Staff2Staff Archive: -January 2008
What we said to each other through January 08.
If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall.
~Nadine Stair
What we said to each other through January 08.
January 24th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
POOL DOOR
Blinks red & green when inserted with guest key (not mine). I think that is a sign of low batteries. Morgan, can you have Seth or Regino change those, please?
January 24th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
LOG
When writing about guests, please refer to their confirmation number, not their name.
CHECKING GUESTS OUT & HK REPORT
Please don’t forget to check guests out, after 3 (given they have really left, of course). As you know, you can’t check new guests into a room if the previous guest is still checked in. This is the AM shift’s responsibility.
Please don’t forget to update the Housekeeping report, for now just before you go home (we will probably need to find a more accurate system in the summer). This is the PM shift’s responsibility.
NEW BOOKINGS
Please check the NEW BOOKINGS section at least once per shift. I processed reservations from several days ago today.
HOMEWORK
Which brings me to: non-work related activities. Phone calls are starting to pick up, the Spring insanity is closer than we think. My wonderful, educated beauties: please slowly start to phase out the homework at work situation. As always: if there is nothing at all to do, the lobby is sparkling clean, all gift certificates are made, the phone doesn’t ring, the garbage is empty, go ahead and do what you need to do. But please don’t let work slide, that makes me feel stressed out and then I get lines in my face and then you’ll have an ugly boss, you don’t want that, right?
FEDEX
There is a package from Laura for FedEx on my desk, they should come for pick up. Also: Laura wants some snow, so please work on that.
MORGAN’S LIST
Happy Monday, Morgan!
Can you please follow up on the eternal question: can we integrate our phone system and our fine key system into WRP? Please call CenturyTel and our friends at Onity again.
And I know we have bigger problems, but can you still write a saline pool proposal for me, please?
And can you call all major universities and community colleges (U of WA, OSU, Portland State, Skagit Valley, etc you know them better than I) and ask of a way to list jobs (in our case: front desk positions, both, full time and seasonal) on their job boards?
I listed our openings on an online job board at Highline Community College, but couldn’t find ways to do that at other colleges.
I left the spa a message about a massage inquiry, conf. # 1007519.
And now some very important advice:
Don’t rent the Philippino movie “I will always love you”! You might think: “Oh, I don’t know anything about that country, it’s a love story, I love those, and it was at Sundance and I’m widening my horizon.” You are wrong, wrong wrong. I have never seen a worse movie in my entire life. And it goes on and on and on. Consider yourself warned!
January 24th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
PTA DONATION
There is an envelope on the back desk for the Friday harbor Elementary PTA I left a message with Liz (president) that she could come pick it up.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:44 pm
LOTS of walk ins in the early evening.
Is it just me, or can i not seem to get the tree lights on?!?!? Help, i must be confused because when i flip the switch in the trees- nothing happens
Burrrrrr….it’s been chilly outside!
Raquel asked me to type up housekeeping forms for her, they are on the back desk waiting for her approval. If something needs to be changed, they are saved on the back computer.
ps. if any one is feeling charitable there’s a food drive at school and i would love to reach my goal of 30 cans (thats also enough to win a SUPer-Duper customized food drive 2008 tee-shirt)..any takers???
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Landscaping (which will include some noisy asphalt cutting and bulldozing) by the laundry room is now scheduled to begin the week of February 4th. I have blocked out Building B for that week with the exception of reservation #981615. Please offer to upgrade her to a Sky place so that the noise doesn’t bother her. Of course, if she wants to stay, that is fine also.
Also, some folks from the Town, OPALCO, Century Tel, etc. will be coming by to locate lines in the area. If they have any questions, please direct them to the area just to the left of the laundry room (where the vents are) in front of rooms 304-307. Thanks!
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:58 pm
314- requested a check out of 11:30, please check with housekeeping to make sure thats okay, they have a very elderly mother with them and are catching the 12:40 boat.
no complaints on the pool house yet, so that was good
Regino’s in room 320 again for his night duties
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:08 pm
FEDEX part deux
Well the blog deleted the link to the FedEx website but I am sure you can figure it out. We now also have a couple of official FedEx envelopes on the shelf in the back office right next to the extra computer paper. We also have a couple of the self-adhesive clear plastic sleeves for the shipping forms to go in. All off this fun stuff is in a folder in the black, wire racks behind the front desk.
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:43 pm
FEDEX
Well folks, we now have our very own FedEx Account. We can order package pick-ups and print off shipping labels all online. So, to get started you have to go to . If you have a package all ready to ship, with the label on it already, you can just schedule a pick-up. Pick-ups are made on the main FedEx page by clicking on the “Ship” tab at the top of the page. A drop-down box will open and you then select “Schedule a Pick-up.” You will be asked to login and confirm some details, and choose a shipping type. Should be easy. If you need to make a shipment and print out a label you can login and set that up directly from the main page. Go to FedEx.com and fill in our login/pass then select “Ship a package/envelope” from the drop-down menu below the password field. Fill in the blanks required in the from that follows. Basically just fill-in everything it tells you and you should be alright. If you only get one copy of the recipt make sure you make another copy to give to Cindy. A new folder will be in the racks by the Post San Juan form for all FedEx stuff. Ask Morgan if you have any questions.
Our account information is: Please post in the office.
January 20th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Hi all, I know the pool seems terrible, but lets all remember that we lived with it like this like this before for a winter (I think)before the new system got into place. The building will be okay until this week. We cannot turn on the dehumidification system or it could destroy the whole system, the mold on the wall, should be sprayed down wth bleach water and wiped down (could someone please write this on the housekeeping report on Monday morning?) These are the situations we all need to take a deep breath with and try to remember that somethings can’t be fixed quickly. The exercise equipment should have a tarp on it, can somebody please make sure this happens?
Friday’s (Bird Rock)
It was brought to my attention that Friday’s (Bird Rock) was left unlocked, the front door was locked but none of the other doors, WHOEVER enters into the building HAS to make sure that they always close it after themselves. There are tools (expensive) being left in there, and the building has to be secured when the last person leaves for the night. Please pass this along to housekeeping in the morning.
