as I do.
Right.
But that's also a really hard lesson to learn.
It's really hard.
It's incredibly difficult.
To watch your manager just do something total opposite.
You're like, oh, that's hard.
Right.
But when somebody threatens one of my employees, I will go back to that person.
I mean, I've had people in the recent past that have made threats to me and my response
to them is, look, if you're going to take that stance with me, this conversation is
over.
I will not be threatened.
You will not blackmail me.
You need to leave.
And it's like, it drives me nuts when people are like, well, I'm going to call corporate
or I'm going to leave you negative reviews.
So you're threatening me.
Okay.
Yeah.
You're blackmailing me.
If you're going to stand here and blackmail me, this conversation is over.
You get nothing.
Congratulations.
You have lost.
Well, because you've already established you're going to send me a negative survey regardless.
Why would I try and even care about you?
I got a survey recently and I don't know if it was a male or a female, but the person
said at the end of it, I have already left you negative reviews everywhere.
I will never be back.
Okay.
Great.
Am I going to try and make it right for you?
I'm not.
I'm going to put 100% of zero effort towards settling your issue.
Yeah.
I would just give them a pre-canned response.
Oh, I do.
Copy and paste, baby.
And I'm going to add in just a couple of pieces and send.
To make it more personalized.
Yeah.
Done.
I'm washing my hands of you.
A couple of episodes back, we were talking about surveys that don't make sense.
I had a guy that left me a survey recently.
Says to me in the survey, I had a fly in my room.
On a 10 scale, what do you think the survey was?
Okay.
On a 10 scale.
How long was the length of stay?
Two days.
Anything else in the survey?
As far as comments or as far as like responses, like answers to questions.
Anything you would be willing to share with the class?
What else did he provide in his comments?
Most of the questions that he answered were like sevens and eights.
Some of them were nines.
But the overall, the one that matters.
The one that matters is what we're talking about.
The one that matters.
Oh, you got a solid like four.
A six.
Oh.
Got a six out of 10 because there was a fly in his room.
Six out of 10.
What's the passing score?
A nine.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I'm sorry.
We didn't provide said fly on your arrival.
You could have opened your balcony.
Balcony?
Front door.
Sliding door?
Whatever it may be.
Yeah.
So I don't control the fly colonies.
No.
We try our best, but we don't.
But I get a six out of 10 for the fact that at some point during your two days, you opened
your door and a fly got in.
You had one fly in your room.
And it died in the window.
So most likely, yes.
It was probably half dead anyway when it entered said room because it was starving and you
it flew slow.
So you could have killed it.
For our listeners, if you had a good stay, despite maybe a fly being in your room.
It's not a six out of 10.
Despite, you know, one little spider creepy crawly crawling across the desk, despite your
hand soap being crooked, despite them forgetting a makeup towel, despite another thousand things,
the hotel probably deserves a nine.
I was going to say, I think that kind of calls back to Linda's episode.
With pest control.
But what I received from that and that I think a lot of our members and our guests need to
understand is that there are some things that are in and out of the hotel's control.
We literally cannot.
Oh, I thought you were talking about like bugs going in and out.
No, that we can't control.
Yeah, we try.
We try our absolute best.
Are you really going to complain about a fly?
Apparently, yes.
Like I shared this story with you.
I traveled for work.
I think it was about a year ago now and it was a hotel and a decent area.
I chose the hotel.
Again, I chose the hotel.
You picked it.
I picked it.
You could read the reviews.
You could look at photos.
And I did.
You probably knew someone that worked there in the past or had.
No, I wish I did.
You don't think you had second or third degree correlation with this hotel?
No, because this was out of state.
Okay.
But brand.
Oh yeah.
100% brand.
Oh, sure, sure, sure.
But when I arrived and I checked in, there was a petrified friend in the curtains.
There was blackout and there were the shears behind it.
Our friend was embedded in the shears.
He was trapped?
Yeah, he was there.
I gave him a name.
I gave his name Alfred, but you know what?
He wasn't hurting me.
I had a funeral for him.
Aided by the tiny bull man.
He wasn't hurting me, but also there is a perspective as an associate receiving.
Like how many people looked at this room and missed it?
Yeah, exactly.
But also on the receiving end of checking in as an employee, we don't always reserve
the same rights as our normal members.
True.
But for me-
You're giving the hotel the grace it deserves.
Well also I have worked in hotels.
The people in that room are humans.
We do make mistakes.
Yeah, but what about when the employee that's checking in is a blueberry?
Are you calling me a blueberry right now?
No, I wasn't calling you a blueberry.
Not in this instance.
Not right now.
But I have plenty of employees that check in that have status and they like to flaunt-
And they're entitled blueberries?
They like to flaunt the fact that they're a blueberry.
Oh, it's so bad sometimes.
Oh my God.
It's like, HomeSliced, you are traveling on a very, very deeply discounted rate.
Privileged rate.
Incredibly so.
Sorry, I'm baffled.
Rates that are a fraction of what your cell phone bill is.
Yeah, true.
And they throw the entitlement of, but I'm a blackberry, I'm a raspberry, I'm a this,
I'm a that.
No, you're an employee and your behavior is reportable.
And this is a privilege for you to stay in this hotel for this rate.
Yes.
But that's what-
It's a privilege because in my hotel, it is not branded, it is independently owned.
I do not have rights to stay at that hotel.
