IamA front desk receptionist at a 3* hotel (int. hotel chain), currently doing the night shift AMA!

Can you tell when people staying there are up to no good, like having an affair or something?

Oh yeah, definitely. You can just see it by the way they act during the check-in/come in and ask if there is a room available.

It's even more obvious is somebody comes in with a prostitute. We are supposed to decline people if we think it is somebody with a prostitute and even had to watch a silly DVD to notice "signals". I don't care all that much though to be fair.

Huh. What are some of the signals? Have you ever had to decline someone for bringing in a prostitute? How did that turn out?

Obvious ones like the guy asking for a room not interacting with the woman, at all. The woman being nervous/avoiding eye contact. You can sense it right away though, there's a completely different vibe when a couple asks for a room/someone with a prostitute does.

I never declined somebody myself to be honest. Sometimes if they're cocky or just generally acting like a douche I'll increase the price insanely, because I know they're thinking with their penis and will pay the price.

ie. charge 130 even though rooms are at 69 that day.

Do you get any commission from over-charging? What do your bosses say when they see you charged them almost double?

Nah, I don't get any benefit from it myself. My boss is only around until 5-6PM most of the time so he's almost never around during the check-in. I don't think he cares though.

It's perhaps a douchy thing to say but when you're certain it's somebody with a prostitute, you KNOW they will pay whatever price you say.

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Because they act like a super douche and it's my way of getting them back.

That said, I have only done this a few times.

Why the fuck can't you get 4?

We do not have an "a la carte" restaurant and cosmetic products in the bathroom.

I have zero hospitality industry knowledge. Is this a joke? I am sure things like this are criteria but is it that black and white?

It is based on things like that, yes. For example if your reception is not available 24/7, you do not fit the criteria for certain stars, ets.

Is there a rating system that you think more accurately reflects the quality of the hotel?

I've stayed in everything from an LA motel 6 to a Mumbai Taj, and I've found that stars mean next to nothing when it comes to the quality of the room. Best room I ever had was at the hotel RED in Madison WI, a 3 star

I think the system is a bit flawed as well but it's okay to get a general idea on what the hotel will be like I suppose.

I stayed in a 5* hotel (part of our chain) however their bathroom was shit, beds were not comfortable and our breakfast was bigger/better than theirs but just because they have bathtubs, cosmetic items, a restaurant, etc. it's better. Oh well.

What/who was your most memorable customer?

I had the morning shift on a Sunday a few months ago.

At 7:30AM I get a call from a lady "excuse me sir, but there is a naked lady sleeping infront of the elevator on the second floor" With all the stuff I had seen by then, it did not really surprise me. However, I expected her to by laying there with her underwear on. I go up to the second floor, the elevator opens and I am greeted by a vagina. She was laying there, passed out, spread eagle. No clothes on whatsoever.

I was going to wake her up but then I decided to go back down and ask one of my colleagues (the one in charge of the breakfast) to come up with me so she can't claim any fake rape charges whatsoever.

Fun fact, we had a group of English pupils (around the age of 10-11) sleeping in the hotel on the second floor that weekend. That would have been fun if they found her.

Quite a unique way to start the day, I have to say.

What happened to her?

She apparently had 4 whiskeys in the bar at 6AM so that would explain the passing out. No idea how she lost her clothes though.

Hi and thanks. Every time I check in I ask politely and half jokingly if there is a suite I can get upgraded to for free... any tips on making this happen? One receptionist told me she would if one was open, since then I always ask..just in case.

It depends. I always take care of our frequent guests. All our rooms are the same so we do not have any suite whatsoever but certain rooms are bigger, have a nicer view, etc. So when I see they habe made a booking I always give those rooms and block it so they cannot be moved to another room by my colleagues. I also make sure when they check-in that their room-key is already available and hand them a voucher for a free drink in the bar.

So I think if you're a frequent guest and you are friendly, they would probably do in fact give you a free upgrade. That's what I would do anyway.

I did overnight at a hotel as well. Do you watch much Netflix? cause I sure as shit did.

