Hotel Confidential: “Trying to find Johnny Seven”

24/7

At Hotels/Motels every shift is unique. The AM shirt is swift, checkouts and greetings, people leaving and others starting their work day. The PM shift is the busiest, checking people in the hotel. The third shift (Graveyard) is the slowest and sometimes the most challenging.

Late night, delayed flights, overly tired guest who had difficulty locating the hotel, due to road construction and detours. Fatigue=irritability. If the check-in is difficult, by no fault of the guest, it just maybe the final straw for the guest unleashing the mighty beast.

Late Night Safety

Late night, there are sometimes aliens (non guests) who want to enter the hotel, to use the restroom and they do not return. Locking themselves in the restroom to sleep, others looks for quiet corners in stairwells. Occasionally, we encounter dubious individuals walking down the halls pulling on door handles, hoping for an empty hotel room or a victim.

Some guest leave their rooms unlocked or forced open with a latch and walk away, sometimes with small children alone in those rooms, while they visit with a friend or look for a snack, several floors below.

This is one of my many reasons, hotels and motels have changed the design of the properties with interior doors. Requiring room keys to enter after 11pm and sometimes requiring a key to use the elevator.

Lookin for my man!

It’s the late night/ early morning, when wives and girlfriends, drive around the hotel, looking for the cars of their husbands, baby daddies and boyfriends. Once the car is discovered, some of these women demand entrance to the hotel, and the location of the rooms of these misbehaving men. The women usually leave when the Police arrives, occasionally the anger and rages leads to an arrest. Late night calls of a very young mother in tears with the sound of a infant in the background as she searches for the child’s father is especially sad.

Story from R.E. Sacramento, Ca “Tryin to find Johnny Seven”

2:38am Sacramento

(The phone rings) Hello, I’m looking for James Sutton. The agent returns, “I’m sorry, there isn’t a guest at this location by that name”. No huh? Are you near the the airport ? Yes? Are you the closest to the Sacramento Airport? No, there are others. How many? Probably a dozen or more. Oh? Well, I’m from Long Beach. Have you tried his cell? Yes, it goes to voice mail. I don’t know anything about Sacramento, he flew out of Ontario. Can you be a sweetheart and call the other hotels for me? I’m sorry ma’am I can’t. You might just go online and type in Hotels near Sacramento Airport? Oh, honey I can’t do any of that stuff! Wait a minute! Can you check for Johnny Seven, he sometimes goes by they name. No sorry, there isn’t a Johnny Seven here. Oh he has a lot of money, he drives a Towncar. Was there a plane crash at the Sacramento Airport? No. I know your busy and I would have no problem if you wanna put me on hold and call the other hotels around the airport. You may be better off waiting for him to call you,he could be asleep. Oh, not that man, he’s never asleep as long as there’s women around. Well I understand. Could you check if you have a reservation for a Johnny Seven? I’m afraid no. Your a good concierge. I hope you find him. I hope so too, I should have gone, but I don’t like airplanes-I’m a scaredy cat. Thank you so much, bye.