Tag: Wyndham

Extended Stay Frenzy – Hilton, Marriott & Hyatt Launching New Brands

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Within the past two years, we’ve seen an explosion of new hotel brand development and rapid advances in the way we travel. One of those new found changes is extended stay hotel brands such as Home2 Suites, Residence Inn, Hawthorn Suites, Hyatt House and more. 

An extended stay hotel offers guest rooms with larger living spaces, kitchenettes and additional amenities you wouldn’t find in a traditional hotel room. These types of hotels are aimed at travelers or guests staying for longer periods of time while offering the comforts of home. 

Extended stay hotels are nothing new to the industry, and have actually been around for several decades. During and after the pandemic, extended stay hotels have grown rapidly and quickly became the fastest growing segment in the hotel industry.

With all this new found expansion and an already crowded hotel market, brands like Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and even Wyndham have developed new brands to capitalize on the growing market and expand their reach. In today’s post, we will be taking an in-depth look at some of these newly created brands, how they plan to differentiate themselves and what we can expect as consumers from these new brands. First up, LivSmart Studios by Hilton!

LivSmart Studios by Hilton:

Back in May of 2023, Hilton teased it was in the process of developing a new extended stay hotel brand with Project H3. 

“After much anticipation, we’re thrilled to announce that LivSmart Studios by Hilton is official,” Isaac Lake, brand leader of LivSmart Studios, said in a statement. “With a resilient $300 billion workforce travel market, the extended-stay segment continues to grow. It has never been as primed as it is now for this long-stay brand, and we’re thrilled with the initial excitement we’ve received from owners.”

LivSmart Studios by Hilton will be aimed toward travelers and guests looking to spend about 20 nights or more at a time. Each location will feature communal common areas such as fitness centers, laundry areas and outdoor spaces with grills as well as fire pits. Hilton previously announced there would be free breakfast with grab-and-go items.

Rooms will be designed and furnished like Apartment-style studios. Each will feature fully-equipped kitchens with full-size refrigerators, dishwashers, microwaves, two-burner stove tops and plenty of storage. Multipurpose furniture in the guest rooms will create versatile spaces for working as well as relaxing and, of course, sleeping

It is reported that the first location should be open for business by the end of this summer in Kokomo, Indiana.

StudioRes by Marriott:

Prior to Hilton announcing Project H3, Marriott announced Project MidX Studios, another extended stay brand it would be adding to its 30+ brands. For context, Marriott already has four extended stay hotel brands, including:

  • Residence Inn by Marriott, where all rooms are suites and feature kitchens, with complimentary breakfast and an evening happy hour.
  • TownePlace Suites by Marriott, where rooms range from studios to two bedroom suites, and feature kitchens; Marriott describes this brand as being for “the Upbeat Realistic traveler”.
  • Element by Westin, where rooms range from studios to one bedrooms suites and feature kitchens, with complimentary breakfast and an evening happy hour; this is typically higher end than Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites
  • Marriott Executive Apartments, which is the closest thing in Marriott’s hotel portfolio to an apartment-style accommodation

Looking at the StudioRes design, it shares similarities to that of Hilton’s design however, I personally feel this design is very bland and slapped together for the sake of it. Marriott seems to be aiming at attracting more owners/operators with a cheaper startup and operational brand rather than improving on a niche market concept that can benefit potential new guests.

StudioRes will have a focus on the United States and Canada, with the most affordable cost-per-room product for developers, intended to accelerate speed-to-market, with a low cost to build. For a property with 124 keys, the model targets a build cost of $13-14 million, with around 54,000 square feet of total building area. The brand will also have a light operational cost model for owners and franchisees, meaning you can expect these hotels to not have many amenities.

Comparing this to the previously discussed Hilton design, I feel as though the Hilton design is way more put together and actually feels more detail oriented, has that service standard Hilton is known for and is overall a better concept. I feel like this concept is just pinching pennies and could honestly use more time and effort in development. Just looking at the concept art, it looks very rushed and slapped together. The exterior rendering doesn’t even look like a hotel at all. Plus why is there no bathroom rendering? Does this mean we are going to get a cheaply slapped together bathroom?

On many online threads, there are several loyal Marriott guests commenting on the company’s massive growth and inability to balance between developing its newer brands and keeping its older brands afloat.

