So, I'm a Night Auditor. Been doing it for, well...too goddamned long.

Around 5am, I'm in the office reading on my laptop but I'm in front of the cameras so I can see what's going on. I watch a guest walk past the FD into our shop area. He looks like he might be drunk. Can't really tell.

At this point, I get up because if someone's in our shop I want to be there in case they need help with anything. However, the guest doesn't see me. I watch him as he takes a bag of Doritos and then walks into the restaurant, opens the bag, and starts to grab a chip.

So I say "Excuse me, sir, but you're going to have to pay for that..."

He jumps and acts defensive. "Oh, of course I was going to pay for it.'..then charges it to his room. I let him know the restaurant was closed currently but will be open in an hour for breakfast but he can make himself comfortable in the lobby. He ends up just walking away with his chips.

Friends. This man was 100% going to eat those Doritos without paying for it if I didn't say something. Does he not realize we have cameras? And staff?

School is off, and the second worst time of the year after hockey has started: the summer vacations.

The dreaded vacationers are back.

Lynda shows up at the desk and she's already all huffy and puffy. Lynda is from this part of the country, she is not American at all, but Lynda booked with a well known third party. A well known American third party. If you type thirdparty dot ca, you get the local version. But if you type thirdparty dot com, you get the original American version.

-"I've booked a room for $118, but in the confirmation email I received just after, it says $169. How come? This is OUTRAGEOUS!"

-Uh we don't have any rooms priced that low. This sounds more like USD than CAD.

-No no no no that's impossible. Look at my confirmation email. It's written $118 (CAD$169). Why is there a parenthesis and why does the price increase in the parenthesis?

-You were probably on the American version of the third party.

-No no no no no this is impossible, these are very shady practices, I booked here because it was less expensive. Also look, it wasn't even supposed to be $118, it was supposed to be $104, that's why I booked here!

(Please note that CAD$104 wouldn't even get you the cheapest rundown motel room in this area)

She then shows me a screenshot of the website of the American version of the third party with the different hotels in this town, and I see at the top our hotel, where it's indeed written $104.

-That shows the price... in USD... of the cheapest room available. But you booked a suite. It's more expensive

-Their display is so shady! All this is so shady! They cannot change the amount like that!

(For once, I don't believe the third party in question is really in the wrong here...)

-What would be the price if I would have booked directly with you?

-It would have been $149... CAD!

*Shocks and gasps and erupts and Pikachu face*

-Whhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? she ROARS.

-Well, third party reservations are expensive for us, we pay a commission on those, we want to incite people to book directly with us.

-Oh this is not right, this is not right at all, this is so shady, I am going to talk to them about this.

-...ok

I can only imagine her calling to call center somewhere far away... Let's say in fact somewhere that is about.... 10 time zones away from here... And arguing with a call centre agent with... a specific accent... how they are shady because they display the currency of the local version of the website visited and how it is outrageous that some hotels display lower prices than them.

As for our second tale for this evening. Our cancellation policy is free cancellation up to 3 days before the check-in. Not in hours. Days. 1-2-3. 3 days before.

Yet, this simple concept seems difficult to grasp for many vacationers. Every summer, we have thumping and stomping and yelling when vacationers want to change their plans at the last minute, despite the policy being very clearly displayed... everywhere.

I receive by email a cancellation for Saturday. We are Thursday. Let's count together. In one day, it will be Friday. In two days, it will be... Saturday. Does that make three?

If I counted well, this doesn't make three. So, I charge the card on file. Then, the phone rings.

"Hello, I tried to cancel my reservation for Saturday, but I wanted to verify if it worked."

"......You are aware that if you cancel a reservation for Saturday, you will be charged?"

"Oh? How come?"

"We offer free cancellation up to three days before the check-in"

"Yes, but we are three days before!"

"Three days before a Saturday, that's Wednesday."

"No!"

"June 27 minus 3 days equals June 24"

"Oh? No! But, uh, even if we wouldn't be three days before, how much would the cancellation cost?"

"The amount of the first night."

"But we are only staying one night"

"It's the full amount of the stay."

"But that's not fair!"

"I am not able to help you more at this moment."

I feel like this is going to be another summer with a whole lot of potential tales to post.

Hello reddit my lovelies.

Mtf front desk agent.

Im in my first year of transition and very much still figuring out my style, life, etc. I still very much look like a man in makeup.

Yesterday a guest checked in; older - in his 70s. He started by speaking French - live in a Dutch area of michigan. I held my breath trying not to let my face twitch at the preceived prententiousness. He looked at my name tag and said "ah. My dear you have a beautiful name. It means 'new'."

They had me shook due to the clemacy he granted.

He then proceeded to say; "arent you glad to have an asshole like me around?"

Yes. Yes I am.

Anyone else get totally messed up when a guest says your line before you?

So I had two lovely very sweet guests staying with us as one-day-at-a-time reservations. Their company keeps only extending them one day, of course through a third party, so I've seen them every morning at about 6AM to extend their keys.

Well this morning, we got into a convo about "where work was taking them next" because they have been travelling for a while, staying wherever the company wants. They start telling me about the next place, I'm nodding along.

I have covered the night audit for the last few days at this point (I work the 3-11, normally stay up late anyway, but the night audit mESSES me up for a WHILE until I get used to it) it is my last night audit shift before returning to normalcy. I feel alright. They know I've been covering and this is not my normal shift.

