Now ye're talking - to a Hotelier

upinsmoke · 05-03-2019 12:26am

Did the recession take a massive hit on wages. I've a friend who was doing 50+ hours and was getting 23K a year as a general manager outside of Dublin. The most he got was 28K in Kildare but had to travel an hour to work and back and wasn't worth his while with no dry cleaning either paid for, Diesel etc. paid for, was losing money. Hes in the hotel trade 14 years as well. Is that money really that low and expected to work 10-20 hours a week extra.

Are the wages really that low

madmaggie · 05-03-2019 12:36am

OP, what do hotel staff really feel about people with food allergies, or claiming to have them. I'm coeliac, and have had mixed reactions. Some look at me like I'm a weirdo, while others are very knowledgeable. I suppose it's all down to staff training.

endacl · 05-03-2019 12:54am

Rows Grower wrote: »

What a lovely gesture enda.

Tongue very firmly in cheek!

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:06am

alexmalalex wrote: »

Do you know, em, what movies people have watched?

Depending on the system that a hotel would use for pay TV services, it may be possible to see what movie was ordered. Its changing though with data protection laws and soon everything will be encoded and fully confidential

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:16am

Firblog wrote: »

In an earlier answer you alluded to the fact that hotels vary the price of their rooms based on the demand.
Given that the irish times placed the avg price of a hotel room in Dublin @ €160 per night last year, what do you think the price of the average hotel room would have been if Airbnb was not in competition with 10,000+/- rooms?

Im aware of the STR report, not sure if i agree 100% with its findings. It cant be entirely accurate as it only includes hotels that have signed up for the STR system and is entirely dependant on hotels entering their own data accurately and on a regular basis. Dublin is short approx 2500 - 3000 hotel bedrooms at last count versus the demand as its one of the most popular cities to visit in the world at present. The most recent figures i saw for airbnb in Dublin had around 7300 listings in Dublin, ranging from rooms to entire homes. Airbnb's are serving a purpose at the moment, whether that will last is anyone's guess. €160 is just the average, which means you could get a city centre hotel room on a monday night for 50 euro sometimes and then 250 euro on a saturday night. You also have different offerings in terms of low end and high end, etc so its very much a mixed bag ... Very hard to quantify the what ifs

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:18am

enricoh wrote: »

What percentage of personal injury claimants u've had do you reckon are bogus or over inflated?
What was the most rediculous one?

Honestly i wouldnt be able to comment a lot on something like this im afraid. Through my own experience, i dont think its something that we encounter a lot to be fair ( thankfully ) best thing a hotel can do is make sure they are covered from a health and safety point of view as much as is reasonably possible

Lisha · 05-03-2019 11:18am

Are bed bugs a real issue?
Di you do a deep clean to minimise this or is it only if reported?

If guests reported sounds of domestic violence from a room would you call Gardai straight away or would you monitor it?

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:19am

Rows Grower wrote: »

What's the most commonly stolen item that has to be replaced?

What's the biggest food/drink tab that someone ran up and didn't pay?

Stolen - TV remotes

Tab - i've been fairly lucky with this over the years. Probably about 50 or 60 euro. Nothing to write home about

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:20am

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

How long do you allow for a chambermaid to clean a room/bathroom?

Would depend on the type of hotel and the complexity of the bedroom. For a standard 3* hotel it averages about 22 - 25 mins per room

Keyzer · 05-03-2019 11:21am

I read about Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood's band "Faces" in the 1970's, they were banned from Holiday Inn globally because of their antics.

Have you ever had a customer throw a television through a window or totally trash a room?

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:22am

stop animal cruelty wrote: »

What would u say in order to sell/convince a hotel job, eg waiting tables, to an Irish person?

I wouldnt convince anyone to work in hotels. You either have it in your blood or you dont. Defo a marmite type of career. If you dont mind working hard and are prepared to play the long game and work your way up, then it can be rewarding but it takes a lot of dedication

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:24am

SirChenjin wrote: »

Used to travel a fair bit for work, hence single rooms. 99.9% of the time no issues whatsoever.