Luckily I do not have the night shift often. It depends, most of the time there's always somebody in the bar (until around 2AM). Then I have to "finish" the day (everything still has to be done by manual input here) so that takes quite a while. Around 4:30AM-5:00AM I start preparing the breakfast.

However for example today I had no one in the bar, almost nobody is in the hotel so I'm keeping busy with Netflix/This IAMA :)

I was doing night auditing before Netflix was around. We only had dialup then too.

Those shifts got really boring after a while.

Oh man, I don't even want to imagine what that must have been like.

They had books back then? I used to work boring shifts. Read Lord of the Rings, cover to cover, twice in that job.

I read books as well if it's calm but I'm not the type of person that can read books from 11PM to 7AM without falling asleep :)

What's the strangest thing a guest has ever come back to the counter to ask for?

A young couple forgot one of their sex toys (or so they thought) in our hotel but the housekeeping didn't find it, sadly.

Valet at 4 star hotel currently working the 5am shift here.

Have you read the book Heads in Beds? I'm sure you'd enjoy it. Its a story of a person who spent his career in the hospitality business and slowly made his way up the ladder. He reveals every dirty secret in our business and gives tips on how to get the best service.

I can attest that the $20 bill really is the international language of the hospitality business.

I haven't! Sounds interesting though, I'll check it out!

Yeah that's my ambition as well, moving up the ladder. Also the main reason why I started working in an international chain, much easier to have connections/move up.

Do you have any funny or interesting stories from working at your hotel?

I had the nightshift a couple of months ago when a woman called, claiming to be a nurse asking if a certain guest was staying in our hotel. Normally we are not allowed to share this information but she sounded quite concerned so I told her the guest was indeed staying in the hotel (turns out I looked wrong by the way, he was in our hotel the night before). She told me if it was possible to wake him up because his wife died.

I felt like shit and asked her "uh ok, do you want me to connect you through or what?" That's when she started acting shady and told me "I can't sorry, I'm quite busy with people at my reception" Honestly, it's 4AM and the city we're in is not THAT big. She told me I should inform him with this news.

I couldn't do it in the end (because like I said, he was no longer in our hotel) but I wouldn't have done it either, it was too shady.

Turns out the woman calling was the wife, checking if her husband was cheating on her.

How did you find out it was the wife?

She called back the next day, apologizing to my colleague for bothering me/confessing the story.

If he was there the night before, does that mean he WAS cheating on her?

My colleague who checked him in said he was quite a rude customer and he got drunk with a woman in the bar, so I'm assuming yes.

Why did you confirm he stayed there?

It was the first time I had a situation like this and at first I believed her. I was already freaking out thinking "oh man, how the fuck will this dude react to that news?" but then I calmed down and started thinking logically that the entire story doesn't make any sense.

When people from the rooms call you, do you like to redirect them just to get rid of them? Or do you enjoy talking to people?

I like talking to guests a lot. However if they're calling from their room, 90% of the time I already know what the question will be. "Could you give me the password of the WiFi please?" even though I said it during the check-in and marked it on the card of their room-key.

Questions like that get tiring, fast.

If 90% of your called are for 1 question, can you add the answer as a recording before your phone rings?

Our system is not that advanced, unfortunately :) Good suggestion though! Might bring it up during the next meeting.

I had to do that once. Yes, the password was on the room key, it was www.<hotelname>.com but nowhere did they say that was the password!!!!

It's written in huge letters in our hotel :)

WIRELESS NETWORK NAME: WIRELESS NETWORK PASSWORD:

can't get easier than that.

If 90% are for one reason, sounds like the customers aren't the problem.

What more can you do than mentioning it during the check-in and marking it with a pen while they're looking? Plus a paper on the room laying on the bed with general information.

I have two questions:

I've heard stories about coming in late at night, slipping the front desk guy some money (say, $20 for a $70-$90 room) to get in an empty room to sleep for a bit. Is there any way stuff like this works anymore? Ever let someone stay in a room under-the-table?

Secondly, if I come in with a Priceline or similar reservation, does that bug you at all? Am I missing out or getting worse service for going that route? (I do so a lot because I travel a ton).

