A recent headline says one the biggest OTA booking sites has counted a huge increase in "searches" for the destination resort community where I live and work. Supposedly this means we'll be busy next season, but does it really?
Does anyone know if these stats are accurate? I mean, just because Hellpedia says it's so, does that really make it so? And if Travel + Leisure hangs their feature stories about our town's popularity on this stat does that give the statistic more credibility?

And what if someone is searching for a Yukon-Denali truck and the Google AI lists a bunch of hotels in Alaska and Yukon along with places to buy the badly named GMC product. Did those searches count? And what about travelers who are already in the community but for some reason want to switch hotels? Those aren't new customers and the're not an indication that demand is growing.

Any experts out there who know about this stuff?

Hello,

I stayed at an aparthotel briefly in the EU the other week through a popular booking site.

My problem is there was no power or WIFI when it was clearly stated. Fine, mistakes and outages happen.

The problem was the contact numbers all ghosted me and didnt help.

The booking site has also been ghosted they tell me.

What are my options here? Radio silence is not a viable strategy right?

I’m a Front Desk Manager at a Marriott property, and we’re under serious pressure to increase our Marriott Bonvoy enrollments.
I know how to approach guests, explain the benefits, and encourage people to sign up. That’s not really what I’m struggling with.
I’m looking for actual tips, tricks, shortcuts, or efficient methods that help you get enrollments FAST.
For those of you who consistently hit high enrollment numbers:
What’s your fastest legitimate method for enrolling guests?
Are there any shortcuts in the Marriott systems that make the process quicker?
Do you have a particular workflow that helps you enroll multiple guests during a busy shift?
Do you focus on certain types of reservations or guests?
Are there any underused Marriott tools, QR codes, or approved enrollment methods that make a difference?
What’s something you discovered that significantly increased your enrollment numbers?
We don’t have incentives to offer guests, and I already understand the importance of explaining the benefits.
I’m looking for practical strategies that actually work, especially from employees who consistently get high enrollment numbers.
Management is putting a lot of pressure on these numbers, and my job genuinely feels like it’s on the line.
Any advice from experienced Marriott associates, supervisors, or managers would be greatly appreciated. I’m trying to find a smarter and faster way to reach our goals without cutting corners on guest consent or company policy.

This has happened a number of times. A customer is looking to stay at the Accomplished Goat Hotel. They do some sort of search, and think they found our website, and they book a room for $300. Only trouble is, they didn't find our website, "www.accomplishedgoat.com," they found something else, like "accomplishedgoat.jerkstore.com." Jerk Store pretends to be us, or claims to be partnered with us, but they're just going to Expedia.com or Booking.com and making the reservation for $150, pocketing the other $150.

Usually, Jerk Store is some address in Bangladesh or China, and the OTA has little to do with it. I'm sure they don't mind, because they get a commission, but they're not exactly complicit.

Well, today, I talked to a sweet old lady who has a reservation next month, booked through Expedia, that she thought she made directly with us. I looked into cancelling that reservation, and they say she has to submit the request through the B2B partner that she made it with.

This means that, not only can I NOT cancel the reservation, but this is a *trusted partner* of Expedia that's scamming people.

I dunno, y'all. I'm mostly venting, but what do I tell people to do? Issue a chargeback? Her CC wasn't stolen, she was scammed. Anyone out there find a good solution for this problem? 'cause I know for a fact it's a common one.

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping people who work in hotels/reservations can tell me how this would normally be handled, because I’m getting increasingly worried about an upcoming trip.

I booked and paid for a fairly expensive resort stay in Thailand through Opodo. Unfortunately, I reserved accidentally under my mother’s name. She will not be travelling with us.

However:

• I personally made and paid for the booking.
• The email address and phone number on the reservation are mine.
• I have the booking confirmation and proof of payment.
• I contacted both Opodo and the hotel well in advance of arrival to try to resolve this.
• Opodo has now confirmed to me that they cannot change the name and that, from their side, there is no problem with the booking.
• The hotel, however, says they cannot change the reservation name themselves because it was made through a third-party agency.

I have repeatedly asked the hotel whether they could simply leave the reservation under my mother’s name but add my husband and me as the actual guests/check-in names in the reservation notes, or otherwise note that we are authorized to stay under this booking.

I have also asked them a very simple question: If the name is not changed before we arrive, will they actually refuse to let us check in?

So far I have not been able to get a clear answer.

This is particularly stressful because we are travelling all the way from Europe. I really don’t want to arrive at the resort in Thailand and suddenly be told that our fully paid reservation cannot be used because my mother is not physically present.

For those of you who work in hotels/reservations:

1. What would normally happen at check-in in this situation?

2. Can a hotel add the actual guests as accompanying/authorized guests without changing the primary reservation holder?

3. If the OTA tells the hotel in writing that I am authorized to use the reservation, would that normally be sufficient?

4. Is there something specific I should ask Opodo to send to the hotel (for example, an amendment, authorization, or message through their booking system)?