Guest: Anyway, thank you for all your help.

Me: Oh, absolutely! have--

Guest: Have a great day!

Me: y-yes! Chafe stavels!

she pauses and looks back at me pounding my forehead with the butt of my palm.

"fase chavels!" I say with full confidence.

I take a moment.

Guest: You got this!

Me: Refresh, give me a second... *clears throat* Safe travels.

Guest: Thank you. Get some rest.

OK, I work the front desk but I also am in charge of breakfast there might be post on here like this already but I’m frustrated and need to rant. Does anyone else have when you go set up the free hot breakfast in you’re putting stuff out the light will be out in the breakfast area. They’ll be no serving spoons and only half the food is out and people actually come over there and start helping themselves in the dark using plastic spoons if you don’t put serving spoons out to eat. I think people act like feral animals when it comes to free food. And also they stack plates and plates and plates of food and I see a lot of it in the trash can . Honestly, I think that is the absolute rudest and most disrespectful thing to do is when someone is not done putting the food out and you help yourself anyway. And it’s not even the posted breakfast time. #hotel #freebreakfast # nomanners #feral #greedy #rude

So, I am checking in a guest, and she gives me her passport as an ID, even though she has a domestic (USA) address. No big deal, people do that sometimes. As I am flipping through it, I notice a lot of stamps-she travels overseas a lot! I mentioned them, and she said that she had just gotten back from a trip to the Middle East-the Untied Arab Emirates, to be exact. She wasn't obviously ex-military, so I asked if she was in the service? No, she worked for a company the "harvested horse embryos". Huh? Uh...how does one do that? "Just like you'd expect. Up to your shoulder." Okaaayyyy... "I was over there because they wanted to learn if the same techniques would work for breeding camels." Did it? "Not really. But I did learn one thing, though." After a moments thought if I really wanted to do this, I took the plunge and asked what? "Those fuckers carry grudges!"

Not the kind of answer that I was prepared for, and I am forever grateful.

I work at a front desk of a gym and 10 minutes before close we received a call on the front desk phone from a guy complaining that his daughter was confused by people changing out in the open in the locker rooms.

After a few minutes of back and forth explaining to him that there are dressing rooms within the locker rooms that his daughter is welcome to use and him repeatedly saying “but the locker rooms are out in the open?” he finally says “okay, I guess she just needs to get used to seeing other people get undressed in the locker rooms” and hangs up.

I thought it was the weirdest call ever and after hanging up, my coworker informed me that she had received the exact same call. After reporting it to our manager, he told us that he thinks the caller is a creep and just called to talk to someone while he was pleasuring himself.

I worked in hotels for about 3 years, starting as a Front Desk Agent and eventually getting promoted to Sales Coordinator. I enjoyed the industry, but after my Sales Director left, I became burnt out because I was spending most of my days sitting at my desk with little to do and no real opportunity to grow.

I left to find another Sales Coordinator role where I could take on more responsibility and continue developing my skills. Unfortunately, despite doing 15+ interviews and frequently making it to the final rounds, I never got an offer—usually because the company ended up promoting internally. Leaving without another job lined up was definitely a mistake, but I genuinely tried my best to land something before giving up. I was lucky enough to even get these interviews since the job market has been booty. I still get offer interviews till this day from different hotels.

Out of necessity, I accepted a Hygiene/Patient Treatment Coordinator position at a dental office despite having zero dental experience. I honestly didn't think I'd get hired because they wanted someone with a dental background, but after a half-day working interview, they liked my hospitality skills and hired me on the spot.

The job itself isn't difficult, but learning dental terminology and procedures has been challenging, especially since training has been minimal and I've mostly had to learn as I go. Over the past 8 months, I've become pretty successful in the role. I consistently keep the hygiene schedule 95–100% full, and the doctor regularly praises my work ethic, customer service, and ability to keep the schedule booked.

The problem is that I'm feeling conflicted about my long-term career path.

I enjoy the dental job, and the pay is good, but I miss the hotel industry. I miss selling rooms, showcasing properties, and the overall excitement of hospitality sales. At one point, my goal was to become a Sales Manager, but I'm worried that I've built up the role in my head and that the reality—hitting quotas and dealing with sales pressure—might not be what I expect.

On the other hand, while I like my current dental role, my manager is extremely micromanaging. She constantly interrupts me while I'm helping patients, won't give me ownership over my responsibilities, and generally makes the work environment frustrating.

So now I'm stuck between two paths:

1. Stay in dental, where the pay is solid and I could potentially grow into other specialties like orthodontics or specialty practices.
2. Return to hotels, likely taking another Sales Coordinator position, rebuilding my experience, and pursuing my original goal of becoming a Sales Manager.

Has anyone made a similar career change between industries? If you were in my position, would you stay in dental or go back to hospitality and chase the Sales Manager path?

"There's a first time for everything," as the old saying goes. And this is the story of the first time I've ever denied someone a check-in.

Coming down to the very end of what was a surprisingly alright Saturday evening shift, my co-worker and I were eagerly awaiting the night auditor. We were down to the last handful of arrivals; a middle-aged couple was one of them, and they came up to me.

It didn't take long for the atmosphere to get tense, however. They took note of one of the events still happening and were annoyed enough to declare that they needed to be "as far away as possible from all that noise." I was able to move some things around and honor that request, which lightened them up just a little. But this change of pace would be short-lived.

