Week 8 : Empathize

I am going into my 8th week at Wardman Park and still learning so much. I really enjoy working here with all the accommodating co-workers constantly teaching me new ways to improve and master my hospitality skills. Today was an interesting day as I had to deal with a hostile guest and she was upset about not receiving a King bed over two Double Beds. We are a very busy hotel mostly hosting large conferences and conventions. We are sold out most of the time and we have more double bed rooms than kings. After coming off of a sold out night it is sometimes challenging giving guests king rooms unless they are guaranteed a king when they book their reservation. This lady that I dealt with today wanted a king and was not guaranteed one and was really hostile with me over getting a room with a king. She would not even let us explain or work with us trying to help her. Working here you really learn to appreciate not being picky and to try to understand when the shoe is on the other foot. We try to accommodate all of our guests, but it is those selected guests that really make work challenging for the staff. The one thing that I need to work on the most is to really try to stay calm. Sometimes I feel attacked when I deal with a hostile guest and then I get flustered on my words. At the Marriott we try to use the LEARN model when we deal with guests. LEARN stands for Listen, Empathize, Apologize, React and Notify. It makes it challenging when you do all that you can, empathize, apologize even if you are not in the wrong and you still have unhappy guests that are never satisfied when you go above and beyond to alleviate the problem. I wish that everyone could experience some type of hospitality or service industry job, so that they can understand what we go through everyday behind the scenes. It is a lot more challenging then it looks.