“I get that the big hotel companies need a lot of brands to justify growth. But what happens to the old brands? I don’t see anyone really building and opening new Alofts anymore. That brand seems to be just existing. I stayed at the Aloft in Wichita last year. It felt like walking into a W property circa 2006. It was a hip concept back then, but felt very dated and just completely out of place in Kansas. What about Four Points? Is anyone really building and opening new Four Points properties? I actually think that Four Points is a better brand than Courtyard but Courtyard seems to be what developers want to build when they want something more than a Fairfield but something less than a more upscale brand. At some point, Marriott has to discontinue old brands and convert existing properties to something else. I’ve noticed that a tremendous number of 1970s and 1980s Marriotts have become Delta in recent years”.

Overall, I have to say I am extremely disappointed with their concept and effort they put in. Considering Marriott wants to create a concept for extended stays for 20+ room nights, their concept doesn’t stand out or incorporate anything innovative or new. I personally think this is very lazy and sad since the company is well known from the start for being innovative and groundbreaking when it comes to hotels. I just don’t see that from this concept at all. Marriott already has Marriott Executive Apartments and those are lightyears better. You would think you would want to top that concept especially if you want to create a whole new hotel brand from it. I just don’t see how Marriott, who is known for high standards and the details, is okay with this concept.

Hyatt Studios:

Before we get into Hyatt’s new brand, a quick note, compared to the previous two concepts, this concept is a more traditional extended stay brand not an apartment style, long term stay brand. Hyatt announced its new brand in April of 2023, in order to grow the company’s portfolio, guest base and tap into this new found exponential growth of extended stay hotels. 

“We are proud to launch the Hyatt Studios brand and bring the high-quality experience and level of care promised by the Hyatt brand to smaller markets and submarkets where we don’t have Hyatt hotels,” said Jim Chu, chief growth officer, Hyatt. “We identified a white space for Hyatt, creating a compelling opportunity to significantly accelerate our industry-leading net rooms growth, care for World of Hyatt members on more stay occasions and introduce World of Hyatt to new guests in a new segment which we expect will drive increased direct bookings for all properties across the Hyatt portfolio.”

Guestrooms will marry form with function and offer suites with kitchen amenities to provide comfort during extended trips away from home. The Hyatt Studios food and beverage experience will include a complimentary grab-and-go breakfast and a best-in-class, 24-hour market with a wide variety of options to satisfy extended-stay guests – from health-conscious snacks and ready-made meals to sweet and savory staples to fulfill travel cravings, all of which can be prepared and enjoyed in the guestroom’s kitchen featuring a multi-function convection microwave.

One major thing that sticks out for me is how Hyatt states “the brand is designed to be flexible based on developer needs”. Personally, I feel a brand should be designed for the guests experience, efficiently and ease to operate. Basically, what I’m getting out of this is there will be little to no form of brand standards. 

The specific relevant content for this request, if necessary, delimited with characters: Room design wise, much like Marriott, it seems very slapped together and bland. There is no pop of color or anything exciting to draw you in. While I get a kitchenette takes up a lot of room, why does it seem like the kitchen is weirdly placed in the middle of the room? Seems like they took a standard Hyatt room and slap a kitchen inside with a tiny closet. If this is supposed to be an extended stay brand, why does it lack storage options? Is it possible they just forgot that detail in the rendering or is it totally forgotten? Also notice how we don’t even get a rendering of the bathroom? Does this mean we are going to get a cheaply slapped together bathroom?

Final Thoughts:

One thing that is an immediate red flag for me as well is despite being different concepts, all three of the exterior renderings all suspiciously share the same color scheme and similar design. 

Despite this, I personally think the Hilton design is the most throughout, detailed and most guest oriented. Seems like Hilton is more focused on the guest experience instead of putting the developer first. While I get designing a new hotel prototype to minimize the start-up and operational costs makes sense, it shouldn’t be at the guest’s expense. This is just one of the many reasons Hilton always wins me over compared to Marriott, Hyatt and IHG. 

It’ll definitely be interesting to see how each of these brands expands and grows as time goes on. Will these concepts be well received or will there be massive changes made? Only time can tell.