This is a really good question and I guess I had a different experience. I would never take money under the table because I have kids at home and its not worth getting caught but people do it since they get paid shit for front desk work. Accounting, sales, gm and agm get paid nicely.

If you dont book through the hotel you are the last to get assigned a room and will get the worst of the worst. People that typically book through travel sites barely come to the hotel so we did not give them preferential treatment so you are absolutely correct in your assumptions.

Interesting, I did not know this was a thing!

Our frequent guests get the nicer rooms yeah but I do not actively select a room based on how they booked. Interesting though

Like I said in another post, we cannot really mess around with the price but if it's VERY calm, I can give you a room for around 50 (even though the price is 80 or something), not less than that though. This gets followed up like crazy.

Nah, I don't care how you created your reservation at all. The thing I hate about prepaid reservations though is that it's always excluding the tourist tax and most people just leave thinking they paid everything and it turns into a mess to fix it. It's alright if it's 1 room, but it's never 1 room.

Tourist tax?

It's a small tax that needs to be paid for every room sold. It goes straight to the city.

I wouldn't have known that was a thing, and probably would have thought you were trying a dumb scam.

Not sure where you are from but it is a normal thing here in Europe.

What is the sketchiest thing you have ever seen?

An older white dude came in asking to book a room for 2 dudes (a black man and an Indian). We still had plenty of rooms so I booked it for them.

They kept extending their stay (this went on for about 3 weeks) and they always paid cash. They would always come in at shady times and something just seemed odd about them, like you could feel they are up to no good.

A few weeks later 2 undercover cops walk in asking some questions about the black dude. How long he stayed here, who he was with, how many people were sleeping in the room, etc. A few days later we find out he was being searched for laundering money, human trafficking and dealing in diamonds.

People have been known to do nasty things in hotels. what is the nastiest most disgusting thing you have seen or known of that a guest has done since you've worked at a hotel?

Getting a call from somebody because there was a used condom hanging around the smoke-detectors.

Somebody asked for a room a few months ago. They were drunk apparently but my colleague thought they'd just sleep straight away. Nope. The day after, the room...puke EVERYWHERE, the curtains were covered in shit/puke and were soaking wet in the shower. Jesus Christ I felt bad for the housekeeping that day.

What's the nicest or most unexpected thing someone has done for you while on shift?

Nicest thing: Probably the lady who comes in every day use the toilet. She's a bit crazy in the head but she is SO friendly. Always down for a chat and she gives me random stuff every time (bottle of wine, tickets to the movies, etc.)

I also got a 50EUR tip from somebody while I was working alone. Had 70 check-ins that day (and, as always, everybody checks in at the same time when it's that busy) and around 30 UK tourists in the bar binge-drinking. The man said it's cruel that I was working alone and that I should take my time. When everything settled down and it was quiet again he ordered a drink and gave me a 50EUR tip.

How many times have the cops been called where you work?

And what's the absolute nastiest room (aside from primarily fecal matter, because that shit is gross) you've encountered?

During my shift, never.

However there was once a Dutch chick who stayed in the hotel and ran away without paying. A few days later I had a day off and was out with friends having a drink.

At around 3AM I noticed her walking by, I was slightly drunk so I started talking about her to my friends until one of them started yelling her name. She came back and started punching me in the face, etc. if I ever went to Amsterdam (where she's from, apparently) I would get shot haha. I decided to call the cops because she was going batshit insane on me, literally throwing punches/kicking. The cops ended up taking us to my work (which was only 3 streets further or so) and she had to pay everything.

I have never encountered a room myself because I don't really have to be in the rooms myself (except for that one room I mentioned in another post)

Why wasn't she arrested for assaulting you?

Not to be THAT guy but double standards I suppose.

How was she able to "run away without paying"? Don't you need to use a credit card to check in or pay in advance? Was she pulling some kind of credit card scam or something?

She walked in the hotel asking for a room and paid cash. Had several meals/drinks on the room throughout the stay. She paid for her first 2 nights, always acted friendly, had a chat with everyone from the reception, etc. Giving off a good vibe. She asked one of my colleagues to extend one more night and this is where my colleague fucked up. Normally it's no problem but we let them pay immediately/all the remaining stuff (ie. bar) but my colleague did not do this and extended her stay without her having to pay for another night/the bar stuff.