Just wondering though, are the crappiest rooms sometimes allocated to the solo traveller?

One place sticks in my mind, the hotel was full according to the front desk. Didn't sleep a wink during my stay. I think the company stopped using the hotel after that.

Often read reviews of hotels saying 'we were upgraded to a suite etc'. Never in my experience. Who decides, and how?

Thanks for doing the AMA, btw.

Wouldnt say that the crappiest rooms are allocated to solo travellers but ...... if a hotel sees that you are on your own, they may well allocate a single room to you, which do tend to be small rooms that were just shoehorned in during construction to squeeze a bit more revenue out of the hotel. Maybe next time you are travelling alone, select 2 adults and a double / double single room and see what happens. You will probably get a better room

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:26am

endacl wrote: »

The only thing that sprang to mind. A thought experiment...

Say you're running a hotel with a lovely view off to one side, and a bog-ordinary view off to the other. For any given time period, you have no idea how full the rooms will be. When a guest books, if they don't specifically ask for a room on the nice view side, do you give them one as a matter of policy, or do you hold off the 'nice view' rooms in case you get a load of people asking for them? Apart from the view, all rooms are identical in all regards. In this scenario you're not allowed to 'upgrade' guests after check-in, either as a goodwill gesture or at their request. In any given week you will have either one guest only, or full occupancy. You won't know in advance.

If this turns out to be a clever question, feel free to use it when recruiting staff. I suspect it won't...

We would always tend to give guests the nicest rooms that we have available so personally i would get the guys to give everyone the nice view rooms, especially if the hotel was only half full on days etc etc. Hotels are as much about the experience and making the guest feel appreciated as they are about the actual room itself. We wouldnt hold off the nice rooms on the outside chance that we get more people booking, we look after the people that have already booked and deal with any additional bookings later

Tomhammer · 05-03-2019 11:28am

mikemac2 wrote: »

Stephen McNally of the Irish Hotels Federation is often in the news complaining about staff turnover and inability to recruit and retain staff

He never mentions paying better money which may be minimum wage anyway or even skilled positions like chefs will not be highly paid either. In France a waiter is a job for life and attractive while here it’s low paid and casual

The industry has a negative image for low pay and terrible hours so have you any ideas how to attract staff? Are hoteliers playing the poor mouth they cannot pay staff more?

They treat staff like sh1t

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:28am

Big Words wrote: »

How do you deal with a screamer at four o clock in the morning on the saddle?

The night staff may place a sneaky phonecall to the room to "disrupt their rhythm" and then hang up

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:32am

dartboardio wrote: »

What are some instant no nos with new staff?

Or how can you tell straight away if someone is gonna be suited or is a good worker?

Are most people friendly?

No no's - Just remember that you are working in a very public environment and once you walk through those front doors you need to be ultra professional

Honestly, yes you can tell pretty much straight away if someone is suited to hotels. its very hard work and you can either hack it or you cant.

yes hotels are full of friendly staff. The buzz and team spirit in hotels is one of the best parts of the job

cuddlepunk · 05-03-2019 11:35am

How come children 12+ are charged same price as adult in some hotels?

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:36am

Darthvadar wrote: »

I'm really enjoying this thread, and thank you so much for taking the time to engage with it....

I'm probably a hotel's worst nightmare (not on purpose!) in that I'm a wheelchair user with severe food allergy, but I have to say most times I stay at hotels, I've been taken care of very well...

Some places are a disaster, though.... Just no thought... Shower over bath for example in a so called wheelchair accessible room in a brand new hotel in South Dublin!... No major issue if only staying a couple of nights, and it's amazing what you can do with a packet of baby wipes!!!...

Another hotel in the South of the country that have hung the bathroom door in such a way that in order to access the bathroom from the bedroom, I have to go out through the bedroom door, turn my chair in the corridor, come back through the bedroom door, and enter the bathroom... Then do it in reverse on the way back!!!... I just laugh... Just have to make sure I'm decent at all times, or I could traumatise some poor soul wandering the corridors!...

