I work for a hotel management company that owns four different franchises from three different brands (Choice, Hilton, and Marriott). I work at the Choice location.
Our building is very old and is quite literally falling apart. The third floor is bowing inward and definitely needs to be redone because several guests have complained because when you’re in those rooms, you can actually feel the slope of the floor. Our kitchen is tiny—basically just a closet with a 3 compartment sink and a convection oven. Our furniture is out of date. The locks on the doors don’t always work (in that they won’t UNLOCK when you use the key card). Despite all this, we have better reviews, better scores on our reports, AND make more money than the other properties combined. As a company, we are on target for our best year ever, and our property so far is responsible for over $700k of that.
Our guests say we have the friendliest staff they’ve ever had at a hotel, as well.
I say all this because not only are we openly called a “throw away” property, we are treated as such. I am the lowest paid employee, making less than the current starting wage. All of our staff (both full and part time) are losing hours hand over fist. Several of us are expected to work at the different properties even though the staff at those properties never come to work at ours. And, the icing on the cake… we were just given a new “labor schedule” that basically says we aren’t allowed to have any full time staff, and unless we’re sold out, we can only have one person per department per shift.
Our GM is doing what she can, but her hands are tied. This is coming from the corporate office. The same office that instead of investing in its people, would rather force us to run bare bones while demanding we maintain our level of service all so they can line their pockets… oh, and they’re looking at buying another property, too.
And to make matters worse, there is basically no Union support among my coworkers.
Ugh.
Thanks for letting me vent.