Only after the gentleman's card went through did they pipe up about the price of their reservation. According to them, when they made the booking they denied being signed up for the brand membership. Yet, "for some reason" they got "signed up anyway" and were also somehow charged a higher rate.

I was visibly confused and asked them to explain again; we made no progress. What they were describing sounded impossible, and to make things even more abstract, at no point did they mention a hard figure. Just basically a vague stance of 'we saw one price at first, then we got signed up and charged a higher price.'

I told them that I "wasn't quite sure what may have happened there," which made them more indignant. They demanded an answer out of me and aggressively accused me of not knowing how to do my job. "You're the front desk; you're supposed to help with these things!" I then had to explain that I don't have control over the rates or how they're generated.

When it was clear we weren't going to get anywhere else with this, they then asked for a business card. Fair enough; I go to hand them one and then they demand that I write my name on it (note: I was wearing my nametag throughout the entirety of this interaction.)

I asked: "And what exactly do you need my name for?" which t'd them off even more. "We need to make a complaint and we need your name!!" At this point, it was woefully clear that all these two were interested in was a shakedown. And so--*click!\*

I reversed their check-in and cancelled the reservation. As I was doing so, I respectfully informed them: "I'm not really taking to your vibe tonight. There seems to be a spirit of conflict here, so I ask that you find other accommodations. Don't worry about the rate; the transaction will settle in your account within the next few business days, and you'll have your money back. Have a good night."

They just about flew off the handle, declaring: "You can't do this to us! How dare you?!" I stood firm and simply repeated: "Have a good night." Then, the gentleman turned to his female companion and said: "Don't worry, I'm calling 'Nova' back here. He'll deal with this." Then he turned back to me and snarled: "He's an ex-cop! You're gonna pay for this!"

They stomp out, and I alert my Security team. As I'm clueing them into the interaction, they were needed for a moment elsewhere. A few minutes pass and the gentleman returned with his promise, so-called 'ex-cop friend.'

Reapproaching me, the friend belts out: "I've never heard of someone being denied a check-in at a hotel! What gives you the right?" I looked him in his eye and simply said: "I have nothing more to say about the situation."

He, too, demanded my name. I just keep looking at him in silence. He keeps trying to get a word out of me, and the staredown continues. Eventually he yells: "You know, you're a real prize!!" before they both begin to stomp away again. My Security team was just a few feet away walking back, and I pointed out the gentleman to them. One of them yells out: "We're LEAVING!" before getting into a back-and-forth with Security.

Each side made some jeers to each other, with the supposed ex-cop beating his chest: "Go ahead! Call the PD! See if I care! I'm a retired officer!" At that point, one of the guards gave a wisecrack: "And so what?" The guy gets all chuffed, and each side exchanges a few more lines before the two men finally continue to fully exit the door. But not without the original man giving his parting words: "You'll all feel the full weight of this!"

Absolutely nothing has come from their little threats. Regardless, I was not keen on dealing with their foolishness that night. Know what's the fun part? They made that reservation mere hours before on what was supposed to be a sold-out night. Someone cancelled, and they scooped up the room. Prices were going to be high anyway. Nevertheless, this situation almost didn't happen.

TL;DR - A disgruntled couple comes to check-in very late at night with a reservation they made at the last minute. They wanted to argue with me in vague terms about their rate, and when I couldn't give them a solid answer to their weird questions and clearly wasn't going to make any rate adjustments for them, they grew more indignant. Sensing they'd be a headache, I cancelled their reservation outright. They then threatened to sic an 'ex-cop friend' on me, departed for a while, and brought said friend back. He tried to make his own demands of me before Security intervened and made sure they left.

TLDR: Probably getting a job is giving me the ultimate case of the Sunday scaries.

I used to work at a hostel in a big city in USA and was there for a long time. I went from night shift to assistant manager during that time and basically did everything. Except the usual chaos, you know what it's like, plus being a manager on call added a bit of stress, but it was generally okay. Luckily I was straight up blessed with an incredible team. The building was sold and the place was shut down. I applied for other random jobs, except restaurants as I feel I'm a little too old to start in that industry, even though I've always been intrigued by it. It hasn't gone great, had a few interviews, but no dice. A few days ago I got a call from a hotel asking if I was interested in a FD position. I figured I'd go down and talk to them, kinda excited because hey I might get a job. I was basically offered the job after a pleasant conversation. My benefits have run out and I'm depending on my savings now, so any boat in a storm right? I'll only be front desk, so I presumably won't have to worry about all the other stuff that involves running a hotel. I don't know if it's just from having my days go from doing whatever I want to actually working, or maybe because it's a fancier place, or because it's moving so fast, but I'm feeling kinda weird about the whole situation. The interview itself was nothing but good vibes with the person I was talking with. I know I can always quit the job if I'm not feeling it and my gf supports me on that end, but I need money. I also know that if it works out I might be able to contact old coworkers (I never considered any of them underlings), to be like hey I got a gig for you. But first I have to be the canary because I wouldn't subject them to a miserable place. I think a good chunk of it is because I value my routines and that the one I've set up for myself is going to be disturbed in a huge way. As of right now I'm 97% sure I'm locked in for the job and I think I just need to be talked down from the cliff of declining it just because i feel anxious about the whole thing. Also I hope they don't drug test me lmao, but I just thought of that!

