Kyrie
I'd been meaning to get around to reading this one for a while, and as I was stuck working a weekend of 12 hour shifts to cover for a co-worker's vacation, I figured it was as good a time as any to read a book about the hotel industry.
I've been a front desk clerk at a small, family-owned timeshare hotel for six years now. Even though working at a timeshare hotel is a slightly different beast from working at a standard hotel, there's enough similarities between the two that I spent a good portion of the book nodding along in silent sympathy.
Except for the misguided belief that there's something wrong with people who enjoy working the graveyard shift. I counter with - what's wrong with people who DON'T enjoy working the graveyard shift???
People fight to get off the night schedule? I fought to get put on it.
I actually work maybe half of my shift. I do the closing paperwork for the day, run night audit, make sure all of the daily rates are properly posted...and then I've got four to six hours to just sit and read. I'm basically getting paid to read and goof around on the internet. I suppose I can see how it'd be a nightmare for people who thrive on human contact. Or for people who enjoy being awake during the day. But, as someone who's always kept a somewhat nocturnal schedule, the night shift is perfect for me.
This book made me glad, again, that I don't work in a corporate hotel. There's no manager constantly watching over my shoulder, waiting to pounce on me for the slightest mistake. There's no cut-throat competition for position advancement. There are no surprise visits from a higher office, so I don't have to worry about playing “spot the corporate agent”. It's a very laid-back work environment.
If you couldn't tell from the way this review has been going so far, this book is more for people who have worked in hotels than any sort of definitive guide on how to get your way in hotels. Tomsky gives out a few pieces of advice here and there, but the book as a whole isn't for people who stay at hotels.
Unless you just enjoy getting an inside look at how certain businesses are run.
Tomsky's humor is also very harsh, and blunt - he doesn't pretty up his thoughts and opinions. It definitely makes for an interesting narrative voice, though.
The appendixes were my favorite part of the book. They were done in a sort of FAQ style, covering answers to guest questions and assumptions.
So, to close out, here's some helpful information about staying at a timeshare hotel:
- If you're coming in as an exchange guest (through RCI, Wyndham, New Horizons) expect to pay an exchange fee at the hotel.
Yes - we know that you already paid your exchange company.
No - the exchange company does not cover this fee.
Really, your exchange company is supposed to tell you about the possibility that your hotel may charge you an exchange fee. Most don't. It usually only gets a brief mention in a footnote that, “Hotel may charge additional fees.”
- Your exchange company determines your room number, not the hotel.
Here's how it works - you own a timeshare. This means you own one particular unit for one particular week. When you deposit your week with an exchange company, the company then rents out your particular unit and week. The exchange company only has access to the units they are given. Every unit they have to rent out has a number. When you book a room through an exchange company, they pick a room from THEIR available stock, and assign it to you. Then, they fax the information over to the hotel, where the information gets put into the computer.
If you want a specific type of room, don't rely on the exchange company to have exactly what you want. And don't take it out on the front desk clerks if the exchange company didn't give you exactly what you wanted. Either you assumed they put you in the room you wanted, you didn't ask them what the room was like, or they didn't have what you wanted available.
It helps to call ahead to the hotel and see if we can switch you to the type of room you want.
Note: This is different in exchange company run hotels, like a Wyndham property. Most of their reservations come directly through their exchange company, so they don't assign room numbers, just room types. And then, there are different membership levels that get you different sorts of rooms, and different amenities...
- We are required to ask for a credit card and an ID at check in, for security purposes.
This is not because we're trying to steal your identity. (You can keep it, thank you very much.)
It's a security measure, so that if you try to run out on your hotel bill, we have a way to get in touch with you. And trust me - we *will* be in touch.
- Timeshares, unlike standard hotels, run week-to-week. Because most of our check outs/arrivals happen on the same day, late check outs on those days can never be guaranteed.
If your flight or bus or whatever is much, much later than check out time on a rollover day, the hotel can store your luggage.
- Remember the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated.
The front desk will be much more invested in helping you if you're not a complete asshole.
If you have an issue with your room, or if you have a maintenance problem, understand that it's not the front desk's fault. We don't clean the rooms. We're not maintenance. We just check you in and out of the system.