Thanks everyone:)
January 19th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
BUSY!
WEBSITE SPECIALS
Some unhappy campers, four in particular, who claimed the website specials promised better deals. Thank you Adam, for changing the wording immediately, now there are really no confusions anymore. So: one can’t combine specials, if you book safe/earth you can’t add on a supersize Sunday for $47. 2 guests complained they had to pay for the 2nd night above the $377 for the Equinox special, Adam changed the wording on that as well. However, Adam o.k.ed to add a $47 Friday or Sunday to a Saturday night Equinox booking. So please go ahead and offer that to guests.
THE ????? FAMILY STORY
Mr. & Ms. ????? plus fuzzy puppy checked in to 325 today, only to find that the room wasn’t cleaned (Morgan, please remind Raquel tomorrow). I put them then in 306. They went out, came back and couldn’t get back into their room, the dog was locked in the room, all their stuff was in there. Seth was unreachable, I called Morgan. Together we tried everything from different keys to unscrewing the lock. I even read the Onity manual. Morgan, my hero and savior, tracked down Seth through secret channels and Seth advised him from Roche Harbor what to do next (break in). Morgan got a dangerous looking tool from Friday’s. Meanwhile I moved the guests to 305, so they would be warm. They came to the office saying the heater there doesn’t work. Does anybody know about this? So I checked them into 307 while Morgan broke into 306 and saved the puppy and the day. 306’s door is broken now (closed). I took all charges off the guest’s bill and blocked out rooms 305 & 306 until 1/31/08.
POOL
I didn’t mean to overreact yesterday when asking Morgan to call Dave, the situation just seemed to deteriorate. But so far so good. No changes from yesterday, it’s wet, so far nobody asked for a Health Club coupon.
That’s it for now.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
POOL HOUSE
Oh it’s bad. The mold is growing as we speak, the towels are soaking wet, the TP is translucent, it feels like a bad Vietnam war jungle scene in there (I probably have dengue fever now). I asked Morgan to please call Dave tomorrow, to ask if we can turn the dehumidifier on, just to get some of the moisture out of the air (it isn’t broken, right?). So please, Dave, forgive me for being called on Saturday. Morgan also said that we will lose our exercise equipment to the moisture, the water just dripping on the equipment. I asked him to get with Seth tomorrow (Raquel & Regino off island) and move it someplace else. So Seth, also, forgive me for making you work Saturday. Any other weekend I would say, let’s just shut the pool house, but we have all these couples here (almost sold out of Sky), especially coming for pool & hot tub. Alright, I’m done whining.
ADD ON’S
When guests want to add a massage, whale watch, dinner, etc., please write a note in the “guest remarks” section, date & initial, like we used to. Make sure your note is clear enough for another person to take over where you left off, for example:
want 60 min side by side massage on Saturday, 1/19/08, noonish, fee added, left msg with spa, vouchers needed, 1/18/08 sw
Update the note as progress is made, for example:
60 min side by side massage on Saturday, 1/19/08, 12:30, fee added, confirmed, voucher needed, 1/19/08 mlp
We need to have that information in the “guest requests” section. We need to see this when we open the reservation.
In addition, please utilize the “Alarm” system, i.e. if the whale watch is not until July, make an Alarm for the week before to remind yourself it needs to be booked.
Please please remember, more information is better than not enough.
As always, if you have input on this, please let me know. The new system is not quite fleshed out yet.
Gracias
January 17th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Small white space heater from office living room was put in to 312 for two ladies who were feeling chilly, very friendly they will be her for 4 nights.
one problem- room 301, when the water was run in the tub it came out quite brown, man felt he would like to be moved. once in room 303 he was fine, but the water again ran out slightly brown. problem went no further. however, some one should send housekeeping to room 301 which is now empty to investigate what was going on, i left the brown stuff in the tub.
January 17th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Pool
Dehumidification system is shut down, we are going to be installing a heater in the building that will make the system run the correct way. That project will not start until the beginning of next week. If any of our guests have any issue with the way the pool and or the exercise room is, please don’t hesitate to offer them a pass to the SJ Fitness Center. I wouldn’t offer this unless they ask though. I am calling the Fitness Center to set this up. I should have some passes available at the front desk by tomorrow. Call me if you have any questions. Remember the pool air will look really foggy, the windows may be open during the day, so whoever is closing at night should walk through the pool building and make sure the windows are closed tight.
Thanks you
January 16th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
yay! teamwork…all shifts were covered and ran smoothly.
call from Ciely @ the spa inquiring about a side by side massage appointment on the 20th..does any one know anything about this?? if you do please call her.
and..Morgan is the king of homemade chicken noodle soup!
See you tomorrow
January 16th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Hi there, it sounds like you all have today covered. Well done, I will be back on the 2:30 ferry, (I hope). Call me if you need anything. Thanks again Morgan for the 45 min coverage. Thanks Elena for covering for Priscilla. Such Team Work..
January 15th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Elena- Morgan will come in at 2:15 for you and cover, I will be in around 3:00
I will be back as fast as possible for you Elena after my meeting, hopefully right at 6:00
Regino- is staying in room 320
January 15th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
There will be a package coming in from CSN Ceiling Fans, via fed ex, please put it in my office.
Thanks,
Cindy
January 15th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Pool
The exercise room carpet is moldy, the wall under the window is wet, and one of the light fixtures on the ceiling appears to have water in it. So here is the solution: Wednesday Seth will be pulling all of the exercise equipment out of the room, he will move it right outside of the sliding door, he will cover it with a brown tarp and secure it with a rope of some kind. He will then remove all of the carpet and place a heater in the room. On Thursday, Homeport Flooring will be installing new carpet, Dave will be installing a new ceiling fan, (the old one’s motor was burnt out) and 2 new energy efficient light fixtures to replace the old ones on the ceiling that have rust in them because of the moisture that is building up due to the ceiling fan being burnt out. WOW… Browne’s Heating has not been returning any of our calls and so due to that, I have put in a call to West Mechanical, West Mechanical will be coming by quarterly to do any maintenance to our new pool dehumidification system. If West Mechanical stops by anytime, they may have access to the pool and the building that has the dehumidification system in it.
