A Hotel or a Circus?

I created my first blog in the year 2007.  Since then, I have created 12 blogs, most of which have only one post.  This is why I have chosen to start putting all these postings together. This is still a work in progress...    - Anita, February 13th, 2012


First posted on Thursday, August 19th, 2010

"Anita, a lady is calling to say that there is a flood in her room!"  It is the slightly neurotic voice of one our newest receptionists coming through the radio.  As luck would have it, tonight is one of our busiest nights of the month with a group of twenty Koreans that have just arrived, and Marcia is working the shift alone.  Andrea, the more experienced receptionist, decided today her stomach hurt too much and she'd rather stay home and take care of herself.  The fact that she had Sunday off as well had nothing to do with the inconvenient illness, she assured me.  Yes.  Just one of those coincidences.

So Marcia is on her own, doing the best she can to hold the fort.  In the meantime, I'm running up and down the stairs, going to people's rooms, fixing the internet, the hair drier, the air conditioner and even the TV.  It is just one of those nights when nothing works and everyone has a question, request or complaint at the same time and I have to try to divide myself into five different people because I can't be everywhere at once.

Now, in case you are wondering, I don't work at a shabby motel right off the highway.  I actually work at a new Holiday Inn across the airport that, if anything, looks nicer than any other Holiday Inn I've ever been too.  What you should know, is that no matter how nice the hotel is, they all have things breaking down and failing constantly.  The trick is to train your staff well enough to fool the guest into thinking that it is all under control.  Now the difference between big, fancy hotels like the Hyatt and smaller hotels like mine is the amount of people you have to take care of a problem.  At my hotel, after 6 p.m., that person is me.  I make the decisions, I deal with the issues, and, if I'm lucky, I get the help of the bellboy every once in a while.  But not tonight.  Tonight I'm on my own, because the bellboy is dedicating all his time and effort to the Koreans in the hopes that he will get a nice tip, which is understandable since it is his job after all.

So as I say goodbye to the occupants of room 309, who are happy they finally know where to turn on the lamp next to their bed, I start heading towards room 505 as fast my high heals and "flight attendant" uniform will allow me to go, to check out the "flood" that I'm sure is just a small leak in the closet (yes, it has happened before).  When I finally get up there, however, I see a woman standing outside of room 505.  The door is open and I can hear someone is inside talking to her, but there is as much water as you would expect to come from the shower blocking the entrance so I can't really see the person inside.  So I guess it's a little more water than I had expected.

I stop where I am, before they can see me, and I review all the possible scenarios and my reaction to them in less than five seconds.  Why do I do this?  I don't know, but I do it every time.  In this particular situation, however, it seems more pointless since there is only one thing I need to do first and foremost; I need to get the guest out of the room.  Now the first approach is the most difficult part.  What do I say?  Do I apologize right away?  Do I ask what happened?  Do I just pull her out?  I don't know so I decide to play it by ear.

"As far as I know, this room does not come with a waterfall, " I say attempting to be funny.  No laughs.  Definitely not that right approach.  The woman inside looks at me indignant.  "Yes, well I'm afraid to come out because there is water touching the ceiling lamp and I don't want to get electrocuted!" Yep, that certainly would make this situation worse.  I look up and see most of the water is coming from the air vent and is indeed touching the lamp, but I figure there is no real danger so I encourage her to come out quickly and she does.  Then comes the next awkward moment, but I make it quick by apologizing and telling her that I have never seen anything like this before and I will switch her to another room immediately.  I look apologetic enough that she doesn't make much of a fuzz about this whole debacle and ends up going to her friend's room right across the hall.

The first part of the problem is solved.  Now I need to figure out what is going on and how to stop it so that the water doesn't start leaking down to the room below and I need to change the lady to another room.  This, of course, involves several steps that normally the receptionist would help with but she is not even answering the radio when I call her.  So I have to go downstairs, go to the computer, check for another room available, change her to that room in the system, make another key at the front desk and go back upstairs to give her the key.  As I'm heading down the stairs to do this I run into one of the security guards and give him my master key.  I tell him to get all the trash cans he can find from the room next door and take them to room 505.  In the mean time, as I'm reaching the first floor, Marcia calls me on the radio to tell me the waiters at the restaurant need me to come as soon as possible because the system is down.  Of course, I am the only one who can fix this and I have to do it quickly because the restaurant is full and they cannot process any orders or payments without it. 

I go to the back office and make the room move in the system, make the key, and I put it in my pocket.  Then I continue walking fast towards the restaurant, stop to walk with dignity through the restaurant, then run down to the underground floor, start the computer and bring the system back up.  As soon as I know it's working, I go up the stairs and run into a Korean guy that wants information about a tour.  I look at the Front Desk hoping Marcia can help me, but I see she is holding two phones at once and talking to someone at the desk.  The Barbie-looking girl she was when she first started her shift is long gone and has been replaced by 1980s Tina Turner.  I turn to the Korean man and tell him that I can't get him the information at this time but I'll be happy to find him as soon as I'm available. He gets annoyed and insists that I help him, so I go into the back office, bring him a map, smile as nicely as I can and promise him I'll be back soon.

At this point, I go up the stairs to the fifth floor and I'm sweating and I'm as red as a ripe tomato.  When I get there, the security guard is soaking wet, the trashcans are filled to the top.  I ask him to please call the person in charge of maintenance, who at this time is at home, and figure out how to fix this.  He does this and about half an hour later the problem is solved.  During that time I give the lady her new key, I talk to the Korean man about his tour, and Marcia and I make it seem like everything is running smoothly.

By the end of the night I am exhausted and I can barely walk, but I feel happy.  I'm happy because I know two years ago I wouldn't have been able to deal with all this.  Two years ago I had just come back to Chile after living in the U.S. for almost seven years.  I was no one in this country and just needed a job.  I had no experience working in hotels.  I had even less experience being a manager.  But now here I am.  Guest Service Manager at Holiday Inn.  Same title I had when I first got the job, but at least now I don't feel like I am wearing my mother's clothes when I wear my uniform.  This uniform and this job are who I have become.  It all just seems to fit.