If you come to us politely, and explain what your problem is, we will do what we can to help remedy the situation. If we can't directly solve your problem, then we may take off that exchange fee.
If you come to us, screaming profanity and threatening us bodily harm, we won't be as eager to help you out. And we'll probably call the police. Seriously. You shouldn't go around threatening to hurt people.
And we'll DEFINITELY still be charging you that exchange fee.
And, some information about hotels in general:
- Card keys CAN be demagnetized.
I've had guests call me a moron, and say that this is, “The stupidest thing they've ever heard. It's impossible for that to happen.”
We advise guests to keep their card keys away from cell phones and credit cards for a reason.
- As stated in the book, no, card keys are not programmed with any of your personal information on them, especially not your credit card number.
The old card keys we used to use at my hotel didn't even allow for any of that. The machine keyed them ONLY with the room number, and day the card needs to stay active through. That was it.
We upgraded our lock system a couple of months ago, and got a much newer system (the old one had been in place since the mid-90s), and even the brand new system only allows us to add your name to the key.
This is also why you can't swipe your credit card to open the doors. I've seen you try.
- If something in your room “doesn't work”, you're probably trying to use it the wrong way.
I've got an entire section I wrote up in our employee notebook (for the few hires we've had since I started working) about the various complaints guests have, and their very simple solutions. 80% of all “maintenance issues” are people not knowing how to work something - TVs and showers being the most common culprits.
If someone calls down and says their shower isn't working, it's because we have those weird showers, where there's a lip you have to pull on the faucet while the water is running. Most people just assume that their shower is “broken” or the tub doesn't have a shower at all. Despite the fact that there's clearly a shower head.
If someone calls down to say their TV isn't working (and occasionally the lights in a room), it's because they haven't turned on power for that room. Most of the rooms have a switch that supplies power to all of the outlets for that particular room. No power to the outlets means no TV. That, or it's unplugged.
Okay. This is getting long. I think I'm done here...I need to be done, or I'm just going to keep ranting. @@
I'd been meaning to get around to reading this one for a while, and as I was stuck working a weekend of 12 hour shifts to cover for a co-worker's vacation, I figured it was as good a time as any to read a book about the hotel industry.
I've been a front desk clerk at a small, family-owned timeshare hotel for six years now. Even though working at a timeshare hotel is a slightly different beast from working at a standard hotel, there's enough similarities between the two that I spent a good portion of the book nodding along in silent sympathy.
Except for the misguided belief that there's something wrong with people who enjoy working the graveyard shift. I counter with - what's wrong with people who DON'T enjoy working the graveyard shift???
People fight to get off the night schedule? I fought to get put on it.
I actually work maybe half of my shift. I do the closing paperwork for the day, run night audit, make sure all of the daily rates are properly posted...and then I've got four to six hours to just sit and read. I'm basically getting paid to read and goof around on the internet. I suppose I can see how it'd be a nightmare for people who thrive on human contact. Or for people who enjoy being awake during the day. But, as someone who's always kept a somewhat nocturnal schedule, the night shift is perfect for me.
This book made me glad, again, that I don't work in a corporate hotel. There's no manager constantly watching over my shoulder, waiting to pounce on me for the slightest mistake. There's no cut-throat competition for position advancement. There are no surprise visits from a higher office, so I don't have to worry about playing “spot the corporate agent”. It's a very laid-back work environment.
If you couldn't tell from the way this review has been going so far, this book is more for people who have worked in hotels than any sort of definitive guide on how to get your way in hotels. Tomsky gives out a few pieces of advice here and there, but the book as a whole isn't for people who stay at hotels.
Unless you just enjoy getting an inside look at how certain businesses are run.
Tomsky's humor is also very harsh, and blunt - he doesn't pretty up his thoughts and opinions. It definitely makes for an interesting narrative voice, though.
The appendixes were my favorite part of the book. They were done in a sort of FAQ style, covering answers to guest questions and assumptions.
So, to close out, here's some helpful information about staying at a timeshare hotel:
- If you're coming in as an exchange guest (through RCI, Wyndham, New Horizons) expect to pay an exchange fee at the hotel.
