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asyqnj · 5 years ago

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(Hotel) Tips

Hi there! I hope whoever came across this post you are well.

I was planning to post this on Tumblr early last year when I left my Front Office position, which I ended up not posting anything – because of me just being lazy for having to filter this once I complete the post. But now, with the COVID-19 going on, I feel the need to educate the public about hotel-related issues because ever since the pandemic started – my life at work in the hospitality industry gets tough and more challenging each day. So now, after almost a year ever since I began my Reservations role and the previous two years of having the front-office related experience, I think I have what it takes to advise you all lah right. Maybe not much, and some things vary between hotels – so absorb what you want to learn and leave the rest out.

So here we go,

When making a hotel reservation, please have the criteria of the hotel you are looking for in mind for your stay, be it for leisure or business stay. It can range between price, facilities and amenities offerings, location, room types, and the list go on. If you have no idea, yes, you may go ahead and google the options in whichever country, but at least after googling, get an idea of what you are looking for.

Booking through 3rd Party Platforms

You can book your rooms on whichever platform you feel like it. Direct brand website, Online Travel Agents (OTAs) such as Agoda, Booking.com, Expedia, MakeMyTrip, Klook, Traveloka and the list continues.

However, kindly note that for 3rd party platforms, please contact them directly if you have any issues with your reservations (cancellation/amendments/room type change request). When you book our hotel rooms, but through their platforms, the booking contract is between you and that platform, not the hotel, even your payments

If you think you want everything sorted out properly and can have easy access to contact the hotel, please book with us directly. Also, if you have accidentally booked the rooms on those platforms for whatever reasons, please contact those platforms directly. Kau yang accidentally book (which tak make sense), abe nak mengamok kat hotel dah kenapa eh.

***Please read the terms & conditions properly when making a booking from those platforms. The moment you ticked, agreed and paid for it, don't beg for things to go your way and blame us for not being considerate – we are just abiding by the reservation policy you have agreed upon. We are kind if you can provide us with relevant documents but not for simple reasons like "but I thought it was this or I thought it was that". I believe we are all knowledgable enough to be aware before signing up for anything in this day and age.

Know your reservation

When making an online accommodation reservation, please know what you're specifically paying for. The things like what kind of hotel you have chosen, which room category you have booked for, what are the things you are entitled to, the hotel's facilities and amenities, what are the offerings available around the hotel's vicinitiy. Please understand that the staff knows precisely (99.9% of the time, 0.01% because system glitch may happen across the different platform) what you have booked for - we have a copy of your booking confirmation, so don't appear at the hotel and then argue with us at the reception counter for not getting what you thought you have booked for.

Facilities & Amenities

Know the facilities & amenities the hotel has to offer. If you really need to have something available, please don't rely on OTAs platforms description – because we do have cases where pieces of information given on third-party platforms are not reliable. For the most accurate information, it's best to visit the hotel's brand website, or if you can't get the information you need, kindly contact the hotel directly via their hotline, email or even social media platforms.

***Please don't be annoying and ask questions only after you have booked the room then get frustrated when you found out the room will not meet your expectations, abe request for refund lah abe mengamok again when we say its a non-refundable policy and whatever not. And ask how we can compensate you? Again, how is this our responsibility if you do not tend to do your research and ask first before booking, especially when you have agreed to the terms and conditions?

Please at least know where the hotel is located at and do your "distance" research. Know roughly how far the places you want to go to. Jgn datang complain kat counter - why your hotel so far, it's hard for me to travel. Err, you make the reservation, but the hotel yang kene take the blame ke? And of course, takkan lah companies or the government nak built hotels all at one location or one area je kan. Singapore ni or any other countries, bukan ada satu hotel je kot. Tolong jangan tak masuk akal sangat. Hotels were built in different areas and with different services or facilities – to be able to meet the various travelling wants or needs.

Special Request

If you have any special request for your stay, please state them under the remarks or comments section when making your reservation. If yours is a last-minute on-day reservation, do not expect the hotel actually to be able to meet your request. Of course, we do try our best, but some things need time and effort.

Request Examples

a) Babycot / Stroller / Wheelchair – if the hotel has 200 rooms, we don't actually have 200 of each of those items on standby. So if you request for it at the very last minute, please don't expect us to have what you need immediately. If it's a necessity, please bring it from home.

b) Birthday / Honeymoon / Anniversary / Special Occasion – please book your rooms in advance. We need time to set up your room. Sometimes we have to pre-block your room a day in advance too. Don't book the room today and put remarks on "special occasion" and expect your room to be already decorated upon your arrival. Also sometimes, the other party doesn't know that the stay is supposed to be a celebration, we can't be informing you at the counter "sorry, your room is not ready yet, we are still setting up the balloons or the flower petals" – do you get it?

c) Some hotels do provide a complimentary slice of cake for celebrations – please don't ask for special ingredients cake and all only upon your arrival. The chefs won't want to whip up a cake and serve a slice to you, abe the rest of the cake tu nak buat apa kan.

d) Bed or Room Preference - this is extremely important if your arrival will be after 1800hrs as by then, we would have already assigned all rooms & might not be able to meet your request.

