Reference no: EM133591932

Case Study: A guest walked up to the front-desk agent, Karen Fredrickson, in an upscale hotel, ready to check out. As she would usually do when checking out a guest, Karen asked the guest what his room number was. The guest was in a hurry and showed his anxiety by responding, "I stay in a hundred hotel rooms and you expect me to remember my room number?" Karen then asked for the guest's name, to which he responded, "My name is Mr. Johnstone." After thanking him, she began to look for the guest's last name, but the name was not listed in the computer. Because the man had a heavy accent and Karen assumed that she had misunderstood him, she politely asked the guest to spell his last name. He answered, "What? Are you an idiot? The person who checked me in last night had no problem checking me in." Again, Karen looked on the computer to find the guest. The guest, becoming even more frustrated, said, "I have a plane to catch and it is ridiculous that it has to take this long to check me out. I also need to fax these papers off, but I need to have them photocopied first." Karen responded, "There is a business center at the end of the counter that will fax and photocopy what you need." The guest replied, "If I wanted your opinion, I would have asked you for it. Haven't you ever heard of guest service? Isn't this a five-star hotel? With your bad attitude, you should be working in a three-star hotel. I can't believe they let you work here at the front desk. Haven't you found my name yet?" Karen, who was beginning to get upset, asked the guest again to spell out his full name. The guest only replied, "Here are my papers I want faxed if you are capable of faxing them." Karen reached to take the papers, and the guest shouted, "Don't grab them from my hand! You have a bad attitude, and if I had more time, I would talk to someone about getting you removed from your position to a hotel where they don't require such a level of guest service." Though very upset, Karen kept her manner calm to prevent the guest from getting angrier. Continuing to provide service to the guest, Karen sent the faxes and made the photocopies he had requested. Upon her return, she again asked the guest to repeat his last name because he had failed to spell it out. The guest replied by spelling out his name, "J-o-h-n-s-t-o-n-e." With that clarification, Karen was finally able to find his name on the computer and check him out while he continued to verbally attack her. Karen finished the encounter by telling the guest to have a nice flight.

Questions

1. Would it be appropriate to have the manager finish the checkout when this sort of difficulty with a guest arises? Or should the front-desk agent just take the heat?

2. Would you have handled the situation in the same manner?

3. What would you have done differently?

CASE STUDY 2

OVERBOOKED: FRONT OFFICE PERSPECTIVE

Overbooking is an accepted hotel and airline practice. Many question the practice from various standpoints, including ethical and moral. Industry executives, however, argue that there is nothing more perishable than a vacant room. If it is not used, there is no chance to regain lost revenue. Hotels need to protect themselves because potential guests frequently make reservations at more than one hotel or are delayed and, therefore, do not show up. The percentage of no-shows varies by hotel and location but is often around five percent. In a 400-room hotel, that is 20 rooms, or an average loss of approximately $2,600 per night. Considering these figures, it is not surprising that hotels try to protect themselves by overbooking. Hotels look carefully at bookings: Whom they are for, what rates they are paying, when they were made, whether they are for regular guests or from a major account (a corporation that uses the hotel frequently), and so on. Jill Reynolds, the front-office manager at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla, had known for some time that the 400-room hotel would be overbooked for this one night in October. She prepared to talk with the front-desk associates as they came on duty at 7:30 in the morning, knowing it would be a challenge to sell out without "walking" guests. Seldom does a hotel sell out before having to walk a few guests. The hotel's policy and procedure on walking guests enables the front-desk associates to call nearby hotels of a similar category to find out if they have rooms available to sell. If it is necessary to walk a guest, the associate explains to the guest that, regrettably, no rooms are available because of fewer departures than expected. The associate must explain that suitable accommodations have been reserved at a nearby hotel and that the hotel will pay for the room and transportation to and from the hotel. Usually, guests are understanding, especially when they realize that they are receiving a free room and free transportation. On this particular day, the house count indicates that the hotel is overbooked by 30 rooms. Three or four nearby, comparable hotels had rooms available to sell in the morning. Besides walking guests, Jill considers other options-in particular "splitting" the 15 suites with connecting parlors. If the guests in the suites do not need the parlor, it is then possible to gain a few more "rooms" to sell separately; however, rollaway beds must be placed in the rooms. Fortunately, eight parlors were available to sell.

Question :

1. If you were in the same situation, what would you do