5. Could the hotel genuinely refuse the stay entirely even though the reservation is paid, I have all the booking details, and I contacted everyone well in advance?

6. What would you recommend I do before travelling to make absolutely sure we are not stranded when we arrive?

I completely understand that hotels have fraud/security procedures and that they may not be able to directly modify an OTA reservation. I’m not asking them to bypass those rules. I just want to understand what the normal practical solution is when the person named on a prepaid reservation is not travelling.

Thanks so much — advice from anyone working in front office, reservations, revenue management, or with OTA bookings would be really appreciated.

I’m currently a second-year undergraduate studying Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management, and lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my future career. I feel like having just a degree might not be enough to stand out in today’s job market, especially when so many people graduate with similar qualifications. I want to start building my CV while I’m still at university, rather than waiting until I graduate to think about what else I could have done. I’m particularly interested in the Front Office department in hotels, and my long-term goal is to work my way up to a managerial position, hopefully within the next five years or so, depending on the opportunities available. I’d love to hear from people who work in hotels, especially those in Front Office, Guest Relations, or hotel management.

Are there any additional qualifications or professional certifications you would recommend for someone at my stage?

Are there any internationally recognised certifications that would give me an advantage when applying to hotels, particularly luxury or international hotel chains?

What skills or qualifications do you think make a hospitality graduate stand out from other candidates? Realistically, what should I focus on now if I eventually want to reach a Front Office Manager position?

I’m not just looking to collect certificates for the sake of it. I genuinely want to invest my time in qualifications and skills that will be useful in the industry and help me progress into management in the future.

I’d really appreciate any advice

I apologize in advance if this is the wrong sub to ask in, but I'm very curious how other places handle night audit.

For reference, in the past 6 years I've worked at 7 different hotels and most have been pretty similar in how much I do. I've worked at small-medium properties, about 65-105 rooms and have always been on my own for my work. Alongside check ins/outs and doing the actual audit process (some have been more involved than others), every property has had me do breakfast prep, 1 had me actually cook things for breakfast. 2 had me do laundry fully (wash, dry, fold and organize), 3 have had me fold towels if there are any and 1 had me swap laundry from washer to dryer (until the head housekeeper decided the FD couldn't do that right, then I only needed to make sure cleaning rags were dry). 2 have had me do full inside/outside property checks every 1-2 hours, the rest havent cared. 1 told me that I would have to salt the sidewalks at night if we had snow/ice.

In my view, I feel like a lot of the extra work has been reasonable, as long as my actual FD work was something I could easily do at the same time with little to no issue, sometimes it has been manageable, other times it hasnt been. In a perfect hotel I feel like my only job should be to help guests, do audit and make sure the place doesnt burn down, or make sure that the area is safe around the hotel. I dont know, I'm sure some would call me lazy, but if I wasn't here at night there would be problems I'm sure.

Tl:Dr, what "extra" stuff have you had to do as night audit?

We would be looking to buy various pillows of different types from different companies, probably about 80 total and were interested in letting customers feel the mini pillows to help them choose a pillow

With how the concept of full service is supposed to be and the type of place the visitors opted to stay at is meant to be. It seems to be quite selfishly comedic of them to do being that it’s quite a pointless tantrum they usually with throw about an individual that’s there to be an assistant to their welcoming at the property during their time of stay for however long it may last. Was wondering what witnessing that is like from not just bell service people but also the front desk agents as well?

Hello. Looking to hire for Front Desk position. I can send details if you send me a message.

I work in A/V, so we get called for phones sometimes. I’ve noticed on more than one occasion since my 90 days starting that there are phones unplugged. Does anyone know why someone would do this? It’s just a network Cat6 Ethernet line (and it’s PoE so that’s also the phone‘s power cable).

edit: here are the top reasons I’ve seen!

1. saving space on the nightstand

2. kids (both receiving and giving. little Timmy three doors down could randomly call)

3. avoiding the front desk (don’t call me when I have DND on)

4. being afraid you’re being recorded (less common)

Do you front desk workers ever get annoyed when Karens or Kyles come up to you asking stupid shit like

"whats a good place to eat around here?"

"is the area safe?"

"how long does it take to get to the airport?"

Questions that are only a simple Google search away. Its almost like they already know the answer, they just wanna flap their gums at someone.

Anyone ever been thru this? I go to hotels a lot and mind my own business, dont really complain or think im special, but I overhear guests talking to the FD asking the stupidest questions.

Hey - I have an issue that a ton of people at the hotel are booked into the restaurant or the hotel via their personal assistant, and then it creates an issue where their profiles arent merged together in the CRM because the emails don't match. And has anyone successfully gotten teams to do data entry correctly and not just putting their own emails as placeholders...?