Wyndham Prototypes: Expectations vs. Reality

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Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc. is a hotel company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. The company is known as the largest hotel franchiser in the world, with 9,280 locations across 22 unique brands. Some of those brands include the well established Howard Johnson, Days Inn, Ramada, Super 8, Travelodge, Baymont, La Quinta, and Wyndham. There is partially a brand for every market out there (economy, extended stay, full service, luxury, etc.)

So what’s the problem with Wyndham? Well, many of these brands are very established meaning many locations are very old, outdated and are becoming less appealing. Throughout the years as Hilton, Marriott, IGH and many others rolled out new designs, updated their brands and upped their standards, Wyndham just fell silent and kept on going. So, now many of these brands across the country are becoming less appealing due to this. Another reason for this is with these brands being franchises, it also means on top of being outdated, some locations aren’t run very well giving Wydnham a bad image. Lastly, the standards Wyndham has are very soft compared to what other companies have. They are jokingly called the “relaxed” hotel company which ties into the first point made above. 

All these factors give Wyndham a poor image. However, it is worth pointing out that not all locations or brands are terrible. It all boils down to the ownership and management at that particular location. Between 2018 and 2021, Wyndham finally woke up and came out with new concepts, updated designs and rolled out new standards. In today’s post we will be taking an in depth look into Wyndham Hotels & Resorts most recent brand prototypes and what the future holds for some of these brands. So without further ado, let’s jump into our first brand!

Days Inn – Bask in the Sun

The Days Inn brand was founded in 1970 by Cecil B. Day, who opened the first location in Tybee Island, Georgia. From the very start, this brand was innovative and creative with playing with new concepts and ideas. For example, when the second location was constructed, it featured a restaurant and gift shop combination called Tasty World. In addition to this, the hotel also had on-site gasoline pumps to sell unbranded fuel to motel guests. Days Inn was one of the first hotel chains to offer discounts to senior citizens. It was also among the first to locate its properties along suburban and rural exits on the Interstate Highway System, as opposed to more urban locations.

The brand is now a part of the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. As of December 31, 2018, Days Inn includes 1,728 locations worldwide with 137,678 rooms.

Throughout the years under Wyndham’s control this brand has fallen from its roots and just sat quite with no new room designs or innovations done. Pair this with very loose and poor quality control measures, the brand really has fallen to a cheap, hit or miss roadside motel brand. Finally, after many years in 2018, the brand announced it would be refreshing everything from room designs, branding and more.

As someone who works for this brand, I have to say this new room design really excites me as it really embraces the original spirit of the brand and takes the color scheme of Days Inn and really builds on it. As someone really into marketing, I love when companies make subtle references to their brand by using their color scheme or logos in creative ways. I can definitely see, at least in my hotel, the rooms going for a higher rate once we roll out this design.

Howard Johnsons – Go Happy. Go Hojo.

The history and story behind this brand is actually very interesting and a cool story to really take a look at. The Howard Johnson brand actually started as a chain of famous restaurants that were the first to sell 28 flavors of ice cream and create the classic diner experience we all enjoy today. Continuing to build on the very successful concept, Johnson began pairing new restaurant locations with lodging to target more travelers and families. 

Sadly, much like many of Wyndham’s economy or mid-tiered brands, this brand has also suffered the same fate of falling far from its roots and developing a poor brand image. Perfect example, the Howard Johnson location not far from my hotel I work at is notorious for police activity, drugs, prostitution, and other questionable activities. The hotel really is a hive for all these troublesome people and activities. However, just because this one location is like this doesn’t mean they are all exactly like this. My point is many of these locations suffer similar issues while some locations are much better off. It honestly all depends on the operators and owners of the property.

I have to say out of all the prototypes released, this is one of my favorites since it really takes the classic Howard Johnson style and brings it into the 21st century. It really reminds me of something you would see from HGTV or from one of those renovation shows. Like I mentioned above, the past few years this brand really has strayed far from its roots. I feel like this design really shouts Howard Johnson. One thing I do dislike about the design is I feel like there is way too much going on with the first design with the blue accent walls while in the other room there is too little going on. I feel like these designs clash with each other since one room has too much furniture, accents and decorations while the other is slightly too simple. Regardless this is 100% a major improvement over what the brand currently has.

