Avril Lavigne Was Right

Are some things more complicated than they need to be? I say yes.

I was in the Bad Place recently and had occasion to check in to a hotel - I honestly don't remember which one - and for the point of this post it doesn't matter.

The customer service I received at the front desk was particularly crappy. The fellow on the other side of the counter never even made eye contact with me, much less greeted me verbally. He just reached his hand over the desk to receive my I.D. and credit card and then he went to work.

And by "went to work" I mean he started typing. And typing. And typing. His eyes cast downward at some screen I couldn't see, his fingers were flying over the keyboard in front of him. 

After about a full minute of typing, I thought I might say something but didn't want him to screw up, lose his place, and have to start over.  So I just waited.

Another minute went by and I started to get really fascinated as to what he must be doing. Was all of that data entry really for my one little reservation? Or did he have to move every guest in the hotel down one room in order to accommodate my arrival?

Now, because I've got nothing but time, my mind starts to wander as I think of all the things he might be doing. Refinancing his house? Translating all four Lord Of The Rings books into Latin? Playing online 3D Star Trek chess with Leonard Nimoy?   
   
Finally, I did speak up. "How's it going?"

"Fine."

"Sure is a lot of typing."

"I'll be with you in just a moment," he said, still not looking at me even one time for a split second.

"I wonder if the computer has really made checking in hotel guests any faster," I mused, apparently to myself. "I remember back in the old days when they would take down your information on a 3X5 card and just put it in a box. It took about a tenth as much time as this." 

I really wasn't trying to be confrontational or sarcastic but I just couldn't reconcile the amount of time I was standing in his lobby with my idea of how long it should reasonably take to input my information. I was just one guy, one night, one key. I wasn't traveling with a circus with multiple special requests to only stay in rooms that faced east, or making demands on how many floors needed to be between the Bearded Lady and the Strong Man, or asking where we could let the tigers out to go pee. 

So what gives? Why so much typing? Any hoteliers reading this today?

Comments

[Raul]

I've been spending lots of time in hotels lately traveling for work and experience the same thing. All they ask for is your last name and I would think that your reservation would just pop up but noooo. They have to type away like that airline lady does in "Meet the Parents". Then they ask for your credit card...and what do they do with it? Type it in you say? No! They grind it in one of those old carbon copy paper devices from the 1960's...an invention made probably during the rsvp card in the box days!

ARGH! I hate hotel check-ins...

BTW I am in New Orleans right now and this city is REALLY over rated

[Edmund F]

Hey, ummmmm....there are only 3 Books in the Lord of the Rings (unless you are super literal then there are 6 books in 3 novels). Tolkien originally wrote it as 1 book. The only way I can figure 4 books is if you include the Hobbit or The Silmarillion, but neither are actually part of the Lord of the Rings, one being a prequel and the other being a Appeni of sorts. Perplexing.

You have been Super Nerded.

[Diane]

I want to stay at a hotel that has a space where you could let the tigers out to go pee.

[cathy g]

Bean your mind works in mysterious ways... sadly mine will go off on its own in the same way.

Maybe he was leaving a comment about a strongly worded letter! :-)

Not sure if you were checking into a Hilton but Hilton family of hotels has a "black list" and your name is checked against the list. Probably was ordering stuff from bestbuy.com with your credit card number.

[Kings Fan]

The guy was probably updating his MySpace page or emailing a friend that some tall, lanky dude was staring at him in a weird manner. Was his hair covering one of his eyes?

[Graham]

He's clearly typing in his blog, www.hotelguyblog.com.

Here is his entry for that day.

"This creep has been staring at me for a very long time now while I'm typing my blog today. His key card has been sitting in front of him for a good 30 minutes now. Why doesn't he just leave. He's just looking at me. Seriously. Who is this guy? What does he want? Just take your key and go away."

[EditThis]

I've noticed the same thing. It also happens when you rent a car.

[Sara]

He was probably fighting with his girlfriend via chat.

[Chris]

He took your ID so that you would think that you were being helped, but really...the only thing that would cause that much typing is that he was finishing an email or IM'ing his friends.

Graham has it totally right.

[Abel]

Working in the travel trade, I can honestly say that person was not working with your reservation. At most they usually type in your personal info and make an imprint of your CC in case they need to charge you for something after you have left. If you remeber which hotel it was we can send the AAA police over!!!

[Surly Hotel Clerk]

I don't know about any of you, but I want to club Edmund F with a heavy object.

Who gives a fark how many books are in the Lord of the Rings? Do you feel better now that you have made that oh-so-important correction?

You can call yourself "super nerd" all you like and pretend that you are okay with being as geeky as you are, but that still is not going to get you a date, dweeb.

I gotta go and get this next customer checked in.

[dana]

I'm going to go a little tangent-y on everyone (sorry):
I thought today's blog was going to stay focused on the fact that the clerk never made eye contact. I used to bunch my knickers over that until I had the occasion to witness what might be a factor in the loss of customer service: the two paying customers in front of me at the Trader Joe's in The Bad Place not even bothering to acknowledge the cashier's greetings because they were yakking about crap on their cell phones. If I were ignored like that over and over and over and over (and over) again, I might learn not to bother, too....
(I'm sure it also has to do with kids these days (and their young bosses, too!) having no social graces.)

[Lynne_T]

I think he was IMing a friend that went something like this: "Dude, you will never believe who is standing here in front of me, Bean from XXXX. I can't believe it. Yeh dude the one who blogs. No, dude he is not saying a word, just standing here staring at me. Wonder why he is staring at me, it is kind of creeping me out!!

[girl from the bad place]

yeah, Edmund, sorry, it must be weird being so... you.
I've never gotten the car rental or hotel thing. Why do they have to re-input all the info I've already input when I made the reservation? I understand verifying ID & eyeballing the card- but why waste both of our time with all that data entry?

[Janet]

The whole no eye contact happens all the time. It's younger people who don't have time to be bothered by customers at work. I don't get it! How someone can stand 2 feet from you, take your money and never even acknowledge you is beyond irritating!

[Veronica]

Hi Bean! Honestly did you really think of that whole circus senario while waiting to be checked in??? Very creative I must say. Next time lean over and take a glance at the computer to see if he really was doing his job. If not definitely speak to a manager.

[Edmund F]

In my defense. I'm just saying.

[Brian]

Bean,
Realizing it was you who wanted to spend the night at his hotel, he was probably purposely taking a very long time hoping you'd leave and stay someplace else.

[mel]

count yourself lucky, bean, the last hotel i stayed in had bedbugs! right here in van nuys, california!!!

and the manager, when contacted later, claimed we lied about the complaint - that his hotel had no bedbugs - no refund - no nothing...

that was the comfort inn, by the way - if any of your readers are interested... i wouldn't recommend staying there...