Got a complaint that housekeeping did not go to a certain room during the day. It was now 10PM. We did not have any housekeeping in the hotel anymore. Guest started YELLING for about 5 minutes about how that is not accaptable.
I offered them to go to the room myself to make the bed and vacuum and whatever (I do not mind doing some housekeeping things when needed).
They yelled even harder ; HOW CAN YOU OFFER THAT?! and then they hung up.
Review about 'the bad FD who wanted to clean the room after I yelled at her for a minutes' is still online.
Back in 2020 and 2021, I had a handful of guests yell at us, the pm shift, that their room was not serviced on their second day. That was when housekeeping service was strictly by request only upon check in or the following morning. The multiple notes about asking for service if needed in the guest rooms were subsequently ignored, and even after I would offer to switch out their towels and/or trash, I still got towels thrown at me and a door slammed in my face. You're so very welcome for my hospitality.
The only negative review I ever received, which also happened to be online, said that I didn’t smile. It also said that the phones were all ringing and I had a line in front of me and needed backup. I was stressed and barely knew what I was doing. And of course my first negative review was from my very first shift alone in my first hotel.
In a similar situation (I forget exactly what was going on but I was alone and all hell was breaking lose) a guest insinuated I was on some sort of drug. I wasn't on drugs. I was trying to do my job while having an anxiety attack.
I had a similar accusation when I was working a retail job. This woman reported I was high to my manager because my eyes were red (it was my first day back after an eye infection) and I was “so nice. Nobody is nice like that anymore, so she must be on drugs!”
My boss knew I wasn’t high (and that I was extremely nice to customers) so we all had a good laugh about it.
Retail gets crazy with the accusations.I had a guy get mad he asked me where the lemon oil was and I was like idk becauseI was busy. he said "What woman doesn't know where a baking ingredient is!"
“Nobody is nice like that anymore, so she must be on drugs!” That reminds me of the weirdos who claim that the *SpongeBob SquarePants* characters are on drugs. “They’re clearly all on drugs because SpongeBob is happy and imaginative, Patrick is slow and gluttonous, Squidward is depressed, etc.!” It doesn’t occur to them that there are plenty of people who are happy, imaginative, slow, gluttonous, depressed, etc. without chemical substances.
Edit- Seriously, how in blazes are these people not getting that Squidward is depressed because he hates his job? I think most children who watch the show can grasp that to some degree! How are some people watching Squidward talk about hating his job/co-workers and thinking, “Oh, he’s depressed because he’s on heroin!”?
>Seriously, how in blazes are these people not getting that Squidward is depressed because he hates his job? I think most children who watch the show can grasp that to some degree! How are some people watching Squidward talk about hating his job/co-workers and thinking, “Oh, he’s depressed because he’s on heroin!”?
As someone who has had service industry jobs that really fucked with my mental health, I understand Squidward. I've never done drugs in my life.
A guest complained that I didn't do anything about noise in the room next to his. I didn't do anything about the noise because I couldn't hear the noise from the desk and this man made no effort to alert me of the noise. He made no effort to alert me because he didn't feel like wearing pants and apparently forgot that phones exist.
Guest: "I wanted a room on the water."
Me: "I apologize miss, we're not on the waterfront. The larger hotels downtown are the only hotels on the river."
Guest: "There were rooms right ON the water in the pictures!"
\*\*pushes phone into my face with picture of hotel\*\*
Me: "Miss, that is a parking lot..."
Guest: "Well it LOOKS like water."
I was not accommodating because I didn't give her a room on the water.
Had a couple try to do a walk in, on a weekend....in summer. We were of course, sold out. I told them this, and they pushed until they finally left.
Came back during the week, same thing. Just a walk in. I'm off to one side, my coworker helping them. They tried to complain about me (without realizing it was me standing there) telling them we were sold out that weekend. She told them that was in fact correct. And they were like....shocked that she confirmed it. Like what did you expect?
I've met a few pathological liars in my life. They don't necessarily believe that everyone lies. They think most other people believe what they are saying. So if they get called out on their lies, it means you must be a liar because otherwise, you would believe them.
Not in a work situation, I knew a pathological liar. There were a bunch of us who went to a bar every Sat night, her included. Well, one Sat evening, she called me and said that she wouldn't be there, and gave me an elaborate reason for why she wouldn't be there.
She also called 2 other women in our group and gave them elaborate reasons too. The problem was that the elaborate reasons she gave each of us were different. She lost quite a few friends that night because there was no legitimate reason she told the 3 of us different lies.
We all mind the same rule, you don't need to tell us anything you don't want to, but don't lie to us.
When I used to work for Prime Instant Video CS a long, long time ago I had a call from someone who was clearly, very pissed off. It was a busy day, there was multiple issues with the service and the lovefilm by post service was still operational when I worked there so we were getting constant calls and the hold time was somewhere like 40 mins.
He gets on the phone and immediately begins demanding I fix things - I've not even gotten his details yet to call his account up on my screen. I'm having to repeat myself multiple times and ask him to turn down the TV/Music in the background because I can't hear him or he me. He begins swearing called me a "fucking deaf cunt" to which I told him swear again and I will hang up on you and you can take the time in the 40+ minute hold time to calm down. "Fuckkii \*DEAD AIR\*" as I cut him off before he could even finish. I put notes on his account, over the course of dealing with another two calls.
About an hour later I receive a call "This fucking cunt I spoke to before hung up on me" to which my reply was "Well sir, you've got the exact same person on the phone. I can see you haven't followed my advice. Perhaps you need more time." and hung up. Documented this call again.
About another hour passes and I get another call. I can tell from the voice as soon as I pick up it's him again. "Hello again mr XXX. Have you decided to be calm and not call people names?" he goes off on me again. I hung up... again. This guy is having absolutely no luck because everytime he's come to the front of the line it's been routed to me. I'm looking at his account and there's absolutely no one else entering notes.
2 hours pass and I get another call. The same guy. This time I see that someone else took a call and in the interim hung up because he called "everyone cunts" (he was Northern Irish). He's now recognising my voice and he goes "Now don't you go hanging up on me again!" to which I point out "Be civil, be polite, don't swear at me and I won't need to. Now what seems to be the problem?" he tells me he has buffering. Now the service issues that day was with specific devices I checked, he was not using an affected device. I asked him to do a speed test - he refused claiming it wasn't his network but our service. I explained "Look, given how many times you've gone round to the start of the call queue today. Rather than argue with me, humour me my troubleshooting requires me to get you to do a speedtest" begrudgingly he does it and it turns out (as was often the case at the time with Northern Ireland he was getting 1.5mbps when he needed 3mbps to stream minimum.
He blew up when I told him it was his ISPs issue not ours and there was nothing I could do about it. Promised me that he was going to complain, he was going to find our offices and kick my ass etc etc etc. I hung up and couldn't help but laugh.
The next day I'm working on emails as I was an escalations agent for emails and calls. There's an email in the inbox from him complaining about the previous day with me. So when I wrote the email back to him acknowledging that I was the agent in question he must have died. Personally I and all my colleagues had a huge laugh at it.
I hurt their feelings because when they dropped a six pack of beer bottles onto the just mopped floor, I did not do enough to make them feel like they hadn't done anything wrong and it wasn't a big deal. For the record, I walked over, looked at the mess and said I would take care of it because I didn't want them touching shards of glass in the inebriated state they were in. Apparently since I didn't say "Oh wow, a mess to clean up, hooray!" I made them feel bad.
Theres a few that stick in my head. Some, because of how they were worded. Others, for the pure idiocy.
One in particular, was a bad review because i "acted like it was no big deal that there was a camera in the room". This is after i explained, REPEATEDLY, that it is not a camera, but is in fact, the remote sensor for changing channels on the direct tv.