I am forbidden to actually stay on property.
Right.
As you should be.
As I should.
So when I am lucky enough to say have friends in the industry for other brands of hotels
and I'm lucky enough to stay at a discount, I am so fork and thankful.
I mean, Ms. B has said it a thousand times, I am the ideal guest.
And I hope our listeners learn something and take something away from these conversations
on how to be an ideal guest.
We are there for you.
We are providing a roof over your head, a bed for you to sleep in, but we are human.
We make mistakes.
And if those little mistakes, if you could just give a little bit of grace, it would
mean the world to us and say thank you and just be kind.
And if you have an issue, just communicate it.
We are there to help you and to make it right.
Yeah, but the mentality of grace is only one directional in a lot of guests view.
Yes.
I am going to interject though.
Please.
Because not just speaking for our night auditors, because you have a very beautiful night auditor.
You do.
Everyone out there, you do.
No, Bill does.
Bill does specifically?
Yes.
I've got good night auditors.
Amazing night auditors.
I have some really good ones in my past as well.
Night auditor is a very special breed of person.
Not to say that that can't carry over into daytime team, AM, PM, but there's something
about hospitality.
Something special about the night shift.
That's their identity.
That's their home.
And they have a sense of ownership over the entire hotel.
They walk in, there might be other people working in that time that they clock in, they
do their pass on.
Those people leave and they are left literally alone in control of the entire property.
Yes.
Emergencies, non-emergencies.
Somebody's drunk, somebody's disorderly, somebody called the cops.
Engineering issue, it's them.
Yes.
At one point I worked at a resort that was 550 rooms and on the overnight there were
like I think it was 14 people for the entire property.
They were probably so close.
I know for a fact that there were two night auditors, there were two security, there were
a half a dozen house men because we would...
Random crap.
Well, we would have to power wash the pool decks and the sidewalks and all that kind
of stuff.
But yeah, there was a little over a dozen people on property.
For a hotel that employed 430 I think it was at their peak.
That group was so bonded.
So bonded.
They take so much pride in their product.
I find night auditors to have the best hospitality.
Don't get me wrong, when you get face to face with them sometimes, day versus night, you're
like, all right, you're kind of...
For sure.
You're a little weird.
But when you actually see them in their element, they are so prideful.
They're so joyous.
I've had night auditors walk off the desk and be like, let me escort you to your room.
I'm like, you can't leave the desk unattended, but I appreciate your hospitality.
Like good job, but take a step back.
Exactly.
I don't know.
I would kindly digress because I've had some wieners.
Probably.
The very first hotel I ever worked at, one of the night auditors, this dude would lose
his ish every single night.
At the time I was a bellman.
I'm working until 1130 at night.
It was a bellman.
I think that's how you started, right?
Yeah.
It was my first hotel job.
I would hear this guy...
Can you think a cute little bell is a bellman escorting you to your room with a luggage
car?
It was in the tropics too.
So shorts instead of having to wear pants.
Oh, that's right.
These days the bellman, so a lot of times guests would be like, I'm so sorry.
You were great.
I don't have cash.
Bellman would literally be like, I have Venmo.
Yes.
I have cell.
I've had so many associates do that.
Don't even get me started.
Anyway.
Sorry.
So this guy, so I would be wrapping up the shift and putting everything away, cleaning
the cars, whatever.
I would look back because I would hear somebody screaming and there would be the night auditor
would have his death grip on the edge of the desk, just losing his shit because he's so
frustrated.
And then I would catch him in the back drinking little...
Little nibs.
Are they nips or nibs?
I don't know.
Whatever it was, but slamming...
Shooters?
Yeah.
Slamming a pair of tequila shooters at 11 o'clock at night so he could get himself on an even
keel to get through his shift.
No.
That's not how you...
It's a nip.
N-I-P.
Okay.
Perfect.
Nip.
Research department.
I would do with those to get himself righted to get through the shift.
Please don't do that stuff.
The times that I wish we actually had video.
Sorry.
We just had to give Bill a visual on nip versus nib.
And they're actually nips.
And I'm a happier person.
So anyway, I just kindly disagree that all night auditors are great people.
I did not say all.
We got the receipts.
We'll rewind the tape.
That's fine.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm just going to...
All right.
So enough of the tangents.
Yeah, enough.
I think we are done for the night.
We are capped out.
I am tapping out.
Sorry.
I think that spring break has been a little bit more on me than I thought.
So I'm a little fired up.
So...
Well.
Are you?
Miss B...
Just a little bit.
Miss B isn't here to help.
Well, you know what?
Usually...
No.
Miss B would just be firing him up more.
She would be pumping the lighter fluid right into the raging barbecue.
And this is why we need her.
Cackling the entire time.
No, no.
We would have been here all night until sunrise.
But in her defense, she would be carrying the other half of my grudge.
She would.
You don't have the grudge for me.
I'm sorry.
Versus us defending.
Yeah.
Toxic positivity on two sides of the table.
Sorry.
Ugh.
So...
Waa, wa, wa.
I know.
But look, it's the yin-yang thing, right?
You can wine with... not wine as in drinking, but wine.
Waa, wa.
We've been whining quite a bit this evening.
But you can wine with Miss B in another two weeks.
How about that?
Fair enough.
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So on that note, we will see you in two weeks.
Thank you guys.
We love you all.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for listening.