Super 8 – See You On the Road

Ron Rivett and Dennis Brown created the new Super 8 Motel corporation with each of them owning 50% of the stock in the new company. Super 8 got its iconic name from how much a room used to cost back then, $8.88 which is about $50.00 in today’s money. The first Super 8, with 60 rooms, opened in Aberdeen, South Dakota, in 1974, built near a Holiday Inn with just some drawings made by Rivett as blueprints. The stucco exterior with an English Tudor style was inspired by Rivett’s father-in-law, who was a stucco; the English Tudor style and placing of Super 8’s near Holiday Inns was an established procedure for setting up new Super 8’s for years to come.

Out of all the prototypes I looked at that Wyndham released, these were by far my least favorite by a long shot. I feel like all they really did was take dull, drab and outdated and tweaked it barely. It really feels like these rooms are just more updated versions of old dated rooms. I feel like there could have been more effort put into these rooms. The color pallet in each variation feels too dark and clashes with everything else in the room.  

Not only did I feel like the interior was not amazing, the exterior was no better. If you look at the images of what new locations would look like, they look like an office building and not a hotel. While I do give them credit for trying to stand out from the standard box like design, I feel like they could have done a better job of making it look less office-like and more welcoming and relaxing like a hotel should be. Even the lobby also has an office building and commercial like atmosphere to it. Regardless, it is definitely a step in the right direction for the brand over what exists now.    

Ramada

Like many of the brands we already discussed, Ramada also had very humble routes and was innovative from the very start. Founded by Marion W. Isbell with the investment help of Michael Robinson and Del Webb, the brand started in 1953. 

Ramada opened its first hotel, a 60-room facility, on U.S. Route 66 at Flagstaff, Arizona in 1954 and set up its headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, where the chain built the Sahara Hotel on North 1st Street downtown in 1956 (which later became the Ramada Inn Downtown) and a 300-room Ramada Inn in the 3800 block of East Van Buren in 1958 that would become the chain’s flagship property and headquarters. 

Inspired by rival hotel chain Holiday Inn, Ramada seeked to develop a chain of roadside motor hotels conveniently located along major highways which would provide lodgings with hotel-like quality at near-motel rates plus amenities such as TV, air conditioning, swimming pools, and on-premises restaurants.

I always found Ramada an odd brand because it’s so widespread. Some locations have ballrooms, event space and are full service. Those are generally the nicer locations. Have an old school Hilton feel to them. Meanwhile there are also the select service locations that are just dumpy roadside motels. 

One thing I find interesting about Ramada is how much nicer the locations are in Europe, Canada and Asia. It just speaks volumes of where the brand currently is and what it hopes to be. Overall, I find the rooms are pretty much copy and paste from the Days Inn prototype. For Days, it works all the colors and the design. I think here it’s just too similar to Days. Also the design for Days Inn works since that is a select service/economy brand whereas Ramada is more of a full service midscale brand. I think Ramada is trying to be something it’s not. It’s trying to become like a Hilton, Marriott or IGH brand which it will never come close to.

AmericInn

The AmericInn Franchise was founded by Jim Graves, and the first location opened in 1984. By 1990, there were more than 20 AmericInn properties located in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In 1994, AmericInn began franchising with the help of Wyman Nelson, an entrepreneur known for expanding the Perkins Restaurant and Bakery chain in the 1960s and 1970s.

Expansion outside the Midwestern United States began in 2000. AmericInn has 240 motels, with more than 80 percent of its locations in the Upper Midwest.

All AmericInn properties include a recreation area with pool and whirlpool, as well as fourteen different types of guest rooms. A complimentary hot breakfast, called “AmericInn Perk,” is also offered at each hotel and includes bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy, waffles, pastries, cereals, juice, and fruit. Rooms are built with masonry block, sound deadening foam and heavy drywall between rooms, as well as concrete slabs, to minimize noise within rooms.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts acquired the brand in July 2017.

This honestly does not look like a brand Wyndham Hotels. It honestly has more of a Holiday Inn, Hilton or Marriott feel to it. We mentioned throughout this post, the contestant problems Wyndham has across its portfolio from poor cleanliness, bad management, outdated standards and more. AmericInn feels like the total opposite to all these issues. This is honestly the way Wyndham should be going portfolio wide. These rooms are definitely a good way to repair their damaged image from many of their brands without moving too far over to the luxury side. Genius move by the brand acquiring this chain back in 2017.

