HOTEL PEOPLE I INQUIRE TO LEARN YOUR BRAIN

[Whiskey]

No I havent snapped. Aethian told me to pimp out to you guys. Theres a position for Night Auditor in town. It was put up today, which means its gotten 300+ applications. How do I stand apart? I've had no hotel experience, at all. A night auditor position seems key. Its not in a bad area of town, but not the best.

Turlock Hotel hiring a part-time front desk/Night Auditor. Responsibilities include checking in and out guests, cash handling, answering phones and making reservations, balancing drawer at beginning and end of shift, performing Night Audit, and various other tasks as instructed by General Manager. Candidate must be computer literate, responsible, honest, and be able to work through the night for this is a Night Auditor position. Bring resume and apply in person ONLY at the address is [address redacted]

[SteeleDragon78]

having done the job, i can say that uber math skills is a must, as is time management. if its a small property (up to 100 rooms) you may be able to get everything done in a couple of hours and relax the rest of the night. if its a large property (100+ rooms) it may be tougher to get it all done in a couple of hours untill you get it down pat. its still gonna be customer service, with a wealth of EW and SC's. but most times its about the same as any other service load. that job will have its own pitfalls, ladies of the night et al. i miss doing it but the pay for my area sux donkey for the position.

[Whiskey]

All jobs have pitfalls, i can deal with most. Dealing with hundreds of people a night, however.

[SteeleDragon78]

hundreds i doubt, most nights for an auditor is gonna be the odd redeye flight or like some of my hotels airline flight crews. i only had 2 incidents where i had to deal with hundreds, one was a youth conference and the other was new years. but i had half the managers there as backup with 3 times the security.

[Whiskey]

hundreds i doubt, most nights for an auditor is gonna be the odd redeye flight or like some of my hotels airline flight crews. i only had 2 incidents where i had to deal with hundreds, one was a youth conference and the other was new years. but i had half the managers there as backup with 3 times the security.

A couple people won't kill me. I expect its mostly administrative work. At my happy little hell hole, we do 200$ an hour in business. In fast food. I shouldn't be in this job in the first place. I'm not emotionally equipped for it.

[SteeleDragon78]

i say go for it, it looks great on a resume and you meet interesting people. like i said i miss it.

[Whiskey]

I still don't know how i'd stand apart from everyone else. 20% of my city is unemployed and this is on craigslist.

[SteeleDragon78]

have someone you trust and know is sharp help you polish your resume and then just be yourself, never know till you try

[smileyeagle1021]

Whiskey, are you near any major hub airports (I don't know where in California you're at, but if it is near SFO or LAX this could apply to you). People don't get put in hotels early in the day, they get put up in hotels when the last flight has already left. Around Salt Lake International the rush for the hotels occurs between 10pm and midnight. Even at a 93 room hotel I've seen crowds up to 60 people in under two hours plus phone ringing every other minute.
So don't automatically assume because it's graveyard that it will be dead (if you aren't near an airport, then yes, it probably will be)

[infinitemonkies]

Night audit is a pretty good gig for bitter, jaded, anti-social misanthropes like me.
The night shift is a very different breed of cat from day work, and having experience working graves in a customer service field puts you ahead in the game, Whiskey.

Math is a key part of the job. If a day shift has screwed up, and they will, frequently, you've got be to able to figure out how they screwed up and how to fix it just from looking at the day's numbers.

The other part is customer service. Being able to calm an irate guest or turf a disruptive drunk. It's not actually all that different from late-night drive through.

My hotel has 78 rooms, and generally speaking I deal with maybe a dozen guests a night. I've typically got 3 or 4 check-ins in the first 2 hours of my shift, 2 or 3 check-outs in the last hour or so, and most of the rest is politely telling loud drunken assholes to STFU or get out, and giving directions to 24-hour restaurants.


Good luck, keep us posted, and don't hesitate to ask us if there is anything else we can do to help you.

[Whiskey]

The other part is customer service. Being able to calm an irate guest or turf a disruptive drunk. It's not actually all that different from late-night drive through.

How much authority do you generally get? I can do irate customers. They can yell and scream to their hearts content. The only time I've ever had an issue is when my physical safety is threatened. If I have the authority to call the police/throw them off the property, I'm fine. Its being stripped of the ability to protect myself (non-physically) that I can't deal with.

[infinitemonkies]

Not every hotel is the same of course, but I have reasonably unlimited authority.
You absolutely have the authority to evict someone from the premises, and involve the police at your discretion.

Actually, one of the things I like best about this shift is that I don't even have to pretend to be polite to drunken asshole SCs. Since I've started verbally ripping them apart, I rarely get a repeat offender who wanders in at 3am, not looking to check in but demanding to use the phone or the employee bathroom.
If it's someone who actually is checked in, I remain professionally courteous, but if they get rude or loud I can, will, and have evicted them for it.

[jedikuonji]

I have years of overnight hotel staff experience. When I worked night audit, I was judge, jury, and executioner.

You want a discounted rate, you have to talk to me.
You are going to be an obnoxious ass, there's the door.
I don't feel comfortable buzzing you in, sorry we're full, try another hotel.

As for threats and such, every hotel chain I've worked for (4 in total) has had the same general policy: if you feel like your safety is in question, call the police. Every hotel I've worked at has also had silent alarms installed at the desk, and one even had a remote silent alarm you could carry if you had to leave the desk.

As for how to stand out: Night jobs around where I live are hard to fill since one, you have to have half a brain to do the overnight shift, and two, most people don't want to work nights. I would suggest highlighting your cash handling experience, ability to handle multiple guests/customers at one time, and willingness to work overnights. Seriously, finding someone who likes working at night is a blessing to a hotel as overnight is often the hardest shift to cover and that willingness to work nights is a larger asset than you might think.

Edit to add: Night work at hotels was the most stress free work I've ever had. Most nights I could rely on having 3+ hours of downtime to do just about anything except sleep. No irate managers, rarely irate guests, just the work and myself. On average I'd say I had maybe half a dozen stressful or difficult nights a year when I worked nights.

[Whiskey]

Whiskey, are you near any major hub airports (I don't know where in California you're at, but if it is near SFO or LAX this could apply to you).

I'm in the boondocks. The nearest airport is an hour and a half either way.

[dalesys]

I'm in the boondocks. The nearest airport is an hour and a half either way.

We stayed two nights in Turlock last month when my fool son got married in Yosemite. Hotel was nice (99 & Taylor). 5 adults in a Prius for 1700 miles was a bit tiring.