From this point on, the sliding door into the exercise room should always be shut, the window’s should always be closed and the ceiling fan in the room should be running,(fan switch on the wall next to the light switch) Whoever is on closing schedule should be checking to make sure that this is always happening before they close the pool at night. If you notice that the windows are being opened, whether it is in the pool house or the exercise room let me know.
Laura
All the new lights for building D and B are in. They arrived today, I have them accounted for and stored in room 332, Dave will have someone start installing them sometime this week.
Sealy delivered 19 mattress for Bird Rock, they are in a new storage unit, (one of Donnie Galts) we did not have any more room in the other storage units.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Guess what??? Onity justed called AGAIN, they don’t know if they will make it this week or not. I will let you know when I am sure what the ETA is.
Exercise room is closed, ceiling possible leaking, mold growing up through the carpet. YUCK… I will keep you posted.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Rooms 301-307 are no longer booked out of service for the week of January 23-31st. We had to reschedule with the landscapers, but I don’t have a new date yet. Stay tuned (and thank you for your patience!)
January 14th, 2008 at 11:05 am
ARE YOU A TRUE ELEMENTONIAN?
Take the test in the staff2staff section and find out.
January 14th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Onity will be here on the 16th and 17th this week instead of the 21st, they just called me..
January 14th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Room 333 has a broken front door lock, the keys for the French doors are lost. So the lock on the front door will be fixed on the 21st of January when Onity gets here.
Thanks,
January 13th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
CORPORATE ACCOUNTS part 2
In WRP when you go to SET UP - CORPORATE ACCOUNTS, you can see all corporate accounts we have set up. Remember the list on your computer is only a reminder and already outdated, more every day. Frank, the WRP wizzard will add a line to the list of corporate accounts, you can access as described above, explaining what payment method those accounts have with us: direct bill, or charge credit card on file, or check, etc. So look there whenever in doubt about payment method.
CONFIRMING A RESERVATION
When you want to confirm a reservation and process the payment, there is a little button letting you change the guest status from NEW to CONFIRMED. I’m sure it has happened to all of us: you hit CONFIRMED but the payment doesn’t go through and you need to find the reservation again to change the guest status back to NEW. Not anymore! Leave the guest status NEW when processing the payment. Then send a confirmation email, sending the email will automatically change the guest status to CONFIRMED. Yeah.
RAQUEL & REGINO
Are awesome. And are expecting vast amounts of shipments for Bird Rock, furniture, carpet and such. When a shipment like that arrives, call Raquel, except on Thursday (1/17) and Friday (1/18), when she will be off. Call Regino instead, he’ll be off Saturday (1/19) and Sunday (1/20) this week.
Aaand: Raquel & Regino will celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary on 1/25. Wow.
311
Check with Raquel before checking somebody in 311. The housekeepers said the TV doesn’t work correctly, but we had no complaints from the guests currently checked in. Maybe they had something better to do?
January 12th, 2008 at 8:53 am
One more thing about the pool, Dave put in a new element in the pool heater, that was not the only problem, it needed some
fuses, Dave will be going to the mainland on Monday and will pick some up, the pool should be back to normal tempature on Tuesday.
January 11th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Morning Elena!
all was smooth tonight.
Cindy said that the pool may be a little underheated if anyone says anything because the heating element is not working correctly.
have a wonderful day
priscilla
January 11th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Hi everyone,
I wanted to let you know that I have extended an invite to Terry Ogle and anyone in his family that may need accomodations during this tragic time that is happening to them all. Please do not ask for any sort of payment or deposit of any kind, put all the reservations under Terry Ogle and leave it at that, all rooms will be at zero costs. Terry did tell me that they are all staying pretty close together so that they probable do not need any accomodations but if they do please put them in our nicest rooms available.
I also told Terry that they could come and use the pool facilities even if they don’t stay here.
Thanks to you all for making all of our guests feel comfortable and at home while they are staying with us.
Of course as always I think you are ALL awesome..
January 10th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
CORPORATE ACCOUNTS
Guys, this is important: When making a reservation for somebody we have a corporate account with (how do you know? look on your computer: a little list with all corporate accounts as of 1/08), that is the WA State Ferry, SJ School District, Victoria Clipper and some other groups:
1) Start making a regular reservation by taking down the name of the person staying in the room (we don’t get paid if we don’t know who was here, no money - no hotel survival, no hotel survival - no job!!)
2) scroll down the little corporate account field and attach reservation to applicable account
3) WRP assigns automatically the room price Cindy negotiated
4) Most but not all Corporate Accounts are DIRECT BILLS. Cindy is trying to figure out a way to attach who is and who isn’t to the corporate account. So wait for more info on that.
Easy enough? So please no more creating yet another account for the WA State Ferry. Ask Cindy or I if you have questions about this and scroll down that corporate account list occasionally in case I don’t update the little lists on your computer fast enough.
END OF DAY RECONCILIATION
When you are closing, please print a reconciliation of the day (reports - reconciliation). Look over it: have all guests checking out been paid in full, if not, why? If they were a direct bill, they’ll still owe money, for example, that’s fine. Initial and put in Cindy’s box.
SENTENCE I LIKED
“Rational actions require reliable information.”
Isn’t that deep?
January 10th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I just blocked out building B from January 23rd to January 31st for maintenance. Actually, this is to install a new garden…yeah!
You all should go over to Friday’s and check out the destruction, if you haven’t already. It’s pretty cool to see how it looks now and then, hopefully, how much better it will look in a couple of months.
January 9th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Megan Pollack has not come by for her money yet. And that is all there is to report
January 9th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
The date is set for the property inspections for the key locks. Gary Bosik will be coming on January 21, 2008 to inspect and fix all the key locks.
Also, yesterday when I wrote in the log, I wrote that I would like the door to the exercise room to stayed closed (OOPS) after talking with Seth he told me it should stay open to let the fan system work in that room also, so please make sure that the sliding door stays open.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Hello all Elementians! TechieChris here - just wanted to say HI and BYE to everyone! Off to Argentina tomorrow. You can track my voyage at http://www.photosfrombelow.com/trackme
Now - the meat of this post. I installed a program on ALL computers, called LogMeIn, which will allow me to come in while away and do maintenance tasks, as well as help if there is a need. Please DO NOT disable or uninstall! (I found it un-installed on the front left desk today - bad!) It’s OK to leave in there!
