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While this is a good way to do things, unfortunately there's way too many people that don't do it this way. A large percentage of the people would rather clean up the broken glass themselves and try to hide the fact that anything got broken. The few exceptions may be if they break something that's too big for them to hide. For instance, say they're out partying and come back to the room and once they get back to the room, they break the mirror over the sink (either accidentally or in a drunken rage). Those people may call and report it, but I bet even those cases are rare.
Personally, I try to show other people's property they same care I show my own property. Unfortunately, I know too many people that, in the case of the broken mirror, would try to check out of the room quickly before the mirror was discovered. If the hotel doesn't have any type of card on file for you and you're the one that broke the mirror, then the hotel gets stuck with the bill to fix the mirror. If that's an isolated incident, that may be all the comes out of it. If it happens in several rooms, then it will be us, the customers, that eventually pay for the mirrors because they hotel will have no choice but raise the price of the rooms.
If say 98% of the people in the world were completely honest, I'd be willing to bet that more hotels would accept cash and/or debit cards. Unfortunately, it's the dishonest people that make hotels and resorts make rules that allow them to get their money, even if it's unfair to the honest people as well. The hotels have been screwed before and have no way of knowing who will screw them next.
Look I can appreciate that this has become quite a problem for hotels but ultimately I still believe in the innocent until proven guilty adage. There used to be a time when you checked out of your hotel when you handed the keys back at the front desk that you had to WAIT for someone to go check the room was in order before you left the premises. I'm quite sure some time-management consultant or HR person deemed that an unecessary time waster at some point BUT I personally think it should still be happening now.
AND this would be one of the reasons why.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by marmac
------"or a broken mirror"---
Are hotel rooms inspected after someone checks out ,but before the cleaning people arrive?
I'd hate to be 500 miles away and discover that my credit card was charged for a broken lamp that your cleaning crew knocked over.
I agree marmac. I'd prefer the room was checked before I left the hotel and before the cleaning crew arrived.
I think that room damage is being blown out of proportion here. In all my years in the hotel industry, I can think of maybe 6 times where we had to charge guests for room damage and maybe there have been another 5 guests charged a smoking fee at my current, smoke-free property.
In almost all of the times, the room damage was pretty significant- the majority being holes in the walls (caused by drunk kids punching the wall). If a guest broke a glass or something, we would never charge for that. It has to be significant. There have been times where guests are paying cash and did not leave a credit card number down and we just have to eat the cost.
When a guest checks out of a room, our cleaning staff will go in and super-clean the room for the next arriving guest. That is when they will note any damage or missing items and report it to their Supervisor, who in turn reports it to the proper Management. It's not realistic to say that the room is inspected AFTER a guest checks out but BEFORE the cleaning staff goes in, for any broken or missing items.
As a Resort Manager, you have to have trust in your staff. If a staff member knocks a lamp off a side table and it breaks, you have to have trust that your staff member will admit the mistake, and NOT blame the previous guest. Of course...this is not a 100% full-proof way, but what is? It comes down to having quality employees and having trust in them.
Before we would ever charge a "Damage" fee or "Missing Item" fee to a guest who checked out, we (Management) always attempt to contact the guest first. We DON'T want a surprise charge showing up on anyone's credit card...it's more than likely that the guest would disbute that charge with his Credit Card Company anyways, if it's a charge he's not aware of.
Even when we speak to a guest on the phone about having to charge him for a broken mirror (or whatever....), I've seen many times where the guest will deny deny deny....and then finally agree to pay the charge so he doesn't have to argue with us anymore OR he says he'll disbute the charge with his CC Company (and never does). Guilty Conscience, perhaps?
Honestly...at least at my Resort...this is such a rare occurrence! Each incident is handled slightly different, depending on the circumstances.
Good explanation and I see your point.
You mention the words "resort" and " trust in your staff".
However, the OP mentioned motel, and while traveling and staying in motels, I'll bet the vast majority of motel owners/managers don't even know who their cleaning staff personal are.
The job is subcontracted to a company ( or individual) who does the hiring of the cleaning staff.
I also bet staying at a higher priced motel while traveling doesn't change that .
Look I can appreciate that this has become quite a problem for hotels but ultimately I still believe in the innocent until proven guilty adage. There used to be a time when you checked out of your hotel when you handed the keys back at the front desk that you had to WAIT for someone to go check the room was in order before you left the premises. I'm quite sure some time-management consultant or HR person deemed that an unecessary time waster at some point BUT I personally think it should still be happening now.
AND this would be one of the reasons why.....
I agree marmac. I'd prefer the room was checked before I left the hotel and before the cleaning crew arrived.
I've been staying in hotels for almost 50 years and can't remember a single time when that was the case.
Good explanation and I see your point.
You mention the words "resort" and " trust in your staff".
However, the OP mentioned motel, and while traveling and staying in motels, I'll bet the vast majority of motel owners/managers don't even know who their cleaning staff personal are.
The job is subcontracted to a company ( or individual) who does the hiring of the cleaning staff.
I also bet staying at a higher priced motel while traveling doesn't change that .
I'm willing to bet at this point in this conversation, we're not just answering the OP's original question anymore!
I use the term "Resort" loosely here...i currently work for a nice upscale Golf Resort, and we don't call ourselves a Hotel or a Motel, we refer to ourselves as a Resort.
However...I have, in my 15+ years in this industry, worked for a Days Inn in a small town, a Fairfield Inn right off the highway in the middle of nowhere, a Homewood Suites in a suburban location, and now a Resort in the middle of a city.
I've seen lots of things over these last 15+ years, not all at the Resort I currently work at. You are correct to ASS-U-ME that it does make a difference what type of a lodging establishment we're talking about (an upscale Resort or a Highway Motel), but bad stuff still happens right here in my upscale Golf Resort, too!
i too do not have a US credit card as i haven't established a credit history to qualify for one. however, i've been using my debit card for online bookings for hotel accommodations/car rental/airtickets with no difficulties so far.
Look I can appreciate that this has become quite a problem for hotels but ultimately I still believe in the innocent until proven guilty adage. There used to be a time when you checked out of your hotel when you handed the keys back at the front desk that you had to WAIT for someone to go check the room was in order before you left the premises. I'm quite sure some time-management consultant or HR person deemed that an unecessary time waster at some point BUT I personally think it should still be happening now.
I totally understand what you're saying, but I don't see it as being treated as being accused of anything. I think you could bring up that "innocent until proven guilty" argument if you were checking into a hotel and they treated you differently than they did everybody else. I mean, if I'm in line to check-in in front of you and they allow me to pay cash with no card on file, but then don't allow you to do the same, then you could say that you were being treated as a guilty person. The way it is, the hotels are treating everybody the same in terms of what's required at check-in.
I also agree with Buns. I think we've strayed off the point off answering the OP's question.
I left a hotel yesterday and caused some damage in a stupid drunk, broken mirror, two large holes in the wall, nothing like this ever happened before in my life! It was paid cash up front, no CC on file, just my ID to prove me identity, do you know if they might file criminal charges? opinions? I have my ID with an incorrect address, but I am sure they took a copy...probably not? Stupid but am not supposed to drink, was alone and bipolar...
Last edited by zack777; 03-29-2010 at 02:15 PM..
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