But in Sevenrooms, theres no concept of the booking contact. So unless we want to have the actual person's email in the description, it's just a messy contact profile. I dont really know how to avoid this/get around this. Has anyone cracked this?

If I were to strip the bed at the end of my stay, would this make the housekeeper's job easier? If so, should I pile the bedding in the center of the bed (including the duvet)? And if I'm in a QQ should I strip the bed I didn't sleep in?

please!! if you have any advice, any at all, please let me know how to get this sorted. i (23F / select service / FDM / 4 yrs experience) recently went from being front desk supervisor to dual property front desk manager & i’m trying to figure out the best way to approach the new role. i’m still working front desk shifts, but now i’m also responsible for helping manage TWO properties. i have experience supervising a front desk team at another hotel but i fear managing 2 properties is a whole different ballgame & i want to make sure i start off on the right foot. the desk team at the property i’ve been working at has a few recurring issues that i really want to improve. also, we still use paper schedules, there are frequent reservation issues, attendance and punctuality is inconsistent, and communication between shifts is awful. i think part of the problem is that hotel front desk agents rarely get to interact with each other. someone working mornings might hardly ever see the people working evenings or overnight. then everyone ends up doing things a differently, important information gets lost between shifts & new hires are calling other employees who are still learning themselves asking for help. i’d really like to find a way to get everyone on the same page without having to schedule a big team meeting. i know everyone has different schedules and responsibilities outside of work, & majority of the time, front desk at a hotel isn’t someone’s primary job. so i’m interested in finding ways to make information, procedures & training resources accessible to everyone regardless of what shift they work. i’ve made a training binder that has the most basic procedures in it, i’ve brought everyone’s attention to but the same things are getting missed. the original problem when i was supervisor was i couldn’t work on the same shifts as them, per corporate. now that im manager i can be on shift with them, catch their mistakes & teach them the correct way. also, i’ve considered creating a centralized place for SOPs and training materials, improving how we communicate between shifts, moving toward a digital scheduling system & finding better ways to track recurring issues. i want the front desk to feel confident handling situations on their own while still knowing where to find help when they need it, bc the guests can tell when the front desk agent doesn’t know what their doing & it ends up effecting other departments.

my biggest challenge rn is figuring out where to start. there are so many things i want to improve but i don’t want to change everything all at once or overwhelm the team. i also want to make sure i’m addressing the actual causes of these problems rather than just putting a band aid on a bullet wound. now that i’m responsible for a second property, i’m trying to figure out how to balance improving the first property with learning the operations and needs of the second one. i need to be proactive instead of spending all my time reacting to whatever problem comes up that day.

also, idk if it’s important, but my promotion came with a $1/hr raise & i’ve been at this property for about 3 years now, i came into this job as front desk supervisor. i’m not trying to make this post about compensation but i do wanna be realistic about managing my time and responsibilities all while i’m still covering front desk shifts. i know they aren’t paying me enough, at this point i’m just trying to hang onto this job until i move next year, but i’m not the kind of person that can half ass a job & feel good about it.

for anyone whose managed a hotel front desk or overseen multiple properties, i’d love some of your advice: what would you prioritize first when taking over a team with inconsistent procedures and communication? how do you keep employees across different shifts informed and consistent without requiring everyone to attend meetings? are there any apps, systems, or methods you’ve used that genuinely made front desk operations easier (other than Quore)? how do you improve accountability while still building a positive relationship with your team? how would you structure your first 90 days in this position?

i genuinely wanna grow into this role and make things better for both the employees and the properties so i’d really appreciate any advice. especially from people who have been in a similar position and learned what works (and what definitely doesn’t).

thank you in advance💗

I am booked at a medium to high end resort where a conference is being held. I’m a speaker not an attendee, so I only booked one night. It’s about $350 with the conference rate. I was notified that they overbooked and they are working to move me to another hotel and on Tuesday (a week before my trip) they will let me know where I’m staying. I already looked on the area for a room elsewhere and all the “nicer” places are full (not terribly nice but like courtyard inn level), so if they move me somewhere cheap, will they charge me the full price I booked at their hotel?

Also, would it be okay to ask for an uber credit? They said they will have a shuttle at 8am to take conference attendees to their hotel, but my session is in the late afternoon so I don’t want to get there that early. I wanted to sleep in.

I’m super bummed because it’s an hour from the airport and I was hoping to catch dinner at the hotel since they have onsite dining open until 10, and I don’t think I can ask my uber or cab driver to stop and let me pick up dinner somewhere. I guess I’ll have to pick up something at the airport.

Having a discussion with my boyfriend, he seems to think that hotels don’t always change the top layer of bedding/comforter between guests. He argues that’s the reason there are often multiple blankets and sheets beneath it. Can someone please confirm he’s wrong? If he’s right, can someone explain the standard clean down process between guests?