- King/Twin

- Away/Near Elevator

- Lower/Higher Floor

- Quiet Room

*** Don't request for non-essential items and get frustrated when we don't have them. Hotels are not your convenience store or cash converters. If it's essential, please bring from home (I have guest requesting for Bluetooth speaker – bcs he say tak puas dengar lagu from his phone speaker (then masalah aku eh?) and we have guest asking for nail-clippers too. Of course, some hotels provide them, but again, don't expect each & every one of the other hotels to offer it.

IDs for Check-In

Upon check-in, the hotel has the right to ask for your IDs. We need to verify who are staying with us. What if kau some wanted criminal ke kau imposter ke, of course, we don't want to have security issues, or kalau kau some important people ke, of course, we want to provide you with the best. Please don't tell the staffs, "other hotels never ask for my IDs", I don't know which hotel you went to or which part of the earth you went to, but this is Singapore, so this is the procedures we have. Hotel81 pun needs a form of identification okay, FYI.

Respect

Please respect the front-office staff. Because sometimes, the more you are rude to them, the more they will purposely don't give you what you want. As for me, I'll intentionally put these people in the room at the far end of the corridor or provide them with the room only at 1500hrs when they rudely ask for early check-in.

Not all hotels have the luxury or the need to hire a bellhop, so kalau ada staff tu dah baik nak tolong kau with your luggage, especially kalau kau annoying mintak tolong tolakkan one small luggage, then be nice and say thank you. Also, if dah tau luggage kau berat gila nak mampos macam letak orang kat dalam, tolong lah staff tu angkat eh. I get annoyed at this, especially if it's a guy, tak gentleman tau tak. Yes, of course, our staff are hired to do the job, but as a human being, it's not wrong to help what, it's your belongings after all.

Compare

After you have check-in in to your room, please don't start comparing the different hotels you have stayed in before. Comparing services, yes, you can, but don't start comparing the physical things, please. That's why other hotels exist, right?

For example:

"Why is my room so small? Why the layout of my room so weird? I can get a bigger room for this price in the US or China". Stop comparing the hotel size rooms or the physical aspect of the hotel in different countries. People like you should travel more so then you can know what other places can offer you. Dear Friends, hotel websites do put up their room size information, so you should already expect the room to be big or small. Again, this is Singapore. For you to get a big sized room, you need to pay a bomb. (Read: this is not chalets. This is not Airbnb. This is a hotel).

Scan your room

The moment you stepped into the hotel room, please explore the hotel room and immediately report for anything "suspicious" in the room. Please don't be selenge and wait for departure then you want to complain to the staff. How would we know if it's not you who made the room become "suspicious".

Before releasing a room, we have our housekeeping team inspecting every corner of the rooms. And if there were to have any defects or damaged it will actually appear in our report, so if it's not needed those rooms are the last to sell. So we know which rooms are perfect or otherwise. You don't come to us upon check out (after more than 12hrs) baru nak report pintu pecah lah apa pecah lah, of course we will suspect that you were the one who damaged the property. Please do not give the "oh, i forgot to call to inform". You had the whole day, and you forgot to inform? If it was me, I will get paranoid every time if i never check with the staff – worried that I'll have to be responsible for the damages.

Staycation

For those of you who love going for staycations, tolong jangan ngada ngada sangat. After checking in, tolong lah jangan nak every hour call to ask for this and that or complain about this and that. If you feel too unhappy with whatever the hotel offers, balik je, kau kat Singapore lagipun. But of course, unless you stay kat RWS or MBS or Grand Hyatt or Raffles or with the big chain hotels, then boleh kot be a brat sikit – because yah you pay that much – but if you are human, then tolong lah behave okay. Also, jangan nak ngada-ngada sangat asyik nak “please call your manager, I only want to liaise with him or her”. Kau ingat manager ni semua ada time eh nak layankan kau.

Please don't start with your "last time why i can get, now cannot" or "how come last time I only need to pay this amount, now more expensive". Abe when asked when was that last time - 3 years ago. In that 3 years banyak bende boleh change kot.

Last but not least, if you are unhappy with anything upon your check-in or during your stay, please let the staff know immediately. If you email us after you have checked out, then what's the point. I have guest emailing us complaining that they did not receive breakfast or any swan deco prepared for them when they asked for it in their pre-arrival email. Now tell me, kalau dah check-out, you want me to do what, unless you stay in a chain hotel, then probably the hotel will give you discount for future stay ke and what not. So, you either voice out during your stay or just diam and continue with your life.

This is a lengthy post – after all the years, but if you have enjoyed the content, thank you!

Stay safe all ways, always.

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