Thanks and ADIOS to all my Elements pals!
January 8th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Hello,
Yes it is me your favorite MANAGER:) I am here, but have been slacking on my blog responsibilities, SORRY… Here is some information for you all.
Key System
We have been having too many issues with new keys, I called Onity and have set up a property inspection with one of their installers. They will email me and let me know when this will happen. We may be receiving a box with parts in it from Onity, so please let me know when these arrive, they will be the new weather proof gaskets that all the locks should have had when they were first installed.
You all did such a awesome job over the holiday’s, it was wonderful for me to be gone and to not worry at all about anything at work. THANKS SO MUCH…
Lights
We still need to remove the Christmas lights from the office building and building E, Regino is going to do this, but he is really busy at Friday’s, if we are not busy in the front office, we could start taking the bottom lights down off the office, I have new plastic tubs in the back luggage room.
Luggage room
It is getting organized, please,please, if you are slow out front could you please make sure the luggage room and the gift shop staying organized? It is such an eye sore when the door is open to the lobby and we have all the mess back there.
Pool
The door to the exercise room needs to stay closed, the fan in that rooms needs to stay on (the ceiling fan). I went in there on Monday and it was REALLY wet in there.
Garbage
Remember to always empty the garbages when you are on the closing shift, the includes mine and Laura’s office.
That’s all for me, by the way, where is the SNOW??
January 7th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
AMANDA BALTAZAR
A travel writer will check in with us tomorrow (Tuesday). Please put gift bag (on my desk) into her room (308) before her arrival. She is here especially to write about the spa, so make sure you point out the spa when you sign her in. Be super nice and helpful, please. Adam will meet with her sometimes on Wednesday and she’ll get a free massage from the spa (that’s all set up, nothing to worry about).
BEACH CRUISER BIKES
We’ll get new ones next season and will sell the old ones for $75, but not until we ordered the new ones. If you know somebody who wants to buy one, please take down their name and number. Thank you.
PRISCILLA
I have a homework assignment for you: can you please polish all the good silverware and roll it (fork, knife, spoon combo)into napkins and put a ribbon around it? So when we get a room service order, we don’t have to start doing the dishes first. Thank you.
January 6th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Me again. Captain Maya is out of town for three weeks and his boat is being worked on. So there is no whale watching whatsoever until the end of January.
Also: Regino is touching up the water places in building B. I didn’t block them out. Moved tomorrow’s reservations to earth places (all construction workers). Ask Regino on Tuesday if they are ready, we have one guest checking into 305.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
FERRY SCHEDULE
Has changed and we need schedules. Morgan, let’s try to get some tomorrow.
STEPS
Menus are in all rooms
Estas mui tranquilo aqui.
January 5th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Not at all busy today and very few phone calls
January 4th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Thank you, Adam, for the Bird Rock branding intro, very cool.
IMPORTANT
The locks to rooms 338 & 341 are busted. The lady, who does our new floors needed access and I called Seth, who tried to get in through the French doors, but the French door keys to those rooms are missing. Does anybody know where they are? I’ll ask Regino tonight as well.
Room 310
Bed still broken. Seth & Regino are really busy at Bird Rock right now. I blocked it out until 1/10/08. Adam, I moved the travel writer to 308, is that o.k. with you?
Room 118
Chris Teren was in today and told me that there is no wireless in room 118. So make sure our guests know that when making a reservation. Put them in 101 if they need it and have a pet.
Pool Video Screen
Is busted completely. Chris was working on it and now it doesn’t work at all. I’m sure Chris will fix it before he goes on vacation. I was on a lenghty reservation phone call when he left, so he couldn’t really brief me.
STEPS
is open again! Wednesday through Sunday at 5 PM. Madden was in today, brown as a hazelnut from Hawaii, and brought new menus. Elena, let’s plan on putting them in the rooms Saturday & Sunday. Everybody: reread the STEPS room service procedures in the front desk manual. Don’t forget our spiffy, yellow hot holding bag when going down there. Bring the clip board behind our kitchen door to the room, when delivering the food and add 15% to the total due, when adding the food to a guest check.
Adam
When you have a second, can you try to add our wireless password to the invoice (I know there is virtually no space). Our promo material says it’s on there and guests get very confused.
Wood
It’s that time of the year again: Steffi is out of wood and nobody is selling. If anybody sees some for sale, please let me know, brrrrr.
January 4th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Hey Steffi and anyone else interested,
To answer your question about why we decided to go ahead with the rebranding of Friday’s as Bird Rock Hotel:
We have long wanted to get away from a couple of things about the old Friday’s identity. One is setting ourselves apart from the crowded list of “Friday-something” lodging on San Juan Island. Another is that we feel “historic” has become something of a ball-and-chain. Sure, it still appeals to some people, but to our core market of chronically forward-thinking urbanites from Seattle, Laura and I believe it is something of a downer.
When the credit crunch and other macro-economic factors led us to scale back our remodel, we decided to hold of the rebranding because we weren’t sure the more limited conversion could support the new brand. As we progressed with these plans, though, we found two things. First, Laura was really able to accomplish a lot even with less. The re-branding is really testimony to her creative ability and consistency of vision more than anything else. She has worked and is still working very hard at what has become a shockingly efficient transformation. And, one that we feel can support the new brand after all.
The second thing we discovered as we worked with website designers on a make-over of the Friday’s website, was a sort-of unresolvable conflict between the Friday’s brand (remember that brand is not just image, but everything) and what Laura was creating on the ground. It was like tyring to cross-breed a stone with a tree. One day (”aha”) we realized that if we replace the Friday’s brand with the Bird Rock brand, things that seemed incongruent before started to fit together and, in fact, compliment each other.
So, we decided now was the time after all. Our marketing message is still being refined, but here is a draft version of the text that introduces and describes Bird Rock Hotel.
