Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Losing my mind at work

What the hell kind idiot lays hotel workers off just before New Years Eve? The hotel has been sold out for months.

And of all people to lay off the overnight maintenance guy?

I couldn't unclog a toilet tonight because I couldn't find a plunger. I also had to clean vomit off the floor up on the 12th floor. Took me longer to find all the things I needed to get it clean.

Had to make several runs to rooms to deliver different items that guests needed.

It's not just there that this place is shorthanded. I started at 9pm tonight. It was just me and a desk clerk from then until 11pm. 2 people to handle what was still a rather high number of check-ins and answer phones. Not to mention, every time a pizza delivery showed up, I had to call the guests that ordered and have them come down.

Having the hotel as understaffed as it currently is makes the few that are still working here look bad. Here's something that also makes us look bad-

The hotel I work for sells a VIP services package. We have had, at least during my watch, 2 guests so far come in having paid for this package and both time totally dropped the ball. Let me give you the details -
*VIP Welcome Packet at check in
What welcome packet? Seriously, I never saw one. I know they have a welcome letter for the Hilton Honors (card people) but that's about all I have seen. I did not have a welcome packet for either guest that I saw, nor was I even informed of one even after I pointed it out to one of my managers when the first guest came in with one of these.
*Complimentary upgrade upon arrival
That's if someone happens to notice your VIP reservation and we have the availability. I did have an upgrade pre-assigned for one, but not the other.
*In room amenity upon check in
What amenity? Seriously. Neither of them got it.
*10% off discount at all restaurants
They should include that in the welcome packet, just a simple card or certificate type thing. Oh wait don't have one. Never seen anything like that. Sorry.
*Complimentary high speed internet access
Only our daytime managers have access to the promotional codes that we give the Hilton Honors members. Even at that, in both cases I had to manually remove the internet charges because nobody assigned the guests with the VIP package a promotional code.
*Nightly turndown service
As told to me by the Executive Housekeeper, we no longer offer this service to anyone.

In short, you pay $50 more and are lucky if you get anything. Tonight's guest that came in on the VIP Package ended up having to be give the Ambassador Suite because we messed up so bad.

I feel like I'm back at the Holiday Inn that I used to work at. The only thing is, half the crap I put up with there I expected. It's a fucking Holiday Inn! The hotel I'm at now is an Embassy Suites. It's supposed to be a nicer hotel. I came here for a reason. It used to be pretty good here but with the recent cuts and the lack of leadership, it might as well be a Holiday Inn. Or an Econolodge for that matter.

Had the economy not been as bad as it is, I would have quit tonight. As it is when I left a 5:50am I was leaving my coworker alone for the last hour. That means if anyone needed a bellman or really anything between then and 7am, they were not getting it. And I get to come back at 9pm and do it all over again. Only this time the hotel is oversold by 15 room. That's 15 people/families that we are going to have to send to another hotel that already booked a reservation.



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