In need of a break from the holiday weekend!

It all started Friday night with an unhappy guest. I knew when I spoke with her on the phone that it would be rough, but I wasn't quite prepared for the reality. Luckily the business manager checked her in, but I heard tell of it. She thought the room was too noisy and wanted to check out other rooms. She was shown two rooms in the back of the building, but the hum of the air conditioner was too loud in both. *sigh* Then she found out that the pocket door in the bathroom was broken (the business manager and I both thought it had been fixed), which we could do nothing about except apologize profusely. She then reported that the refrigerator was broken when in actuality it wasn't turned on. Next was the fact that the housekeepers put poly-fill instead of down pillows on the bed. At this point I left a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates in the room along with a note apologizing for the inconveniences.

Saturday morning she was back in to tell me that there was no hair dryer in the room, and that she wanted to look at another room. I took her to one that made her happy, hurriedly notified the housekeepers of the change, split her reservation between two rooms, moved the guest that was booked in her new room into her old one, with the hopes that they wouldn't mind the noise or the broken door. :( Haven't heard a peep from either, so that worked out.

Saturday evening brought a fresh hell. I took the last guest of the evening over to their room, opened the door, and was immediately assaulted by a terrible smell. Because I have an extremely sensitive nose, and because the guests didn't say anything, I turned on the ceiling fan and let it ride. Thirty minutes later they came in to tell me that it smelled terrible, and could I please try to fix it while they went to dinner. I assured them I would do everything I could, but in the back of my mind remembered the complaint that came from the last guest that stayed in that room: the carpet was damp. At the time the owner told me he'd checked it out but it was minor, and that the guest must have spilled something. When I went in to spray Febreeze I realized the the carpet in the ENTIRE SUITE was damp, and I saw mold growing on the carpet beside the couch.

When the guests returned from dinner they decided they couldn't stay the night and I apologized profusely, offering everything but my firstborn child to make them happy. They ended up staying the night on their friend's boat with pillows and blankets I lent them from the inn! They were very pleased, impressed with my many offers to cart them around town until we found a room, and promised me the best review from a guest who never actually stayed at the place. I thought that was very sweet, considering.

My solution was to put the dehumidifier in the room for the night in the hopes that it would dry out the carpet. Sunday morning the housekeepers steam cleaned the carpet, which helped the smell a bit, but it was still quite noticeable. The owner ended up moving all the furniture to the bedroom and ripping up the living room carpet to find the padding and cement soaked underneath. He also realized that the wetness extended into the bedroom where he'd just dumped all the furniture. So he laid the carpet back in there, hoisted up on anything available in an attempt to dry it. In my opinion, moldy carpet needs to go straight into the trash, but I certainly have no say around this place.

After getting that bad news I had the unpleasant job of telling the guest scheduled in the suite that we had no other room to offer and would have to find him another inn for the night. He was NOT pleased. It was his wife's birthday AND their anniversary, and I'd just crapped all over it. Our first conversation was not fun, and he was sure that the room I'd found for him wouldn't be up to par. Of course not, but it was the closest to our standards available on last-minute notice on one of the busiest days of the year. He hung up on me, but called back a bit later to take me up on the offer, and to confirm his spa appointments with us the next day. Again, I apologized profusely.

Not five minutes later one of the massage therapists came downstairs and ripped me a new one because there were water glasses in the sink upstairs. I told her I would take care of it, but she kept on attacking. My coworker agreed to head up immediately and she backed down. The owner, who had heard the entire exchange, called me over. She wasn't pleased that a massage therapist was speaking to me in that manner (neither was I!), and would be speaking to the business manager about it the next day. The owner suggested I get housekeeping into the spa to take care of the dishes, something the business manager explicitely warned me against. So tomorrow I'll give the housekeepers more to do, the business manager will tell me they have enough to do already, I'll tell her it was the owner's request, then she'll think I went over her head and get pissed off at me, the next day she'll find something I've done wrong and complain to the owner, then the owner will take me aside and tell me not to change anything without talking to the business manager first.

Can't wait for tomorrow.