Friday, April 30, 2010

The customer is NOT always right....and it's a GOOD thing this girl has a day off in the future!

Gosh, there has been so much to contend with the last few weeks. We have been really fortunate to have a group of workers here for over a month, they are in town Sunday-Thursday so I cut them a really great rate. That has totally paid off because we are coming in above goal at this point...YAY!

Now, on the flip side, we are at the tail end of April...and we are at the beach and the rates in the area have definitely increased. I have been trying to pull our rates up slowly, without seeming extreme on one end yet not wanting to seem desperate on the other (as I was in February:). That said....Oh my gosh!!! Every person who walks in the door says, "$59- why SOOOO much?" (note: this is on weekends...and we are at the beach in southern California...that is NOT a lot!)So, I give my chipper retort and remind them this is So Cal, not So Dakota and well, this is actually the best rate in town and my system/rack rates are $20 over that...blah blah blah BLEH!

So, the new thing....as I go through my schpeal of how we are very competitively priced and by far the cutest and coolest, blah blah..(this really is true, by the way)... So,I have a guy last week, actually, on my birthday...He Shouts at me "Uh- NO, you are NOT the best price in town, by a long shot, there are 3 other places on this street that are $40 a night!!!!!" I (barely awake and near my wits end) respond, in a very nice tone, well, that IS good news, it sounds like you have plenty of options, feel free to explore them...He barks at me again and leaves.

Within 5 minutes the office phone rings...yep, you guessed it...here's the thing, we have had a name change so the old phone books have our old name, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt (as in, this dude, didn't realize he was calling the place he was just invited to leave...after shouting at the birthday girl)! Sooo, "Good morning, thank you for calling etc. etc..." "Hello sweetheart, look, here is my situation..." I stopped him there, and asked if he had just been in my office, he paused and said, "um, maybe...?" I asked if he was tall and blond, spiky hair? "Um, yes...." Well, we have had this talk, this is my rate, we don't offer extended stay....and you mentioned that there was a plethora of nearby properties in the $40 range, so, again, make the most of those deals....He screamed back at me..."BUT I DON'T WANT TO STAY IN ANY OF THOSE PLACES!!!!"mm, hmmm, well, there we have it, you DO get what you pay for...he tells me he ONLY has $50 till the next day, I say that is unfortunate and I cannot help, I also mention that I require a credit card on file...You would have thought I requested a sherpa and a camel as a deposit...or bags of gold...He said he has never heard of such a thing...etc., I engage and tell him I find that very interesting as I personally have never stayed anywhere that didn't require such a thing! So, we end this call, he calls me honey, baby and sweetheart about 6 times then growls and hangs up...

Here's the thing, this job doesn't require a rocket scientist, yet it does require paying close attention to subtle nuances (and sometimes not so subtle) about people, and the very first thing I learned: those who start telling their story before they even make it to the counter (4 feet between door and counter here, so that means, "open door, start telling story.") Well, these are the people to watch out for...sort of along "The lady doth protest too much, me thinks" wavelength...and a favorite of mine, answer when asked, do not volunteer information...it just screams...well,,,it screams to me!

Later that morning, gal from the next door diner stops in..this is the first time I have met her, she is very very nice. (which makes me feel a bit guilty as I often deter guests from her restaurant because they are really pricey, hunny and I had breakfast there when we first moved here and between the two of us, the bill was close to the price of a room!) Any how, she was super sweet, and we had a really interesting discussion, she asked if Corny was staying here...I looked at her, clearly with a big question mark...then snickered and asked if he was tall, blonde, spiky hair? "YES- that's him!" I assured her that he wasn't staying here and she proceeded to tell me that she and her mom had hired him to do some work at the cafe a week or so ago, and surprizingly enough, he took the money and has yet to complete the work...oof..we chatted about a few other neighborhood characters (such as the woman who seemed totally normal and put together and within 3 minutes of chatting with me, told me she has filed and is in the midst of SEVENTEEN lawsuits)...Ummm, glad the Travelodge was less expensive than us because...well, they probably have better insurance than us...oof (again!)

