Now ye're talking - to a Hotelier

I'm a hotelier, AMA

afatbollix wrote: »

On one of the documentaries on a fancy London hotel, the GM stayed in the hotel once a week. They would choose a different room each week to see if anything could be done better for a paying guest.

Do you do this?

I would travel between hotels in our group so i do stay over on a regular basis. Some managers find it a useful exercise to stay in their own hotels and experience the guest journey. sometimes it can help us identify silly little things that may irritate guests and we can then think of ways to address it.

RoryMurphyJnr

How seriously do hoteliers take "Trip Advisor" reviews?

baby and crumble

Do hotels make a conscious decision to specialise in a certain area, or does it just sort of 'happen'? I'm thinking of some hotels specialise in weddings, some in conferences, some in luxury and some for business travellers, some for families. I guess I'm curious about how all that happens.

weldoninhio

Do hotels know that prostitutes/escorts are using them?? The flow of people to certain rooms must be noticable. Do hotels turn a blind eye to this??

I'm a hotelier, AMA

RoryMurphyJnr wrote: »

How seriously do hoteliers take "Trip Advisor" reviews?

its a tool that is recognised all over the world and customers take it seriously so by default you have to take it serious as well. Some reviews are genuine and are uploaded in a genuine manner when talking about a guest's genuine experience. Some reviews are made by people that had a bad experience and like to sensationalise it further by using tripadvisor. Other people are serial tripadvisor users and review everything from supermarkets to coffee shops to hotels.

At the end of the day, you have to live with it so you may as well embrace it. Use it as a tool to identify issues in your hotel, use it to highlight your hotel when you get glowing reviews, use it to have your say when replying to someone that you feel has been unfair / untruthful about your hotel.

I'm a hotelier, AMA

baby and crumble wrote: »

Do hotels make a conscious decision to specialise in a certain area, or does it just sort of 'happen'? I'm thinking of some hotels specialise in weddings, some in conferences, some in luxury and some for business travellers, some for families. I guess I'm curious about how all that happens.

Hotels would decide what market they want to target and take it from there - especially if its a modern new build hotel. In that scenario you would decide your market and design your hotel in such as way as to maximise your profits. Dublin City Centre hotels would be rooms focused in the main. Hotels outside the city such as Citywest would target the large conference sector, Regional hotels such as Lyrath would target weddings, Retreat hotels such as Monart would target the leisure market ( monart is a kid free zone so its a very niche market they target )

I'm a hotelier, AMA

weldoninhio wrote: »

Do hotels know that prostitutes/escorts are using them?? The flow of people to certain rooms must be noticable. Do hotels turn a blind eye to this??

I answered a similar question to this earlier in the thread

SlowBlowin

What happens if someone pisses the bed (bedding/mattress), and how often does it happen.

Indestructable

Great thread!

What's the deal with the likes of Pigsback, Escapes, Groupon etc. How much of the voucher price do the hotel get?
Are they considered loss making promotions, solely for marketing? I've gotten a few good deals of these websites in the past but always feel like the hotel isn't getting a fair deal!! Also, are customers who present these vouchers seen or treated any differently?

Thanks!

Shiminay

Hello there, I'm a survivor of the hotel game myself - about 10 years worked in almost every department and even some management and then into head office for the company I was with before leaving the industry to come and work here on Boards.ie as it happens. It's made for really enjoyable reading so far, so thank you for taking the time.

During my stint, the Celtic Tiger was alive and well and whilst rooms were rarely empty, in the 2 groups I worked for, every single corner that could be cut was cut to maximise profits. In my first hotel, our rotas were sent to the accounts department in head office to be validated by accountants who had never worked a day in a hotel in their lives which resulted in breakfast for 350 people being serviced by only 3 waiting staff - a disaster I'm sure you'll agree because bean-counters don't understand that at a weekend, 200 of those 300 will arrive to the restaurant at 9:30 despite being open from 7. Experienced staff who'd spent years learning their craft and becoming genuine assets to the hotel were frequently let go in favour of inexperienced minimum wage workers.

This seems to have been par for the course for any other more experienced people I worked with who came from other "group" hotels. Things went tits up a few years later and there were no more shortcuts to be taken and one of the groups went into examinership with the hotel I'd worked at going to Nama.

What were your own experiences of working in the industry in that time and were you subjected to similar conditions?

Do you hate Christmas Party Season as much as I do?

