Small requests from a hotel agent....

I usually talk about politics and modern events but there's something thats been aggravating me for a while that I need to get off my chest.

I work in the hotel industry. Seven years at the Front Desk and the last 6 months in a Reservations department.

I have small requests for travelers...

1. Know exactly what you want when you are booking the room. If we say that we don't have the room type available once, we really mean it. Asking us 5 or 6 times in different ways whether we're sure that we're out of that room type isn't going to make one magically appear out of thin air.

2. Have your credit card in your hand when you're ready to book. You know that we're going to ask you for it, so why wouldn't you have it with you instead of spending 10 minutes going through all the paperwork in your desk, through your purse, or anywhere else?

3. Unless its a small town, you WILL be asked for a credit card on booking, ESPECIALLY if its a destination place like New Orleans or Orlando. This is to protect you and to protect us. By giving us a credit card, you are guaranteed a room. If something happens and your room is not available, we will find you another room somewhere in the vicinity. Many hotels will actually pay for a reservation themselves if they have to walk the guest to another hotel, just make sure you ask rather than blow your top.

4. Blowing your top won't make your room magically reappear. We do NOT do this on purpose. Usually if we don't have your room, it means something happened like a pipe burst or something. We are NOT trying to be cruel to you. You are our means of survival. Without customers, we go out of business. We'd rather have you happy, but sometimes things just don't go the way we all want. Thats life.

5. Please, for the love of all things, do NOT type your reservation out in caps via ANY online engine. For those of us with vision problems, it makes it extremely hard to read and its easier to make mistakes in your reservation when transferring it from the online systems to our computer systems. Transferring it is not automatic in 99% of all cases, it actually takes a human mind and human hands to do it, because such technology to input it automatically is currently insanely expensive and beyond the capability of most hotels to handle.

6. Remember to be nice to the clerks. Yes, some of us are screw ups. Yes, some of us are rude. Neither of those types of people should have a job, but we all know how the real world works and there are people like that in every industry. It doesn't mean we're all like that. Most of us are doing the best we can. Please remember to use such niceties as "please", "thank you", and such. We really do want to help you as much as we can and we're not trying to make you miserable. If you're happy, it means we're doing our jobs and thats usually a source of great pride for us.

7. Remember that we're all human. We make mistakes. Thats life.

8. If you have a problem, we will happily assist you, so long as you are not abusive.

9. Contrary to popular belief, most of us really are from your country, and even from the area you will be staying, but that does not mean we know everything about everything.

10. Please, most important of all things I said... LISTEN when we speak to you. Its incredibly aggravating to say the exact same thing 8 or even 10 times just because you aren't listening to what we're saying. (example: When we say "You will be charged tonight, non-refundable", it does not mean "You will be charged two nights on the day of checkin" no matter how many times you say it back to us that way.)