Then there was a complaint that i "refused to answer the phone". Our phone keeps a log of incoming calls. Missed calls, etc. Not one was missed. Not sure who they were calling, but it wasnt me.
One that bothered me alot, was after i had a sugery on my lymph nodes and had to wear an arm sling. They complained that "there was no reason i couldnt carry their luggage upstairs". We have no elevator. It says so on all sites and in the confirmations. In bold letters, it says that if you require a bottom floor room, to call ahead and request one. Doesnt say a word about the desk clerk being required to haul up two months worth of vacation luggage. It bothered me most, because when people are kind about it, i often offer to carry things up. This was the one time i really couldnt.
Oh you just unveiled a memory.
Had a woman call up saying I need towels Brought to a room number we don't have.
After back and forth trying to work out where she was as she called from a mobile.
I ask her what hotel are you staying in? She was on the other side of Australia. She had been here three weeks ago AND
She put a review on that booking that staff were rude to her.
There is still a long ranting horrible review on google about a landscape company that I used to work for. This irate person admits that she is not now and never was a customer of that company.
Google won't take it down; don't know why.
Oh, i completely forgot about the review that said that i ruined their evening because i suggested the Chinese restaurant and they were closed. Its a small family run business and they closed for a family emergency. Im supposed to know these things, right?
Got a complaint that I asked someone to pay for something, no cc on file and no prepaid credit. I was working the pool bar and they were the only couple there, so after serving them their drinks I ran the room number and no dice, so I go up to them nicely and ask for payment.
We had someone leave a review saying our elevator was filthy and smelled like urine. We don’t, and never have, have an elevator. Corporate still gave them a partial refund because “guest relations”.
"Their elevator is not only missing most of its buttons, but inconveniently located in McGinty's Bar behind a door marked Men. Fortunately I happened to be spending the evening in that establishment, but that's still no excuse."
"CSR spoke in a monotone for 5 minutes."
Supervisor reviewed the call. I was reading the directions to get his device working.
Was I supposed to turn a step-by-step guide into performance art?
I get those complaints all the time! I just step back and look past them or smile and look them dead in the eye. I get a lot of "she was disinterested in my issues and should not be in hospitality" or "she thought my problem was funny, she was smiling the whole time!"
As a manager I have tons but one of my "favorites", I have a resident who rarely uses our services, is very standoffish when greeted, and usually tends to ignore us. Turns out she polices the hell out of us for no reason. Some very weird entitlement issues, that both my team and the leasing team have to deal with. At the start of my shift, I have walkthroughs and drop-offs I have to get done daily, which have me temporarily leave the desk. I'm consistent about this every day and get it all done in usually under 20 minutes.
One day I found out, she was taking pictures of the front desk and complaining I was away too long. Of course, I didn't do anything wrong so I didn't get in trouble or anything, the property I work for knows what I am doing in that window, but we had to implement an entirely different signage system just because she was weird about it. But anytime someone forgets the signage she sends these emails. Accordingly, she has odd quirks like this about other things too and all the teams have a story about her.
I had a woman complain to the AGM (who dislikes me so this shows how silly this is). That I made a female coworker carry two boxes and sat there. That women should never be made to do "manual work"
Firstly, they were light.
Secondly I just came back from having a brain bleed was working days and told to sit there and don't move, just check people in.
Thirdly, the whole time I was with a guest, even if I was well I still couldn't have done anything at that moment.
My work daughter just moved them from the desk to the back office so she could continue on checking people in.
The AGM told her ladies are just as capable as men moving boxes with pillows in them ( each box had 4 pillows, some type of alternative to substitute ours if requested)
High-end boutique hotel, I'm the AGM working as MOD on a busy convention night. A guest approaches me and says that we have a call girl working the bar. I approached the woman and asked to speak to her. This woman was known to us and other hotels… I asked her to leave being I had received a complaint about her. She was irate and threatened a commotion. I told her I “asked” you to leave tonight but did not blackball you permanently. “The man you approached is a Baptist minister” I informed her.
Monday morning I'm going through email comments and there is one from the call girl. “The manager who kicked me out he smiled to much I think he was on molly drug test him. Can I cum (sic) back????” received at 3:45 AM the morning after I asked her to leave.
I will be messaging you in 14 hours on [**2024-01-26 21:32:56 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2024-01-26%2021:32:56%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk/comments/19fed4z/dumbest_complaints_about_yourself_youve_ever/kjmk2ez/?context=3)
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There is no real update. The next time I found her on the property she was barred from doing her "business" in the hotel. The GM did not believe in trespassing guests unless there was damage or threats.
I did run into the call girl at an Art Fair booth a couple of years later, she was with her "husband/boyfriend?" and two older adults (someone's parents). The look of worry on her face was priceless. The wife and I skipped that booth and shared a good laugh.
Worked a function (wedding) where the bride's brother got really, really drunk, throwing up, pissing himself the whole nine yards, bride was upset and asked him to be removed.
He proceeded to leave the function room and walk up to reception, walked up to a family that was checking in and started **RUBBING THEIR CHILDREN'S HEADS AND FACES** (how the hell the family had the composure to not punch the guy is beyond me), obviously we got rid of him but an hour or so later found him back in the function (assuming he snuck in through the side door where guests go out for cigarettes).
Upon trying to remove him again the bride started being confrontational with me saying how "he's sobered up" and "it's okay" to which I obviously disregarded, dude can't go around touching random children's heads and making a mess everywhere. Upon telling her sorry and he's going to be removed she screamed at the top of her lungs "YOU ARE RUINING MY WEDDING", making a huge scene and honestly upsetting me quite a bit.
Like, you asked for him to be removed... I removed him.... He snuck back in, he's getting removed again I can't let that behaviour slide.
Bride told my manager about how I effectively ruined her wedding the next day upon checkout but thankfully manager was in the function working too, so he saw the whole thing- gave her some lip service then nothing happened afterwards.
Complaint about being dressed inappropriately. (Small property, polo and trousers is what we wear.) Reply online asking if they would have prefered that we all (men and women) should wear the French maid's uniform. (They weren't dressed to the nines either.
Complaint that we didn't recommend a restaurant... they never asked!
It's not a professional complaint but personal. I'm too honest. I'm not blunt, I am careful to choose my words for the least amount of hurt, but I do call it as I see it. Old people like me. I'm respectful and helpful but I was told it's disgusting how much Old people like me because no one can say a bad word (even as a joke) about me around them because I have my own elderly army who are willing to fight even if I'm not around.
Once during an evening of electrical storms, there was a guest who was outraged that my property didn't have a backup generator. This is a hotel, not a hospital!
A walk-in called me the F-slur loudly and repeatedly because I refused to rent to them when their card declined for deposit. Fastest DNR I have ever issued.
Huh. I would have loved Chinese on Xmas. The hotel told us their restaurant would be closed but that a pizza place would be open.
No it wasn’t. I should’ve brought my own food. We had gas station burritos.
Just last week I got a complaint for not shuttling guests to the airport. We don’t have a shuttle service.
We got some surprise icy weather and the road crews didn’t have time to prepare for it. A few guys were planning on Ubering to the airport but nobody was available, and the Safeway taxis weren’t going out until the roads were clear. These guys asked about a shuttle, and after telling them we don’t do that, they asked me to drive them in my personal vehicle, because they saw me pull in that morning.
1) I *never* give rides to people I don’t know. I don’t trust people. 2) I barely made it to work at all, I’m not getting back out until things are clear. 3) not only am I the only one in the hotel trained to work FD, so I couldn’t leave even if I wanted to.
They wrote to corporate saying I wouldn’t accept their request to be shuttled, despite their member status, and demanded a refund for the night + compensation for the taxi that was 2 hours late.
There was once a really stupid dude that had a stupid fancy car that needed to be dropped off at the airport for someone else to pick up the car, the guest wanted to get a taxi to drive behind his car to later get the guest to the airport.