La Quinta

Just like all of these brands, La Quinta also started out as a separate independently owned and operated hotel company. The brand got its start in 1968 from a pair of brothers Sam and Phil Barshop. However unlike most of these brands, where many locations are poorly run, not clean or maintained, La Quinta has actually been setting the standards for new Wyndham brands and renovations. The brand is actually looked at as one of their top brands and is often compared to a Hilton or Marriott brand. Think about that for a second, most of the brands we have talked about, are not even remotely close to or comparable to Hilton or Marriott. This brand actually did such a good job, it’s now even helping the brands up their game and up their standards. 

The brand has also been so successful that it is now beginning to be used in dual branded hotel prototypes. A dual branded hotel comprises two similar hotels from the same brand family – such as a Residence Inn and Moxy by Marriott – in a single building. The brands share the same back of house areas and oftentimes share common areas.

Sadly, it is very difficult to find many development plans, images or renderings for the rooms that are publicly available. However on Wyndham’s franchising site, there are images showing what current locations look like.

https://development.wyndhamhotels.com/brand/la-quinta/

Overall, this is honestly Wyndham’s best and strongest brand they currently have in their portfolio. I would honestly love for all of their brands to get on La Quinta’s level. I think if Wyndham got their economy and mid-scale brands to this level, they could easily compete much better with the top hotel companies like Marriott, Hilton or IGH.

Final Thoughts

With Wyndham scrambling to play catch up to the competition, I think these new prototypes and standards will go a long way to improving all the brands and the experiences guests will have. 

Will these prototypes be enough though? I honestly don’t think so since Wydnham has such lax standards as it is. Many locations are poorly run and not maintained so in locations like this, I think this would just be a waste of time. You can make a hotel look as nice as you’d like but it won’t hide the problems of the hotel as maintenance wise or management wise. In locations like that, it’ll just look nice for a few months to a few years before it is back to where it is. However, in locations where management is good and the ownership cares, these upgrades can definitely go a long way. I honestly think Wyndham needs to step it up and follow in La Quinta’s footsteps since that is honestly their best brand (of course not including the luxury brands or resorts). 

What do you think of Wyndham Hotels and these new prototypes? Will these new changes convenience you to stay at a Wyndham Brand? Let us know your thoughts down below.

Revisiting My WORST Hotel Experience Ever

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Welcome back to Touristician and the first ever Touristician Review! Back in 2018 while on a summer vacation, I stopped in one of my favorite areas of Pennsylvania, Lancaster. Coming from Ohio to PA, I needed a place to stay the night since driving home was not feasible plus I had things I wanted to do the next day in PA before leaving the state. I stayed at hotels before and never have I ever had a bad experience like this one. Finally after all these years, I will be revisiting this experience to give it a proper rating. Before we get started let’s go over the rating system: 

I will be rating the hotel on a total scale of one to five on the following categories; 

customer service, rooms, amenities and finally, cleanliness/upkeep. After rating the hotel in each category, I will then rate my overall experience then give my final thoughts.  

So without further ado, let’s dive into today’s review!

Days Inn by Wyndham Lancaster PA Dutch Country

Customer Service – 0/5

For the purposes of privacy, no specific names of staff are mentioned down below.

Initially when first entering the very dated and dingy lobby, there was no front desk agent present or staff at all for that matter. I stood in the lobby for five minutes with my belongings after a long day on the road. Finally the front desk agent came around behind the desk, and they seemed a bit annoyed that I was “interrupting them”. They couldn’t even be bothered to apologize for the wait or be friendly.  I’m sorry, but if you’re a front desk agent that is your job and you have no right to get annoyed at a guest for wanting to check in or for needing assistance. If they truly felt this way, they are in the wrong business.

When I came back to the desk, after having problems with my room, literally nothing was done about it. The front desk agent had the nerve to say to me “Well, sir, any room I give you is going to be exactly like that so there is nothing I can really do for you.” Again, they seemed annoyed that they were being bothered again. They did not take ownership of the problems or even once apologize. They didn’t even offer me anything! It was at this point that I immediately checked out, called and had to fight for a refund and went to a Holiday Inn Express near by. In a future post, I will be reviewing that amazing Holiday Inn Express location.

