This guy walks up to the desk.

Me: “Hello. Checking in?”

Guest: “No. I need a new key.”

I didn’t recognize the guest, so I went to look up his reservation. His name did not match what was on the reservation.

Me: “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make you a key due to you not being on the reservation.”

He flipped his s***. He also paid cash; there wasn’t an email or phone number on file, so there was no way that I could verify information. We did have a copy of his ID, so I thought that was interesting. He kept saying how ridiculous it was, because he was definitely in the room, cameras could prove that, and I needed to call my manager because he had things to do.

I start dialing my manager’s number, and he backtracks.

Guest: “Actually, don’t. I was going to check out early today anyway, so don’t even bother. I’ll just come back tomorrow for my refund.”

Me: *Continues dialing.* “Okay.”

Guest: “Didn’t you just hear what I said? Why are you calling your manager?!”

Me: “…because I can?”

As soon as she picks up, he starts yelling over me and demands to speak to her.

My manager explains that it’s a safety issue due to his not being on the reservation, and once they’re done “investigating,” they will reach back out to him as far as reimbursement.

She could barely get that out, though, because he kept cutting her off about a refund and tossed the phone back to me and left.

Manager: *To me.* “Cancel the reservation and check the room to see if it’s clean.”

While doing that, she called the previous front desk associate to see what had happened. 

Turns out, this guy is a regular who cheats on his wife. He goes the extra mile to call hours in advance and wants to be let in through the back door with his mistress to avoid being seen in the lobby with her. He pays cash every time, but for some reason, yesterday, he requested that my coworker change the name on his reservation. I don’t know why, but my coworker did it.

The room was definitely used. Trash on the desks, the bed was destroyed, towels and soaps were used, and the room smelled like straight a**. My manager kept saying she didn’t know what to do, and I told her that he needs to be charged just like any other day.

I looked up his previous reservations, and he’s only stayed for a few hours each time. Housekeeping left for the day, so the room couldn’t be flipped. He needs to be charged full price.

The next day, I found that the manager had left 35% of the room total attached to a post-it note with the guest’s name on it in the office. Apparently, it’s a partial refund due to the “inconvenience” yesterday.

WHAT INCONVENIENCE?!

Realistically, if he were honest about it instead of being a jack-a**, I would’ve just made the key, but what really p***ed me off about this is the fact that this is the third or fourth time that I’ve had a guest act wild while management is on the phone and can clearly hear what’s happening, but still chooses to side with the guest.