The Evolution+Revolution of San Juan Island Lodging
When the apple fell on Newton’s head, he was already thinking some pretty heavy thoughts. They say Kerouac wrote On The Road in three weeks, but only after miles of wandering. The Wheel, Relativity, Personal Computers: humanity’s significant achievements are always a flash of inspiration after years of curiosity, creativity and experimental head-scratching. Evolution+Revolution. Bird Rock Hotel brings this kind of “aha” moment to Friday Harbor, with a carefully-crafted modern collection of unique hotel rooms bursting into existence at San Juan Island’s landmark hotel.
Bird Rock Hotel’s authentic, old-island exterior opens to an exquisitely crafted, eco-intelligent collection of stylishly modern interiors ranging from simple, European-style sleeping rooms to deluxe, harbor-view, king-jacuzzi suites. Bird Rock Hotel expresses the creative genius, eclectic diversity and deeply-rooted contemporary design that makes nearby Seattle among the world’s most iconic cities. The mellow, earth-tone décors are lightly sprinkled with subtle beach-house highlights and the clean, elegant interiors ensure a peaceful respite from active days spent hiking, paddling, exploring and discovering the adventures of San Juan Island.
Each room makes unique statement, yet even the simplest feature custom beds with organic, fair-trade linens, ipod docking radios, flat-panel satellite hdtv, free high-speed wifi, in-room espresso makers, courtesy beach cruiser bikes, a gourmet breakfast basket delivered to your door on your own schedule, room service from the staunchly original Steps Wine Bar and Cafe and access to the heated indoor pool, Jacuzzi, sauna and fitness studio at ELEMENTS hotel & spa. The amenities compound as you move through our list of 15 unique rooms, including king beds, double-jacuzzis, gas fireplaces, harbor-views, large suites and private patios. Select the features that best express your personal vacation style, with slow-season rates from $77 and summer rates from just $117 through $287. Friday Harbor’s landmark hotel is the cutting-edge Bird Rock Hotel. Dream, sleep, play, wander, discover…evolve.
As always, your comments and impression are deeply appreciated…..
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Mr. Morgan:
Can you please work some more on the research you did on the saline pool (heating elements - cost of replacement, cost of saline system, liquid chlorine versus tablets, etc.) and put together a little proposal. We boss people will meet in late January and I would like to talk about it then.
Thank you, thank you
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:59 pm
MIKE ????? & Mike ?????
The reservations which have been clogging up our “new bookings” section will stay there for another week. I talked with Mr. ????? today and he will send a check on Monday. I left a message at Mr. ????? work number, saying to please call us. His card is declined and we can’t put a deposit on it.
HOUSEKEEPING REPORT
For now, I would like to make it the AM’s shift responsibility to check guests out by 3 PM (given all guests have really departed). The PM shift shall update the Housekeeping report by the end of the night after all guests have arrived (i.e. mark clean rooms clean and dirty rooms dirty).
ALSO
Please don’t forget to take the garbage out at night (Cindy’s & Laura’s as well), put the phones on “night message” and hang the sign with the night Manager’s phone number in the door.
Please read Adam’s emails regarding new specials and our new BIRD ROCK HOTEL. From now on, when the 378-5800 line rings, please answer: “Birdrock Hotel, formerly Friday’s, this is ________, how can I help you?” And remember, the WRP hotel sign in for Bird Rock is 590, the room descriptions are on the pin board above my computer, go get ‘em!
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
ONLINE GIFT CERTIFICATES
Hey y’all. Until we can charge the gift certificates through the BoomTime system we have to transfer all the purchase infor over to WRP. Just make a new reservation and flag it as a Gift Certificate. Put the BoomTime GC number in as the WRP reservation number so that everything stays the same. Then just fill in the blanks in WRP with the contact info in BoomTime. Until we can charge GC through BoomTime we can’t mark them as processed so just leave them save in there until further notice. If you have questions please ask.
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:05 am
WSF
OK peoples. When making a direct bill reservation for the Washington State Ferry, please makes sure you put the names of the folks staying in the room. Also, each room held should have a the actually employee name in the contact field, not “WSF.” WSF has a corporate account with us. SO when making a reservation for them select it from the “drop down box” before you hit the “Search for Place” button. It is very important that we know who stays and when. WSF will not pay us for rooms if we don’t have that information. So remember, the more information the better. Have each ferry worker sign in with their signature, printed name, and employee number on the invoice. Put that invoice in Cindy’s box. That’s it! Thank you!
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:44 am
Hey Priscilla…congratulations about Seattle U! What a relief to know that this early.
All: Let me know how things are going at the front desk these days: are your specials working for you? are people liking their upgrades? do you need any new tools or toys?
Have fun. See you soon….
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Oh yeah and thanks for the Rice candies Mo! there my favorite. xoxo
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Hi Morgan-
Just a heads up, the Roche Harbor Fishing derby is coming up in the first week of February, like the weekend of the 6th-9th so lets hope for a big one…maybe Dave will go out and catch us something fish like
or Cindy..hehehe!
and, the back headset seems to be really quiet when ever I answer it to who ever is on the other line. Am I the only person this happens to?? Or is it maybe just me?
anyways hope everyone had a good holiday and some good news to share.. I was already accepted to Seattle U !!! yay! that doesn’t mean the excessive paper work and everything is done though but its a chip off my shoulder.
have a good week and see you Tuesday if not before!
-Priscilla
December 31st, 2007 at 9:22 pm
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY
POOL DOOR
is fixed for now (yeah, Seth!)
WEDNESDAY
Morgan, please don’t forget to go to Post San Juan and to the bank (for change) on Wednesday. Thank you.
FERRY PEOPLE
didn’t leave the invoices in their rooms as discussed. We will get paid for their stay though, right Cindy?
In Germany if you wake up tomorrow with an eyelash in your eye whatever you dreamed tonight becomes true.
No, I totally made that up.
December 30th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
?????????
I left him a message asking him to call me. I don’t really understand what actually happened, other than that he went irate when he couldn’t check out at 2PM after his wireless didn’t work in 118. So let’s see what happens and then we go from here.
CHRIS TEREN
I left him a message asking why 118 can’t receive wireless internet and told him about the pool monitor.
