There is a new poll down there. It asks the simple (yet loaded) question: What is the Best Hotel brand? Two choices. One of the few times brand names will ever appear here on this website. Either Holiday Inn or Ramada Inn. Pick the hotel you would stay at. I’m very interested to see what public opinion is on these brands. So scroll down a little and vote! If you have something to share about either of these brands leave a comment.

What is the Best Hotel brand?

• Holiday Inn
• Ramada Inn

View Results

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Historic Footnote
This day was my first day at the new hotel.

Yesterday we had a Signature Training follow up meeting. Now since I’ve only worked at the hotel for a few months I missed out on the first part of the training. This training was held from 2pm to 6pm, which sucked for me because it’s right in the middle of my sleep times. It was another one of these training programs that spells out common sense down to the letter.

As it turns out we also use the Mystery Shopping that Signature offers. This is where people from this company call the hotel and go through the process of booking a reservation with whomever is working to make sure they are following their Magic Formula. Their Magic Formula is 16 steps that the hotel has stripped down to 6 steps that guarantees a 100% Mystery Shopping score. Which to me sort of shows the flaws in this Magic Formula of theirs.

The best part of all of this is that they record these calls that they make checking up on the hotel. The hotel can call a 800 number to listen to the recorded calls to see how they did. You simply enter in your 5 digit hotel id and you can listen to all the calls for your hotel. Or you can alter the 5 digits to listen to other hotels calls. Which in itself should provided hours of entertainment for me when I’m bored.

But it is a good thing. I’m rusty as hell when it comes to my dealing with the guest skills. I had built up a hate for all guests in the years that I worked at the worst hotel ever. So even though it was all common sense, it was needed (in my case) to put me in the right perspective.

A hotel post. A little background on the new hotel. It’s had it’s famous guests. Take note of the photos below.

George Bush visited the hotel back on September 24, 2004.

It’s been exactly seven months since I started at the new hotel. I use this post to determine how long it’s been. At the time of that post I had worked my first day at the new hotel. I’ve decided to do a little write up on how things are at this new hotel seven months later. This will be a very simple write up. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good.

Number one right off the bat and this is a big one for me. The new hotel is not a shitty Ramada like the worst hotel ever is. It was a huge thing for me to get out of those red shirts.

Also very important to me is the owners of the hotel. And when compared to the “people” who own the worst hotel ever the people who own the new hotel are a definitely a good thing. I could write a whole post on how the two are different. For example though these new hotel owners upgrade their hotel. And they do it right. They do not hire retards who placed the lowest bid for the job.

A word or two also needs to be said about the front desk staff. I have no complaints what so ever. They are on time and know how to balance credit cards. There are no idiots here. Nor are there any half blind night auditors who work when I don’t. It really is quite a joy to be able to work with people that have their shit together. The Front Desk Manager I will only say this: He is not a pussy.

Last but not least under “good” are the guests who stay at the hotel. There is a huge difference in the quality of the guests this new hotel attracts. We do not get any bar time drunks. Nor do we get any of the general scum that the worst hotel ever seems to attract. Which is only echoed by the fact that I have yet to call the police on any of the people that stay at this new hotel.

The Bad

Just one here. Managers who can’t print folios. Now this may seem like a petty thing. But to me what does it say about the people who are supposedly above me if they can not print their own folios out when they do a transaction in the computer. I’ve often wondered why it is these managers do this. I’ve only ever been able to come up with two excuses.

1. They are lazy.
2. They are incompetent.

I just can’t peg which it is here at this new hotel. Lazy or Incompetent? And why does it always seem to be Sales people that do this?

The Ugly

Why is it I can’t find an employer who really cares about their employees? While these owners do take good care of the building and of the guests, I really feel they are very lacking when it comes to their employees.

I expect a few things from the people who employ me. Reviews and Raises. I expect that after a persons been at a hotel they get a review six months in. I like getting told how I’m doing now and then as it shows me that the managers/owners may actually give a shit about how the hotel is run. It seem like they (management) would want to evaluate the employees they have at least every now and then. The raise of course would be tied into the review. Now I’m not expecting a raise every six months. I personally would be happy with a raise every year.

I also expect medical insurance. I’m not getting any younger here. It’s just something I need now. These owners at this new hotel have seen fit to cancel medical insurance a few months ago. I don’t understand why they would cut the benefits of the employee. It should be the other way around. They should be adding to the benefits of the employee.

As it is I have absolutely no loyalty to these people as it is. Why should I? I drive 17 miles each way. If I can get a job in my immediate area I have no problem at all quiting this hotel for a local one. I need insurance. I need raises. These are things that I have to have to keep me being the employee that my employer wants to have around. Without these kinds of things I’m going to slowly turn back into the way I used to be at the worst hotel ever.

Previously posted on my seven month anniversary at the new hotel:

I expect a few things from the people who employ me. Reviews and Raises. I expect that after a persons been at a hotel they get a review six months in. I like getting told how I’m doing now and then as it shows me that the managers/owners may actually give a shit about how the hotel is run. It seem like they (management) would want to evaluate the employees they have at least every now and then. The raise of course would be tied into the review. Now I’m not expecting a raise every six months. I personally would be happy with a raise every year.