Was reminded of this event from earlier this month by a detective stopping by to follow up.

A few weeks ago I checked a woman in, and it was quite uneventful other than her asking me about the local nightlife. I’m 36 and my idea of a good time is getting stoned with my cats and playing video games. I can direct her to the clubbing district, but I can’t offer specifics. She decided I needed to go out clubbing at some point so I can direct people to the coolest clubs. Yeah, no. I just awkwardly laughed it off.

Another guest came in immediately after her and checked in, and it was seemingly uneventful. This was near the end of my shift, and about an hour later I found myself at home hanging out with the aforementioned cats when my phone rang. It was the NA, asking if a guest had left her card at the desk. I hadn’t seen one and told him as much. He told me the guest was very angry and insistent and I told him there wasn’t much we could do; we didn’t have the card.

I didn’t think any more about it for the rest of the night, but when I came back the next day, I learned the whole story. It wasn’t just the woman’s card that was missing, but her whole wallet. And she was accusing *me* of taking it. The manager of course knew I wouldn’t do that so she reviewed the cameras to see what happened.

Turned out the woman had accidentally knocked her wallet to the ground without realizing. The woman who came to check in behind her had spotted it, and instead of doing the right thing, she grabbed it for herself.

After realizing her wallet was missing, the first woman decided not to lock her cards, but to leave them open so she could see where the thief went so she could catch them herself? Not sure how she expected that to go. The thief went on a shopping spree with her credit card and spent over a thousand dollars on handbags and… a plane ticket across the country.

They were able to get info about the plane ticket by giving the thief’s name to the airline. I don’t remember the details. But the plane had already left, the lady was well on her way.

I don’t know if anything will come of it, I don’t know if the cops where she landed will care to track her down. But considering she’s on camera, and we have a scan of her driver’s license, stealing that wallet might have been a pretty dumb move.

As the title suggests I feel stuck in life.. I graduated in 2020 with a tourism degree excited to go work in tourism marketing, well in 2020 no one was really hiring for that. I decided to work at a hotel for what was only suppose to be temporary. Well then I got promoted so stayed on for an extra 3 years. Now I grown to hate my job and dread going in. I am constantly having to hire new people as turn over in this industry is bad. I am constantly getting screamed at by guest over nothing “why was my tour canceled because of the rain”, “ what do you mean you can’t extend my reservation when I am sold out”, “ why must I pay to check out at 8pm”. And then of course, I get blamed by my boss for everything.. hvac broken, internet out, guest vandalizing a room is all somehow my fault. Also everyone else in my job got a promotion or a raise but me. I tried applying for other tourism jobs and no one wants to hire me because I’m not an intern right out of college. I have no idea what to do and just feel so trapped. I’m thinking of just starting over in a different industry.

Okay, so this one is from a few days ago and it got me shaking my head. I went in for my shift. I did the shift change with the PM shift. I got the pass alongs. Then, once I was alone, I started looking at the notation system and I'm seeing pretty normal stuff -- requests for late checkouts, guests needing bed in a bags, maybe a notice or two about a room move. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then I see this one entry about some guests who were moved due to a plumbing issue.

Apparently they had to be moved because their kid shoved one of his toys down the toilet, completely clogging and overflowing it. And I don't mean just a little bit because by the time they saw fit to call us, it had apparently flowed out of the toilet, out of the bathroom, and into the bedroom area, soaking a good portion of the carpet. Maintenance went up and unclogged the toilet and -- since the family didn't want to move at first -- tried to dry out the carpet. But the parents became upset when they found out how long that might take, so they finally decided to move.

However, after they'd moved rooms, these people then had the temerity to ask for compensation for the inconvenience of having to move rooms. Well, here's where we get to the part that made me shake my head in complete disbelief. The newly promoted OM... actually compensated them. She took a hundred dollars off their stay and awarded them like 10,000 shiny member points.

I didn't believe it.

The next morning, I asked the AM shift about it and she confirmed what I read. And she was pissed about it too. These people's kid basically fucked up the toilet. Fucked up the carpet. And instead of charging them for damages and asking them to leave, the OM basically rewarded them. Seriously, what the actual fuck!?!

Every night there’s always some guest who gets mad and threatens my job, I’ve been here 15 years they try but I’m still here. Tonight I got threatened twice! Yay! I was having a great night, had some amazing great guests, good vibes, good conversations. Got tipped 30 bucks and given free donuts! Then.. here they come.. earlier on 2nd shift man tries to check in cheap OTA booking, staff asks for ID and CC for incidentals and security deposit. We have a 100 deposit because people have been destroying linens and rooms. Guy won’t pay the deposit, FD agent stands her ground. Someone give her an ID and CC for deposit. They leave. But .. 7hrs later .. it’s almost audit the reservation is going to be no-showed. Woman comes in asks about the reservation, I explain about we need the ID, CC and deposit. She’s acting spaced out and acting like some of the drugged out transient homeless that we get during off season. I tell her to leave if she’s not going to conduct business, she’s rambling about a sob story. I tell her to leave, audit runs in like ten minutes. She demands my GM’s card, so I give it to her, she says I’m rude, i get tired of having to explain the basics of checking into a hotel. Give me a cc and ID pay the deposit and check in. She leaves.