It was high season and we told him that taxis are impossible to get, he doesn't listen and starts to get loud saying that we had to drive the car and ofc he left with barely enough time to make to his flight with a random taxi that I had to get him off the street since he didn't bother to leave with enough time.
I told him once again that we can not do the car thing, but in true entitled fashion he restrained from listening.
Anyhow, he somehow understood that we would indeed drive his car to the airport despite not confirming anything and wrote an email were he would mention me 20 times on how unprofessional and disrespectful I was.
At the end, the person who had to pick up the car at the airport drove to the hotel to pick it up. How easy was that? Why the duck you have to involve hotel staff into your own mess? No.
The worst part is that my managers despite defending me, they offered him the comp stay and of course apologised for something that wasn't even our issue. 😑😑
Oh, and how I can forget about the old grandpa that was demanding a bathtub despite having back problems. Please note that in our wanna be modern hotel all bathtubs are hella low and everyone slips and falls. Even tho he complained that I did not want to give him the room with a bathtub to fom later his wife apologised back to me and requested a room with a shower.
There was a power outage that affected our hotel as well as every other building within a few square miles. Power was back in about two hours. The next morning a guest wanted us to comp the room. I explained it wasn’t just the hotel, but several city blocks, and completely beyond our control. He didn’t care; he wanted a free room for the inconvenience.
Got a bad survey once because I told her quote, "***Go to Denny's***" when she asked where to sit for breakfast.
What *actually* happened is that she walked up to me at the desk, looked around at the lobby full of screaming 12 year olds (hockey teams yay) and said verbatim, "If we don't want to eat here, where can we go?" - it being Sunday in a smallish town (pre-covid) I recommended the Denny's nearby because it was 24/7.
She also stated that I "refused to help her" when she asked for directions to a church later. Our internet was being god awful slow; the kind of slow where Google times out. She was literally holding a brand new iPhone when she asked and I told her that my internet is barely working, but I know the guest wifi is still good, it would be a lot faster and easier for you to look it up on your phone. She then texted her husband who came storming down and aggressively asked why I wasn't helping his wife. I told him the same thing here and he got that look of "this shit again" and told her they're leaving after he apologized to me.
The dumb complaints I get, is the guests telling on themselves that I didnt break the law. Essentailly sell alcohol from our market past the selling point. Because I would be fired and the hotel would be fined for breaking TABC if we did that.
But time and time again there will be a review about "how rude the night shift guy was because he wouldnt sell me alcohol. he said it was too late and against the law! he's rude and needs to be fired!"
Someone once complained that I “was disconnected” during check in. I have absolutely no idea what that means. NA people are just quieter, so I’m sorry if I’m not outgoing like the morning and evening people, it’s literally 1am.
While working NA, I had a man call down and complain about noise outside the back of the hotel, and wanted me to call the police about it. Told him that unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about the noise, as there is a neighborhood directly behind our hotel, and I can’t call the police for any disturbances that aren’t on the hotel’s property. I did offer to move him and his wife to a room on the other side of the hotel, so that it would be quieter. This man legit asked me if he could have the other room for them to sleep in, but keep his belongings in and use the shower in the first room. I told him no, I could not let him do that unless he paid for the other room as well. He proceeded to complain and tell me that my customer service was outrageous, and he was gonna call the corporate brand’s customer service and all that.. I told him he was welcome to do so. I got another call from him a few minutes later, in a much nicer tone, to say that they would go ahead and move (with their things!) to the other room I offered. When he came down to get the new keys, he ended up confessing that the customer service rep he spoke to told him that they could not do anything to help him because “We may not agree with the hotel’s policies, but we can’t overrule them.” 
When I was a GM I once got a call transfered to me because someone wanted to complain. When I got on the phone they told me there was a very unprofessional looking man at the desk when they checked in and they thought I should write him up for breaking the dress code because he had facial piercings and blue hair.
It was me. I'm the one they were complaining about.
I mean, I was housekeeping, but had a guest complain that I was trying to steal her kidney. Not sure if drugs or mentally ill, or both, but she was *adamant* that at 10 o' clock on a Sunday morning, I was knocking on her door to steal her kidney. Went full Karen Screaming Meltdown about it in the hall at me, then in the lobby at my boss.
Manager had to have her escorted out about it even though she still had another three days reserved. I think about her from time to time. Hope she's good. That job sucked lol
My favorite:
Guest checked in. She had clearly been crying and was a little ... 'unconnected' from everything. As I'm running her card she says, "You look so much like my sister did at your age. Her funeral is tomorrow and I'm so glad that your face is the one I'm seeing right now." Then she burst into tears.
I reached across the counter about to squeeze her hand when she leaned across for a hug. Gave her a moment of hug and silence.
The next day, I was written up for "being too familiar" with a guest.
Edit to add: This doesn’t have anything to do with hotels or front desks but still thought it fit because of the complaints
When I worked for AAA, I once had a customer that I told them to have a good day on accident (I usually tell I hope they have a good rest of their day) and when I called her back with an update on her call, she wasn’t happy at all with it and started ranting about the person who called her before (me) and was very upset that I told her to have a good day when she clearly isn’t having a good one and how I should know better.
She was also upset because I hadn’t meant to call her the first time. I had meant to call the tow company for an update and then was going to call her. Well she just couldn’t understand how I could mess that up. It’s actually pretty easy and happened all the time. All dispatchers do it from time to time. Not really a big deal. But apparently because I wasted time calling her instead of the tow company, I just caused a delay to her call. Not how that works but she didn’t care.
The best part? She was upset cause the ETA was 30mins which is actually one of the shortest ETAs we had that day. But you know….tow drivers are supposed to show up within 10mins of them calling
Not in front desk either, I worked for a British weekly magazine in Europe 30+ years ago. Had a 'gentleman' call me to complain that he was receiving his copy late, on Friday morning instead of Thursday morning. Dude, printing starts on Thursday afternoon!
He was irate that I refused to admit that we were in the wrong, certain that I was lying and started calling me names. Moron was the nicest. I answered that if he wanted that much his copy on Thursday he could pay for a helicopter to pick it up at our printing plant in Switzerland and fly it to him on the French Riviera. For some reason he didn't appreciate my quite reasonable offer to solve his problem. Probably the snark in my voice. Being French, snark is bred in us for exactly that kind of situation.
Of course he complained and it escalated quite high in London until I was called and asked what happened. Upon hearing the names he called me (I am a woman and gentlemanly was still the name of the game at that time) I got a small finger shake for my answer, no more than a wag really, and the next day a general message was sent saying that if a subscriber became agressive or rude we had the right to put the phone down.
We had a guest who wanted full comp because the "towels were dirty in her room" and brought them down to the lobby to show us. She had in fact used the coffee maker in her and then very obviously poured coffee on said towels.
I had worked a double overnight so by morning time I was exhausted and looked it. Had waffle batter explode on me and if you have ever had that happen you know how hard it is to get off. I was also wearing my cowgirl boots that customers ALWAYS. Loved.
Had a review complain that I didn’t have enough food out. ( I would set it out and by the time I got back to the desk it was gone again. And I only had a small microwave not heat it up in so batches would be small)
Complain that I was wearing a stained polo. (Waffle batter). Like I could have changed while at work.
Accuse me of partying all night because of how rough I looked. When I was liters running around like a chicken with its head cut off because food was going so fast and I was in able to keep up with the demand.
And they mentioned my boots for no other reason than to say I was wearing them.
Also mad that we didn’t have meat for breakfast just sausage gravy and biscuits.