My favourite story though was a hotel in Roscommon... Said to be accessible... Yeah, right!... Had to stay for five days for work a few years ago... Bedroom, and bathroom great size, grab rails, etc... Lovely except that the shower was over bath!!!... No different in other bedrooms... Okay... No amount of baby wipe's going to sort out five days of not showering!!!... Asked at reception what I'm meant to do, and they told me that there's an accessible shower in the leisure centre... Leaving my room to shower, not ideal, but hey-ho... Managable, or so I thought... Gathered the required items from my room, and asked at Reception the way to the leisure centre... Got the reply, "Well if you go through the double doors, turn left, and go down the flight of stair.... Oooooh.... Erm.... Yes.... Okay... There is another way.... Go out through the main door, turn right, down to the end of the driveway, and turn right into the leisure center"... Yes, I kid you not... Not only had to leave my room to have a shower, I had to leave the building!!!!... In November, gale force winds and driving rain!... I should have just went outside the front door, waited in the rain for a bit, lathered up, and rinsed off!!... What really made me laugh though was the manager's reaction when I said "But when the booking was being made, you said that the hotel was wheelchair accessible"... He replied "It is accessible... You're in the building, aren't you???"... I kid you not...I have to say, I gave up... He hadn't a clue!....

The reason I tell that story is because of the comment you made about dealing with unhappy customers... This hotel offered nothing... Not a discount, meal, even a cup of coffee... It was just a case of 'That's how it is... Take it or leave it'...

So I have NEVER gone back there!... Told friends... They avoid it too... It's a pity... It would have taken very little to please me... An "I'm sorry, we were wrong to describe ourselves as accessible... When you come back from the leisure centre in the freezing cold and rain after showering, have a hot drink on us" would have made me happy... They just didn't care...

On the other hand, I've had amazing experiences when things have gone wrong... The hotel with the 'interesting' bathroom doors are just fantastic about food allergy... That's why I keep going back... They buy in all of their desserts, so couldn't be certain of any of them being nut free... Fruit Salad for dessert???... No thanks!... Bored to death with that... The chef in this hotel understands that... When I'm booking, as per his instructions, I just ask them to tell the Head Chef that I'll be visiting, and he'll bake a chocolate cake for me!... Very thoughtful, and 'going that extra mile' is so much appreciated!...

Another hotel who had a great wheelchair accessible bedroom and bathroom, complete with huge roll-in shower, complete with seat... Wonderful except that the controls are placed behind the seat, so unless you have long arms and three elbows, it's not really practical... When that was brought to their attention, an informed them that my backround is in Equality and Disability Awareness training, not only did they change it straight after I left, they invited me back to deliver some training for staff, and gave me complimentary stay!... That's another hotel I visit often...

So I suppose I'm saying that a great hotel is not just about the building... A little bit of thought and effort makes all the difference!...

Oh, and Food Allergy wise, do hotels consider the possible language barrier when training staff???... My experience is that a staff member who's first language is not English can be very dangerous to deal with in relation to allergy... They can regard an allergy in the same way as an intolerance... Totally different!... I know that most hotels have signage in the kitchen relating to allergy... Is that in several languages???...

So to my question (Finally, I hear you say!)... Are guests like me as welcome as a summons???...

Thanks for everything you do... It's a tough job, with ever greater demands, and when I'm well looked after, I really appreciate it....

Darth....

P.S.... The Iguana... BRILLIANT!!!... LOL!!!!!....

All guests are welcome. In particular cases such as yourself, the key is finding places that you feel comfortable in and more than anything else, inform the hotel as early as possible about any special requirements that you may have. The more time we know about something, the more time we have to make arrangements for you, such as allocating the perfect room type for you 3 weeks in advance and putting a DO NOT MOVE comment on the reservation to ensure we give you the best room.

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:39am

upinsmoke wrote: »

Did the recession take a massive hit on wages. I've a friend who was doing 50+ hours and was getting 23K a year as a general manager outside of Dublin. The most he got was 28K in Kildare but had to travel an hour to work and back and wasn't worth his while with no dry cleaning either paid for, Diesel etc. paid for, was losing money. Hes in the hotel trade 14 years as well. Is that money really that low and expected to work 10-20 hours a week extra.

