Real-Life Decision Making
As a hotel desk clerk, you're front and center in the life of the
hotel. Guests expect you to have the answers to their questions at your fingertips.
"A lot of hotels or businesses get bogged down because an employee who
is speaking to a guest needs to talk to their supervisor before getting back
to them," says Sean Cannard. He is the front office manager at
a hotel. "Hotels need to educate their employees on what decisions they can
and can't make."
You're a hotel desk clerk faced with one of the most common dilemmas
in your job. Someone has just arrived requesting a room on a night when your
four-star hotel has been booked solid.
"This is always cause for concern, simply because maintenance just doesn't
have the time to build any additional rooms," says Edward Keenan. He is the
front-office manager at a motel.
"Every situation is handled differently, whether the guest has made an
error or it is our error. Either way, we will endeavor to find accommodations
for the guest."
The man yawning before you has just come from a long day spent on the road
with his wife and their five children. According to him, he called the hotel's
1-800 number earlier in the day and spoke to an agent who told him that she
had made a reservation for two rooms. Unfortunately, you have no record of
it in your database.
"You need to know what you're talking about, because whatever you
say, the guest will take you at face value," says Cannard. You want to figure
out all your options before you tell him he can or can't have the rooms.
One reservation has already been cancelled. That means you can offer the
man at least one room. There may be other cancellations as the night wears
on. If you don't assign the adjoining room until midnight -- the deadline
for people with reservations to show up -- two rooms might just become available
by bedtime.
You also discover that the hotel's executive suite, which is spacious
enough for seven people, is available until tomorrow afternoon. At $500 a
night, it costs five times the rate for a standard room.
You know that the hotel never offers more than a 50 percent discount. But
given the circumstances, should you offer the man the executive suite for
the price he has been quoted?
What do you do?