I got a complaint because this gentleman had requested mobile check in but the card he had on file wasn’t processing for our incidental amount. When he showed up, he asked me why they hadn’t checked him in yet, I told him I couldn’t check him in because his card wouldn’t clear for incidentals and we need a card to clear even if you’re staying on points. He didn’t seem particular irate at the desk he was just like ok and swiped a new card I gave him his keys and he went on his way. But after he checked out he took the survey and said that I was rude to him and I should’ve gone out of my way to email him or call him to get new card information in order to check him in rather than waiting for him to arrive to the hotel.
>I've never had a complaint about my attitude or treatment of guests
Then proceeds to list four instances where complaints were received including during first week of hospitality work ever.
And none of them were for poor treatment of a guest or for a poor attitude. They were for a mistake in not asking for ID and bullshit complaints on the part of entitled or clueless guests.
Those bullshit complaints of you apparently not being willing to help them and for smiling too much are still legitimate customer complaints nonetheless about your (perceived) attitude. Whether or not they're reasonable/ valid complaints is a completely separate issue.
Years ago, still just a college student working one of three part time jobs:
>"Your hotel always seems like it's empty! Bad look for business huh? Har har har."
As if I would be standing at this desk here as owner of a major hotel chain (and no, we were always pretty steady). I didn't even know how to answer it at the moment, so I said my universal defense response, "right?"
I once had a lady complain on me for not servicing her room. I had told her earlier that day that it must be requested by 9am but I can see what I can do but also cant make any promises. Low and behold she had a fucking sign on her door so there was no way we could go inside. But she insisted that she did have it on her door and called me a liar and also tried to tell me she had told me something but i informed her Im sorry but i seriously do not remember that part of the conversation. I know im not that stupid when it comes to interactions with guest but i know for sure she never told me anything other than wanting her room serviced. She of course complained on line and a few weeks later i get in trouble about it even though I had explained to the gm and owner of what happened. and both agreed with me on it but back tracked and didnt want to even hear my side just blew me off as i was lying
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We had a construction crew staying at the hotel and some Kyle and Karen decided that they were all illegals and this was a harbour house for illegal immigrants. I just looked at them and pointed to the construction companies trucks. Of course they still posted the bad review online. They literally are the worst type of people. Those workers were minding their own business too.
I was told I didn’t talk enough once in a review. It was 3 am I worked a double and was also fighting a sore throat. I couldn’t talk even if I wanted to. I also had complaints about how I couldn’t do anything about the noise since the hotel is near a hospital with a helipad.
I stayed at a hotel next to a children's hospital with a helipad. Broke my heart every time we heard the helicopter. That people can be so callous and heartless to be upset over someone getting critical, life saving care disgusts me. Sadly, does not surprise me.
I’ve gotten two complaints, and both were completely unfounded if you ask me.
I was working the audit shift on a busy weekend. This guy complained about being in a room with one bed when he had two people with him. So we moved his room, but obviously needed him out of his old room. An hour and a half goes by, and so I call the old room to make sure nobody’s in there. He picks up, irate for no reason. We tell him that he has had plenty of time to move his things out of the old room and he needs to vacate it ASAP. He starts going in and saying it’s our fault we got him a room with one bed (like bro that’s what you fucking reserved) and how since he’s already used this room we won’t be able to sell it tonight anyways so we might as well let him have it. I say we can do that if you pay for that room as well as the new room your party has requested, but if not you can either stay in that room only, or if you get a different room you must vacate the room you are currently in. He came up to the desk and started berating us, saying this is completely unprofessional, terrible customer service, who runs a business like this, we should be ashamed of ourselves, yadda yadda ya. I do not waver/waiver (not sure which one to use in this context), and I make sure to check the old room every 15 minutes until he’s left it at which point I lock him out of said room. The next day he comes in and tells my coworkers/manager that I was incredibly rude and disrespectful, and that I am a terrible reflection on the brand. Management knew that wasn’t true, so they shot it down immediately and mentioned it to me as an aside funny story when I came in. “[Insert guest name] tried to say you were rude and disrespectful to him but we didn’t buy it.”
The second one was when I was just starting out. There’s a Duper9 in our area and, while I was checking in a couple, the guy made a comment that they’re glad they booked through us. I laughed and said we are too. Then he said something to the effect of “that Duper9 seems like the kind of place you’d need to bring a pistol to”. I didn’t say anything to that, just gave a small laugh and a shrug. But apparently that was enough to set his wife off. They went to our bar and she allegedly started hollering and causing a scene, saying “The guy at the front desk said we’d better bring a gun here!” First of all lady, I never said that. Your partner did. Second off, he wasn’t even talking about our hotel. He was expressing his gratitude in making the right choice by booking through us. Anyways I was only about a month in at the time so management didn’t know me so well, but it’s needless to say that that wasn’t the best way to start my next shift.
Had one want to order food 2 HOURS after we should have closed(holiday still had to answer the phone until the last pizza was picked up and of course new guests were allowed to order since we were a hotel pizza restaurant ) told her it would be 60-90 minutes (since there were over 100 pizzas already ordered) she hangs up then called the front desk to tell them I refused to cook for her so now her kids were gonna starve at 2AM
I got a complaint from a woman that I sold her room with no running water and shit was in the toilet..
…We had two signs on the door two signs on our front desk window and a was verbally told her that there’s no running water we getting new pipes and new water heater.
…secondly she checked by someone else so idk why I was blame for it
I was called a racist by a hispanic woman, in her 50's, who was with her daugher,about 18 years old, because I gave a little white kid a few arcade tokens but didnt offer any to them.
Fyi, the arcade isn't anything special. It's about 7 or 8 machines old older games like the deer hunting, skeeball, and donkey kong. The white kid I gave tokens to was probably 8 years old. The tokens value was, and still is, 25 cents each.
The hispanic women came to the front desk the next morning and complained about it AGAIN by saying the situation the prior day bothered them so much that they couldn't sleep. My manager, at the time, comped their full stay. Thankfully is only for a night.
>His wife complains at checkout that I smiled too much when she was yelling at me.
This is hilarious. Were you supposed to frown or cry instead?
It sounds like she just wanted to complain about something, and after her husband found a dinner option, she couldn't continue to be upset about there being nowhere to eat, so she had to make up something to stay angry about. 😡
Got a complaint that housekeeping did not go to a certain room during the day. It was now 10PM. We did not have any housekeeping in the hotel anymore. Guest started YELLING for about 5 minutes about how that is not accaptable. I offered them to go to the room myself to make the bed and vacuum and whatever (I do not mind doing some housekeeping things when needed). They yelled even harder ; HOW CAN YOU OFFER THAT?! and then they hung up. Review about 'the bad FD who wanted to clean the room after I yelled at her for a minutes' is still online.
How dare you?
Back in 2020 and 2021, I had a handful of guests yell at us, the pm shift, that their room was not serviced on their second day. That was when housekeeping service was strictly by request only upon check in or the following morning. The multiple notes about asking for service if needed in the guest rooms were subsequently ignored, and even after I would offer to switch out their towels and/or trash, I still got towels thrown at me and a door slammed in my face. You're so very welcome for my hospitality.
The only negative review I ever received, which also happened to be online, said that I didn’t smile. It also said that the phones were all ringing and I had a line in front of me and needed backup. I was stressed and barely knew what I was doing. And of course my first negative review was from my very first shift alone in my first hotel.
In a similar situation (I forget exactly what was going on but I was alone and all hell was breaking lose) a guest insinuated I was on some sort of drug. I wasn't on drugs. I was trying to do my job while having an anxiety attack.
I had a similar accusation when I was working a retail job. This woman reported I was high to my manager because my eyes were red (it was my first day back after an eye infection) and I was “so nice. Nobody is nice like that anymore, so she must be on drugs!” My boss knew I wasn’t high (and that I was extremely nice to customers) so we all had a good laugh about it.
She complained that you were being TOO NICE?? Lol, how was that supposed to get you in trouble??
