10 Ways To Spot A Truly Exceptional Employee

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I've heard that hotel staff deliberately disable the keycards of guests they dislike. Can anyone confirm this, or tell of other things hospitality staff do to get back at badly behaved patrons?

Just a little thought at all should tell you that this story is not credible.

If I took a dislike to a guest, the last thing I would want to do is disable his key card, unless there was some business or security related reason I had to, because you know exactly what's going to happen: the guy's not going to be able to get into his room, and he's going to be at the desk, in your face, complaining, and you've got to put up with him, for at least long enough to fix his card.

The same goes for any other juvenile pranks that you might want to do to a guest to get paybacks or make his life miserable. Never mind the guest is unhappy (which is always a very large concern with us), but any employee who enjoys the kind of confrontation that would result from something like that is too sick to have a job.Even if you feel that it's justified in some way, it just doesn't work.

And that's before we even go there about the consequences if the guest complaints to management . . . or even worse, to the franchise organization (who will often comp the room and give him a full refund and a bunch of free coupons to make him feel better about the whole thing, just for showing up and complaining, then bill it all back to your hotel, and you're going to have a very unhappy general manager) . . or the health department.

Do hotel cleaning people sometimes steal items from the rooms of their guests?

Rarely. You might be surprised, if you've never worked in a hotel, just how so.

Even the dumbest room attendant knows that whatever the temptation, if it happens, the guest will say something right away as soon as he or she notices the item missing, and there's always a record of who cleaned which room. In most hotels - and in any well-run hotel - there's just no way to do it and not get found out. And busted. Very quickly.

And any hotel owner or manager (who aren't always necessarily smarter than the housekeepers) knows that if a problem develops, unless it's addressed and dealt with immediately and conclusively, he or she is going to lose control of how to contain it. (For example, once a police car rolls up, which will happen if it's an item of any serious value, there's going to be an investigation, which means housekeepers being interviewed - on company time - by the cops.) So there is no incentive for a hotel owner or manager to cover up for (or even put up with) one or more sticky-fingered housekeepers, and at least some disincentive for even the grungiest manager of even the rattiest motel to tolerate it. Usually when there's a problem, it's the fault of weak or incompetent management, not complicit management.

I'll give you a pair of travel tips.

What happens to the half-used toilet paper roll left in a hotel room bathroom?

I've been the general manager of four different hotels of varying price and quality prior to forming my own company, and have never once had a housekeeper or room attendant come to me with an almost-used-up roll of toilet paper and a story that goes like, "this is all the toilet paper that was left on the roll in 207, it's not going to last the next guest even one trip to the toilet, much less an entire stay, so I put a new roll on: what do you want me to do with what's left of this one?"

Perhaps much of the reason why is . . . well, have you noticed the wall-mounted toilet paper dispenser in even the cheapest hotels?





Notice there's an unopened 'backup roll' in the recess behind the roll that's mounted on the roller. Guests in a room can use up the last of a roll, and there's another roll back there that they can move along to if they need more.

When an employee threatens to resign and uses it as a negotiating tool, what is the ideal response from HR managers or company management?

"There's the freakin' door . . . It's even got a backlighted sign mounted over it telling you in simple, one-step instructions exactly what you can do with it."

If someone has a legitimate (or at least respectable) grievance, or reasonable provocation, I can see them getting a little wound up. In that event, they really shouldn't have to make the threat: it could be, they're just getting emotional . . .



But as a negotiating tool?  Don't let the door hit you where Mother Nature split you. 

If they even make the attempt (in the form of a threat, rather than just describing an option if they do happen to have prospects elsewhere), it's highly questionable whether they need to be working there to begin with. I once had an employment lawyer share with me that, in every single case of employment-related litigation that crossed his desk it invariably developed, once all the potential witnesses are interviewed and discovery is completed, that the employment situation with that particular employee had broken down long ago and had not been working out for either the employer or the employee for quite some time. Whatever actually precipitated the termination, or the angry resignation, and the ensuing lawsuit was merely the catalyst, the 'final straw'. 

