Respect comes both ways

Posted on Thu April 2, 2015.

Interactions with guests, and how they impact on your business

I know the general rule, the customer is always right, but please take the following scenario - a booking is made by guests earlier on this week.  When speaking to my manager that afternoon, she stated that she only had one more booking to arrive.  She telephones me in the morning, and relates to me what happened.  The guests finally arrived at 2-30am.  My manager had to wait up, although it clearly states on all websites that sell our rooms, and our own website, exactly what the check-in times are, if prior arrangements have been made, we will gladly assist in whatever way possible.  Surely this is not an unreasonable request.  All business's have operating hours, and so do we.  We go out of our way to allow guests to settle in before heading out for dinner, explaining house rules etc. 

Once checked in the manager waits for the guest to come up from the parking lot, but he now decides to have a cigarette, whilst the manager is waiting.  She eventually goes to bed, and has to get up at her normal time of about 5am to see to the early morning duties.  The guest, apart from wanting specific religious dietary needs, asks my manager why he could not find her at 3 am, as he was looking for her.

Hospitality is a two way business.  We provide the accommodation and the home away from home experience, but at the same time, we would ask that guests respect us and our operating hours.  We would like to have you settled in, and will gladly answer any questions regarding your stay, the area etc, but cannot do this at unreasonable hours.

Now this guest, through various websites, will in probably go onto a review site like TripAdvisor, and slate us for our service, and for not accommodating his special meal requests.  We have a right of reply on TripAdvisor, but cannot in any way get the review removed, or the negative rating.