Are the wages really that low

yes it hit us big time. A lot of hotels went under, a lot of hotels had to engage in short time for several months of the year, a lot of staff had to take pay cuts. Its why the government reduced the VAT rate for us from 13.5% down to 9% - to try to boost the economy and attract people to visit ireland. 23k would be low for a GM, i would guess its not a big property. 28k again would be low for a GM but the wages are normally in line with the type of property it is. Average GM job in Ireland is probably around 40-45k

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:41am

madmaggie wrote: »

OP, what do hotel staff really feel about people with food allergies, or claiming to have them. I'm coeliac, and have had mixed reactions. Some look at me like I'm a weirdo, while others are very knowledgeable. I suppose it's all down to staff training.

We honestly dont mind at all. Its common places these days, compared to 10-15 years ago. It comes from the head chef really and how flexible they are with their menus. You need to be very careful these days with allergies so any decent chef will recognise the need to look after customers when it comes to stuff like this

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:47am

Lisha wrote: »

Are bed bugs a real issue?
Di you do a deep clean to minimise this or is it only if reported?

If guests reported sounds of domestic violence from a room would you call Gardai straight away or would you monitor it?

Bed bugs - like any infestation you need to make sure you do your best in terms of good hygiene practices. We monitor for bed bugs daily when the guys are cleaning rooms. Its easy to check for them as they tend to congregate in the corners of the mattress. If bed bugs are found, we immediately seal off the room, call our pest control company and they will come in and inspect it. If found, they will spray accordingly. We would also take the headboards off the walls too and any power sockets as well so that we can inspect / spray there as well to ensure that there is no risk of them spreading to an adjacent room. All pillows, duvets, soft furnishings ,etc would be disposed of as well

deep cleans are done every month. its part of our normal routine

DV - we would go to the room and ask them to open the door. If i suspected that there had been an incident i would ask the lady or man that had been hit to come down to reception to talk to me in private and we would take it from there. if it became aggressive i would call the guards. At the end of the day, the person themselves is the one that would make the decision to involve gardai if some DV had occurred, not the hotel. My only concern would be for the safety of the guest that had been hit and for my own staff

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:48am

Tomhammer wrote: »

They treat staff like sh1t

i wouldnt agree with your statement

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:49am

cuddlepunk wrote: »

How come children 12+ are charged same price as adult in some hotels?

Normally a child is defined as being up to the age of 16 but some places do operate a 12+ system. Depends on their room configuration and bed space setup in those hotels i would say

Tomhammer · 05-03-2019 11:52am

I'm a hotelier, AMA wrote: »

i wouldnt agree with your statement

Ok you seem to be at the better end of it

Always struck me when working in hotels,the poor treatment of staff in comparison to the fuss over guests.

I'm willing to concede the better hotels don't operate in this manner.

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:54am

Keyzer wrote: »

I read about Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood's band "Faces" in the 1970's, they were banned from Holiday Inn globally because of their antics.

Have you ever had a customer throw a television through a window or totally trash a room?

Yes you do get thrashed rooms from time to time unfortunately. Drink is always a factor usually, fights with the other half, etc etc. It happens, you deal with it, you charge them for the damages, you tell them they are lucky you didnt kick them out of the hotel @ 4am when it happened and you replace the broken items in the room. No point in stressin about it. Life's too short

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 11:56am

Tomhammer wrote: »

Ok you seem to be at the better end of it

Always struck me when working in hotels,the poor treatment of staff in comparison to the fuss over guests.

I'm willing to concede the better hotels don't operate in this manner.

I dont think its a case of better hotels treating people better. It all depends on who operates the hotel, regardless of the star rating. I have worked at all levels on the scale and can honestly say that staff are pretty much always treated with respect. Managers cant expect staff to give them respect if they dont offer it in return

Bawnmore · 05-03-2019 12:28pm

Thanks for doing the AMA - very interesting so far. I've a little experience here as worked on the hotel side in the kitchen for a few years and also working specifically with hotel websites and booking engines for a chunk of years a little while back. So a few questions:

- Are you seeing any particular trends in online bookings? Are OTA's share of bookings typically rising/falling/maintaining?