What should be the penalty when an employee steals items from the company they work for?

The supreme penalty. Termination. Prosecution, if it doesn't cost you too much more than you caught him stealing (by the time you catch a thief, there's usually more than you know about or can know about with any certainty, anyway). Block the unemployment compensation if you can. Permanent ineligibility for rehire. Be completely candid about what happened on any future reference checks. Sue to recover what he stole. And if you're in an Islamic country that provides such a penalty at law, have his right hand cut off at the wrist. The Mob has a solution that's by golly 100% effective, but it has its drawbacks: in a more civilized society, there has to be limits. (And besides, it's risky. And if you go to them for a favor like that, they'll over time want more in return than it'd be worth.) Stick it to him, sideways; give it a few turns, and make it hurt for a long, long time. And anyone who knew about it and didn't report it is just as guilty as the perpetrator: do it to them, too.



If it becomes known to your other employees that someone got away with stealing - or even if others on your staff feels that the penalty was light enough to raise questions about just how seriously you take such a thing, or to make the risk of getting caught worth taking because the downside seems 'minimal' - you'll sooner or later have more problems. You need to make an example of any individual you catch stealing.

What would happen if I accidentally left behind a $50 bill in my hotel room?

Rules vary by hotel, but if I left a loose fifty bucks in a room when I stay in one, I wouldn't count on ever seeing it again.

The policy in hotels that I run is, if a housekeeper's 'tip' is over twenty bucks, she must tell us, and turn it in. We'll let her keep twenty bucks of it, and hang on to the rest in accordance with the usual lost and found procedure (thirty days). If the guest calls with a credible story (as in, he or she names close to the correct amount of money left behind) about how he left loose cash in the room, we send a check to the guest for the total amount we found, and we take the hit on the twenty bucks ourselves and let the housekeeper keep that part (we don't want to supply an incentive to dishonesty, or a disincentive to honesty). 



If it's in a wallet, there's no question: any indicator that it wasn't left for the housekeeper intentionally by the guest means that it all belongs to the guest. We handle it in accordance with our usual lost-and-found procedure. (With wallets and other things of obvious value, we don't wait for a call: we contact the guest.)

Back in the day, tipping the housekeeper was as to-be-expected as tipping a waitress. Large chains and franchise organizations have gotten away from it (you can still order tip envelops from a hotel supply house, but chains and franchise organizations forbid the use of them.)  Hotel owners went right along. Tips present a management challenge (disputes arise over how to divide them if more than one housekeeper services the room over several days, and any room attendant with any 'seniority' at all demands the 'right' to pick and choose what rooms she'll clean, and we'll get to some others . . .) 

What's the best way to show my appreciation for a hotel desk clerk that routinely upgrades me to a suite, free of charge? (I stay at a specific hotel regularly and the desk has the option to upgrade my room. They do it almost every time at no charge. I don't think it's a corporate policy to upgrade regulars; the clerks pick and choose the upgrades based on personal discretion. What's a good way to "tip" them?)

Whatever you feel might be a fair amount of severance pay for the clerk, if it happens in my barn and I find out about it later. Or at least enough to compensate him or her for the written warning and the several days off he or she is going to get -- if the clerk is new and inexperienced, and I think he or she might be salvageable with a better understanding of how the business works and the occasional issues of ethics involved, and he or she still has a job there at all.

Upgraded and upscale rooms are priced a little higher for a reason.

We give out upgrades (Shoot, we do that more often than we rent the rooms at the full, upgraded rate.) We give out discounts. (Sometimes, I wonder why we even bother having a regular rate: see Michael Forrest Jones' answer to What is and why do hotels have a rack rate? ). But when we do, that's always done for a reason: it has to benefit the hotel in some way. An upgrade or a discount is, when given, the hotel's gift to give, not the clerk's. The clerk is only - or at least only supposed to be - acting on behalf of and in the interests of the hotel.