Seth
Didn’t show up today. I left him a message as well. Let’s see where he is at tomorrow. So pool door doesn’t work.
WSF
Is arriving tonight per remote check in and checks out tomorrow at 5AM. I told them to please sign the invoices I left in their room and leave them in the room. Morgan, can you please make sure that we get those invoices from HK. Put in Cindy’s box, direct bill.
INTIMIDATION
I have been observing this phenomenon for over a year now, that certain guests become inappropriately enraged when dealing with our beautiful Island daughters. I know it happened to all of you, Elena, Priscilla, Rachael and today Lilly. These guests would never act like that towards Morgan, Cindy, Laura or I. I think some guests seize the opportunity to intimidate you because you are young women. And you react to it, because you are oriented to reacting to authority from older adults.
So, I want you all to know that you are safe here. In case someone ever crosses the line (as in coming behind the desk, threatening physical harm, etc.), you should say: “Please step away from me or I will call the police” with your hand on the phone.
Before that, try to be compassionate, acknowledge that something upsetting happened to the guest, no matter how ridiculous it was in your opinion: “I’m so sorry this happened to you. I understand that you are upset. I would be as well. What can I do to make it better?”
If it entails fixing something, promise to call maintenance or tech support, really do so, and let the guest know what will happen. Especially right now, you can always put guests in other rooms. For example when Mr. ??????? internet didn’t work 3 days ago, one of us should have called Chris Teren or we could have offered to have him check if it works in room 101, the other Earth Pet room and move them there.
If making it better involves refunds, state clearly that you are not authorized to issue refunds (you aren’t, no matter how angry they get), but that the manager will contact the guest as soon as possible (and make sure the manager knows she has to do that). Bond with the guest, saying, you will urge the manager to give the refund.
One of Mr. ?????? issues was apparently that he wanted to check out at 2 and Raquel did not o.k. it. In that case: “I’m so sorry, we are completely booked tomorrow and another guest will check into your room today, we are just so busy. But we can always check your luggage and you can use the pool house all day long.”
If the guest goes into a tail spin and just doesn’t stop yelling, getting more and more upset, stay calm:
Acknowledge the guest is upset
Tell him what you will do.
Tell him that this is all you can do at the moment.
Repeat.
“I’m sorry this happened to you”
“I have a call in to maintenance or the manager, she will call you today”
“I’m afraid this is all I can do at the moment.”
I know you are all following this more or less and I know how stressful an upset guest can be. Just remember this is not personal, don’t get defensive, and in a way it is sad that some people need to abuse their personal power in such a way.
Love you all, hate to see you get yelled at.
December 30th, 2007 at 11:14 am
??????….came into the office this morning VERY upset. He wanted a really late checkout but I told him the latest we can do is noon…he asked for a refund for his first night. So we will be mailing him a check. Steffi- I put his address down so we can mail it.
December 29th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Ladies & Gentlemen,
we are BUSY (lot’s of walk-ins) and things are FUNKY!
OFFICE TOILET
Does work only preliminary. You can pee and hold down the flusher until the tank is completely empty. For everything else go into the pool house, if you know what I mean. Raquel plunged a bunch, didn’t seem to help. Wrote maintenance request. Also: when walking outside of the office is smells like sewer, do these things have anything to do with each other? I don’t know because…
POOL DOOR
doesn’t work, no lights go on whatsoever. I called Seth, who appeared 5 minutes later(he is the best, do you all know that?. The new lock is not reading whatsoever. Seth thinks the automatic door shutter kills the lock. He will come by first thing tomorrow morning and steal a lock from building D and install it, before calling Onity on Monday and asking: “What up?”
So, I made a sign for people to please come to the office to be let into the pool. Lilly, do you remember how to do that? Old master key (under back desk, where the bike keys are, I’ll leave them out for you) opens one of the French doors (the only one which has a lock outside). We can’t leave the side door unlocked, so stay in close contact with Raquel and Seth, maybe they can help you letting people in in case you get swamped.
Unfortunately I can’t see who is in the pool house because…
VIDEO MONITOR
in my office says “system fatal errors is occurred” (what kind of English is that?). It keeps initializing itself and then gives the same error message, so large that you can’t see a thing. I’ll have Morgan look at it when he gets back. But way, you say that’s not enough?
ROOM 310
just called. Their bed broke, I kid you not. I’m moving them to 323, wrote maintenance request and blocked out room 310 until 1/3/07. Please inquire with Seth and HK before renting the room again.
LILLY
??????? in room 106 paid cash and has $200 cash deposit in safe. Make sure to have HK check the room’s condition before giving him his money back.
See you at 2, good luck
December 28th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
????????
some more: Elena, WRP says you can’t refund a guest’s credit card when he originally paid with a check. So refund him cash if you see him.
SIGN
Where is the sign with the cell number for the front door, anybody?
December 28th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
??????
is taken care of, refunded deposit, changed his status to “gift certificate, room still available”
????????
Cindy, we need to refund him $30.50, but he paid with a check and the system doesn’t let me refund on his credit card. Any ideas?
MINDORO INC
A siding company, owned by Fred Havellana & Collin Bustanoby (the guys in 209) will be staying with us a lot for the next couple of months. I created a corporate account for them. Their rate, through February is $89.
REFUNDING THE PEOPLE
You can refund a guest by opening the invoice and scrolling down to the payment information. Do not click the credit card symbol. Do not click the little knife and fork. Next to the payment received you will find an “R” for refund and a “V” for vendetta, no, it stands for “void”. Click the “R” and manually adjust the rate you wish to refund (it defaults to the full amount paid).
NOW: Elena and I tried this today and Elena wasn’t authorized to do this. So I assume Priscilla and Lilly aren’t either. Cindy has a 3 mile long list for Frank, our WRP master. He will address our issues in the new year. So for now, let me know if somebody needs refunding.
LA PORTA DE POOL
Seth fixed the pool door. This was a new one, even the Onity people never heard of this issue before (light is green but door doesn’t open). Seth put in our last spare lock (this is not a water proof one, so it will go funky soon). Keep your eyes open, let Seth know of developments.
