Hotel-Room-Door-Handle
Having stayed in many hotels, we have experienced our share of disturbances.
Unfortunately, many of these disturbances have been caused by the hotel’s
staff. The most awkward and
uncomfortable ones come from the knocks and entries at the guest room
door. People treat their guest rooms in
a hotel like their bedrooms at home.
Unfortunately, they do not think about the fact that many employees in
that hotel have a key to these bedrooms.
On the other hand, many hotel employees do not think of hotel guest
rooms as being private to the hotel guests.
Three knocks and a quick key swipe and they have entered the room, too
quick for the guest to object.
Most
guests like to be comfortable in their rooms and are not in their normal,
public attire. It is very embarrassing
to be seen that way in an unplanned fashion.
Make sure that all employees in your hotel are properly trained in the
etiquette of how to properly knock and enter a guest’s room. Here are some the tips to remember:
1.
Before knocking on a door or entering a room, know if the room is occupied. Exercise more caution if the room is occupied
as there are certain guests who may not hear a knock at the door.
2.
Train
all employees on your standardized knocking procedure. A good one includes knocking three times and
announcing the department loudly, waiting for 10 seconds, and repeating. If access is required, then slowly open the
guest room door while announcing the department loudly again.
3.
Always
have the proper uniform with a name badge on and ask for
permission to enter a guest’s room, if the guest is there.
4.
Whether a room is listed as occupied or not, remember to use the same knocking procedure. There are many times where guests are in
rooms that are unoccupied in the computer system due to a mix-up.
5.
When
entering any room, enter slowly and with caution. Listen for clues such as the shower running
or a hair dryer, as these things can prevent your knock from being heard. If something is heard, immediately but slowly
close the door and attempt knocking again, if entry must be made at that
time. If not, wait a few minutes to
return.
6.
Establish
business hours for knocking on occupied rooms. Determine the times of day when knocking on a
guest room door are acceptable. This may
be change from weekdays to weekends.
Also, it will depend on the type of guests that normally stay in the
hotel. Normally, the safe zone is
between 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM.
7.
For normal housekeeping, never knock on occupied rooms unless you know that the guest has left
the room. Many good room attendants
pay attention as guests leave their rooms or check out so that they can
continuously clean the rooms that are unoccupied or vacant without disturbing
other guests. If the occupancy is unsure
of in a departing guest room, do not knock on that room until after checkout
time, they have paid for the room until then.
It is extremely bothersome for a guest that is sleeping to be disturbed
at 9:00 AM by a loud housekeeping knock when checkout time is at noon.
8.
Train
employees to knock with their knuckles moderately,
just loud enough for a guest in the room to hear. Do not pound on doors, knock very softly, or
use a room key to tap on the door. The
most pleasant way to knock is to do so in the most normal method.
9.
Never
knock on a guest room that has hung a privacy sign,
even if a request has been made. If a
delivery must be made and there is a privacy sign at the door, call the room
from the nearest house phone and announce yourself , asking for permission to
knock or enter the guest room. Do not
deliver any items into the room if nobody answers. Remember to call back to redeliver the item
later.
10. Lastly, train your employees on how to react when
caught in an awkward situation. They
must be able to immediately begin to remedy the situation by beginning to leave
the room but also announcing why they were there in the first place. They
should also report the incident so that a manager can issue an apology by phone
if appropriate.
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