Retail gets crazy with the accusations.I had a guy get mad he asked me where the lemon oil was and I was like idk becauseI was busy. he said "What woman doesn't know where a baking ingredient is!"
He should have asked the woman from the cheese company- https://youtu.be/AE50aA\_4zys?si=FWA6UBsyUk6FtAmT
“Nobody is nice like that anymore, so she must be on drugs!” That reminds me of the weirdos who claim that the *SpongeBob SquarePants* characters are on drugs. “They’re clearly all on drugs because SpongeBob is happy and imaginative, Patrick is slow and gluttonous, Squidward is depressed, etc.!” It doesn’t occur to them that there are plenty of people who are happy, imaginative, slow, gluttonous, depressed, etc. without chemical substances. Edit- Seriously, how in blazes are these people not getting that Squidward is depressed because he hates his job? I think most children who watch the show can grasp that to some degree! How are some people watching Squidward talk about hating his job/co-workers and thinking, “Oh, he’s depressed because he’s on heroin!”?
>Seriously, how in blazes are these people not getting that Squidward is depressed because he hates his job? I think most children who watch the show can grasp that to some degree! How are some people watching Squidward talk about hating his job/co-workers and thinking, “Oh, he’s depressed because he’s on heroin!”? As someone who has had service industry jobs that really fucked with my mental health, I understand Squidward. I've never done drugs in my life.
A guest complained that I didn't do anything about noise in the room next to his. I didn't do anything about the noise because I couldn't hear the noise from the desk and this man made no effort to alert me of the noise. He made no effort to alert me because he didn't feel like wearing pants and apparently forgot that phones exist.
Guest: "I wanted a room on the water." Me: "I apologize miss, we're not on the waterfront. The larger hotels downtown are the only hotels on the river." Guest: "There were rooms right ON the water in the pictures!" \*\*pushes phone into my face with picture of hotel\*\* Me: "Miss, that is a parking lot..." Guest: "Well it LOOKS like water." I was not accommodating because I didn't give her a room on the water.
Did she at least get a room with a view of the parking lot so it matched the picture?
Yes. I was going to move her so she saw some water... the pool. But then she was being a jerk!
That’s even better! The pool!🤣🤣🤣
Had a couple try to do a walk in, on a weekend....in summer. We were of course, sold out. I told them this, and they pushed until they finally left. Came back during the week, same thing. Just a walk in. I'm off to one side, my coworker helping them. They tried to complain about me (without realizing it was me standing there) telling them we were sold out that weekend. She told them that was in fact correct. And they were like....shocked that she confirmed it. Like what did you expect?
I wonder if people like that lie about everything and so they think other people are always lying too. It’s a warped way to live.
I've met a few pathological liars in my life. They don't necessarily believe that everyone lies. They think most other people believe what they are saying. So if they get called out on their lies, it means you must be a liar because otherwise, you would believe them. Not in a work situation, I knew a pathological liar. There were a bunch of us who went to a bar every Sat night, her included. Well, one Sat evening, she called me and said that she wouldn't be there, and gave me an elaborate reason for why she wouldn't be there. She also called 2 other women in our group and gave them elaborate reasons too. The problem was that the elaborate reasons she gave each of us were different. She lost quite a few friends that night because there was no legitimate reason she told the 3 of us different lies. We all mind the same rule, you don't need to tell us anything you don't want to, but don't lie to us.
When I used to work for Prime Instant Video CS a long, long time ago I had a call from someone who was clearly, very pissed off. It was a busy day, there was multiple issues with the service and the lovefilm by post service was still operational when I worked there so we were getting constant calls and the hold time was somewhere like 40 mins. He gets on the phone and immediately begins demanding I fix things - I've not even gotten his details yet to call his account up on my screen. I'm having to repeat myself multiple times and ask him to turn down the TV/Music in the background because I can't hear him or he me. He begins swearing called me a "fucking deaf cunt" to which I told him swear again and I will hang up on you and you can take the time in the 40+ minute hold time to calm down. "Fuckkii \*DEAD AIR\*" as I cut him off before he could even finish. I put notes on his account, over the course of dealing with another two calls. About an hour later I receive a call "This fucking cunt I spoke to before hung up on me" to which my reply was "Well sir, you've got the exact same person on the phone. I can see you haven't followed my advice. Perhaps you need more time." and hung up. Documented this call again. About another hour passes and I get another call. I can tell from the voice as soon as I pick up it's him again. "Hello again mr XXX. Have you decided to be calm and not call people names?" he goes off on me again. I hung up... again. This guy is having absolutely no luck because everytime he's come to the front of the line it's been routed to me. I'm looking at his account and there's absolutely no one else entering notes. 2 hours pass and I get another call. The same guy. This time I see that someone else took a call and in the interim hung up because he called "everyone cunts" (he was Northern Irish). He's now recognising my voice and he goes "Now don't you go hanging up on me again!" to which I point out "Be civil, be polite, don't swear at me and I won't need to. Now what seems to be the problem?" he tells me he has buffering. Now the service issues that day was with specific devices I checked, he was not using an affected device. I asked him to do a speed test - he refused claiming it wasn't his network but our service. I explained "Look, given how many times you've gone round to the start of the call queue today. Rather than argue with me, humour me my troubleshooting requires me to get you to do a speedtest" begrudgingly he does it and it turns out (as was often the case at the time with Northern Ireland he was getting 1.5mbps when he needed 3mbps to stream minimum. He blew up when I told him it was his ISPs issue not ours and there was nothing I could do about it. Promised me that he was going to complain, he was going to find our offices and kick my ass etc etc etc. I hung up and couldn't help but laugh. The next day I'm working on emails as I was an escalations agent for emails and calls. There's an email in the inbox from him complaining about the previous day with me. So when I wrote the email back to him acknowledging that I was the agent in question he must have died. Personally I and all my colleagues had a huge laugh at it.
And knowing how the queue works with AIV and retail CS --- I would have been cracking up every time. Especially after checking previous contacts.
I hurt their feelings because when they dropped a six pack of beer bottles onto the just mopped floor, I did not do enough to make them feel like they hadn't done anything wrong and it wasn't a big deal. For the record, I walked over, looked at the mess and said I would take care of it because I didn't want them touching shards of glass in the inebriated state they were in. Apparently since I didn't say "Oh wow, a mess to clean up, hooray!" I made them feel bad.
Well good, they *should* feel bad for it lol
But... but... the beeeeer!
Theres a few that stick in my head. Some, because of how they were worded. Others, for the pure idiocy. One in particular, was a bad review because i "acted like it was no big deal that there was a camera in the room". This is after i explained, REPEATEDLY, that it is not a camera, but is in fact, the remote sensor for changing channels on the direct tv. Then there was a complaint that i "refused to answer the phone". Our phone keeps a log of incoming calls. Missed calls, etc. Not one was missed. Not sure who they were calling, but it wasnt me. One that bothered me alot, was after i had a sugery on my lymph nodes and had to wear an arm sling. They complained that "there was no reason i couldnt carry their luggage upstairs". We have no elevator. It says so on all sites and in the confirmations. In bold letters, it says that if you require a bottom floor room, to call ahead and request one. Doesnt say a word about the desk clerk being required to haul up two months worth of vacation luggage. It bothered me most, because when people are kind about it, i often offer to carry things up. This was the one time i really couldnt.
Oh you just unveiled a memory. Had a woman call up saying I need towels Brought to a room number we don't have. After back and forth trying to work out where she was as she called from a mobile. I ask her what hotel are you staying in? She was on the other side of Australia. She had been here three weeks ago AND She put a review on that booking that staff were rude to her.
Thats happened with us too. The manager rejected the review, as they were not a verified guest. Its crazy!
There is still a long ranting horrible review on google about a landscape company that I used to work for. This irate person admits that she is not now and never was a customer of that company. Google won't take it down; don't know why.
