mjm

I would like to toss this one into the ring if I may. It concerns a number of friends in the hoitel business I have made over the past several years.

It seems that of all the people most likely to greet a guest visit after visit, it is either the Guest Relations manager or F&B manager, yet year after year they seem to be the least likely to get promoted. Is it a case of not being in the management's eyes but rather in the public's and as such not getting noticed by the people doing the promoting?

Thanks for helping us all out with this thread,

Mike

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l etoile

g_leyser: Thanks for the information!

aisleorwindow

1. Kelly, your welcome, glad to be of help.

First of all, I'm surprised to hear a Ritz rented you a room with a dirty bathroom, they have very high cleanliness standards. In any case, if something warrants lodging a complaint, they best way to do it is contact the manager of the specific department directly. Don't call the front desk unless they checked you in to the wrong room or something. If the room is dirty call the housekeeping manager. If your room service breakfast is cold, call the room service manager. If you call the wrong dept. you're just going to get the runaround. Be polite and courteous and the problem will be solved, yelling and screaming does you NO good.

As far as upgrades go, it ultimately depends on who's behind the desk. You just have to be friendly, maybe strike up a conversation and simply ask politely. Don't say "I need an upgrade." Try something like "if you had a larger room available I could really make use of it." Again, if you are staying for multiple nights it is less likely you will get upgraded, but if its a one night stay your chances are pretty good.
Hope that helps!

aisleorwindow

anonplz- Good questions.

1) You should ALWAYS tip your housekeeper no matter what. These are the hardest working people in the hotel by far. The tip should be higher depending on the mess you make. So if you have a suite with four kids in it you should fork it out. Some people tip a couple of bucks a night, some do a flat amount at the end of the stay. A nice (generous) tip is $5/day or maybe $20/week. More if you think your room was outstandingly clean, less if you were dissatisfied.

2) This is an interesting question. The answer is different for a cheaper hotel. But for the five star hotel that I worked for, the doormen and bellmen made the most money. I'm talking $50K+ a year! Lots of money gets tipped when you have rich guests around, and every single person passes by the doormen.

aisleorwindow

Mike-
Good to hear from you again!
If I understand this correctly you are a frequent guest of one or several hotels and therefore someone comes out to meet you whenever you return, right? If thats true then thats great. Its a sign of a good hotel and you are obviously a valued guest.
I'm not surprised that you haven't seen these people promoted. Guest Relations or F&B managers are actually very high up in the grand scheme of things. The next steps up: Director of Operations, Asst. GM, or GM are often given to outside people instead of hiring from within, at least in a corporate hotel chain. The hotel business as a whole is a very difficult one in which to climb to the top for this reason. This is one of many reasons why I don't work in hotels anymore

anonplz

And good answers - thank you. I am not going to paste and cut to the other thread I revived recently, I'll just let people discover this posting for themselves.

P.S. A last little follow-up for you: should I tip the doormen $1 (more?) each time they open the door, as well as the guy who hails a cab for me?

aisleorwindow

You do not need to tip him every time the door is opened, but you should tip him for getting a cab ($1 or $2).

KathyWdrf

This is really great! Thanks so much.

Another question regarding tipping the housekeeper (rather than "chambermaid" -- trying to stay "gender-neutral" here, a few of them are actually guys!):

I often have long-ish stays of one or two weeks (even on business trips). I have usually left a tip for the housekeeper at the end of the stay, or sometimes at the end of each week of the stay.

But what if the housekeeper on the last day is a different one than the one who cleaned my room the previous several days? Does he/she pocket all the money? Should I leave a tip every day instead of just once a week or so?


Kathy

TrojanHorse

Welcome aboard, its great to have you on FT!!!

I'm a Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond and SPG Plat... my question involves the guaranteed room

here is the MR promo and T&C's regarding this benefit:
48-hour/72-Hour Guaranteed Reservation: Limited to a Platinum member's personal guestroom. Guaranteed room availability for reservations booked 48 hours prior to arrival available at participating Marriott Hotels, Resorts and Suites; Renaissance Hotels, Resorts and Suites; and Marriott Conference Center locations. Guaranteed room availability for reservations booked 72 hours prior to arrival available at participating Courtyard by Marriott, Fairfield Inn by Marriott and SpringHill Suites by Marriott. Only during a very limited number of dates (for example, special events) are hotels unable to provide this service. This benefit cannot be used in conjunction with award usage or any type of promotional or discounted rates.