Because of this we changed our policy to always needing a credit card to take a guarantee.

You ever had any naked people come up to the front desk? I saw a video where a naked guy walked right up as if it were normal.

Oh yeah, happened several times already.

A woman coming down topless asking if I had a lighter, a dude coming down with the elevator to go to the toilet (god knows why he didn't just use the toilet in his room)

And they're just completely nonchalant? Like no explanation for their nudity? No signs that they realize it's inappropriate?

Yeah, no shame whatsoever. Some people are weird I guess.

have you ever been approached with indescent proposals or favours?

More than I thought! Probably been approached more than 10 times now by women asking me to go to their room, it's really odd.

Once (see a previous post about the woman flirting with me while her husband was next to me) she kept flirting with me, which makes me awkward and I usually get the fuck out of the bar and back to my computer then. However..She kept giving me tips so I gladly stayed there cleaning glasses, etc. :)

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The girlfriend knows my Reddit account ;)

Nah, that said most are average looking or women in their midlife crisis so nope. I jokingly got offered a threesome with 2 (drunk) young women who were remotely attractive though, that was an ego-boost.

Why would you recommend I seek employment as a hotel desk receptionist?

To be honest, unless you're still young and not dealing with kids/living together with your SO I would avoid this type of work. My schedule changes a lot (either a 7AM-3PM shift, which is perfect, or a 3PM-11PM shift) and I get about 1 weekend a month, 2 if I'm lucky.

I will however be having promotion in a couple of weeks (front office manager) which will be giving me more acceptable hours.

I love the job because you get to meet so many different people though and you get into all sorts of fucked up situations that end up being hilarious (a drunk woman at the bar flirting with me and asking me up to her room while her husband is sitting next to her talking to his buddy, etc.)

Hi there! What is your favourite type of coffee after a shift? When I worked night shifts at a hostel a simple latte was enough to get me home, but a espresso shot sent me dancing like a raw nerve all the way.

Just regular black coffee :)

15 minutes left and my shift is over! However it always takes me a few more hours before I can actually fall asleep, I'll probably fall asleep at around 9:30-10AM and sleep until 5PM or so.

Night audit sucks if you don't know how to use that time productively. What shows do you binge and where do you order food from? I used to set my alarm for every hour and do 25 push ups from 11pm until 7am. If you spend all that time sitting around it can take a real toll on your body. I also drew pictures on the envelope we had to put the extra money in from the cash register.

Currently watching Fargo. There's a kebab across the street, it's amazing.

Used to smoke as well, never a lot but during the night shift it could easily be a pack. 3 months clean now though!

Good for you! Cash savings felt yet?

Oh yeah definitely. Used to spend around 20EUR a week on cigs, so it's a nice extra 80EUR a month :)

Do clients ask you foor drugs and/or escorts? Do you oblige?

Never had someone ask for drugs.

Got asked where the red light district is twice but that's it. I did point them in the right direction.

Are you able to tell whether or not someone checking in is an escort? What do you do if you find out later that someone staying is in fact an escort? Also, are the people coming to see her easy to spot? How can I be less conspicuous?

We know right away. I don't really care but I will not be extending her stay. It's policy to decline prostitutes though.

What about the guys seeing her? Are they easy to spot?

Yep.

Most prostitutes are eastern european who speak broken English. It gets pretty obvious if an older dude who speaks my mother-tongue is with her. Most of them are also older "gross" men, so yeah.

Oh. It must work differently in your country then. Where I'm at, a girl will get a room and put an ad up on the internet and has guys come see her. It's usually just a guy going up to the room alone, hardly ever the two of them going there together. At least that's been my experience.

Maybe they do this at your hotel as well but are just very good at keeping it a secret.

As far as I know this doesn't happen, or like you said, they're very good at keeping it a secret.

It's kind of an obsession of me to remember faces though, so I think I would notice it rather easily but hey, who knows!