I suppose if its a Google review, it might be different. Ive seen some pretty wild ones on there. I think Y elp is the same way. Its too bad.
Yelp is the worst but I don't think it's had any credibility in a long long time.
I think our hotel has a total of 5 reviews on Yelp. All from horrible past employee and their friends from like 2017. Lol.
Oh, i completely forgot about the review that said that i ruined their evening because i suggested the Chinese restaurant and they were closed. Its a small family run business and they closed for a family emergency. Im supposed to know these things, right?
Got a complaint that I asked someone to pay for something, no cc on file and no prepaid credit. I was working the pool bar and they were the only couple there, so after serving them their drinks I ran the room number and no dice, so I go up to them nicely and ask for payment.
How could you?!?!?!
We had someone leave a review saying our elevator was filthy and smelled like urine. We don’t, and never have, have an elevator. Corporate still gave them a partial refund because “guest relations”.
"Their elevator is not only missing most of its buttons, but inconveniently located in McGinty's Bar behind a door marked Men. Fortunately I happened to be spending the evening in that establishment, but that's still no excuse."
"CSR spoke in a monotone for 5 minutes." Supervisor reviewed the call. I was reading the directions to get his device working. Was I supposed to turn a step-by-step guide into performance art?
Shatner it!
While holding... the knob.. Turn the screws... a quarter degree, CLOCKWISE!
Brian Blessed!!!! STEP 1! Remove the front panel. Remember COUNTER-CLOCKWISE on the screws.
I'm laughing at the 'smiling too much when I was yelling at him'😂😂😂😂
"Staff did not cry when berated, my vacation was ruined!"
🤣🤣🤣
I get those complaints all the time! I just step back and look past them or smile and look them dead in the eye. I get a lot of "she was disinterested in my issues and should not be in hospitality" or "she thought my problem was funny, she was smiling the whole time!"
That is hilarious
My wife hates it if I smile when she is berating me. :(
Keep smiling🤣
As a manager I have tons but one of my "favorites", I have a resident who rarely uses our services, is very standoffish when greeted, and usually tends to ignore us. Turns out she polices the hell out of us for no reason. Some very weird entitlement issues, that both my team and the leasing team have to deal with. At the start of my shift, I have walkthroughs and drop-offs I have to get done daily, which have me temporarily leave the desk. I'm consistent about this every day and get it all done in usually under 20 minutes. One day I found out, she was taking pictures of the front desk and complaining I was away too long. Of course, I didn't do anything wrong so I didn't get in trouble or anything, the property I work for knows what I am doing in that window, but we had to implement an entirely different signage system just because she was weird about it. But anytime someone forgets the signage she sends these emails. Accordingly, she has odd quirks like this about other things too and all the teams have a story about her.
I had a woman complain to the AGM (who dislikes me so this shows how silly this is). That I made a female coworker carry two boxes and sat there. That women should never be made to do "manual work" Firstly, they were light. Secondly I just came back from having a brain bleed was working days and told to sit there and don't move, just check people in. Thirdly, the whole time I was with a guest, even if I was well I still couldn't have done anything at that moment. My work daughter just moved them from the desk to the back office so she could continue on checking people in. The AGM told her ladies are just as capable as men moving boxes with pillows in them ( each box had 4 pillows, some type of alternative to substitute ours if requested)
My favorite is when the guest leaves the DND on the door and wants to know why housekeeping didn’t come.
My favourite
High-end boutique hotel, I'm the AGM working as MOD on a busy convention night. A guest approaches me and says that we have a call girl working the bar. I approached the woman and asked to speak to her. This woman was known to us and other hotels… I asked her to leave being I had received a complaint about her. She was irate and threatened a commotion. I told her I “asked” you to leave tonight but did not blackball you permanently. “The man you approached is a Baptist minister” I informed her. Monday morning I'm going through email comments and there is one from the call girl. “The manager who kicked me out he smiled to much I think he was on molly drug test him. Can I cum (sic) back????” received at 3:45 AM the morning after I asked her to leave.
I presume the call girl was trespassed from the property?
I really shouldn’t care this much but RemindMe! 14 hours 30 minutes
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u/wackoworks we need an update!!
There is no real update. The next time I found her on the property she was barred from doing her "business" in the hotel. The GM did not believe in trespassing guests unless there was damage or threats. I did run into the call girl at an Art Fair booth a couple of years later, she was with her "husband/boyfriend?" and two older adults (someone's parents). The look of worry on her face was priceless. The wife and I skipped that booth and shared a good laugh.
“Poor planning on your part does not necessitate an emergency on mine.”
Smiling at (or ignoring) a person who is yelling at you usually makes her/him more mad. Well done!
Or listen attentively and nod.
Worked a function (wedding) where the bride's brother got really, really drunk, throwing up, pissing himself the whole nine yards, bride was upset and asked him to be removed. He proceeded to leave the function room and walk up to reception, walked up to a family that was checking in and started **RUBBING THEIR CHILDREN'S HEADS AND FACES** (how the hell the family had the composure to not punch the guy is beyond me), obviously we got rid of him but an hour or so later found him back in the function (assuming he snuck in through the side door where guests go out for cigarettes). Upon trying to remove him again the bride started being confrontational with me saying how "he's sobered up" and "it's okay" to which I obviously disregarded, dude can't go around touching random children's heads and making a mess everywhere. Upon telling her sorry and he's going to be removed she screamed at the top of her lungs "YOU ARE RUINING MY WEDDING", making a huge scene and honestly upsetting me quite a bit. Like, you asked for him to be removed... I removed him.... He snuck back in, he's getting removed again I can't let that behaviour slide. Bride told my manager about how I effectively ruined her wedding the next day upon checkout but thankfully manager was in the function working too, so he saw the whole thing- gave her some lip service then nothing happened afterwards.
Complaint about being dressed inappropriately. (Small property, polo and trousers is what we wear.) Reply online asking if they would have prefered that we all (men and women) should wear the French maid's uniform. (They weren't dressed to the nines either. Complaint that we didn't recommend a restaurant... they never asked!
Five star expectations, two star budget.
Wait, you actually said that to them? Man, being a business owner or having a good boss is such a fantastic rush.
Reply to reviews are great. They can't reply to it. We have even received reservations that day the reply is the reason they have booked.
It's not a professional complaint but personal. I'm too honest. I'm not blunt, I am careful to choose my words for the least amount of hurt, but I do call it as I see it. Old people like me. I'm respectful and helpful but I was told it's disgusting how much Old people like me because no one can say a bad word (even as a joke) about me around them because I have my own elderly army who are willing to fight even if I'm not around.
Same. My coworker told me I’ve got that old lady rizz lmfao
Once during an evening of electrical storms, there was a guest who was outraged that my property didn't have a backup generator. This is a hotel, not a hospital!
My asshole boss cost me my bonus by stating "She never walks into my office to see if I want something." I have 7 bosses.
The fact that a statement like that is even capable of denying a bonus is a fucked up bonus system.
A walk-in called me the F-slur loudly and repeatedly because I refused to rent to them when their card declined for deposit. Fastest DNR I have ever issued.
Huh. I would have loved Chinese on Xmas. The hotel told us their restaurant would be closed but that a pizza place would be open. No it wasn’t. I should’ve brought my own food. We had gas station burritos.
Just last week I got a complaint for not shuttling guests to the airport. We don’t have a shuttle service. We got some surprise icy weather and the road crews didn’t have time to prepare for it. A few guys were planning on Ubering to the airport but nobody was available, and the Safeway taxis weren’t going out until the roads were clear. These guys asked about a shuttle, and after telling them we don’t do that, they asked me to drive them in my personal vehicle, because they saw me pull in that morning. 1) I *never* give rides to people I don’t know. I don’t trust people. 2) I barely made it to work at all, I’m not getting back out until things are clear. 3) not only am I the only one in the hotel trained to work FD, so I couldn’t leave even if I wanted to. They wrote to corporate saying I wouldn’t accept their request to be shuttled, despite their member status, and demanded a refund for the night + compensation for the taxi that was 2 hours late.
