If you live in a small town or are part of any sort of community, everyone knows everyone. If they don’t know each other personally, it’s like a Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but with many less degrees – maybe only one or two. You know someone who knows someone.
The same thing goes for businesses. Different branches of some stores, that don’t have company-wide online inventory, will have to call each other to see if they have “X” item in stock. Pharmacists are “friends” with other pharmacists in the area, because they frequently have to transfer prescriptions and that sometimes requires a phone call. People who work in a certain field but jump from position to position within that field wind up knowing lots of people from within that industry.
And hotels? Well, we all know they have a master list of every guest, because they keep track of what hotels you’ve visited. But apparently, they keep track of a whole lot more.
“Well, duh,” you may be saying to yourself. “Of course they do. They have the credit cards I’ve used on file. They know how many points I have. That’s the price of doing business.”
Or…
“Well, sure,” you may think. “I love one particular ultra luxury brand hotel and stay there whenever possible. They know I prefer my bottled water without ice, enjoy firm pillows and want to be as far away from the elevator as possible. They even know my kid uses they/them/their pronouns and wants to be called “Max.” They have to keep that on file somewhere.”
Actually, though, it can be a whole lot more than that.
Sammie Kahkola, according to her LinkedIn profile, has worked for several hotels in the Southern California area. She’s been a guest services agent, a front desk agent (which seems to be pretty much the same thing as a guest service agent, but…), and is currently a front desk supervisor/concierge and night audit for a well-known hotel chain under the IHG umbrella.
Kahkola also has a TikTok channel where a good portion of her videos are about interesting guest encounters she’s had at work. However, she recently posted something of a warning on one of her videos about the information hotels will share with other hotels in their system if a guest is problematic:
@miss_hotelier Hotels warn each other about guests who could pose a significant disturbance. #HotelTikTok #FrontDesk #HospitalityIsASmallWorld
“I don’t think many people realize this, but I need you guys to know that hotels talk to each other, especially when they’re within the same brand,” she said. “Like, if you’re a member and you’re causing a disturbance, I can see where you have stayed, call them asked about their experience, and I can see where you’re going to stay to warn them about the experience that we had.
“For example,” she continued, “we had this guest that stayed with us. She was just the absolute worst and she caused a huge disturbance, made false allegations, threatened the hotel, and was still wanting service recovery and money back and points and all. Everything.
“We got a call from another property within our brand saying that they noticed she stayed with us. They asked about our experience, they told us about their experience, and then we realized she’s been doing this everywhere.
“So just know,” she said as a warning, “that if you’re the absolute worst, I’m going to be calling the places that you have future reservations at to warn them that you’re coming. And if I catch wind that you are going to be moving to another hotel or staying within the area, I’m going to be emailing all the hotels in the area to make sure that they know that you might come.
“So just know that we all look out for each other,” Kahkola concluded. “And if you are the absolute worst, everyone’s going to know.”
I could 100% see that happening. And based on a couple of the comments, it does:
- I have everyone’s email in this town. 😂. had a pest, I mean past guest yell why no-one had a room for her. I did that😁 — Neilbirdman
- I call the hotel next door to warn them. We’re different brands, but I don’t want them to have to deal with the problem guest either. — NerfThisBabe
- Why would [female name for “entitled woman who wants to talk to the manager”] care about hotels warning each other about them?? Bc they won’t be able to stay anywhere! They’ll be put on DNR lists & blacklisted!! — Lisa M
So there ya go, travel friends. Just one more reason why it’s best to think twice before being a jerk at a hotel – you may discover that you’re blackballed.
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1 comment
Interesting