I’m sure there's a reason for the long face. I’m sorry about your dog, your relationship, your working conditions, that rash that won’t go away, but we’re paying for you to welcome us to your hotel. Whatever your problems are, we might have been travelling for 24hrs to get to the hotel, been trying to follow the poor directions to your hotel for an hour in peak traffic, and lost our baggage, our sense of humour, or perhaps the will to ever travel again. It’s your job to make it all go away by welcoming us to your hotel. With a smile. And that includes actually saying “welcome to the hotel”. It’s not hard, write it on a piece of paper and keep it behind the counter. Don’t like greeting people? Go and work in the kitchen. A general manager of a large multinational five-star luxury hotel responds: "There’s simply no excuse for reception staff to not give guests a warm welcome. And I am always sad when I hear from a guest that the check-in process was not a memorable experience and that they were left standing at the counter for a long time. There’s simply no excuse for a poor standard of service, no matter how busy the hotel is. There is never a valid excuse for lack of attention and assistance. Apart from being responsible for the check-in process, the main role of the reception staff is to receive guests – warmly."
Pictured? The reception desk of Qamardeen Hotel in Dubai. This, and its sister property Al Manzil, are two hotels where the welcome is always warm. And with the smile we get a refreshing little welcome drink and a fragrant cold towel. If they can get it right, why can't all hotels?