Is backstabbing a fundamental part of capitalism? (It seems that "The 48 Laws of Power" are a very effective set of tools that most mediocre minded people follow to dishonorable success, is this true? Are only a small percentage of entrepreneurs fair?)

I haven't read the book and can't comment on it. And I really can't say what percentage of entrepreneurs can be described as 'fair', because I try to deal only with those who are fair to me, deal only if I have to with those who aren't (and watch them), and don't keep a count.

But let me share a secret with you. Capitalism is about making money, by either creating and offering something of value that people are willing to pay for, or by connecting people and setting up trade in a more efficient way that the participants are willing to pay for. It's not about power. It's not about manipulation, domination, and control. It's not about getting into bitch fights with other companies (particularly competitors) or your co-workers at the office, and 'ruining' them or 'destroying' them, as depicted on the Dallas TV series from the '80's (the J. R. Ewing character was quite the poster child for that) and several other sitcoms that have come and gone on prime time since. (Yes, I said 'sitcoms'. Well, I got a good laugh out of some of the stuff that happens in them.). It's not about politics, and it's certainly not about crappy politics, brownnosing and backstabbing. You see stuff like that frequently. But it's not what capitalism, or 'advancing in your career' if you're an 'intermural' player, is all about.

How does hotel management or employees feel about the legalization of marijuana as it pertains to operations, whether that's housekeeping or marketing?

We're still going to drug test people, and if you test positive in a jurisdiction where the law permits (North Carolina is a tobacco-producing state and to protect smokers, North Carolina law prohibits discrimination on the basis of "off-duty use of lawful products", but I don't see North Carolina legalizing marijuana anytime soon), we're still going to fire you. 

And if you smoke a joint on the job or show up to work stoned, that's on-duty use and you're meat on a hook, the same as if we caught you drinking on the job or if you show up to work inebriated . . .



Hello?  This is 2017. Back in the '80's, before Len Bias, and Nancy Reagan's "Just say no" crusade; smoking grass was about as mainstream as it ever got, but not anymore. 

What's going to have to change before we classify it with off-duty alcohol use and take a more laissez-faire approach to it isn't legalization per se, it's lawful sources of supply. I don't like the kind of people you'd have to deal with nowadays to get the stuff, and if you deal with such people, you've got the wrong kind of people for friends . . .

Personally, I support the legalization of marijuana, but that doesn't mean I'd use it myself or want it around me, that I want it in my workplace, or that I want my employees floating through the day with a buzz on . . .

Originally appeared on Quora

If I work the front desk at a hotel and someone has been told not to trespass, can I remove them with reasonable force? (This is in Oklahoma, by the way.).

Legally, you probably can, but it's not a good idea. I'd call the cops and let them handle it. It's a nuisance call, but many cops would rather handle it than respond to a larger disturbance, clean up after a fight, or bring an ambulance along for an injury.



If you use force at all (or even put your hands on the trespasser) you risk provoking an altercation, or give him the 'ammo' he needs for an accusation against you of assault.  The police can get it done much of the time without using force, and any force they do use will not nearly as likely be second-guessed.

Originally appeared on Quora

If I purchase packaged food during a trip, never open it, and leave it in my hotel room when checking out, will the staff be permitted to eat it?

I'd rather they didn't, but I can't stop them, and they do it at their own risk. (I have no control over what they eat or how they procure their food outside the hotel, or during their off-duty time, either.) Perishable items are never left behind, and the best thing to do with them in a lot of cases is to throw them out, but that's going to be a little counterintuitive to a low-paid employee who sees an unopened food item that would otherwise go to waste.

We have policies that require high-value items to be turned in to lost and found, and that forbid taking any item from the hotel that you did not bring with you without permission; but if I were staying in a hotel and left behind an unopened bag of cookies or chips, or a couple of unopened beers in a six-pack, I wouldn't count on ever seeing them again.

Originally appeared on Quora