Any how, then, well a semi regular (he checked in for 2 nights in February and stayed until I had to have him leave (2 months later...paying 1-2 days at a time) because the whole property was booked...I may have written about him before because his friends pissed me off...or not...) anyhow, he was starting to act really entitled prior to that, he returned the following weekend and was pretty good...then,,,,last week came back, all was good, except well he heads to the beach for the day and gets drunkety drunk then comes back here...so, apparently, the housekeeper didn't service his room, she just gave him towels. He mentioned this to hunny, who told me, and a few minutes later, I ran into him out in the parking lot and apologized, which led into some crazy rant on his end, and when I say crazy, um thats what I mean, there were expletives that I will save you from...anywho, during this rant, I told him it was uncalled for and I was apologizing for the cleaning not happening but it wasn't intentional and it wasn't okay for him to curse at me and get all aggressive....happily, he checked out the next day...

(uh-oh...do you think there is a pattern here? am I chasing away guests....well...maybe...geez...I hope not!)

So now, I got my pay back to scale and will be having days off, (last one was january 18th....oooof!) and I think my burnout will dissipate and I will be able to go back to handling the wack-a-doos with a smile rather than calling them out in an obvious fashion...not my best work or proudest moments...

Oh, there was another...but he apologized when he checked out (and I think your eyes are tired so I won't expound on that one!)

Lesson: Don't let your story lead...

I'm just sayin', we all have our crazy moments...and our situations and stories...um, let's keep 'em to ourselves...cuz the lady behind the glass...she can spot you a mile away :)...

nighty night!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

"OPEN-OPEN-OPEN!"

So I first ask you to think on this: when you pull up to a business that is obviously closed, think Macy's at midnight or DMV after dark...what do you do?.....

Well, what you probably don't do...pound on the door...if that has been your tactic in the past, I suggest, I beg of you, reconsider, get back in your car and go back during business hours...

I am betting you can see where I am going with this...we had 4 nights in a row that between 2:30 and 3:30 AM people showed up at the motel and pounded on the door, I could hear them reading the business hours sign,,,then pounding on the door and 2 out of 4 times POUNDING on my bedroom window...really!!!??? What are you thinking? A perky little imp will spring from bed and greet you at the door with a room key...? Not gonna happen people... We are CLOSED...if you didn't plan ahead, well go to the Travelodge, they ARE open, they are more than 16 rooms and have a staff of more than TWO...Sorry, we are not the all hours place, this girl needs some beauty sleep! Unfortunately I seem to be on this auto wake of 3 AM now, that sucks...I did get up one night, I opened my front door, not the office because I didn't want him to say, "well you're up now can I get a room" I opened the front door, to an older man (about 60), I asked what he wanted (he had pounded on my window) he asked how much rooms were, I told him we were closed, he again asked how much, I told him it was irrelevant since we were CLOSED!!! Aggghhh...

The good news is that during our open business hours, we have gotten MUCH MUCH busier. This week we are sold out Sunday (tonight) through Thursday. We have a big group in town and its awesome! So, with this increase in business and revenue, I am having the talk with the owner tomorrow about reinstating my pay and my days off...this girl is working her tail off for less of everything,,,,grr, making me a bitter pill to swallow!

Since we made a little money, I was sure to spend it immediately so I could get the things our guests need, coffee pots, flatware and plates, all rooms now have cute new bedding too, whew, this feels better!

Gosh, so much has happened in the last 2 months that I can't even recall...sorry, there was some good material, maybe it will come back to me! In the meantime, learn the lesson, if its closed...walk away;).

The past few weeks have been stressful, however, I am very hopeful for a busy summer with lots of happy guests. I have lost my love for Yelp! since my guests post reviews and they disappear almost immediately...grrrr, so trip advisor is where I am sending people now!

Oh- I have contacted some local artists to hang art on consignment, we have 3 rooms with original art now and they are really cool, once I have all the rooms done, we will do an open house and a press release, I really want to give artists the exposure, and hopefully sell a few pieces, and most of all, get the 80's marriott art out of the rooms:).

"Office"...gotta check someone in- back soon!