This is a retraction of sorts of the above statement. I just find it hard to forget my own history. To forget the way things are run at the worst hotel ever. For the record the last time I got a raise at the worst hotel ever it still was a Holiday Inn and it was not run by the worthless fucks that run it now. So my way of thinking is that I have to beat around the bush with the people who run things. I have to threaten and beg. These were the things one has to do to get a raise at the worst hotel ever.

It was something I was doing at the new hotel. I started a campaign of sorts in the form of emails to my boss at the new hotel. The idea was to drop hints at what I wanted, at first. Then later as I progressed in my campaign I would then threaten and beg. First line of attack was a reminder on how long I have worked for them.

To: FDM
Date: Apr 24, 2007 11:34 PM
Subject: Start Date?

FDM,
Can you give me my start date. I can guesstimate. But I would like to know the exact date.

What I got back was short and to the point. No bullshit at all. And I figured there would be bullshit.

To: Turk
Date: Apr 25, 2007 8:37 AM
Subject: Re: Start Date?

Start date 9/27/06

So the next step in my campaign was to remind about my need for insurance.

To: FDM
Date: Jun 1, 2007 6:26 AM
Subject: Insurance?

FDM,
I’m eight months in now and was wondering what the official status of employee insurance is? I know you mentioned it may get axed. But I’ve yet to see any memo stating so. Because I’m of course interested in getting insurance if it has not been cut as a benefit.

The response again was to the point and free of any bullshit:

To: Turk
Date: Jun 1, 2007 2:38 PM
Subject: Re: Insurance?

The company no longer offers insurance to employees, due to cost. You will have a pay rate increase of $0.50. It will show on your check on Friday. I will see you on Monday.

Not only did the message answer me it also completely stopped my campaign. I hadn’t even got to the wanting more money phase of my campaign. It was a few phases before money would even come up. It also made me realize that I have made a series of bad judgment calls.

The first mistake on my part is to assume that this new hotel will become anything like the worst hotel ever. The second mistake I’ve made is the thought that I need to beat around the bush with these people. They are not the managers and owners of the worst hotel ever and I should not treat them like they are.

My way of thinking has took a huge hit. I need to rethink everything about how I think about hotels. I basically have to relearn everything there is to learn about how a hotel works. I have to stop comparing the new hotel and it’s mangers and owners with the worst hotel ever or I’ll never survive there.

I was checking some links that lead to me and found Wikipedia’s entry Night Auditor. Wikipedia has a textbook description of what a Night Auditor is and what they do. Here is the first paragraph:

A night auditor is a hotel employee who typically handles both the duties of the front desk agent and some of the duties of the accounting department. This is necessitated by the fact that most fiscal days close at or around midnight, and the normal workday of the employees in the accounting department does not extend to cover this time of day.

Very textbook. It lacks the real world flavor that this Everything2.com entry has:

“Night Auditor” is the glorified term for a hotel front desk clerk that works the graveyard shift (typically 11 P.M. to 7 A.M). This is a nice job if you don’t like dealing with people, but those few that you do have to deal with tend to be mentally ill and/or intoxicated. An upside to this job is that you’re likely to be hired or keep this job despite your incompetence or criminal record, as no one else is willing to work this shift. The usual tasks involved in this job include checking guests in and out of the hotel, running end-of-day reports for the management, making coffee for the early birds, and playing lots and lots of solitaire. Common symptoms of being a night auditor include the inability to see in the sunlight and considering more than one car sharing the road with you to be “traffic.”

This was funny enough for me to write about. I also feel it is a dead on description on what night audit is really like today. The Wikipedia entry may have been more accurate ten years ago or perhaps in a big hotel. I know my job is more like Everything2.com description. Back in the day I did some accounting type duties, but not anymore. Which I think is one of the side effects of some of the software that hotels use. It’s easier for the computer to do the accounting end than it is for the dumb human that is hired to do the night audit.

So the two ladies come down to the desk. They both have key problems. The one lady gives the correct room number for her keys. The second lady gets some numbers mixed up and tells me the wrong number. This is an important part of this story.

So two ladies come down because their keys are not working in their room doors. I ask them if when the key were used if the lock flashed a green light or a red light. Red they say. I reply that this is a good thing. They ask why this is a good thing. I tell them that it is good because it means that neither the lock is broken or they (the guests) did it wrong.

That is when the lady who tells me the wrong room number for her keys corrects me that the guest is always right. The old lady scolded me like I was some kid who told a lie. The customers are generally speaking always wrong. I will not spit out this manager bullshit speak about the customers always being right. It is a gigantic load of shit.

So I go about my business making the right keys for the lady who did not put her foot in her mouth. For my costumer who says she is always right I make the keys for the room number she gave me. This was the wrong room. The keys will work, but it is not the room this know it all is in.

The bit with me giving her the keys to the wrong room was chance. I did not check to see if it was wrong or right. Fate stepped in and provided all with proof that the customer is not always right. The even better part was when they came for the correct keys the always right customer did not come down to get them. I made it a point to ask if the keys were for the lady who said customers were always right. The lady who came for the keys said yes. I smiled and gave her the keys for the old lady who thinks customers are always right. Vacation starts tomorrow. Nine glorious days off.