Welcome to Behind The Desk! I'm ZK and I've been working in Hospitality for 6 years. I've worked across the U.S. in a variety of hotels from family owned B&B's to internationally renowned Luxury brands. As anyone who’s worked more than a week in customer service can tell you, it’s a demanding field. It can be mentally, physically, and emotionally demanding but also some of the most fun and rewarding work one can do.
For example, when I was a bellman, there was a tour bus due in. The tour bus was originally due to arrive at 3pm but called at 11am to tell us they would be arriving at 2pm and then arrived at 12pm. Now, something to note: whenever tour buses came in we had every bellman on hand to bring dozens of bags all across property (~3 separate buildings). Because the bus had arrived early, we didn’t have the extra bellmen on hand so we kept one person at the desk and had a few housekeepers assist us. There we are: 6 people (half of whom are wearing heels and/or are elderly) dragging bell carts all across kingdom come while the guests are complaining to their guides about having to walk 30 feet to get to their building. All in all, we ended spending the better part of 2 hours dragging bags from building to building and back while the tour guides sorted everyone out. It was stressful, exhausting, no fun, and yet one of the most fun experiences we had as a team.
Sure, we spent twice as much time doing manual labor as we should’ve while dealing with some of the most ungrateful people one can imagine but in the end, it was fun because we all teamed together and got the job done. It was great team building and eventually became a fun story for me to tell.
Hopefully with this blog, I can entertain with stories such as this, some tips I’ve learned to have a better experience while traveling, and maybe some perspective from the often-invisible people behind the desk.
-ZK
For example, when I was a bellman, there was a tour bus due in. The tour bus was originally due to arrive at 3pm but called at 11am to tell us they would be arriving at 2pm and then arrived at 12pm. Now, something to note: whenever tour buses came in we had every bellman on hand to bring dozens of bags all across property (~3 separate buildings). Because the bus had arrived early, we didn’t have the extra bellmen on hand so we kept one person at the desk and had a few housekeepers assist us. There we are: 6 people (half of whom are wearing heels and/or are elderly) dragging bell carts all across kingdom come while the guests are complaining to their guides about having to walk 30 feet to get to their building. All in all, we ended spending the better part of 2 hours dragging bags from building to building and back while the tour guides sorted everyone out. It was stressful, exhausting, no fun, and yet one of the most fun experiences we had as a team.
Sure, we spent twice as much time doing manual labor as we should’ve while dealing with some of the most ungrateful people one can imagine but in the end, it was fun because we all teamed together and got the job done. It was great team building and eventually became a fun story for me to tell.
Hopefully with this blog, I can entertain with stories such as this, some tips I’ve learned to have a better experience while traveling, and maybe some perspective from the often-invisible people behind the desk.
-ZK