What are your thoughts on staff having a pint and a quick bite to eat from the kitchen at the end of the day?

I once had a chap attempt to chat me up whilst I was on the desk as Night Manager in a popular spot in Dublin. When I turned him down, his sister came over and tried it on. What are your silliest/best "chat up" stories?

What's the most ridiculous thing you've been asked to "fix" by either a guest or a GM?

How do you feel about sales and marketing staff who've never cleaned a bedroom, pulled a pint or done silver service at a function for 400 people etc?

Thank you again for your time

I'm a hotelier, AMA

SlowBlowin wrote: »

What happens if someone pisses the bed (bedding/mattress), and how often does it happen.

you would hope that your housekeeping dept would have the mattress protectors on the bed underneath the sheet. That protects the mattress from being soiled. If they didnt have it on the bed then the mattress would have to be replaced. Depending on the individual circumstances of the guest, they may or may not be asked to pay for it. For example: i personally would never charge an elderly guest that had an accident and informed reception about it when it happened. Alternatively if we had a group of lads in and they got absolutely hammered and one of them had an accident and left the hotel without saying anything - then i would seek payment for that

I'm a hotelier, AMA

Indestructable wrote: »

Great thread!

What's the deal with the likes of Pigsback, Escapes, Groupon etc. How much of the voucher price do the hotel get?
Are they considered loss making promotions, solely for marketing? I've gotten a few good deals of these websites in the past but always feel like the hotel isn't getting a fair deal!! Also, are customers who present these vouchers seen or treated any differently?

Thanks!

I couldnt really go into confidential details im afraid. Promotions are normally ran when hotels have a lot of rooms to sell and its a way of boosting room sales. Simple as that. No, guests on vouchers would not really be treated differently - unless it was a very specific offer and they were only entitled to something like a "mini facial " in the hotel spa as opposed to a full treatment. All depends on the offering from the hotel but in terms of are they treated like 2nd class citizens ( for lack of a better term ) because they are there on a voucher basis, then i would say no.

I'm a hotelier, AMA

Shiminay wrote: »

Hello there, I'm a survivor of the hotel game myself - about 10 years worked in almost every department and even some management and then into head office for the company I was with before leaving the industry to come and work here on Boards.ie as it happens. It's made for really enjoyable reading so far, so thank you for taking the time.

During my stint, the Celtic Tiger was alive and well and whilst rooms were rarely empty, in the 2 groups I worked for, every single corner that could be cut was cut to maximise profits. In my first hotel, our rotas were sent to the accounts department in head office to be validated by accountants who had never worked a day in a hotel in their lives which resulted in breakfast for 350 people being serviced by only 3 waiting staff - a disaster I'm sure you'll agree because bean-counters don't understand that at a weekend, 200 of those 300 will arrive to the restaurant at 9:30 despite being open from 7. Experienced staff who'd spent years learning their craft and becoming genuine assets to the hotel were frequently let go in favour of inexperienced minimum wage workers.

This seems to have been par for the course for any other more experienced people I worked with who came from other "group" hotels. Things went tits up a few years later and there were no more shortcuts to be taken and one of the groups went into examinership with the hotel I'd worked at going to Nama.

What were your own experiences of working in the industry in that time and were you subjected to similar conditions?

Do you hate Christmas Party Season as much as I do?

What are your thoughts on staff having a pint and a quick bite to eat from the kitchen at the end of the day?

I once had a chap attempt to chat me up whilst I was on the desk as Night Manager in a popular spot in Dublin. When I turned him down, his sister came over and tried it on. What are your silliest/best "chat up" stories?

What's the most ridiculous thing you've been asked to "fix" by either a guest or a GM?

How do you feel about sales and marketing staff who've never cleaned a bedroom, pulled a pint or done silver service at a function for 400 people etc?

