A hotel is a living, breathing mechanism, and all of the pieces must be working in alignment in order for the structure to run smoothly. In a hotel, the staff are the nuts and bolts working together. Everywhere from the housekeepers you never saw cleaning your room, to the front-desk attendant who checked you in, the staff at hotels are there to try and help the guests as much as they can so they can assure their guest has the best stay they possibly can. However, the staff can only do so much. You are also a key component to the mechanism running smoothly. Therefore, here are a few scenarios found at hotels, and ways you can approach them to make your check-in, stay, and check-out a pleasant experience for both you and the hotel staff.

Time: Check-In.
Scenario: Your room isn’t ready.

Nothing sucks worse than when you’ve had a room booked weeks in advance, you just drove four hours with your kids kicking your back seat and screaming in your ear, and you finally get to your hotel only to find that your room isn’t ready. What are you supposed to do now? Your kids are in the car waiting for you, hitting each other and screaming. Your significant other is carsick, and your back has been experiencing severe spasms for the past hour you’ve been driving. When you ask the woman at the front desk if your room is ready, she glances at the clock and informs you that you’re early and, unfortunately, your room isn’t ready yet.

This is a common issue among hotels. Unfortunately, many hotels have a check-out time around eleven in the morning, but then have a check-in time around three or four in the afternoon. This only leaves a few short hours for the housekeepers to try and clean all of the rooms, which for some hotels can run upwards of a hundred rooms or more – keep in mind, that unless a hotel is a part of a larger chain or is an extremely large resort, odds are the business only has a handful of housekeepers on staff. This staff then needs to get into every room and “strip” all of the dirty things out of it, clean it, and then replace the “stock” with fresh, clean products. If the smallest thing goes wrong, it can throw off the entire rhythm of the housekeepers. Sometimes guests don’t check out when they are supposed to. Sometimes the hotel is understaffed. Sometimes a room requires more than the average cleaning. All of these situations can lead to unhappy guests who arrive to rooms that aren’t ready, and staff that is stressed out. Luckily, there are ways to either avoid this situation, or to help it along.

First, try calling ahead. Many housekeepers have a list of paperwork that tells them which rooms are either empty or are going to be empty, which rooms have people coming into them, and which rooms have guests in them (these guests may require or request “stay-over” housekeeping services). Often the housekeepers will devise a plan for the day based off these numbers. However, sometimes this paperwork has notes on it for the housekeepers from front-desk. For example: a note about an early arrival. If you are planning to arrive at a hotel earlier than their advertised check-in time, or you planned to arrive later but you find that it’s only noon and you’re only an hour or so away from the hotel, a simple thing you can do is call ahead and speak to someone at the front-desk. Some hotels offer an early check-in time, and will tell the housekeepers you are arriving early so they can try to have your room ready in time. Now, instead of watching the kids pull each others’ hair, you can watch them as they unload the car to bring your stuff up to your room.

Second, stay and have some fun. If you found yourself unable to call ahead and request an early check-in, have no fear, there is still hope. Instead of leaving the hotel to drive around in the heat, ask the front-desk if you can stay there until your room is ready. They may have a place you can set your things until your room is ready, and until then you can use the pool or lounge around the lobby.

Time: Staying at the hotel.
Scenario: Stay-Over service.

Some hotels offer services to guests while they are staying at the hotel. For example, they may have the housekeepers go into a guests room and make their bed and give them fresh stock. In order for you to get the best service during your visit, there are a few steps you can take.

First, clean up. I know, it’s strange to be told to clean your room in order for it to be cleaned, but you do need to make sure your room is picked up. Make sure there are no electronics or expensive things on the floor, especially on the area surrounding your bed. It’s easy for an ipod or cell phone to get stepped on or kicked under the bed, and some hotels have policies stating that they can’t make your bed up if you have things on it, to ensure your privacy and the protection of your belongings.

Second, clearly state what you need. It may pay to ask a nearby housekeeper or front-desk what exactly the staff does during stay-over service. Then, you can ask for less things done in your room, or you can request they do something extra for you – like give you an extra towel or vacuum your floor. If you would like to have the housekeepers do something else for you, either leave them a note or request the service through front-desk, who can relay the message to the housekeepers. Also, if you need fresh linen, put all of your dirty linen together. Some hotels have policies about re-using towels, and the hotels won’t replace towels that are hanging up, because they assume the guest wants to re-use them. Therefore, if you aren’t re-using a towel and would like a fresh one, make sure to put all of your dirty towels together on a floor.

Time: Check out.
Scenario: You were unhappy with your stay.

These times happen. Sometimes, for whatever reason, you just have a bad stay at a hotel. Many people wait until they are checking out to voice how unhappy they were with their stay.

First, it should be noted that it’s best to voice any concerns or complaints you have about your stay as soon as possible. If you walk into your room and you’re unhappy with something, turn around and immediately tell front-desk before doing anything. Often times, if a hotel has extra rooms available, and you haven’t dirtied your room, they can switch you to another room. This is only one example of how the staff can help. One you voice your concerns to the staff, they can try to accommodate you to the best of their abilities.

If you tell the staff what is bothering you as soon as the issue arises, there is a better chance they can fix it for you right there. However, if you find you must wait until you are leaving, you can fill out a comment card. Often times hotels will either have a paper copy, or will provide a website where you can review your stay.

Communication is vital in a hotel. The front-desk, housekeepers, maintenance, and (if the hotel has a kitchen) the kitchen staff. Communication is also very important between you and the staff. More often times than not, the best way to ensure you will have a good stay at a hotel is to communicate with the staff. Ask questions. Learn what their policies are, and whether or not you can make special requests. The staff can help you with early check-ins, late check-outs, extra pillows or linens, and they know where all of the best local destinations are. And most importantly, if you have a complaint, or even a compliment, don’t be afraid to voice it. Your experience will be more positive if the hotel knows what they are doing that works for you, and what isn’t.

A hotel is a place where you can escape. You can relax, or, you can have fun. So, let your inner child loose. Be curious, and ask questions. But most importantly, enjoy yourself.