Behind the desk- 11 months in the hotel industry

I worked full-time as a front desk clerk for a somewhat hoity-toity hotel for almost a year.

I learned a few important things.

1) Check your cancellation policy.
     The cheapest rates are usually prepay rates, which means they will debit from your account the second you make the reservation and are often non-refundable and non-changeable.  Be very sure before you book these.

2) Check the hotel no show policy.
     Every hotel has a time at which they assume you're not actually showing up for your reservation.  At my place it's around 2am, at some properties it can be as early as 6pm.  Find out what the time/policy is and plan accordingly.  If it's the height of tourist season and you didn't plan well, you may end up having a very bad time.

3) Incidentals and authorizations
    'Incidentals' is hotel shorthand for 'anything you charge to your room'.  Almost every property from the fanciest five star to the cheapest motor lodge will require that you have a credit card on file in the event you charge something to your room and forget that you'll have to pay it, or damage something in the room, or abscond with something in the room.  This was not always the case, but hotels got tired of people skipping out on movie and room service charges and here we are.  Some places will merely swipe it to have it on file, some places (typically the higher price ones) will hold a certain amount of funds per day.  If you don't spend anything it gets released back to you at check out.  If you do spend part of it, that amount will be kept and the remainder will be released back to your card.

     When you hand over your credit card at check in it is authorized for the full amount of your stay, plus any incidental holds.  The hotel creates a pending transaction for the full cost on your account and then only finalizes that transaction at check out when the final cost is calculated. (i.e. after we've gone into your room and determined that nothing is broken or missing)

   It is really important to use a credit card instead of a debit card.  Debit cards and banks will often take a lot longer to release incidental holds, sometimes 14 - 30 DAYS.

4) Third Parties
     Big hotel chains do not like third party booking agencies.  If you booked anywhere but through the hotel's website or call center, your reservation and business is, frankly, not important to them.  Booking through a third party indicates you're only interested in price, while a reservation booked through the hotel website indicates you're here because you like the brand and will probably be a return guest.

Advantages to booking through a third party:  Price, ease of searching.
Disadvantages:  Almost always prepaid/non-refundable, WILL NOT GUARANTEE ROOM TYPE.

     That's right.  If you book through a third party at my hotel, your room type is not guaranteed and I do not have to give you one bit of compensation for the trouble, nor does the third party you booked through because it says so in the fine print.  All the hotel has to do is provide you a room, it doesn't matter which kind.
     Now, because most front desk staff would rather clean a public toilet with ungloved hands than give you one less bed than you thought you were getting (the confrontation usually is that bad) we try our hardest to not make that happen, but it will happen in the busiest months.  Do your homework on your agency before booking.

5) Concierge vs. Front Desk staff

     In a full service property there is a person who is dedicated to making your visit a good time.  They help you make vacation itineraries, book you on tours, make appointments at a spa, make dinner reservations for you, and generally provide every scrap of information you may need to enjoy your stay.  These people are formidable in their knowledge of the area and are definitely your friend.  The front desk staff are the ones handling your actual reservation, the billing, the room assignment, and any communication to housekeeping, food service, or the bellhops that is required to fulfill your reservation.  They have distinct roles and are more practiced at them.
     In a limited service property (probably has a pool and a gym, probably doesn't have a restaurant or spa) the front desk staff fulfill both roles.  They will always try their hardest to answer your questions, but may not have any knowledge besides what the internet can offer when it comes to planning your trip or day.
     As a front desk person at a limited service property that has had to learn the tourism side of my new city in a hurry I will ask that you not assume the front desk person is an expert.  I personally wasn't hired or trained with any travel planning in mind, just a "Look it up for them." expectation and internet access.

6)  What can we do for you?

     A LOT.   At my front desk alone you can get earplugs, toothbrushes, toothpaste, q-tips, cotton balls, makeup remover, shoe polish, nail clippers, razors and shaving cream, hair spray, sewing kits, over the counter medicine, etc, etc.  And this is just a select service place where we hand it over the desk.  In a full service hotel you have a store to work with.
     We can negotiate late check outs, special room requests (you want to be on the north side closest to the emergency exit?  Sure.  You just got married and want something special in the room for your honey?  Doing sweet things actually makes our day.), store your luggage, receive and send off your packages, send you things you forgot (phone chargers are often shipped free), store foodstuffs for you, respect allergies and prep your room for them (react to industrial cleaners?  Ask for a no chemical or chemical free clean prior to your arrival).  Essentially, your desk staff can do a lot to make your stay better and you should always ask.  Even if we can't do exactly what you asked for, we're pretty creative.

7) When things go wrong.

     They might.  I'm sorry, they might.  I can't predict whose fault it'll be but something will go sideways at some point during your travel.  Tell the front desk right away.  TELL THEM.  Room not clean? Come back down to the desk and ask for a different room.  Something not right with the reservation?  Ask why.  It might have been something you missed in the fine print but we would rather fix it if we can.  If you get to the hotel and the staff tells you that your room isn't available because _____, they knew this was going to happen.  Hotels oversell intentionally because they want a 100% capacity night and they will send people to other hotels if that's what it takes.  Honestly, having a completely sold out night is more important than honoring every reservation.  Typical practice is that they only do this to very late arrivals and will have already secured you another room at another property, maybe even paying for it.  The desk staff can make some adjustment to your bill.  They can waive a variety of charges, a percentage of your room cost, etc, if your complaint justifies it.  I would recommend being polite and calm while you're communicating however.

Fear of Hell

Recently I asked my counselor how to deal with the fear of hell that was leftover from my fundamentalist christian childhood that I had otherwise decoupled from.  The specific conditioned fear that one wrong choice would make me ‘bad’ forever.

 After a lot of conversation this is what stuck with me:

“In the rest of life everything is nuanced, nothing stays within a binary, so why would it make sense that an afterlife would be less nuanced?”

It *doesn't* make sense and I don't have to be afraid of it anymore.