Thank you again for your time

I think it was always like that, even back in the mid to late 90s. I have been in hotels where staff hours were reduced and managers picked up the slack to save on costs, i have been in hotels where we had short time for a few months of the year as well. I suppose we just had to suck it up and do our best to get through it but thankfully we did it ( although vat rate being hiked up to 13.5% has really fecked us up now )

I would sympathise with your own situation. I am a very strong minded manager who doesnt keep his mouth shut and i have no problems whatsoever voicing my opinion on something if i feel its not appropriate. One thing i will not tolerate is non operational people making decisions that affect the operational running of my hotels. Never have, never will. I fully appreciate that costs need to be kept in check and over the years there have been a few " heated discussions " regarding issues such as labour costs but im not the kind of person that gets ready for battle without being 100% prepared to fight my corner and i usually win my battles

Silly season - i love it .. and i hate it .. all at the same time. You love the craic and everyone is in a great mood but it is such hard work at the same time but again, ya just get through it. I do however love having my xmas party in January though. Such a surreal experience having xmas songs playing in a big ballroom about a month after xmas has gone :D

personally i dont have any major issue with the guys having a quick bite to eat, as long as its not abused. In terms of drinking - If it was a really busy night and we were there till 3am finishing up, i wouldnt have a problem with us all having a pint and then heading home. Its good for team spirit and its also nice for the staff to see that their managers are human beings that like to unwind just like they do as well

Have loads of stories .... none that i think i should make reference to here though haha in terms of chat up lines, then you would usually get the customary " have you checked-in yet ? ..... cos i've been check-in you out all day " line :rolleyes:

When i was working in one of our foreign hotels, I once got a complaint from an irate guest because the colour of the sand was eh .... sand colour ... as opposed to it being white "like it was in the brochure". I was once asked about the possibility of getting an ice machine installed on the 3rd floor for an american guest back in 1999 for the duration of their 2 day stay because the actual ice machine was too far away for them. As you can imagine i got right on that for them :rolleyes::rolleyes:

I dont have any issue with S&M staff, or indeed any non operational staff really. At the same time i also dont have any issue reminding them that they are non operational and that perhaps ideas they have may not be " practical in terms in logistics "

El Tarangu

Well OP, I had no particular interest in hotels or the hotel industry (beyond staying in them the odd time) before reading this thread, but I found it very interesting - thanks for taking the time to do the AMA

Shiminay

WTF is it with Americans and ice? That and their ENORMOUS bags for luggage have always confused me I once jokingly took some poor unfortunate but thankfully good humoured American guests to task over their bag size telling them that if we fly to their country, we're expected to do so with literally half their luggage allowance.

What's your record number of glasses broken in a single incident? I'll admit mine's 24 from dropping a full dishwasher rack after slipping on something.

Do you think the alarming number of "Builders" who decided to open hotels has had a big impact on the industry?

Gloomtastic!

I’m surprised no one’s mentioned our ethnic brethren yet. :rolleyes:

Have you had much dealings with them booking weddings etc?

I'm a hotelier, AMA

El Tarangu wrote: »

Well OP, I had no particular interest in hotels or the hotel industry (beyond staying in them the odd time) before reading this thread, but I found it very interesting - thanks for taking the time to do the AMA

No problems at all.The best thing about hotels is that work is never boring. There's always something new that happens every day and you have no idea whats gonna hit you when you walk in that door !!!! :D

I'm a hotelier, AMA

Shiminay wrote: »

WTF is it with Americans and ice? That and their ENORMOUS bags for luggage have always confused me I once jokingly took some poor unfortunate but thankfully good humoured American guests to task over their bag size telling them that if we fly to their country, we're expected to do so with literally half their luggage allowance.

What's your record number of glasses broken in a single incident? I'll admit mine's 24 from dropping a full dishwasher rack after slipping on something.

Do you think the alarming number of "Builders" who decided to open hotels has had a big impact on the industry?

Yeah they put ice into everything dont they haha I spent many a day lugging huge suitcases up and down stairs for guests back in the 90s. Used to have 3 or 4 groups each day back then. My back was always in bits ( way before manual handling training days !!! )

Also i will never forget an encounter i had with an american guest back in 1998. He came over to me in the restaurant one morning and said " you guys have the nicest bread here in Ireland " ...... i said thanks, looked down at what he was eating and saw that ...... He had a slab of weetabix in his hand with butter and marmalade on it :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Cant say i have ever had any misfortunes like that with glasses. I did witness an entire 6ft trestle table that had about 150 dirty glasses on it knocked over when we were cleaning up at the end of a wedding - does that count ????

I wouldnt say its only builders. There were a lot of people from all types of industries that had a bit of money and built hotels cos they thought it was easy money ( ya dont see them laughin now do ya LOL ) I see hotels all the time that are not run correctly, simply because they arent being run by hoteliers and its such a shame to see that happening

I'm a hotelier, AMA

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

I’m surprised no one’s mentioned our ethnic brethren yet. :rolleyes:

Have you had much dealings with them booking weddings etc?

ooooooooh i better be careful here LOL Yes i have dealings with them fairly regularly. Once had to deal with a triple wedding for approx 650 guests. Went off without a hitch.