- How much emphasis is put on flexing rates? Is it something that's considered daily/weekly or would it be more of a reaction to bookings increasing (for an event for example).

- Have you worked much on Christmas day? Any funny stories?

mikemac2 · 05-03-2019 1:08pm

Do any guests attempt to blackmail you for extras (free drinks, upgrades,etc) with a threat of a 1 star TripAdvisor review? I supppse the 2019 version of Joe Duffy

Do you tell them “publish and be damned”?

What do you and the industry make of the chap Paul Stenson in Dublin 7 who calls out guests and trolls for media attention with wacky and outrageous comments. Charleville Lodge Hotel and there is a cafe too

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 1:30pm

Bawnmore wrote: »

Thanks for doing the AMA - very interesting so far. I've a little experience here as worked on the hotel side in the kitchen for a few years and also working specifically with hotel websites and booking engines for a chunk of years a little while back. So a few questions:

- Are you seeing any particular trends in online bookings? Are OTA's share of bookings typically rising/falling/maintaining?

- How much emphasis is put on flexing rates? Is it something that's considered daily/weekly or would it be more of a reaction to bookings increasing (for an event for example).

- Have you worked much on Christmas day? Any funny stories?

Trends - depends how you manage it to be honest. Look at it in terms of your direct bookings and OTA's. How are you promoting your own website to gain direct bookings ? How good is your own SEO ? how effective is the PPC that you do ? Do you regularly setup promotions in the extranet of OTA's like booking.com for example that specifically target mobile users ? So really it all depends on how rate savvy a hotel is and if they have a good revenue / yield manager / management system in place. Typically OTA is staying relatively steady on PY at the moment

We would look at rates every week, with daily changes done if the need arises. We would look 3 - 6 months out as well, identifying key dates and pricing accordingly

Worked about 3 or 4 christmas days over the years. No funny stories im afraid. Everyone is always in a great mood that day

I'm a hotelier, AMA · 05-03-2019 1:44pm

mikemac2 wrote: »

Do any guests attempt to blackmail you for extras (free drinks, upgrades,etc) with a threat of a 1 star TripAdvisor review? I supppse the 2019 version of Joe Duffy

Do you tell them “publish and be damned”?

What do you and the industry make of the chap Paul Stenson in Dublin 7 who calls out guests and trolls for media attention with wacky and outrageous comments. Charleville Lodge Hotel and there is a cafe too

Yes we do get blackmail threats from time to time. Tripadvisor is an easy one to deal with as you can report a blackmail threat to them, give them brief details about the person / incident / dates / etc and if they try to publish a review matching that criteria then tripadvisor wont publish it ( most of the time )

Threats of posting it on social media are more tricky to deal with. If they are being totally unreasonable and dont really have a leg to stand on then i would tell them that they are fully entitled to express any view they have on social media HOWEVER i would also remind them that if claims are made against a business and they do not have proof to back up their claims, then the company may take steps to have their posts removed. If its a genuine complaint though, you would do all you can to make it right and hope that they dont post it online.

Mr Stenson has some "unique" views on how to run his hotel and the white moose cafe. Do i get a kick out of reading what he posts sometimes ? yes i do. Do i think he goes way too far sometimes ? Yes i do. Do i wish that i had 7 hours a day to dedicate to posting on snapchat instead of running a hotel ? yes i do LOL Look - at the end of the day, its his property, he markets it accordingly and people really shouldnt be under any misconceptions about what kind of business he runs and know exactly what to expect when they walk through the doors. Some people love it, some people hate it - and thats ok. I think perhaps he does go too far sometimes but if he makes decisions to take actions then he must live with the consequences too. The poor blogger that emailed him last year didnt know what hit them and in the end how he handled it got more exposure for the hotel that the blogger ever could have given him. He does run a successful business though and is very good to his staff as well. I think he brought them all to disneyland last year if memory serves me correctly so you can only commend him for doing things like that.

Now ye're talking - to a Hotelier

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