I work as a hotel receptionist – from refund seekers to entitled customers, this is what it’s like behind the desk
FROM having to deal with random people walking in the building in the early hours of the morning to trying to sort out a number of complaints, working as a hotel receptionist is not as easy as some may think.
When Louanna*, 25, moved to London early this year, she was in a desperate need of a job - and with an hourly salary of £12 (£3.50 more than the average national minimum for adults her age), a hotel receptionist position seemed like the best option.
But within a few days of the new role at a high-end hotel in London, Louanna realised it's not just the early starts that might become an issue - it's also some customers.
The entitled, the straight-up rude, the scammers - Fabulous spoke to the young woman to find out the ins and outs of life as a hotel receptionist.
THE ENTITLED
Charging up to £450 per night, the four-star hotel is definitely not within everyone's budget.
But with the hefty price tag, it also appears that those who are able to afford it also expect everything and anything in the service.
read more real life stories
During one of her first shifts, the employee recalled, there was a lady who barged into the lobby and walked straight to the reception past the queue of people who were all patiently waiting.
As if it was some emergency, the posh lady approached Louanna and her colleague saying she's had the ''worst day ever''.
''She was like 'Oh my God, I just went to this store and they gave me the wrong size, can you imagine?'''
''Now my husband's party is going to be ruined,'' she added before proceeding to ask Louanna for her phone so she could call the store and have them deliver the goods to the hotel.
Most read in Fabulous
Trying to be polite - and also slightly intimidated by the arrogant middle-age woman - the 25-year-old didn't even question the request and handed the lady her phone and listened to her ''grilling'' the shop's employees.
''A very strange experience.''
FABULOUS BINGO: Get a £20 bonus & 30 free spins when you spend £10 today
SHADY BUSINESS
When Louanna first joined the branch a few months ago, little did she know she'd have to also become a part-time investigator.
Chatting to Fabulous, she shared a story about an incident which took place relatively recently, when a man called asking to book the most expensive suite in the hotel for his granddaughter's birthday.
When he showed up the following day, the alleged granddaughter had suddenly become a daughter, and his young age, Louanna added, made the situation feel ''a bit suss''.
Alongside with her colleagues, she decided to call a few other hotels nearby.
This is because, she explained, there is something called a hotel blacklist database (if you're familiar with the crazy and unbelievable story of the fake German heiress, Anna Delvey, you'll know what this means).
Having contacted other hotels in the area, it became very quickly that the man had made several other calls of the same nature.
Though it's difficult to tell what the plan was, Louanna did say there was ''definitely something shady going on here''.
REFUND SEEKERS
Virtually everyone has been dissatisfied with a product or a service at least once - and this is where refund comes into play.
But for hotel employees like Louanna there's nothing worse than an unhappy refund seeking who is simply ''too stingy'' and wants his money back.
While the company policy is, like across most institutions, that customer is always right - and the refund will be issued with little questioning - she can tell when a person is genuinely disappointed.
''To be fair, I'd rather just give them their refund and not waste my energy arguing.''
RULE BREAKERS
Less common than rude and entitled customers but still just as annoying, Louanna revealed, are those who struggle following rules.
''I mean, they're there for a reason.''
Not only will breaking the set list of rules - such as smoking only in permitted areas or not entering premises that are strictly staff-only - make the day harder for employees but also ruin the stay of others.
Here, the 25-year-old recalled a recent instance where a bloke had gone outside for a cigarette on a rooftop.
But once the door had shut and he wasn't able to get back in, the alarms went off and everyone woke up.
The employees at the reception had to act quick and decide if the alarm was worth calling police for.
''We only had 30 seconds, it was so stressful.''
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Read More on The Sun
Luckily, no one was harmed and in the end there was no need for any services to rush to the hotel- but it's certainly a night Louanna will never forget.
*Name has been changed to protect the identity.