B_ecke_r

do you think Hotels should be regulated on the prices they can charge?

example - a large concert in Croker will see hotels become an extortionate amount just for those nights?

Supply and Demand is all well and good but hotels and likes of Ryanair really do take the Pi$$?

I'm a hotelier, AMA

B_ecke_r wrote: »

do you think Hotels should be regulated on the prices they can charge?

example - a large concert in Croker will see hotels become an extortionate amount just for those nights?

Supply and Demand is all well and good but hotels and likes of Ryanair really do take the Pi$$?

I dealt with this in an earlier question. Hotels are already regulated by Failte Ireland and we have to publish our rates with them each year. We cannot exceed our published rack rates, not even for concerts, matches, etc. We are like any other business out there and will do our best to maximise the financial success of our business and keep staff employed. Hotels employ nearly 300,000 people in Ireland and have huge cost bases that people are unaware of so i do think that hotels are treated unfairly on items such as this. And just to play devils advocate for a moment ......

Nobody tells Michael Kors how much he should charge for a Handbag .... Yet people still pay the prices
Nobody tells Superdry how much they should charge for a top / hoodie .... Yet people still pay the prices
Nobody tells Pandora how much they should charge for their jewellery .... Yet people still pay the prices
Nobody tells a dentist how much they should charge for braces .... Yet people still pay the prices

My point here is - Why should Hotels be treated any different ? Why do people think they have the right to dictate to a business how much they charge for their product ? It wouldn't happen to the companies i listed above.

wyf437gn6btzue

do you feel that the government is giving the hospitality industry a raw deal with the restoration of the VAT rate to 13.5% given the amount of employment it provides?

Some say they can see some troubling times financially coming, Have you seen any downward trends in either customer bookings or expenditure overall in the past few years?

troyzer

I'm a hotelier, AMA wrote: »

I dealt with this in an earlier question. Hotels are already regulated by Failte Ireland and we have to publish our rates with them each year. We cannot exceed our published rack rates, not even for concerts, matches, etc. We are like any other business out there and will do our best to maximise the financial success of our business and keep staff employed. Hotels employ nearly 300,000 people in Ireland and have huge cost bases that people are unaware of so i do think that hotels are treated unfairly on items such as this. And just to play devils advocate for a moment ......

Nobody tells Michael Kors how much he should charge for a Handbag .... Yet people still pay the prices
Nobody tells Superdry how much they should charge for a top / hoodie .... Yet people still pay the prices
Nobody tells Pandora how much they should charge for their jewellery .... Yet people still pay the prices
Nobody tells a dentist how much they should charge for braces .... Yet people still pay the prices

My point here is - Why should Hotels be treated any different ? Why do people think they have the right to dictate to a business how much they charge for their product ? It wouldn't happen to the companies i listed above.

Because Superdry can't triple or even quadruple its prices when it's raining to gouge desperate customers. Hotels can do this for events and many do.

Whatever about your stock response re Fáilte Ireland, clearly it doesn't work.

It might even just be a few hoteliers giving the industry a bad name and I wouldn't dispute that there's a high cost base but there are a lot of cowboys in the Irish hospitality sector.

allybhoy

Great thread.. I work in IT and used to work for a company who primarily managed and supported hotels. It always amazed me at how antiquated the equipment (PC's Servers Tills)was and how poor the cabling infrastructure was in the majority of high end luxury hotels and didnt seem to matter whether they were individually owned or a chain of hotels.

I no longer work in that sector, but from my own experience travelling around various hotels I would still say the Wifi coverage and TV Stations and signal quality available in the majority of hotels in Ireland is way below an acceptable standard when compared with say the UK or America.

How much focus does your hotel place on your IT infrastructure, from WIFI to Security, do you have an annual IT Budget, do you have regular IT Audits and Security Reviews etc and also would you agree with my statement regarding standards above is accurate.

B_ecke_r

I'm a hotelier, AMA wrote: »

just to play devils advocate for a moment ......