December 27th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Steffi! I need your help, ????? has just canceled (couldn’t find a sitter for his kid, I said it was ok) his reservation for tomorrow and he will call us back with a different date in the next week or so…he has a gift certificate but he gave us a credit card to hold the room..and I accidentally charged him the 10% so I told him I would refund it…but I don’t know how??! Help me please! He is supposed to be coming tomorrow, so I just left his reservation in the system for until we can get him refunded.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Morning Lilly,
Tonight was smooth other than a few things:
To Seth: the pool door was broken all night, flashes green but won’t open- it was fine i just let people in the side door when needed
To Steffi: The key is in the agreed place for now, if things change please blog it so i know the new procedure
To everyone: Merry be-lated Christmas and a Happy New Year if i don’t see you before ;)))
ps. if anyone needs help taking down the decorations i’m on break right now and might have some time to spare, just give me a ring!
December 26th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
pool door isn’t working again….
December 26th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Steffi- ???????…they checked out this morning and they still had a significant balance remaining, they were very confused by it so I told them I would figure out if they had been charged or not and I’d call them back. It didn’t look like they had been charged so I went ahead and charged them the remaining balance and called to let them know that I had done so. So if they call back…that is what is going on!
Also regarding ?????, she called to check on what the nightly rate was, I told her 139 (for a Sky Place) she said she had been promised a rate of 89 so I gave that to her, she seemed kind of pissed.
December 25th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Merry Christmas all of you wonderful people!
December 25th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
MERRY CHRISTMAS * FELIX NAVIDAD * FROEHLICHE WEIHNACHTEN
Raquel will be off Wednesday & Thursday. Regino has a housekeeping report for tomorrow.
Lilly, would you please make a half a thermos of coffee for the ladies in 309. They’ll pick it up.
Please go to the post office on Wednesday. Take a car since they probably will be packages. Thank you.
I’ll see you all Friday or talk to you on the phone sooner.
December 23rd, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Sorry I’m submitting so many entries today.
AVS MISMATCH
I went into our credit card processor and changed the setting, which rejects cards issued by foreign banks. Is that o.k.? I’m thinking we will have foreigners in the summer (unless they close the borders or something). Please let me know.
December 23rd, 2007 at 7:29 pm
FOREIGNERS
??????????, the people who’s credit card I couldn’t run when making the reservation, checked in. We tried 3 cards, their Oregon address and their Address in Ecuador, kept getting AVS mismatch messages and couldn’t run the cards. Their card worked at Rosario’s and every place else. So I suppose the error is on our side. I contacted WRP tech support. Or do you guys think this is one for the credit card processor?
POOL DOOR
Freaked on me, blinked green but wouldn’t open. I went in through the side and opened it from the inside. It works for now. Keep an eye on it, let Seth know the next time he is here. It might be time for a replacement lock again (the 5th?).
FRONT DESK MANUALS
I updated the little manuals, took them out of their awful folders and put them in sparkling new ELEMENTS folders. I have a vision for the summer (remind me if I forget), that all front desk staff have their own folder, which they can write on and personalize.
LILLY & PRISCILLA
Can the 2 of you update the phone list for restaurants on Wednesday, please. I’ll leave the list in my office. I booked Regino room 320 for his night shifts Wednesday through Saturday. Please tell him on Wednesday.
If you guys need something or things go crazy, call me first. Cindy and Morgan are in vacation land:)
December 23rd, 2007 at 5:05 pm
MORGAN
Please don’t forget to tell the ladies in 309 what paint we used for the EARTH walls.
HELP
I can’t get the gift certificates to print from the new color printer. The thin paper jams and if you do get a print the brown ELEMENTS ink is all over, just not were we want it. Tips, anybody?
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:27 pm
One more question, Laura:
the supernice ladies in 309 would like to know what color paint we used in our Earth Places. Do you know or know how I could find out? They love it here, they love the room, the comforters, the style. The only thing they would change is add a table or cabinet where the microwave/coffeemaker set up is.
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Thank you, Laura, I’ll check him out.
As long as his fillings are white, all is good, if they are “silver” or Amalgam, they contain Mercury.
I found a holistic dentist in Anacortes, who specializes in MCS patients, but then there is the travel.
Nothing in the mail yesterday and today.
You have a gifty from Teri on your desk.
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Steffi, we see Dr. Horn (right up the street at Friday Harbor Dentistry) and are very pleased with him. He doesn’t have all of the fancy schmansy equipment, but he genuinely cares about his patients, seems to be up on the latest techniques and as far as I know doesn’t use mercury.
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:01 pm
NO SHOW
No, he didn’t cancel his card. I charged him today. Our no-show procedure with WRP is as follows:
1)Don’t charge guest, don’t change guest status (from confirmed) the night of the no-show.
2)The next morning, if guest was indeed a no-show, add cancellation fee in the amount of pre-taxed room rate to invoice, add sales tax, do not add room tax.
3) Change guest status to “canceled”, which will revert all room charges to zero, but not cancellation fee and other POS charges.
4) Charge guest folio amount due (which should be pre-tax room rate + sales tax - deposit paid).
5) Send guest cancellation email.
GIFT CERTIFICATES
I don’t like to make them either, but we need them. I would like us all to make 4 per shift from now on. Make it a thing, like taking out the garbage. Find your inner crafty person and make gift certificates for the people!! Thank you.
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:40 pm
????????:
He actually called yesterday and asked if he could get out of the reservation to do some Christmas shopping in Seattle, I told him that it was 10-day cancellation and that we would have to charge him the full amount.
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Invoices:
It would be great if we could get the wifi password on the invoices. I know it’s tight already but all of our literature says that that is were it can be found.
It was mostly an uneventful day lots of inquiry calls.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:49 pm
One last things:
???????, # 979141 no show at closing, not charged.
Hasta luego.
December 21st, 2007 at 8:36 pm
WIND PLACE
Hey Elena, we got some high maintenance people checking into the wind place today. They will arrive on the 12:15 ferry with a tiny baby. I just checked the wind place and early check-in is no problem, except: kitchen floor needs tidy, upstairs bed needs to be made into a king, extra bedding needs to be put in TV room (they’ll be 6 adults). Can you please ask Raquel if it is possible to make the place ready for them by 12:15?