The hotel is not worried about being sued? This could be slander, especially if you make the call and she is not.

I'm not sure I get what you mean (English is not my first language).

Do you mean getting sued because I'm not extending her stay? I don't get how that would work. I could either say I'm not feeling safe with her presence (attracting wrong type of crowd) or just bullshit my way out and say we're fully booked.

How do I get the best rates for your hotel?

Sadly that's not something we can really mess around with.

Prepaid bookings are the cheapest but for the love of God, don't be one of those people calling asking for a free cancellation/changing the date. It is mentioned at least 3 times while you're booking that it's non-refundable/can't be changed.

It's amazing how many grandparents suddenly die...

That said though, a friend of mine who's working abroad was in the country for a few weeks and stayed in the hotel I work at. Because it's quite calm at the moment I could give him the price of 69/night instead of the usually 79/89.

I had a mother call in to say her daughter had just tried to commit suicide and she had to go be with her right away so we would need to cancel her stay with no fee because she needed to buy a plane ticket. I've heard every trick in the book and I couldn't simply believe that she would be thinking about her deposit if her daughter had just done that so I declined. Lo and behold, she shows up for her stay a few days later. People man...

"My father died and the funeral is on my arrival date. Is it possible to change the arrival day to the next day?" Forgot to talk to his wife about it apparently. She called a few hours prior saying her husband booked the wrong date...

If you know, why is changing the date difficult on those discount reservations? Canceling I understand, but three nights midweek here or there is still three nights midweek.

I was a top tier member of a hotel when I traveled frequently. I accidentally booked a low rate stay, and of course that was the trip that got changed. It was like pulling teeth to get it changed, even though I was trying to book a higher rate and stay extra for different dates. I eventually made a three party call with my credit card company who said they'd reverse the charge (some satisfaction guarantee loophole I found), which was when the hotel said they'd change it for me instead.

I don't care myself to be honest, but that's just the instructions we get and it's followed up strictly.

It does make sense though. If there were no restrictions then what would be the point of it being a lower rate?

A good example happened a few weeks ago. Every 2 years there is a HUGE exposition in the city which attracts thousands of people. The exposition took place this year and every single hotel is obviously fully booked.

I had the check-in on one of those days when somebody arrived and told me they made a booking on the name of X. Couldn't find anything and I started panicking (because we were fully booked and no place else to send them). Turns out they booked at a rate of 55 for the same date, but 2015, when there is no exposition. It was also a prepaid rate of course.

I had to disappoint them and I would have probably arranged something with my manager if they were friendly but they started cursing at me immediately, calling my mother a whore, etc. So yeah fuck that. 5 rooms (around 250EUR) down the drain, fuck you.

What should I expect from staying at a 3* hotel? I've rarely needed to stay in hotels and if I do, it's usually 4* or 5* and paid for by a company/someone else.

I ask this because a while back I stayed at a 3* place for the first time and had a less-than-pleasing experience. The washlet was broken, the toilet flushed weakly, and repeated calls did nothing. Bringing a friend up for a few minutes so I can hand him some things resulted in attempts to try to charge me for an additional person. There was a breakfast buffet, but the food was bland and the selection limited. The receptionist also gave me wrong directions every time I asked, and they also won't call a taxi for you, instead directing me to a taxi stand (still incorrectly). I have a bunch of other complaints but I won't list them. I'm not sure if this is how all 3* hotels are like or I just got a bad one. Or maybe I'm just too fussy because I'm used to the level of service in 4* or 5* hotels.

To be fair we do not have complaints like that (as far as I know. Can't really find anything on booking/tripadvisor). Guests complain that our beds aren't that good, we do not have bathtubs, the price of the breakfast but all our rooms are in excellent condition. We also have a thing that if somebody has an issue (ie. hot water not working, toilet not flushing well) we HAVE to fix it in 15 minutes or you get your stay for free.

How's the pay?

Average wage as far as I know. Won't get rich from it but it's sufficient for now :)

Do you generally give extra accommodations or upgrades to super nice people?

As said in another post, all our rooms are the same (but some are bigger/nicer view) and I do infact give those rooms to super nice people.