Supposedly I'm supposed to be able to get a room even if the hotel is sold out, unless there is a "special event" in town.. My question is what defines a special event, I would say 98% of the time, the hotel claims special event when I try to use my benefit.

I have become very frustrated with all three chains as my travels do take me to cities with large events (Super bowl, which I can understand) to not so large events (Rochester MN, Antique Fair).. which I can not understand..

I guess I want to know if hotels really try to make accomodations for this benefit?

Also one more question along the same line, When a hotel is sold out, is it really sold out? or do you hold back a few rooms for some high profile customers or ones who will pay extremely high rates at the last minute?

thanks for your responses.. what a great thread

businesstraveler

First, great thread. It's really nice of you to take the time and answer questions. I've got 20+ years of business travel experience, have many connections in the industry and I'm learning stuff from you.

I'd love to hear any good celeb stories (without using names, of course) and stories that involve special/unusual requests. For example, I heard a story about a long term hotel guest who demanded the carpet in the room be replaced before he would stay there - and the hotel did it.

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Editor
BizTrip
http://www.biztrip.com

jsmeeker

Interesting thread!!

I never ask for upgrades. I *think* get them automatically anyway. I'm pretty sure my corporate rate is for a "superior" room and I always get a "deluxe" room. I don't know. Never had a suite, but one time I had a room on the Penthouse floor (but actually preffered the "deluxe" room). And I walways stay for 3 or 4 nights. never just one.

This hotel takes good care of me. I've stayed there *lots* of nights over the last 2 and a half years (close to 200 or so nights, I suppose). Lots of the staff knows me by name. They know my checkin and checkout habits. Almost alway get *early* checkin. Checked in today before 9:00 AM. I can get late checkout, but never take advantage of it. It would be more trouble than its worth.

aisleorwindow

Kathy-
The housekeeping manager should take care of this and divide the tip accordingly. The fact that you tip is nice enough (not nearly enough people do). Let them worry about the rest.

aisleorwindow

TrojanHorse -
Good questions.
Ahhh, the good ol' "except for special events clause". Special events usually depend on the estimated number of out of towners entering the city for a convention or event. For example the Radiology conference in Chicago brought something like 100,000 doctors into the city hence every hotel had a "special event" clause that week.
The truth is big cities really do have "special events" often. Small towns like Rochester, MN have very few hotel rooms relatively and so an antique fair IS a special event in a town like that. 98% seems like an awfully poor track record. Either your travel is based on these events or you have REALLY bad luck. The hotel should always genuinely want to accomodate you.

As for your 2nd question: hotels are rarely actually sold out. There ARE backup rooms. But the hotel will NEVER admit to this. Here's another secret: front desk managers often get bonuses for a "perfect fill". I.E. having the hotel full +/- 2 rooms. So, if you call at 3oclock and the hotel is full, you can call back at 10pm when most people have checked in (or cancelled) and you might get in. (Assuming you can wait until 10 to check in.) If not, always wait list, it couldn't hurt. Otherwise don't bother, just find another hotel.
Good luck!

aisleorwindow

Ok, I am working on compiling some good stories for everyone, I have MANY. It seems there is a lot of interest in them. I will let you know soon. Thanks for your interest!

aisleorwindow

jsmeeker-
Its great when everyone at the hotel knows you isn't it? We had many guests like this, and they were usually the most pleasant because we knew what they wanted before they asked and they were happy, which means we were happy. If you are staying at a hotel 80 nights a year, you deserve to be upgraded and should get preferential treatment.
Not to burst your bubble but often times (including the hotels I worked at) the "superior" and "deluxe" rooms are exactly the same room. The only difference is the pricing structure. Have you ever stayed in one of their "superior rooms"? Was it any different? (oh boy they would kill me if they knew I was writing this). If they know you by name I'm sure they would take care of you if you wanted a suite (if its available). But you sound happy with your service so why push your luck?

I would be interested to hear if you've noticed differences between "superior" and "deluxe".

Edited for grammar


[This message has been edited by g_leyser (edited 08-05-2002).]