Looking back and now as a Front Desk Agent myself who works for this brand, that is not acceptable by any means. I think this is one of the biggest problems with this brand is sometimes the hotels are just utter dumps that are poorly run and poorly managed. With these things unfortunately comes employees who also don’t care. I honestly don’t think this particular location was poorly run or managed based on other locations out there. I think overall they were heading the right direction but need to correct their problems to run smoother. You can tell the rooms were cleaned but there was no system to check or inspect the rooms therefore causing rooms to have cleanliness issues that should have been spotted. Speaking of rooms, let’s take a look at the rooms.

Rooms – 0/5

At this particular hotel they offered rooms with two queen beds, rooms with one king and suite rooms. From the pictures it looks like a decent, nice and affordable place to stop for the night. Unfortunately, the rooms had many issues from cleanliness to maintenance issues.  

Starting off with the bathroom, which honestly for the disgusting room I had, was the cleanest spot of the room. Upon entering the bathroom, it looked like a 1990s McDonalds dining room, which honestly I could care less about except for the fact in some spots wallpaper was peeling off the walls, there was rust, dirt and hairs in the grout of the tiles. Obviously since I left, I didn’t utilize the shower despite it looking ‘clean’, I honestly didn’t trust it. Everything I touched in the bathroom was sticky and if I recall correctly, I believe the floors also felt this way. Despite all these issues, they at least got some of the basics right, clean towels, fresh toiletry items and a clean sink. Other than that, everything else like I mentioned was either subpar, dirty or was not upkept well. 

Now onto the living space and sleeping area of the room, which is where the wheels truly fall off. The beds from the outside appear clean; however, once you peel the comforter off, you’re greeted with hairs, crumbs and lint all under the blankets. I honestly didn’t look at any of the pillows since I don’t usually use hotel pillows since I don’t sleep with hotel pillows. Much like the bathroom, all the furniture was sticky as was the floor too. The furniture was so bad that I had to place towels on the table I had my bags on. I think one of the most disgusting things in the room was the phone by far crushed up, and caked up layers of hairs, crumbs all over the phone and in every corner.

Amenities – 1/5

During my stay, I did not utilize many of the on property amenities since I immediately checked out. However, I did want to give my initial thoughts and feedback on what I saw at the hotel. The breakfast area was subpar and poorly executed. The entire area looked very neglected and thrown together. Seems like all this location offered was stale bagels, and old cereal in questionable looking containers. As I was putting together this post, I noticed the photo of the breakfast area looked nothing like what it did when I stayed. Makes me wonder if they finally got their acts together and improved it? 

As far as the fitness center, I really did not take a look at it during my short time at the hotel. However, I do want to give my thoughts on this as well. As with the breakfast area, this fitness area shouldn’t even be called a fitness center at all. Shame on them for even attempting to call that a fitness center. If we look at the top picture this is what they are trying to pass off as their fitness center while the bottom photo is the fitness center that is actually there. You can not throw two exercise machines and weight rack in a tiny room that’s smaller than a guest room bathroom. UNACCEPTABLE!

The Reviews Don’t Lie:

For the purposes of privacy, no specific names of guests are mentioned down below.

Ouch… Looking at the ratings summary the hotel is rated a 2.9 (Fair) with a 3/5 star rating. About 60% percent of guests found safety was an major issue, 59% said cleanliness was a issue and finally the biggest percentage of them all, 83% of guests said the bathroom in their rooms was an issue. If we dive into some reviews, we see all these issues and them some:

Just as bad as the reviews are the responses from the owner. Does this owner even have a clue what the heck they are doing? For example, in the review where it mentions bed bugs, the owner has the nerve to respond by saying “The room was thoroughly inspected and no bugs were found and also the room was rented out, with no further complaints. I want to assure you that we are thoroughly investigating this claim…” TIMEOUT! This owner has the audacity to say this guest’s complaint is only a claim?!? If more than one guest is complaining review after review, clearly this isn’t a claim. The fact the owner also says the room was rented out with no further complaints is pretty much saying to this guest that they don’t know what they are talking about. If this owner responds to reviews like this then doesn’t take the proper time to take care of issues like this one then just flip the room over and resell it is unacceptable.

