The New Job

Coming from a world famous Manhattan hotel with 1,413 rooms and going to a San Diego hotel with 337 rooms, needless to say, is a big change. It's so quiet here and that's not something that I'm used to. Hours go by, in my work day, where I have literally nothing to do. I'm supervising the Front Desk and my agents also have nothing to do. Whether the hotel is sold out or half full, we complete our tasks in the beginning of our shifts and wait as guests slowly trickle into the lobby.

Back at the Waldorf, we're almost always sold out, there's always a guest coming to the desk and we cherish the rare dull moments when you can breathe and chat with your neighbor. Back at the Waldorf, you don't just get one guest. You get a line through the lobby just before your shift is about to end, and you're sold out, and you're trying to put non-smokers into smoking rooms, and you're trying to convince a 6'2" man to sleep in a full size bed even though he reserved a king size. Back at the Waldorf you're oversold by ten rooms and it's midnight and there are still rooms that are vacant and dirty. Back at the Waldorf, if you haven't argued with self-important people over the most insignificant bullshit and pondered your own purpose on this Earth, your day is not complete.

This quiet little hotel in downtown San Diego seems almost laughable. What did Manhattan do to me? It gave me a thick skin. It prepared me to come here and supervise with ease. Will San Diego let me go soft? Everything here goes smoothly. We don't have 20 different types of rooms. We have about 4 and then a choice of two views. Our managers don't work 14 hour shifts. Some of them duck out early. We are never oversold. We sold out once while I was here and every guest got what they wanted. We have all of our rooms assigned by 7pm.

The true challenge, though, is bringing to this hotel some of the standards that have been ingrained in me. Instructing the Front Desk agents on how to act, how to handle angry and demanding guests, proper verbiage. All the stuff I rolled my eyes at while I was at the Waldorf. Explaining to my new managers what I expect from them and what they can expect from me, and showing them how things worked at the Waldorf and why it may or may not work for us on this smaller scale.

Most of the Front Office staff started just two or three months ago and it was clearly stated when the position was offered that they predict I would provide positive insight to the team. At the end of my first week there, I can already see what it is that I need to do. I just hope I don't offend anyone.