Case Study

Read the case study and answer the questions that follow.

Hotels and Problem-solving skills

An individual that shows problem-solving skills has the ability to solve issues creatively (Northouse, 2016). Working in a hotel for the first time I had no idea how much problem-solving skills were needed. Especially when you yourself would be alone in the hotel and you are the only one the guests can turn to in order to solve their issues, and if you dont have a solution that looks bad on you, your hotel, and your management. Now your management should prepare you to take over the hotel for eight hours and if they dont properly train you something will go awry.

Here is an example of what I am talking about. One weekend it was a special event weekend, meaning there were limitations to booking and refunds after booking. The job is to check people in, make sure they know the hotels amenities, and to make sure the guests have a relaxing experience accommodating to their needs, within reason. The within reason part was always tested. On a special event weekend, our guests have already paid for their rooms in advance, so the check-in process was halfway finished, easy right?

Eventually, by the end of my eight-hour shift, it is now 10:45 pm and I check in the next guest and they were not happy with the room type that they had purchased. They had purchased what was essentially a studio apartment this meant that the bedroom and living room area was one room they had wanted a one-bedroom suite with a wall and door between the bedroom and living room. Now that it is late in the evening, there wasnt anywhere else I couldve switched him with because our whole hotel was sold out of rooms due to the special event in town. This man became furious and began to scream that he was a member with our property and it was appalling that we could not accommodate him. In my head, I saw this as what am I supposed to do here? There werent any rooms left to move him to and he is making a scene for something I cannot change, and trust me I wished I couldve given him whatever he needed so that he would just leave the desk. His screaming and complaints did not cease for the next thirty minutes, his wife is crying in our lobby, and I have nothing else to tell him than what I had already explained to him.

I then went into the back office to find some kind of help from a co-worker, or honestly just hide from this man. I couldnt speak my mind with him and I was afraid I would lose my composure. I explained what was going on to my co-worker and he took a moment to think and noticed we had a folding wicker wall in our office. He interpreted the problem this guest was having as he just needed a wall between the bedroom and the living room area, not just a whole room entirely. He then proposed the solution to the guest and he was all for it and thanked my co-worker for taking care of his problem.

This problem I dont believe any manager couldve prepared me for so I was happy to witness this problem be solved creatively by my co-worker. This incident made me understand what kind of problem-solving skills I was going to need to succeed in this industry.

Questions:

1. If this situation happened to you, how would you have dealt with it? How would you have spoken to the guest? What would you have said?

2. Do you feel it is important to have creative problem-solving skills in the hospitality industry? Why?

Now is your time to practice problem-solving. Respond to the questions below:

3. They upset a customer because the appetizer they ordered to eat before dinner arrived at the same time as their main course. Show how you would respond to the customer: