Sometimes you just want to strangle your sales coordinators, man.
One night I came into the hotel and found that the sales rep had over booked us by about 10 rooms! Normally this wouldn't be a problem because the overbooked rooms will eventually wash out with the cancellations. However, this sale person was determined to test my front desk staff's customer service skills because the over bookings were all going to come in. They were two simultaneous groups that had over booked us and we knew they were coming in because all of the guests were participating in a World Wide Championship Sports Tournament.
I don't know about you, but I'm not going to cancel if my son is about to win the World Series or something crazy like that.
The whole night was hell. I had to tell guest after guest that the room they booked wasn't going to be the room they got and they would have to find some way to fit their family of five into a room set up for a single business person.
Yeah, lucky me.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Don't Insult the Help
There are a lot of jerks in this world, I'll tell you what.
I've had more than a few guests try my patience by insulting me or my staff with comments that are completely undeserved. People seem to think that just because we work in the customer service industry it means we're morons. We aren't morons, sometimes you just aren't speaking clearly or you're wanting things that can't be done.
A while back I was working a morning shift and I got a call from a guest asking for some directions to the grocery store. Our hotel is nice because there is a grocery store just around the corner, it's not even a five minute walk. You practically just have to cross the street to get there and that's what I told this guy. I guess I didn't have very effective customer service skills that day because this guest just wasn't getting it.
"How do I get there?" He kept repeating to me.
"Which way do I go?" Around the corner.
"How long is it going to take me?" Less than five minutes.
He asked those three questions about four times and I answered him about four times. Then he asked me this:
"I don't want to walk very far okay? How many blocks away is this damn grocery store?"
Cambridge isn't set up in blocks. If you know the city at all you'll know that the streets here are more like spider's webs. They twist and turn every which way and it is really not organized like New York at all. So, I couldn't tell him how many blocks because I honestly didn't know.
This is what he said:
"Here's an epiphany for you then kid, a block is the distance between one street and another."
Yeah, dumb ass, I know what a block is. They don't exist in Cambridge!
I've had more than a few guests try my patience by insulting me or my staff with comments that are completely undeserved. People seem to think that just because we work in the customer service industry it means we're morons. We aren't morons, sometimes you just aren't speaking clearly or you're wanting things that can't be done.
A while back I was working a morning shift and I got a call from a guest asking for some directions to the grocery store. Our hotel is nice because there is a grocery store just around the corner, it's not even a five minute walk. You practically just have to cross the street to get there and that's what I told this guy. I guess I didn't have very effective customer service skills that day because this guest just wasn't getting it.
"How do I get there?" He kept repeating to me.
"Which way do I go?" Around the corner.
"How long is it going to take me?" Less than five minutes.
He asked those three questions about four times and I answered him about four times. Then he asked me this:
"I don't want to walk very far okay? How many blocks away is this damn grocery store?"
Cambridge isn't set up in blocks. If you know the city at all you'll know that the streets here are more like spider's webs. They twist and turn every which way and it is really not organized like New York at all. So, I couldn't tell him how many blocks because I honestly didn't know.
This is what he said:
"Here's an epiphany for you then kid, a block is the distance between one street and another."
Yeah, dumb ass, I know what a block is. They don't exist in Cambridge!
Relax Lady, There's Nothing I Can Do
The hotel I work for has a shuttle service. I'm not going to go into the details of the shuttle, just understand that it can pick you up when you need to be picked up. All you have to do is call the front desk.
A few months back everything was going smooth. We were having a pretty big shuttle demand and the driver was out running around doing everything he could to get these people. That's when we got the first call:
"Hi, I'm at and I need to be picked up. Can you send the shuttle?"
The shuttle happened to be headed out to to drop off some other guests so I told this woman that he would be just a little while. At this point I'm thinking I've got some pretty good customer service communication skills because I'm able to direct a bunch of people to and from our shuttle. A little while later we get another call:
"Hi, I'm still at where's the shuttle?"
I know for a fact the shuttle has been to so I tell her so. He dropped off some guests there and I don't know how we missed her. I apologize and send our shuttle driver out again to pick her up. I tell her it will be just a little bit and he should be there shortly.
Twenty minutes later (after the shuttle has gone to and from picking up and dropping off other guests multiple times) I get a third call and she's angry.
"Where is the god damn shuttle?! I've been waiting here almost an hour?!"
I won't bore you with anymore details. She took a taxi to the hotel and got up in my face screaming for half an hour about how we didn't pick her up. I wanted to tell her: "Look, we were there! It's not my fault you're fucking blind and can't see a huge fucking white van in the middle of traffic! Don't yell at me like this!"
But I couldn't. I sat there, and I apologized, and I gave her some free stuff.
A few months back everything was going smooth. We were having a pretty big shuttle demand and the driver was out running around doing everything he could to get these people. That's when we got the first call:
"Hi, I'm at
The shuttle happened to be headed out to
"Hi, I'm still at
I know for a fact the shuttle has been to
Twenty minutes later (after the shuttle has gone to and from
"Where is the god damn shuttle?! I've been waiting here almost an hour?!"
I won't bore you with anymore details. She took a taxi to the hotel and got up in my face screaming for half an hour about how we didn't pick her up. I wanted to tell her: "Look, we were there! It's not my fault you're fucking blind and can't see a huge fucking white van in the middle of traffic! Don't yell at me like this!"
But I couldn't. I sat there, and I apologized, and I gave her some free stuff.
Always Take a Credit Card - No Compassion Required
I must not be reading enough customer service skills tips because I seem to always get burned by the same type of guests. I try to show some human sympathy towards people in trouble and they only turn around and bite me in the ass. Here's what happened this time:
This guest checks in with me on the night shift. He's a guy I've seen before because he's a regular at the hotel. He's not the best dressed guy and he's usually a little dirty and smelly but I give everyone the benefit of the doubt and he seemed nice enough. He's got a prepaid reservation through Priceline or Hotels.com or something like that so it wasn't really necessary for me to take a credit card from him.
I always try to get a credit card from people because you never know what they will do in that room and you have to have a way to penalize them. He couldn't provide one. I let it slide...
He smoked in the room.
Ruined the whole room and we can't sell it for two days.
We are a nonsmoking hotel and there is a huge fine for smoking.
I get chewed out.
So much for being compassionate.
This guest checks in with me on the night shift. He's a guy I've seen before because he's a regular at the hotel. He's not the best dressed guy and he's usually a little dirty and smelly but I give everyone the benefit of the doubt and he seemed nice enough. He's got a prepaid reservation through Priceline or Hotels.com or something like that so it wasn't really necessary for me to take a credit card from him.
I always try to get a credit card from people because you never know what they will do in that room and you have to have a way to penalize them. He couldn't provide one. I let it slide...
He smoked in the room.
Ruined the whole room and we can't sell it for two days.
We are a nonsmoking hotel and there is a huge fine for smoking.
I get chewed out.
So much for being compassionate.
How Dare You Blame Me For Something I Did?
Hotel guests pull some amazing stunts to try and get free stuff from the hotel sometimes. I was working the morning shift one day and I'm trained to ask every guest checking out how their stay went. It was a good morning so far and then along came this guy.
"Hi, how are you this morning sir? Checking out? How was your stay?" that's what I asked, in case you couldn't tell.
"Well, not so good actually." said the guest "They didn't clean my room last night."
"No? I'm terribly sorry about that sir. Did you by any chance happen to leave the Do Not Disturb sign on your door? Sometimes that happens and they won't go in."
"Well, I left it in the morning and then took it off afterwards."
"I'll talk to my executive housekeeper and get to the bottom of it sir, I'm terribly sorry."
I thought the ordeal was over. The guest walked away seemingly satisfied with my response. I went on to check out a few more guests, no other problems. Then the guy came back.
Almost from the exit of the hotel (as if he wanted to run away after saying what he had to say) he yelled across the room: "I don't -appreciate- how you blame me for my room not being cleaned. You think I'm some kind of idiot?"