Nobody tells Michael Kors how much he should charge for a Handbag .... Yet people still pay the prices
Nobody tells Superdry how much they should charge for a top / hoodie .... Yet people still pay the prices
Nobody tells Pandora how much they should charge for their jewellery .... Yet people still pay the prices
Nobody tells a dentist how much they should charge for braces .... Yet people still pay the prices

My point here is - Why should Hotels be treated any different ? Why do people think they have the right to dictate to a business how much they charge for their product ? It wouldn't happen to the companies i listed above.

sorry but that is a bullsh1t response.

yes, hotels are here to make money nobody is disputing that.

but no one can deny that the price of a hotel can drastically fluctuate when there is a gig in Croker for example

The Garth Brooks concert was the worst I've seen. some hotels quadrupled their prices because they knew demand would be exceptionally high.

as said above,

Superdry don't up their prices in Winter?

Mickael Kors doesn't triple his prices in the Summer does he?

Pandora - do they up their prices at Xmas?

Boards.ie: Niamh

Mod Note:
Let's move on from the price discussion before we get bogged down in it. I'm a hotelier, AMA has already explained, twice, how prices can fluctuate and that hotels have agreed prices with Fáilte Ireland at the start of the season regardless of what events come up.

I'm a hotelier, AMA

Enrique Wet Slogan wrote: »

do you feel that the government is giving the hospitality industry a raw deal with the restoration of the VAT rate to 13.5% given the amount of employment it provides?

Some say they can see some troubling times financially coming, Have you seen any downward trends in either customer bookings or expenditure overall in the past few years?

Yes i do think we got the raw end of the deal to be honest. I think it was ill advised and certainly ill timed with Brexit looming. I foresee big problems coming this year. UK residents wont travel and that will hurt us

I'm a hotelier, AMA

troyzer wrote: »

Because Superdry can't triple or even quadruple its prices when it's raining to gouge desperate customers. Hotels can do this for events and many do.

Whatever about your stock response re Fáilte Ireland, clearly it doesn't work.

It might even just be a few hoteliers giving the industry a bad name and I wouldn't dispute that there's a high cost base but there are a lot of cowboys in the Irish hospitality sector.

I've been asked to give honest answers and thats what i have done. Same principle applies to what i said - If superdry want to increase the prices of what they sell, then they are free to do so and they regularly do this when christmas comes around and they jack up their prices for peak buying periods so they can maximise their profits. Nobody bats an eyelid or cries fowl on social media about this and says their prices need to be regulated do they ? So i think my point is a valid one. We can agree to disagree on this one. Customers arent "Desperate" - they can choose to stay in hotels or choose to stay elsewhere or indeed choose to go home. Nobody is holding a gun to their head and forcing them to stay. If they want to thats great, if they dont want to, thats fine too.

Re Failte Ireland, my response is not stock and is 100% accurate and you are more than welcome to check that with themselves if you doubt my response. if you are going to make a statement that it clearly doesnt work then perhaps in the interests of fairness you might also offer a few examples to back up your claim and i will gladly respond to that

I think there are a lot of cowboys in a multitude of industries all over the world, not just in Ireland and not just in the Hotel industry. Like i said earlier, i appreciate that people have their views and opinions on hotels and i will gladly talk through any items as best i can so that i can give people that are not familiar with the industry a better understanding of it

As Niamh has pointed out, perhaps we can move on from this topic. Thanks

Lisha

Great thread thanks so much.
Did you ever catch bride/groom copping off with someone else at a wedding?
Or realise that no one wanted the couple to marry at the reception as one if bride/groom was a complete nightmare?

Do you think that weddings are starting to get Celtic tigery in terms of spending cash on silly things again?

I'm a hotelier, AMA

Lisha wrote: »

Great thread thanks so much.
Did you ever catch bride/groom copping off with someone else at a wedding?
Or realise that no one wanted the couple to marry at the reception as one if bride/groom was a complete nightmare?

Do you think that weddings are starting to get Celtic tigery in terms of spending cash on silly things again?

Ehh ... Weddings can be interesting events to say the least. lets just say i may have witnessed a shenanigan or two over the years !!!

I dont really notice much difference in them over say the last 5yrs. The advent of technology has given us an influx of photo booths and stuff like that, candy carts and things like that have become popular too, etc etc. Something that has become popular with summer weddings is have an ice cream van pull up outside the church or the hotel and give everyone a 99 Probably fair to say that the add-ons and little quirky touches to weddings have increased over the years. But hey if people want to spend their money then so be it.