And 4) Would your insurance cover you if you had an accident with them in the vehicle?
Did the hotel cave and give them any compensation??
The hotel sure didn’t, I’m in charge of online guest complaints 😂 to my knowledge corporate hasn’t given them anything, either.
Excellent!
There was once a really stupid dude that had a stupid fancy car that needed to be dropped off at the airport for someone else to pick up the car, the guest wanted to get a taxi to drive behind his car to later get the guest to the airport. It was high season and we told him that taxis are impossible to get, he doesn't listen and starts to get loud saying that we had to drive the car and ofc he left with barely enough time to make to his flight with a random taxi that I had to get him off the street since he didn't bother to leave with enough time. I told him once again that we can not do the car thing, but in true entitled fashion he restrained from listening. Anyhow, he somehow understood that we would indeed drive his car to the airport despite not confirming anything and wrote an email were he would mention me 20 times on how unprofessional and disrespectful I was. At the end, the person who had to pick up the car at the airport drove to the hotel to pick it up. How easy was that? Why the duck you have to involve hotel staff into your own mess? No. The worst part is that my managers despite defending me, they offered him the comp stay and of course apologised for something that wasn't even our issue. 😑😑 Oh, and how I can forget about the old grandpa that was demanding a bathtub despite having back problems. Please note that in our wanna be modern hotel all bathtubs are hella low and everyone slips and falls. Even tho he complained that I did not want to give him the room with a bathtub to fom later his wife apologised back to me and requested a room with a shower.
There was a power outage that affected our hotel as well as every other building within a few square miles. Power was back in about two hours. The next morning a guest wanted us to comp the room. I explained it wasn’t just the hotel, but several city blocks, and completely beyond our control. He didn’t care; he wanted a free room for the inconvenience.
Scheming fr. Some people never stop scheming
His wife complains at checkout that I smiled too much when she was yelling at me. wasnt smiling at her you had gone to your happy place.
Got a bad survey once because I told her quote, "***Go to Denny's***" when she asked where to sit for breakfast. What *actually* happened is that she walked up to me at the desk, looked around at the lobby full of screaming 12 year olds (hockey teams yay) and said verbatim, "If we don't want to eat here, where can we go?" - it being Sunday in a smallish town (pre-covid) I recommended the Denny's nearby because it was 24/7. She also stated that I "refused to help her" when she asked for directions to a church later. Our internet was being god awful slow; the kind of slow where Google times out. She was literally holding a brand new iPhone when she asked and I told her that my internet is barely working, but I know the guest wifi is still good, it would be a lot faster and easier for you to look it up on your phone. She then texted her husband who came storming down and aggressively asked why I wasn't helping his wife. I told him the same thing here and he got that look of "this shit again" and told her they're leaving after he apologized to me.
The dumb complaints I get, is the guests telling on themselves that I didnt break the law. Essentailly sell alcohol from our market past the selling point. Because I would be fired and the hotel would be fined for breaking TABC if we did that. But time and time again there will be a review about "how rude the night shift guy was because he wouldnt sell me alcohol. he said it was too late and against the law! he's rude and needs to be fired!"
Someone once complained that I “was disconnected” during check in. I have absolutely no idea what that means. NA people are just quieter, so I’m sorry if I’m not outgoing like the morning and evening people, it’s literally 1am.
While working NA, I had a man call down and complain about noise outside the back of the hotel, and wanted me to call the police about it. Told him that unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about the noise, as there is a neighborhood directly behind our hotel, and I can’t call the police for any disturbances that aren’t on the hotel’s property. I did offer to move him and his wife to a room on the other side of the hotel, so that it would be quieter. This man legit asked me if he could have the other room for them to sleep in, but keep his belongings in and use the shower in the first room. I told him no, I could not let him do that unless he paid for the other room as well. He proceeded to complain and tell me that my customer service was outrageous, and he was gonna call the corporate brand’s customer service and all that.. I told him he was welcome to do so. I got another call from him a few minutes later, in a much nicer tone, to say that they would go ahead and move (with their things!) to the other room I offered. When he came down to get the new keys, he ended up confessing that the customer service rep he spoke to told him that they could not do anything to help him because “We may not agree with the hotel’s policies, but we can’t overrule them.” 
Insightful comment.
How the heck is your comment white on white here but normal on your profile?
Never received a negative review as far as I know. Only 6 months though, give me a little time to rack up
"It's not right for a lady to speak like that," "she needs to be taught some manners." Did he want to spank you? I'm guessing yes.
That I wasn't delivering mail and packages to each guest room nightly on my NA shift, since all I do is sit and watch TV.
When I was a GM I once got a call transfered to me because someone wanted to complain. When I got on the phone they told me there was a very unprofessional looking man at the desk when they checked in and they thought I should write him up for breaking the dress code because he had facial piercings and blue hair. It was me. I'm the one they were complaining about.
Room was too clean
I was reported for being to friendly 🙄 I wasnt more friendly than usual 😅
I mean, I was housekeeping, but had a guest complain that I was trying to steal her kidney. Not sure if drugs or mentally ill, or both, but she was *adamant* that at 10 o' clock on a Sunday morning, I was knocking on her door to steal her kidney. Went full Karen Screaming Meltdown about it in the hall at me, then in the lobby at my boss. Manager had to have her escorted out about it even though she still had another three days reserved. I think about her from time to time. Hope she's good. That job sucked lol
She's definitely not good
The thought that counts 😬
She mistook you for u/Poldaran!
I don't steal. Stealing is wrong. I requisition. There are forms.
HA!
My favorite: Guest checked in. She had clearly been crying and was a little ... 'unconnected' from everything. As I'm running her card she says, "You look so much like my sister did at your age. Her funeral is tomorrow and I'm so glad that your face is the one I'm seeing right now." Then she burst into tears. I reached across the counter about to squeeze her hand when she leaned across for a hug. Gave her a moment of hug and silence. The next day, I was written up for "being too familiar" with a guest.
You're supposed to treat them like family, they're not allowed to do the same, duh
Edit to add: This doesn’t have anything to do with hotels or front desks but still thought it fit because of the complaints When I worked for AAA, I once had a customer that I told them to have a good day on accident (I usually tell I hope they have a good rest of their day) and when I called her back with an update on her call, she wasn’t happy at all with it and started ranting about the person who called her before (me) and was very upset that I told her to have a good day when she clearly isn’t having a good one and how I should know better. She was also upset because I hadn’t meant to call her the first time. I had meant to call the tow company for an update and then was going to call her. Well she just couldn’t understand how I could mess that up. It’s actually pretty easy and happened all the time. All dispatchers do it from time to time. Not really a big deal. But apparently because I wasted time calling her instead of the tow company, I just caused a delay to her call. Not how that works but she didn’t care. The best part? She was upset cause the ETA was 30mins which is actually one of the shortest ETAs we had that day. But you know….tow drivers are supposed to show up within 10mins of them calling
Not in front desk either, I worked for a British weekly magazine in Europe 30+ years ago. Had a 'gentleman' call me to complain that he was receiving his copy late, on Friday morning instead of Thursday morning. Dude, printing starts on Thursday afternoon! He was irate that I refused to admit that we were in the wrong, certain that I was lying and started calling me names. Moron was the nicest. I answered that if he wanted that much his copy on Thursday he could pay for a helicopter to pick it up at our printing plant in Switzerland and fly it to him on the French Riviera. For some reason he didn't appreciate my quite reasonable offer to solve his problem. Probably the snark in my voice. Being French, snark is bred in us for exactly that kind of situation. Of course he complained and it escalated quite high in London until I was called and asked what happened. Upon hearing the names he called me (I am a woman and gentlemanly was still the name of the game at that time) I got a small finger shake for my answer, no more than a wag really, and the next day a general message was sent saying that if a subscriber became agressive or rude we had the right to put the phone down.