Shocked and amazed at what's happening I say: "No sir, I was just trying to get to the bottom of the problem so I could fix it next time."
At this point the guest is yelling on top of me about how nothing was done and he wasn't happy and I completely screwed everything up somehow. He's yelling at me while at the same time walking out the door. How am I supposed to help him if he won't stand before me and talk to me like a civilized human being? Well, I smirked and thought: Forget it.
That's when his wife saw me and flipped out.
Apparently what I was supposed to do, according to the guest, if I had good customer service skills I would have immediately offered them free stuff when they told me their room wasn't clean. They wanted free breakfast, free parking, a free nights stay just because they didn't get a couple towels (which they could have easily asked for the night before.)
They left without getting what they wanted and left me flustered and bitter.
I just want to be clear. I did end up checking with housekeeping. I talked to my executive housekeeper about the whole incident. I asked her why their room wasn't clean and this is what she said:
"No, of course that room was cleaned. I cleaned it!"
"Hi, how are you this morning sir? Checking out? How was your stay?" that's what I asked, in case you couldn't tell.
"Well, not so good actually." said the guest "They didn't clean my room last night."
"No? I'm terribly sorry about that sir. Did you by any chance happen to leave the Do Not Disturb sign on your door? Sometimes that happens and they won't go in."
"Well, I left it in the morning and then took it off afterwards."
"I'll talk to my executive housekeeper and get to the bottom of it sir, I'm terribly sorry."
I thought the ordeal was over. The guest walked away seemingly satisfied with my response. I went on to check out a few more guests, no other problems. Then the guy came back.
Almost from the exit of the hotel (as if he wanted to run away after saying what he had to say) he yelled across the room: "I don't -appreciate- how you blame me for my room not being cleaned. You think I'm some kind of idiot?"
Shocked and amazed at what's happening I say: "No sir, I was just trying to get to the bottom of the problem so I could fix it next time."
At this point the guest is yelling on top of me about how nothing was done and he wasn't happy and I completely screwed everything up somehow. He's yelling at me while at the same time walking out the door. How am I supposed to help him if he won't stand before me and talk to me like a civilized human being? Well, I smirked and thought: Forget it.
That's when his wife saw me and flipped out.
Apparently what I was supposed to do, according to the guest, if I had good customer service skills I would have immediately offered them free stuff when they told me their room wasn't clean. They wanted free breakfast, free parking, a free nights stay just because they didn't get a couple towels (which they could have easily asked for the night before.)
They left without getting what they wanted and left me flustered and bitter.
I just want to be clear. I did end up checking with housekeeping. I talked to my executive housekeeper about the whole incident. I asked her why their room wasn't clean and this is what she said:
"No, of course that room was cleaned. I cleaned it!"
Why Customer Service Skills Resume?
I wanted to explain a little bit about this site before I started making posts on it. First of all I should tell you that I work at the front desk of a very prominent hotel in Cambridge Mass. I'm not going to tell you which one, I'll let you figure that one out on your own, but I wanted to use this blog to tell some of my customer service horror stories. Boy, do I have a lot of those.
In my customer service skills training I've been taught to handle a wide variety of situations. It isn't really a purposeful training, it's more like multiple crash courses that I have to suffer through over and over again until I get it. Guests will complain, and I have to think creatively to solve their problems and appease them.
The trick to the game is that even though these guests drive me crazy, I can't do anything about it. I have to smile and nod and take their shit. I have to do this to keep my job and I have to get them to come back to the hotel so that we can get more of their delicious money.
So, welcome to my little Customer Service Skills Resume blog.
In my customer service skills training I've been taught to handle a wide variety of situations. It isn't really a purposeful training, it's more like multiple crash courses that I have to suffer through over and over again until I get it. Guests will complain, and I have to think creatively to solve their problems and appease them.
The trick to the game is that even though these guests drive me crazy, I can't do anything about it. I have to smile and nod and take their shit. I have to do this to keep my job and I have to get them to come back to the hotel so that we can get more of their delicious money.
So, welcome to my little Customer Service Skills Resume blog.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