Here’s yet another example of this owner calling a guest out saying that their complaints are only claims. “I want to assure you that we are thoroughly investigating this claim and that although we have not found any evidence of a bug infestation, we are taking the necessary precautions to ensure that nothing is missed. We respond promptly to pest alerts with expert extermination services and also treat to deter pests on a regular scheduled basis. We take this business very seriously and assure you that management has taken all the steps to make sure that all the rooms are clean and our ultimate goal is to make sure each guest had a comfortable stay.” Okay buddy… we don’t need a whole essay here. Stop saying what guests are saying are just claims. We don’t need a essay explaining how or what you do to “address” the problem. I love how this owner thinks by writing this, they will win over future guests by showing the procedure they do. Guess what… guests do not care about your long winded response. You should be ashamed of yourself and your embarrassment of a hotel. This owner needs to be sent back to hospitality school to relearn the basics.

Final Thoughts:

Overall this hotel is in rough shape from cleanliness issues, lack of maintenance, staff problems, poor management and finally poor ownership. This definitely was one of the worst hotel experiences I had so much so it almost ruined the vacation I was on. As I was writing this, to see the hotel has not improved at all and only has gotten worse is very sad. It’s Days Inn locations that give the brand a poor image and reflect poorly on Wyndham. This hotel is in such a perfect location if they only got their acts together there is no reason they could be making bank and achieve higher ratings.

In a future post, I will be reviewing the Holiday Inn Express location that saved my vacation and helped give me my love for hotels. I hope you enjoyed today’s post. What do you think of this hotel? Have you ever had a bad hotel experience? Share your story down in the comments below!

A Day in the Life of a Full Service Hotel Front Desk Agent

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Author: Blake

Ever wonder what it’s like to work in a full service hotel for a day? You’re in luck today! Today, I will be taking you inside a day in my shoes as a front desk agent at a full service hotel. Just a quick note I want to mention, not every hotel is the exact same or runs the same since each property is unique or has different standards. For example, if you work in a select service hotel (a hotel with no ballrooms and select amenities) or a full service hotel (a hotel with ballrooms ,restaurants and expanded amenities), it will change your work environment. I hope you all enjoy it and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them down below!

America’s Best Value Under The Sun

Before I take you through my day to day, let’s explore the property I work at and essentially consider a second home. So prior to being a Days Hotel, the property opened as a Holiday Inn in 1974. In 2016 the property was renovated and converted into a Days Hotel. The hotel currently has two ballrooms, a restaurant, indoor pool, fitness center, outdoor patio area. There are a total of 173 rooms in the hotel which makes us the largest hotel in town. 

You may be asking yourself, what’s a Days Hotel? Days Hotel is the same brand as Days Inn. The reason for using the word Hotel instead of Inn is due to the fact of how many rooms we have and also the fact we are a full service hotel. I’ll be honest, I was just as confused too when I first started but when you think about it, it does make perfect sense. 

I know the Days Inn brand does not have the best image to it. You may think of a rundown or poorly kept location on the side of the interstate. Well… you wouldn’t be wrong there about the brand since a lot of locations are like that. However, not every location is like that. Take mine for example, our property is one of the best Days just simply for how well it is run and how well it is maintained. In a future article, we’ll cover this topic more.

Holiday Inn vs Days Hotel Before & After Photos:

It’s amazing how hard it was to find these photos. I really had to dig for them in the archives but I found them. It was totally amazing to see how the hotel has changed from since I was to a kid to now working there. I remember attending a wedding here as a kid and looking back at these photos and comparing them to what I see daily is just crazy and brings back some memories.

Before taking you through a day in my shoes, I just want to quickly point a few things out and explain a few of the changes made to the building. One of the maybe not so clear things is the changes to the Coral Ballroom and restaurant area. Originally as seen below in the 3rd set of photos, the ballroom was a lot smaller than it was now. When the building was renovated, a part of the restaurant was demolished to create the bigger ballroom you see in the after photo. The restaurant is still there today but is smaller than it once was. Of course by doing this that whole dining room was redone. If I am being honest, I sort of like the original restaurant layout and ballroom design better. (If any of my bosses are reading those please don’t fire me lol). However when I think about it, I see why and it makes sense to increase the size of the ballroom so we can host two events at the same time. (Which is what currently happens here a lot of times on weekends).