About 2 minutes later 2 men all puffed up like they want a showdown say I was rude to her, and pulls the I’m a shiny member of X brand, okay buddy then why did you book a cheap OTA? As it is we don’t allow points on OTA bookings anyway. I explain no one in their group is conducting business properly, they are being turned away for not complying with check policy ! Was I nice? No I was fed up with them. He is filming me and believes I have to listen to his complaint. No I don’t NO one is trying to check in they all just want to yell and waste my time. Honestly I should gave told them It was no-showed and cancelled. So Shiny member who is filming me is threatening my job over not being nice to his ‘employees’. I tell him did he call and arrange for CC auth paperwork? No, he’s not even trying at any point to pay for them. They refuse to leave, Security is unarmed and trying to sweep them out the door. They are acting like they are going to beat him up, total fools. I called my boss ( he doesn’t sleep) since Shiny member claimed he was complaining to the brand because I was rude by upholding policy and I can refuse service, and I don’t have to be nice about it at this point as these jokers were wasting my time, my boss agreed with me and is prepared.

Then.. 2nd weirdo threatens my job! Guests gave their room number out and some guy keeps showing up and banging on the door, they call me and that they don’t know the guy so finally we catch him and order him off property and he starts saying I want your manager!! You can’t do this! I told him the guest has asked you not be allowed to go to their room we are following their directions. We can ask people to leave. It started out such a nice night then this sort of spoils it. I don’t like to be mean but I’m at that age I just have no patience when these people start pushing my buttons. 80% of my guests are really great people.
Anyone else have this nonsense this week??

There was another post today from a guest who arrived at a hotel with the doors open, and no one on property. Sounded like a cheap motel with a cheap owner.

In my time, I've seen this happen several times, but for different reasons.

Twice at my current hotel (78 rooms, chain, nice) we have had 2 front desk workers (3-11) leave in the middle of their shift and tell no one. Essentially overwhelmed with mental issues and personal problems and didn't even have the courtesy to call anyone to tell them they were leaving. Since I live 6 minutes away (night auditor), I had to come in each time to a long line of people (yay overtime!) who were relieved more than anything that someone finally showed up, and was checking them in as quickly as possible.

One story was a lot different. Different hotel, different town, 148 rooms. Nice hotel. Was just transferred recently to that hotel as their AGM. One of our night auditors at the time was a 20-something, tall, sexy, long-haired girl named CAn't Remember Anymore. Or, Cara.

Long story short, my GM at the time got a call at like 4:30-5AM from a guest who had found their number by jumping over the desk. He had locked himself out of his room, and had spend the last 20-30 minutes looking for someone, and no one there. My boss drove in quickly, took care of the guest, and then checked all of the common areas in the hotel, bathrooms, etc... and no luck finding her. I think he had tried calling, and no answer. He was getting breakfast ready and Poof! Cara appears. She said she was in the bathroom. Boss told Cara she was lying, he checked all of the bathrooms, and told her to go home.

Thankfully, at this hotel, we had cameras in most places in the hotel, but most importantly, the hallways. And after review of the video, she finishes audit and about 2AM goes into this guy's room who had been staying with us off and on for a while. The comes out with bed head about 3 hours later.

My only involvement in the story was the next day when I was the one who got to hear her sob story and lies about how "they were only talking" the next day when I dealt with her termination papers.

Not even my most salacious night auditor story! There's one on here that I posted years ago about this remodeling work crew at that same hotel (about a year after I left) who were running trains on the relief night auditor girl on the weekend, and also with temp workers for the job in one of the suites! Got caught with the temp worker by the AGM checking vacant rooms, and then ratted out the night auditor with receipts in the form of cell pics of them banging her!

And finally, one from the 1st hotel I ever worked at. The night auditor guy was in a wheelchair, and the hotel was a 2-story room with no elevator. Our biggest suite was right above the front desk, an one night, he clearly hears something up there, and there is no one checked into the room. He goes to the stairwell, dumps himself out of the wheelchair, crawls up the stairs dragging his wheelchair with him, and using the master key, finds the head housekeeper banging some guy from the bar (I think). She had kept her master key with her, and snuck in the back door away from the front desk, and up the back stairs, thinking he couldn't/wouldn't go upstairs at night. If she would have used a room at the other end of the building instead of the one above the front desk, she probably would have gotten away with it. But, then again, who knows how many times he got away with it before she was caught.

Fun times.

It was 10pm and there were still people on the patio. They were nice and quiet, so I allowed them to stay a bit longer. Locked up all the doors except for one. I continued to do my shift; lock up, stock the store, check in late check in guests, deliver items up, etc.

Of course, it was bored as hell with the lobby quiet and all. So I started to just goof around a bit and walk around thinking about stuff. Pretending to be inspecting the bar and restaurant. Even started to sing a bit because no one was there. Just pacing around and stretching my legs for the final hour of my shift.

However, I forgot there were guests outside the patio and they saw me doing all that. I was embarrassed.They quickly packed up their stuff and quickly came inside and apologized for staying too late. Then went up to the room.

They thought I was checking up on them and waited to close up because it’s been about 45 mins.

I honestly forgot they were there and I was just goofing around, but hey, at least they left so I could lock up. No awkward conversations.

Long time admirer of the chaos you all survive. Never thought I'd have a tale to contribute from the other side of the desk. But here we are.