I might also forget to put your drink you had in the bar on your room bill.

How are you browsing reddit right now?

Just using the computer at the reception.

I always thought those were just data input systems without any ability to browse.

Nah, just ordinary computers. I always bring my tablet along though, to watch Netflix in a more subtle way :)

I do the same shift. Six years at a franchise hotel in LA. Seen a few celebrities, how about you?

Had a few celebrities and we worked together with a tv show where they filmed in our hotel/I had a part in a small interview. Nothing fancy though.

I work for a company that created hotel management software many years ago, and we have many clients.

Any suggestions or complaints?

The program we use is actually pretty decent. We're getting an upgrade soon so I guess we'll see if it's better or not.

Our computers though...So damn slow.

If a guest was to have a broken toilet at 3am and they sent someone to fix it, would it be appropriate to tip the guy that got the toilet working again? note: there was no excessive mess of any bodily excretements involved. Note: one of the guests may have caused the toilet to cease functioning, maybe not from normal use, there was many peopel in that room.

Not sure about other hotels but since there's only 1 receptionist at ours throughout the night I can only tell our technician in the morning so their toilet would not get fixed before the morning. I would probably just give them a new room.

Former night auditor here!

How do you best through the night?

Like I said in another post, usually I have enough to do but right now it's so quiet in the hotel, so many rooms unused, etc. so it gets boring fast.

For example now it's 1:45AM and I'm done with all my work...Well, until 5AM where I begin preparing the breakfast.

So I'm just browsing Reddit for now and watching some Netflix :)

How long did you do it?

I have a fear of heights, and lately started requesting to stay on low-level floors. My husband is eligible to enter the special lounge or whatever which is always on one of the upper floors. So they always put us high up, except now I've been requesting to be out down lower.

Is this a pain or an inconvenience for you? Do you think of me (or other guests that do this) as weird? (I sometimes feel embarrassed.). Or is it just no big deal, and nobody really cares?

Not a problem at all, if I get a reservation with this request I make sure they get a room on the lowest floor possible and block it so my colleagues can't switch them around.

Fellow overnight hotel worker here. How many people do you have working in the hotel during your shift?

We're always alone (morning shift, late shift, night shift). I would love the job more if there was another colleague to talk to though.

During the morning shift you always have the front office manager/manager around though.

Can I get a room upgrade if I tip you?

Mentioned in another post, all our rooms are practically the same so this is not a "thing", though I probably would haha.

1) Does Hotels make most of their money from renting rooms or is there another lucrative business ? ( bars, restaurants, weddings?)

2) what can you tell us about that hotel business that nobody knows about?

3) do you know whats the name of the software you use to make check ins ?

Our #1 profit gain is from rooms, #2 is breakfast (we have 85% profit on a breakfast, that surprised me tbh)

I'm not sure if I know any crazy secrets that nobody knows about to be honest, will edit if something obvious pops into my head.

We use EOLE

Have you ever received any weird special requests from a reservation; like a picture or drawing on the nightstand?

Can't say I have, unfortunately, sounds like fun! The only "special" requests I get are putting a bottle of champagne or something.

Let's say I have a less than legitimate gold or platinum loyalty status. Does this get looked into at all?

Is there anything I can do to minimize scrutiny while still claiming free room upgrades etc?

At our hotel you get a free drink in the bar, I always make sure your check-in is no hassle and your room key is ready to hand over when you walk in. I love our frequent guests, always ready for a talk and I make sure I actually remember our conversations to ask about stuff later.

We do not have any other type of rooms unfortunately but as said in another post, I make sure they get the nicest rooms (bigger, most quiet, etc.)

Can I have an extra iPhone charger in the lost and found bin?

Normally we are not allowed to take anything from the lost and found but if someone asks nicely and I see the charger has been laying there for over a month, fuck it, it's yours.

can you guys, the staff, see what's going inside a hotel room using any cameras installed in the rooms, without the person knowing?

Nope!

Strangest thing found in a female guests room post-checkout and/or from housekeeping while staying there?

Nothing special I'm afraid!