The only other thing I want to point out that was a major change is the removal of the saunas and hot tub in the pool area. Sadly, I couldn’t find any photos of these amenities as many of these older photos are disappearing. I am very happy to recover these photos and keep the history of the hotel alive. As I work day to day and roam the halls, I can definitely still see touches of Holiday Inn and design elements of from the past still preserved. For example, we still have in the storage area some original Holiday Inn posters with the old school Holiday Inn logo. If my bosses are reading this, DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT THROWING THOSE OUT!

Just Another “Typical” Day

First, let me begin by saying there is no such thing as “just another day” for me at my hotel. My surroundings are always changing from having 2 weddings in house to having a full house during a busy holiday weekend. Depending on what is going on in the hotel on a particular day, it all shapes how my day will be. Like, I just mentioned having weddings. If I have no weddings, then I can expect for the most part a slower day depending on the time of year. On the flip side, if I have two weddings going on at the same time, I can expect a busier day and know to be prepared for it. Despite having events or not, busy or slow, I still make sure to do the best job I know I can do and am expected to do.  

The Daily Grind

Typically, I begin my day at 3pm and will wrap up my day around 11pm. When I first come in, I meet up with my team and get filled in on everything that is going on and what happened in the morning. After that, I head around to the desk where all the action happens. I typically check my arrivals, my availability and prepare accordingly. Depending on the day, I can get anywhere from 10 arrivals, if it is slow, to over 100 if it is busy. Of course one of my main jobs is to check guests in and out, serve my guests and assist them with whatever they may need. 

Sometimes if there are banquets going on, I will jump in the back and help out as needed. Typically, I only can do that if there is another front desk agent working with me and if it’s not overly busy at the desk. I’m very big on being a team player and helping out where I can. For example, if I go into housekeeping to get more towels, if I see the dryers are done and finished, I’ll take the extra few minutes and empty them for the housekeepers so that it is less work for them.     

Anything Can Happen…

Remember how I said how no day is ever the exact same? With the fact, anything can happen anytime and anywhere in the hotel, it makes each day different
and sometimes challenging. On some days you will have a busy shift but it is quiet where nothing happens and there are other days you have a mix of both. From having emergency situations to dealing with crazy people, anything can happen. Sometimes you even have things happen that you have never seen before and you can’t believe it. Believe me, I have plenty of stories to tell and some I still can’t believe even after some time. For example one of my most recent stories includes a guest screaming at a bush outside and having a solid one on one argument with the bush. I think the bush one though… cause after a while the guest gave up. It’s things like this that make the job interesting and play a part in the idea that not everyday is the same. I can honestly, sit and write about all my crazy stories for hours. If you want to hear some of those stories go check out our Top 10 Craziest Stories as Told By Front Desk Agents blog post.

Advantages of Working Full Service:

At this point, you may be thinking why would I want to work in a full service hotel, it seems like a lot of work. I’ll be totally honest, some days are very challenging and you’re running around like crazy while other days it is a lot slower paced. One reason I love full service is for this very reason the fact there is that balance of slow days and busy days. So you’ll never just be dead slow or insanely busy all the time. I tend to notice this more on weekends where Fridays and Saturdays are insane followed by a relaxed Sunday to end off the week.

Another reason I love full service is the fact of the people you meet during your typical shift from the events going on or the large groups coming in. Sometimes you meet the coolest people from these groups and you suddenly find yourself talking with them as if you knew them for a long time. I think the best example of this that sticks out to me is the time this gentleman came up to me and told me he was inside my hotel when it was being built during the late 1970s. He told me this story of how the police department used the half built building for police drills and training. If that wasn’t cool enough, he took out his wallet and showed me pictures of the hotel during construction and of the drills. Even months later, I still put this at the top of my list as one of the coolest interactions I had.

Sunset At The Days

As the day fades into the night and it turns 11, my shift officially comes to an end. Before I leave for the night, I do any paperwork or reports I need to do, count the drawers again and finally I hand off the night to the night auditor. Typically, I fill them in on what happened all throughout the day, things they need to know and anything that needs to be passed on to the morning crew. Lastly before I clock out I make sure the cabinet with all the towels and extra linens is stocked for the night so it makes the night crew’s job easier. After all that is finished, I head out for the night and wait to do it all again the next day. 

And that is a day in my life! Thank you all for enjoying this blog!