You know the drill. You've just set out a nice trey of bacon, and a guest, just starts stacking up on bacon. You get annoyed, shrug it off, but then check 20 minutes later only to see them still just eating all the bacon!

How much bacon is to much?

Now guests are complaining to you, that there's no bacon!

I've started to see hotels implement max bacon rules. How much bacon do you allow at your property? What bacon scenarios has your hotel experienced

Please be constructive. I’m open to feedback and trying to understand where my responsibility ends and upper management’s begins.
I’m a front desk manager with previous front desk and hotel sales experience, but I’m still building my experience handling oversells.
We were oversold by two rooms during a very busy weekend. I had previously raised concerns about negative inventory and asked my GM whether we should contact nearby hotels as a backup. I was told it wasn’t necessary.
When we actually needed rooms, every Marriott property we checked was sold out, along with Hyatt and the other nearby hotels we contacted. One hotel told us they were oversold by approximately 30 rooms themselves. Even the booking apps were only showing properties that raised concerns about safety and quality.
I asked my GM for a relocation plan, but we had no confirmed receiving hotel or clear payment arrangement. This has been a recurring issue: even if we find availability, we still need an approved way to pay, whether through direct billing or a company card.
I stayed until approximately 2 a.m. helping the night auditor work through the situation. Reservations were processed as canceled/no-shows during the overnight process, bringing system inventory back to zero. I’m separately clarifying whether those cancellations were appropriate under the booking terms, because I understand that clearing inventory doesn’t automatically resolve the obligation to the guests.
The auditor was frustrated that this hadn’t been resolved before his shift, which I understand. But he directed that frustration at me and said he wanted to speak to higher management because he felt I hadn’t done my job.
I had raised the shortage, contacted hotels, asked for direction, and stayed to help. I understand that coordinating relocations is part of my role, but I cannot create available rooms or authorize resources I haven’t been given.
For experienced FDMs and night auditors: what else should I have done? Who establishes relocation agreements and authorizes payment at your property? What is your escalation process when every suitable hotel you can find is full?

Need to purchase at around 40 flat bed sheets for our new property

Also looking for duvets, duvet covers, pillow cases

Hi everyone, I’m facing a major decision and would love your honest input and perspective.

A bit of context: a few years ago, I worked in hotel food & beverage as a food runner. It was a chaotic pre-opening experience, I made my share of mistakes, and I ultimately left to pursue a different path that I really loved. Recently, I’ve been going through a very tough period emotionally due to a recent family loss and personal struggles. On top of that, I have a great job opportunity lined up for next March.

Recently, I landed an offer for a senior waiter position at a 5-star hotel in a stunning location I’ve always dreamed of visiting. To be fully honest, I embellished my CV regarding my experience length and actual server duties, so I don't feel entirely qualified for the high standards of a 5-star F&B operation.

However, I view this opportunity as a personal challenge to step out of my comfort zone and pull myself out of an emotional rut. I know for a fact that I do not want a long-term career in F&B, but I want to give the industry one last sincere, genuine try, prove to myself what I’m capable of, and turn this short-term stint into a rewarding experience before my next chapter in March.

Is it worth taking on this high-pressure 5-star role as a personal growth test, or am I setting myself up for unnecessary burnout and stress during a vulnerable time? Would you take the risk and push through for a few months, or save yourself the potential headache?

To put things short I've been staying with a Hotel for a almost two months now while the team are one of the nicest I've been with

however the pay and general benefits are mediocre at best .

Now I've got an offers for a better pay now however the days off are just as lacking as my current hotels

I have more time to contemplate on my next course of action affter my recent interviewer flatout saying that while I'm qualified and have the rights my actual working records is too low and that I should have more expirience If I wish to joined their team

1 should I accepted that offers a better pays but having to started over again and lost all the 2months of working record and risk the stability the trade off is that my paycheck is increased by 40%

2 contineus at the same place and build up those working recorded for resume and aim for a bigger and more brand oriented Hotel for better days off along with better pay

Does anybody else's hotel have random that just walk through and chat with your employees? I am in a downtown area. (Don't let that fool you it's actually pretty safe.) But I am just purely curious.

After generating the Welcome Drink Vouchers report in ACDC, filtering by redeemed, and sorting by burn date, how exactly do I reconcile this report with the f&b slips?

I’ve always wondered why front desk team members don’t have extra towels, toiletries, and other commonly requested items behind the desk to give out to guests.

In the last two hotels I’ve stayed in, I asked for extra towels and they had to page housekeeping to bring some to my room. Same was the case for a toiletry bag. I feel that it’s less work for everyone to just store some items at the desk. (Small items, not large items like blankets).

Anyone have any info on this?