Yes - we know that you already paid your exchange company.
No - the exchange company does not cover this fee.
Really, your exchange company is supposed to tell you about the possibility that your hotel may charge you an exchange fee. Most don't. It usually only gets a brief mention in a footnote that, “Hotel may charge additional fees.”
- Your exchange company determines your room number, not the hotel.
Here's how it works - you own a timeshare. This means you own one particular unit for one particular week. When you deposit your week with an exchange company, the company then rents out your particular unit and week. The exchange company only has access to the units they are given. Every unit they have to rent out has a number. When you book a room through an exchange company, they pick a room from THEIR available stock, and assign it to you. Then, they fax the information over to the hotel, where the information gets put into the computer.
If you want a specific type of room, don't rely on the exchange company to have exactly what you want. And don't take it out on the front desk clerks if the exchange company didn't give you exactly what you wanted. Either you assumed they put you in the room you wanted, you didn't ask them what the room was like, or they didn't have what you wanted available.
It helps to call ahead to the hotel and see if we can switch you to the type of room you want.
Note: This is different in exchange company run hotels, like a Wyndham property. Most of their reservations come directly through their exchange company, so they don't assign room numbers, just room types. And then, there are different membership levels that get you different sorts of rooms, and different amenities...
- We are required to ask for a credit card and an ID at check in, for security purposes.
This is not because we're trying to steal your identity. (You can keep it, thank you very much.)
It's a security measure, so that if you try to run out on your hotel bill, we have a way to get in touch with you. And trust me - we *will* be in touch.
- Timeshares, unlike standard hotels, run week-to-week. Because most of our check outs/arrivals happen on the same day, late check outs on those days can never be guaranteed.
If your flight or bus or whatever is much, much later than check out time on a rollover day, the hotel can store your luggage.
- Remember the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated.
The front desk will be much more invested in helping you if you're not a complete asshole.
If you have an issue with your room, or if you have a maintenance problem, understand that it's not the front desk's fault. We don't clean the rooms. We're not maintenance. We just check you in and out of the system.
If you come to us politely, and explain what your problem is, we will do what we can to help remedy the situation. If we can't directly solve your problem, then we may take off that exchange fee.
If you come to us, screaming profanity and threatening us bodily harm, we won't be as eager to help you out. And we'll probably call the police. Seriously. You shouldn't go around threatening to hurt people.
And we'll DEFINITELY still be charging you that exchange fee.
And, some information about hotels in general:
- Card keys CAN be demagnetized.
I've had guests call me a moron, and say that this is, “The stupidest thing they've ever heard. It's impossible for that to happen.”
We advise guests to keep their card keys away from cell phones and credit cards for a reason.
- As stated in the book, no, card keys are not programmed with any of your personal information on them, especially not your credit card number.
The old card keys we used to use at my hotel didn't even allow for any of that. The machine keyed them ONLY with the room number, and day the card needs to stay active through. That was it.
We upgraded our lock system a couple of months ago, and got a much newer system (the old one had been in place since the mid-90s), and even the brand new system only allows us to add your name to the key.
This is also why you can't swipe your credit card to open the doors. I've seen you try.
- If something in your room “doesn't work”, you're probably trying to use it the wrong way.
I've got an entire section I wrote up in our employee notebook (for the few hires we've had since I started working) about the various complaints guests have, and their very simple solutions. 80% of all “maintenance issues” are people not knowing how to work something - TVs and showers being the most common culprits.
If someone calls down and says their shower isn't working, it's because we have those weird showers, where there's a lip you have to pull on the faucet while the water is running. Most people just assume that their shower is “broken” or the tub doesn't have a shower at all. Despite the fact that there's clearly a shower head.
If someone calls down to say their TV isn't working (and occasionally the lights in a room), it's because they haven't turned on power for that room. Most of the rooms have a switch that supplies power to all of the outlets for that particular room. No power to the outlets means no TV. That, or it's unplugged.
Okay. This is getting long. I think I'm done here...I need to be done, or I'm just going to keep ranting. @@