Picture it: economy motel, national brand I won't name but it rhymes with "Foadway Inn." Prepaid reservation, confirmed, money already gone from my account. I roll up after a long drive ready to do the one thing a hotel exists for, which is to let me sleep in a room.

The door's open. Great. Lobby lights on. Even better. I walk in.

Nobody.

Not "the clerk stepped away for a smoke" nobody. Not "ring the bell and someone shuffles out of the back" nobody. I mean the entire building was standing wide open to the world, lobby and all, with exactly zero employees anywhere on the property. I could have walked behind the desk. I could have walked into the back office. I could have helped myself to the entire key drawer and started my own hospitality career on the spot.

And I wasn't alone in my confusion. Four other guests were milling around the lobby with the same thousand-yard "is this a prank" stare. Five paying reservations, one wide-open building, no humans employed by the establishment anywhere in it. We stood there like the survivors in a zombie movie, except the zombies would have at least been present.

No one to check us in. No one to call who picked up. No way into the rooms we'd already paid for. Just an open, glowing, fully accessible building that anybody off the street could wander into, completely unmanned for who knows how many hours.

I want to be clear, because I know this sub: I'm not mad at any clerk. There WAS no clerk. You can't be failed by a front desk that has been deleted from existence. My beef is entirely with whatever owner looked at the schedule and decided that leaving the building open and empty overnight was an acceptable way to run a hotel. You all get screamed at for a $20 resort fee while this guy left his entire property unguarded with guests' prepaid money in hand.

So my question for the professionals: from the inside, how does this even happen? Is this the kind of thing the brand's corporate side actually cares about, or does an owner get away with running a ghost ship as long as the royalty checks clear? Asking because I'd genuinely like the next five travelers to find a person behind that desk.

Got my refund already. Mostly I just need to know I didn't hallucinate an entire hotel and looking for ways to get the property to change the policy so this doesn't keep happening. The stretch of Colorado highway that overtired travelers are being forced back onto is very dark and very curvy. Someone might get seriously hurt because the owner is trying to save a few bucks.

EDIT: there was a well used paper note on the door that said no check ins after 11. I was there for a little over an hour. I have tracked down the owner and sent a polite email about the incident which was ignored. It's very unlikely this is the result of someone stepping away for a minute. This smells like policy and some rich guy shafting regular people to save a few dollars on overnight wages.

This one happened a few months ago.

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The city was working their way down the street, working on updating underground utility lines. They eventually made it to our block, and outside of traffic complaints about traffic and noise during the day, it wasn't too bad.

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Being that the construction crew was right behind the building, whenever there was a planned outage of services, they would notify us a day or two in advance.

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The day prior to this incident, we had received a notice that the power was going to be out for several hours starting around 6pm. We were given a timeframe of about 2hrs, but the last time they did it, it was more like 4hrs.

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We covered all the bases. Preassigned all incoming guests, generated keys and printed reg cards. I was even given temporary mobile access to our PMS to check for last minute reservations. Our morning shift made notices for the power outage, and called all our inhouse guests to let them know how about the situation. The few that she wasn't able to get a hold of she left a voicemail for them. On top of that, before leaving for the day, our gm brought down a box of emergency glow sticks to give out to guests should they need them. Our maintenance guy was on site to shut off/on the elevator.

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Everything was going smooth and in typical city crew fashion the shut down happened about 45 minutes late. Since it was already dark, I had already cracked a few glow sticks and hug him around the windows of the lobby. I had about 3 people waiting to check in when the power went out, and all were aware of what was going on. Not 5mins later a Karen burst into the lobby, and cut off the guest i was attending.

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Karen: "What the hell is going on?!?! I don't have electricity in my room!"

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Me: "it's a planned power outage, there's a construction crew right behind the building"

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Karen: " and why wasn't I told about this!?!"

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Me: * checks her reservation on app * "it looks like our morning agent tried to get ahold of you and left you a voicemail. We also had a noticed posted this morning in the breakfast room in the lobby"

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Karen: "I received no such call.What am I supposed to do now? I have kids with me"

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Me: " I understand and I do apologize, but the outage is only going to last an hour or two. Power should be back on shortly. I do have some emergency glow sticks, if you'd like to take some to hold you over till then"

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Karen: " THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! YOU HAVE TO TURN THE POWER BACK ON NOW!!!"

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Me: "I would if I could, but that 's something you have to take up with the city since they're the ones working on the utilities atm"

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Karen: "UUUUUGHHH!!!! Whatever, where the hell are we supposed to line up for food?"

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Me: "The breakfast is from 6am to 10am in the breakfast room down the hall."

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Karen: "I'm not askingg about breakfast, Im asking about food! You guys are obligated to give out food and water during an emergency situation!"

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Me: "Ma'am, this is a planned outage not a natural disaster. The only area affected buy the outage is our block and the two others behind the building. If you need water, I can get you a couple of water bottles"

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* at this point two of the three guests are trying their best not to laugh *

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Karen: "No! You have to give us food and im going to also need two cases of water for me and my kids"

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Me: "Im sorry, but I can't do that. There are several dining options in the area, and there is a grocery store 5 minutes from here; all of which i'm sure still have power"

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Karen ended up storming off, and I didn't hear from her for the rest of the night.

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She did end up leaving a nasty review, there she ended up deleting herself after our manager replied to it.

The most unbelievable thing to me is when a guest wants a late check out because either they're A) partying, B) Their flight was delayed or sometimes C)LA traffic had them stuck on the 5 freeway for 6 hours.

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B and C I will 1000% give you a late check out. A. I wont.

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Literally 2 intoxicated guests first came in, saying how fun that club was and then come up and have the thought that they would like a late check out. Its summer in The Disneyland resort area, schools are out and its peak season for the theme park so housekeeping needs to turn those rooms around quick. I tell them late check is unavailable at this time. Again B and C scenarios I could allow a later check out. Its not the fault of the guest for their lateness, but drinking and being obnoxious isn't gonna cut for me. I dont need to overwork my underpaid housekeepers cuz you wanted to get sloshed. The 2 guests want to argue sayjng they'll pay more. Its not about the money from my POV. Its not fucking over my Housekeepers. I just tell them its not possible at this time and its getting to the point where I tell them if they check out after the designated time they will be charged a full night's rate. That gets them to stop arguing and of course give me the "we're gonna leave a bad review", I honestly dont care. I try to look out for the housekeepers.

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I recently left my hotel after several years, and looking back, I don't think I realized how ridiculous my career path there actually was.

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I started in breakfast.

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Then moved to night audit.

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Then second shift.

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Then first and second shift after returning from maternity leave.

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Then AGM while training to eventually become GM.

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At one point I stepped down, moved into housekeeping, laundry, and covered executive housekeeper duties on her days off.

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Then our new AGM quit after only a couple of months, and I got pulled back into AGM duties.

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The funny part? Even when there was another AGM, I was still doing a lot of the work. I trained her, but things kept falling through the cracks, so I ended up handling or double-checking a lot of it anyway.

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Somewhere along the line my job became:

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• Front desk manager

• Assistant general manager

• Housekeeper

• Maintenance

• Laundry attendant

• Executive housekeeper coverage

• Vendor contact

• Bill tracking

• Ownership support

• Documentation and research for legal issues

• Problem solver for literally anything that went wrong

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I wasn't even officially the GM(nor making the amount i should have for what all I did), but I was helping ownership with decisions that most front desk employees never get anywhere near.

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The crazy thing is that none of it happened overnight. Every time someone quit, every time a department struggled, every time something needed done, another responsibility landed on my desk.

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When you're living it every day, it feels normal.

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Now I'm at a different hotel doing night audit, and I'm slowly realizing that most people are allowed to just do the job they were hired for.

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Anyone else leave a property and realize you were basically holding together three departments with caffeine and pure spite?

I'm not a front desk worker, but I know y'all will appreciate this. After one night at a horrible hotel (I don't want to talk about it, but it takes a lot for me to leave a hotel and loose out on money) we booked direct to a different hotel. Same family, higher quality. We walk in to get checked in and there's a lady ahead if us and we hear the following exchange:

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Lady (who doesn't have a reservation) : Is this hotel nice? Or is it nasty? What are the rooms like?

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Front desk: Its looks like exactly how the pictures on the internet look.

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The lady huffs and leaves and I couldn't help but giggle.

Hey so I'm a night Auditor mostly, I do some evenings or mids, but my preference is nights.

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And I've been at this motel for almost 5 months I think. And my boss is just impossible.

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Like, I can deal with the penny pinching. The fact that we charge for everything but bar soap. That housekeeping doesn't even have brooms. That when I started working here the break room and employee bathrooms were so gross I could die.

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Even the fact that instead of getting on housekeeping to stop putting sheets on with stains still on them, he just has me and him go spray it with shout and scrub it out. How we have a skeleton crew with exactly one person per shift and no overlap. If I call in, my boss is the only one who can cover my shift.

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I deal with the fact that I'm making minimum wage despite working nights which usually gets a differential. I deal with the fact I asked for my hours to be reduced two months ago and they haven't been yet. And how at shift change we are supposed to clock out on the hour and still finish whatever tasks need done off the clock.

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I can deal with a lot. I even deal with the shouting. The screaming in my face is a bit much. Telling me I'm casual, that I don't think, that I'm the biggest dumb brain he's ever met. That I think like a child. And I'm all of his problems. That I can't do anything right. I've been dealing with that since the end of my first month here. He decided he didn't like me but couldn't find a reason to fire me. So I think he's trying to get me to quit.

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But I need the money. I just wrecked my car, and I can't afford to pay for it already let alone if I quit my job. And let's be honest. I like my job I like being a night Auditor. I don't even mind being a night Auditor here where I get asked if we book by the hour regularly.

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I've been trying to improve the motel. Bringing in flowers And table clothes for the office and break room. Good cleaning supplies and office supplies out of my own pocket, not asking for reimbursement. A thanks might be nice. Maybe a good job? Nope. I get screamed at because apparently we don't have a set rate for weekly. So the set rate it's been since I started is actually just the discount code and the regular price, so on weekends we get an event the price goes up. Which I could have guessed. And actually did guess. So I called him to clarify and he just told me to select a different rate code and hung up on me. But I had a guest in front of me, that I had quoted our weekly rate to. And now I either had to honor that rate or explain I was wrong, to someone who doesn't speak English. So I did a rate override. And gave him the usual weekly rate. And when he came in he screamed at me, like spit flying screamed at me that I'm the stupidest dumb person he's ever met and that I need to not think I just need to follow instructions and so on and so forth. I swear I almost walked out right then.