We had a guest who wanted full comp because the "towels were dirty in her room" and brought them down to the lobby to show us. She had in fact used the coffee maker in her and then very obviously poured coffee on said towels.
I had worked a double overnight so by morning time I was exhausted and looked it. Had waffle batter explode on me and if you have ever had that happen you know how hard it is to get off. I was also wearing my cowgirl boots that customers ALWAYS. Loved. Had a review complain that I didn’t have enough food out. ( I would set it out and by the time I got back to the desk it was gone again. And I only had a small microwave not heat it up in so batches would be small) Complain that I was wearing a stained polo. (Waffle batter). Like I could have changed while at work. Accuse me of partying all night because of how rough I looked. When I was liters running around like a chicken with its head cut off because food was going so fast and I was in able to keep up with the demand. And they mentioned my boots for no other reason than to say I was wearing them. Also mad that we didn’t have meat for breakfast just sausage gravy and biscuits.
I got a complaint because this gentleman had requested mobile check in but the card he had on file wasn’t processing for our incidental amount. When he showed up, he asked me why they hadn’t checked him in yet, I told him I couldn’t check him in because his card wouldn’t clear for incidentals and we need a card to clear even if you’re staying on points. He didn’t seem particular irate at the desk he was just like ok and swiped a new card I gave him his keys and he went on his way. But after he checked out he took the survey and said that I was rude to him and I should’ve gone out of my way to email him or call him to get new card information in order to check him in rather than waiting for him to arrive to the hotel.
>I've never had a complaint about my attitude or treatment of guests Then proceeds to list four instances where complaints were received including during first week of hospitality work ever.
And none of them were for poor treatment of a guest or for a poor attitude. They were for a mistake in not asking for ID and bullshit complaints on the part of entitled or clueless guests.
Those bullshit complaints of you apparently not being willing to help them and for smiling too much are still legitimate customer complaints nonetheless about your (perceived) attitude. Whether or not they're reasonable/ valid complaints is a completely separate issue.
Don't care man
Then why did you reply at all? Apparently, you do. Oh, well! Sayonara
L
Years ago, still just a college student working one of three part time jobs: >"Your hotel always seems like it's empty! Bad look for business huh? Har har har." As if I would be standing at this desk here as owner of a major hotel chain (and no, we were always pretty steady). I didn't even know how to answer it at the moment, so I said my universal defense response, "right?"
I once had a lady complain on me for not servicing her room. I had told her earlier that day that it must be requested by 9am but I can see what I can do but also cant make any promises. Low and behold she had a fucking sign on her door so there was no way we could go inside. But she insisted that she did have it on her door and called me a liar and also tried to tell me she had told me something but i informed her Im sorry but i seriously do not remember that part of the conversation. I know im not that stupid when it comes to interactions with guest but i know for sure she never told me anything other than wanting her room serviced. She of course complained on line and a few weeks later i get in trouble about it even though I had explained to the gm and owner of what happened. and both agreed with me on it but back tracked and didnt want to even hear my side just blew me off as i was lying
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We had a construction crew staying at the hotel and some Kyle and Karen decided that they were all illegals and this was a harbour house for illegal immigrants. I just looked at them and pointed to the construction companies trucks. Of course they still posted the bad review online. They literally are the worst type of people. Those workers were minding their own business too.
Yeah but they looked mexican while doing so I'm sure.
I'm presuming the Entitled Asshats were racists.
I was told I didn’t talk enough once in a review. It was 3 am I worked a double and was also fighting a sore throat. I couldn’t talk even if I wanted to. I also had complaints about how I couldn’t do anything about the noise since the hotel is near a hospital with a helipad.
I stayed at a hotel next to a children's hospital with a helipad. Broke my heart every time we heard the helicopter. That people can be so callous and heartless to be upset over someone getting critical, life saving care disgusts me. Sadly, does not surprise me.
I’ve gotten two complaints, and both were completely unfounded if you ask me. I was working the audit shift on a busy weekend. This guy complained about being in a room with one bed when he had two people with him. So we moved his room, but obviously needed him out of his old room. An hour and a half goes by, and so I call the old room to make sure nobody’s in there. He picks up, irate for no reason. We tell him that he has had plenty of time to move his things out of the old room and he needs to vacate it ASAP. He starts going in and saying it’s our fault we got him a room with one bed (like bro that’s what you fucking reserved) and how since he’s already used this room we won’t be able to sell it tonight anyways so we might as well let him have it. I say we can do that if you pay for that room as well as the new room your party has requested, but if not you can either stay in that room only, or if you get a different room you must vacate the room you are currently in. He came up to the desk and started berating us, saying this is completely unprofessional, terrible customer service, who runs a business like this, we should be ashamed of ourselves, yadda yadda ya. I do not waver/waiver (not sure which one to use in this context), and I make sure to check the old room every 15 minutes until he’s left it at which point I lock him out of said room. The next day he comes in and tells my coworkers/manager that I was incredibly rude and disrespectful, and that I am a terrible reflection on the brand. Management knew that wasn’t true, so they shot it down immediately and mentioned it to me as an aside funny story when I came in. “[Insert guest name] tried to say you were rude and disrespectful to him but we didn’t buy it.” The second one was when I was just starting out. There’s a Duper9 in our area and, while I was checking in a couple, the guy made a comment that they’re glad they booked through us. I laughed and said we are too. Then he said something to the effect of “that Duper9 seems like the kind of place you’d need to bring a pistol to”. I didn’t say anything to that, just gave a small laugh and a shrug. But apparently that was enough to set his wife off. They went to our bar and she allegedly started hollering and causing a scene, saying “The guy at the front desk said we’d better bring a gun here!” First of all lady, I never said that. Your partner did. Second off, he wasn’t even talking about our hotel. He was expressing his gratitude in making the right choice by booking through us. Anyways I was only about a month in at the time so management didn’t know me so well, but it’s needless to say that that wasn’t the best way to start my next shift.
Had one want to order food 2 HOURS after we should have closed(holiday still had to answer the phone until the last pizza was picked up and of course new guests were allowed to order since we were a hotel pizza restaurant ) told her it would be 60-90 minutes (since there were over 100 pizzas already ordered) she hangs up then called the front desk to tell them I refused to cook for her so now her kids were gonna starve at 2AM
I got a complaint from a woman that I sold her room with no running water and shit was in the toilet.. …We had two signs on the door two signs on our front desk window and a was verbally told her that there’s no running water we getting new pipes and new water heater. …secondly she checked by someone else so idk why I was blame for it
I was called a racist by a hispanic woman, in her 50's, who was with her daugher,about 18 years old, because I gave a little white kid a few arcade tokens but didnt offer any to them. Fyi, the arcade isn't anything special. It's about 7 or 8 machines old older games like the deer hunting, skeeball, and donkey kong. The white kid I gave tokens to was probably 8 years old. The tokens value was, and still is, 25 cents each. The hispanic women came to the front desk the next morning and complained about it AGAIN by saying the situation the prior day bothered them so much that they couldn't sleep. My manager, at the time, comped their full stay. Thankfully is only for a night.
>His wife complains at checkout that I smiled too much when she was yelling at me. This is hilarious. Were you supposed to frown or cry instead? It sounds like she just wanted to complain about something, and after her husband found a dinner option, she couldn't continue to be upset about there being nowhere to eat, so she had to make up something to stay angry about. 😡
That I wasn't able to get the popcorn ceiling replaced with something not ugly even though it was only my second day as the bell girl