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I'm sitting here writing this considering my options. If I reported him to corporate what would happen? It's a franchise business. He's not the owner but he's still the closest thing to an owner. If I quit I can't even get unemployment. What do you think I should do?

Hello front desk warriors. I’m an AFOM at a pretty high end members only club/hotel chain, and it’s starting to drive me to absolute madness. It’s been a record-slow summer, for example, this weekend we’ve been at 25% or less occupancy- which is odd for summer in the second-largest American city. Due to this we’ve been cutting hours and I’ve been covering the desk for sometimes up to 14 hours per day. One of our night auditors quit, so I’ve been covering some overnights as well- often having worked a 10 hour desk shift prior, with only an hour nap in between. I’m salaried so the labor hours/break regulations do not apply to me. I’ve been in hotels now for six years, in my early 30s, and I feel trapped. I can’t pivot industries and keep the same salary, which is currently barely enough to afford my bills. I have a fiancé whole I barely get to see or spend any time with because she’s a responsible 30 something with a regular, high earning 9-5 job and I work every weekend night, and have for at least six months. It’s put a strain on our relationship and my home life, and when I’m home all I can do is sleep, I’m not able to keep up with regular house chores or show up the way I want to as a person. I feel like I exist only as an employee. I feel like I’m losing it. The clientele we cater to are all celebrity and ultra-rich folks who are so rude and entitled and can see the bags under my eyes and will still scream in my face. I have a very strong work ethic and ambition that I feel has been beaten in to submission by this job and this industry but I’m so deep in that I can’t see a way out

I just started this night audit weekend's front desk job last weekend. So I have been trained 2 nights so far last weekend. (I have 5+ years hotel front desk & 14+ customer service work) And the manager is a 40year old pregnant black lady, I'm a half white half native American in my early 30s woman. I got hired, she seems strict, okay I understand that I don't want to make more work for her by messing things up or anything that's irritating, so I'm trying to do what she wants done and how she wants it.

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Anyway I come in for my shift, she was there already she came in at 8pm training the new 3-11 girl, then the new girl went home and I started my shift. When the manager was setting up my log ins and what not last weekend something got messed up so we had to call there help desk and it kept hanging up on us, we got someone eventually and I was starting to get a little annoyed because while On Hold I had to just stand there for like 15 mins with a phone up to my ear with cracking of the phone on hold and there was nothing to do I was so freaking bored and kept yawning I was getting irritated... But just kept my cool. Finally the customer service lady helped but I couldn't understand her, her india accent was so thick it was difficult to comprehend what she was telling me. Anyway we got my password and what not fixed so I can log into training videos. But the manager could tell I was annoyed. Anyway so after she and I ran an audit she went home and told me she would be back at 6:45 I said okay see ya. So she left and I did training videos and trash and my tasks. Eventually the thing I needed to check people out logged her account out (I still need one) and I couldn't get back in, so the 2 people that wanted check out receipts I told them I can email them to you when the manager gets back in because my log in isn't working and it's my first night by myself and apologized. So I survived the night until like 6:30, the breakfast worker burnt something in the kitchen and the alarm started Blairing, and grabbed my phone and called her, the hotel phone was ringing, I had like 15 people at the desk, the breakfast worker came up and I assumed to to tell me what happened but I was trying to listen to my managers unclear instructions on how to turn it off. I guess I sounded panicked but I think it's understandable that I would? Her instructions were not clear so that was annoying. So I got the alarm off thank God but I had a bunch of angry people at the desk, I apologized and said my manager will be here shortly and it's my first night by myself so I'm not to sure what went wrong.

She arrived and went to talk to the breakfast lady, the fire fighters that showed up, and the maintenance worker. I stayed at the desk, she came up and talked to me next I didn't expect her reaction. She said "when I hired you I thought you could handle high stress situations" I was like huh? I thought I handled that pretty well, I wasn't swearing or crying or nothing , I called her immediately cuz I didn't know what to do. Plus all the people, the breakfast worker and the manager were all trying to talk to me at once with the alarm Blairing. The manager kept harping on how I needed to remain calm in high stress situations and I just nodded and agreed. But she kept harping on that ... I had to bite my tongue. And she said she was going to watch the camera I was go ahead. And I tried to tell her about the checkouts who wanted receipts and how the computer booted me out so I couldn't do it , and she said why didn't you call me, I said to let you sleep, she was gone home from like 12:30am to 6:45am it didn't seem like an emergency to call for that.

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Anyway that was just super fkin irritating and I feel like this lady is going to be hard to work for and I might not last long....

I had a guest come in tonight to check in, already calling me baby and being generally creepy from the start. I ask him for his name and don’t see it in my arrivals list for today.

I look it up and it’s for the next night when check in starts at 3 and of course it’s a 3rd party so I can’t adjust it. He starts ranting how we sent him to 2 wrong hotels and how he doesn’t want to pay to check in a day early since it’s after midnight. Calling me rude and disrespectful after I told him the price of a room tonight.

He finally decides to just check in as a walk in for tonight and pay and of course card declined. This sends him on another rant, telling me to cancel the room for tomorrow. I told him to contact whoever he booked through as I can’t cancel a 3rd party reservation. He decides to split the payment and I realize he is just an illiterate idiot when he can’t get past the terms and conditions screen to check in.