I gave them plenty of discounts, don’t let them talk you into any more.
LATITUDE 28
Dropped off some homemade cookies and brittle for us, the ELEMENTONIONS, have at it (if it’s still there by the end of my shift, how about that dentist?)
MONEY
Guys, and when I say “guys” I mean Morgan :), please please please drop your cash. It is rather tedious with the new system to figure out how much money we are supposed to have and it makes it harder if I have no indication whatsoever from safe drops (print our applicable invoice, put in envelope together with cash or check, initial, date and drop in safe).
Anywho, all is good, cash drawers are right on and full of small bills, all the money is there, yeah!
Happy shortest day of the year everyone.
December 20th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
WRP
When you apply a % discount, WRP only applies it to one night (as in: 5% discount: it applies nothing to night 1 and 10% to night 2). Then, when you write a confirmation email the discount doesn’t show up in the confirmation letter but it does on the invoice (see reservation #979797 for an example). Is that one for the Frank list, Cindy?
LOBBY
Does anyone know what happened to our little basket of sugar & sweetener in the coffee area?
?????????????
If one of those former guests call, please refer to me (if I’m not here, please ask when it is a good time to contact them). PC charge may have done a number on those people and charged them twice on November 8.
DENTIST
Can anyone recommend an island dentist? I’m looking for someone who doesn’t use mercury fillings and is not a butcher.
December 17th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Tons of walk-ins tonight. Mostly Timberland home guys. Wish those guys would learn to make a reservation… sheesh.
CINDY
The guest in 111, ?????????????????, will want to talk to you tomorrow about the rate for a 3-week stay. He is from Montana working on some construction job. I know he would like to get one of the Sea places but I don’t think it will be possible through the holidays. Either way he plans to check-out and call in later in the morning/early-afternoon.
HOLIDAY PARTY
Thanks for the fun time all. I am glad I kept a small plate-full of wings to myself as they all flew off at the end of the night.
December 17th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Thank you all for coming to the Christmas party and for creating such a wonderful sense of community here. One of the greatest pleasures of running Elements is seeing all your smiling faces, enjoying each others company and having fun. It really is a wonderful sight and I’m glad you’re a part of it.
The summer rates in May on WRP is no accident, as long as it’s for a Friday or Saturday night. ELEMENTS will have a split rate structure this spring and fall. From May 1-June 12, and again from Sept 1-30, Sunday-Thursday nights will be shoulder season rates while Friday and Saturday nights will be summer rates.
Also, please give free upgrades upon check-in when better rooms are still available. I have resisted including the Sky Places in the $97 special in hopes that we’ll get some full-rate people shelling out for the nicer rooms, but that doesn’t seem to be happening nearly as much as I’d hoped. However, always, always, always we want customers in the best rooms available, and if it comes to the guest as special treatment, all the better. Rather than applying the special to the Sky Places (for now), let’s start using the Sky Place inventory to treat more guests to free upgrades by asking Earth Place check-ins if they would like a free upgrade to a Sky Place if there’s one available. Free upgrades make a huge impression on people, so let’s do it whenever we can.
Finally, as you go about your business in WRP, continue to make a point of noticing and pointing out things that seem a little…askew. You all do that a lot already (thanks!), but please make a habit of looking at the Availability Calendar display from time to time for the big picture. Are rooms out of service that shouldn’t be? Are rooms shaded a different color for some known or unknown reason? Does anything just look off or surprising? If you see something you don’t understand, dig into the online manual to find out what the deal is. If you don’t find your answer, ask someone or email support for an answer, then share your shiny new knowledge with everyone else. There are going to be glitches and growing pains whenever a business like this moves to new software, but we can all learn this program inside-out get everything ironed out before the busy season by being quizzical, critical, curious data slaves. Remember to share in this forum when you find the answer to a question we all might learn from.
By the way, I’m a pretty non-denominational kind of guy. All the holidays that fall around this time of year are pretty cool. My personal favorite, though, is Winter Solstice. The dust of summer and mud of fall give way to a crisp freshness that smacks of renewal, rebirth, promise and hope. Whatever you may celebrate over the next few weeks, I wish you all peace and happiness in the new year. And I thank you again for your many, varied and important contributions to our quirky little project at ELEMENTS.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Yeah, Party: thank you so much Laura & Adam for the great gift basket (the rose soap is amazing, real rose, I feel so fancy), Cindy, Raquel & Morgan for the wonderful food, Regino & Daniel for drinking our tequila and therefore saving us from great harm, and my secret Santa for the Jesus action figure, which is currently standing on our TV performing the miracle of ending the writer’s strike (I hope, if he doesn’t I’m gonna give him back).
RATES
WRP is charging summer rates ($207) in May. Accident or on purpose?
CENTURYTEL
He came, finally!! And fixed the front desk phone. He’ll come back later (or so he says)and figure out if our current console and WRP are compatible.
MIKE FERGUSON
Diving group this spring, in WRP under “New Bookings”. He’ll call with a credit card number, please charge 10% deposit when he does.
FRIDAY’S
Adam made a new rate sheet for the new Friday’s, check it out (under schedule in my office)
TERRY from HOMEPORT
will stop by Tuesday and pick up and pay for the 2 gift certificate laying on the back desk.
December 17th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Thank you everyone for such a fun party last night. It is always so fun to get together outside of work with you all…
Once again, I will say, I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful work team.
Merry Christmas to all of you
December 16th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
RAQUEL
will be off Monday & Tuesday and won’t be here most of the day on Wednesday. Regino won’t be here Wednesday either and will have the van.
December 14th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
WRP
Tech support will contact me on Saturday to figure out why all water jetted tub places are available but you can’t rent them.
ALVORD RICHARDSON
I talked to Jeff (cell: 360-815-0191) about the smoking incident. He apologized, said that will not happen again. I think those guys might have lost their jobs.
REDEEMING A GIFT CERTIFICATE
When a guest calls to redeem a gift certificate, ask for the gift certificate number and pull the gift certificate reservation up. Then click on “C” to select the desired room type and date of stay. This is important, if you don’t go to “C” first, but instead start to edit the reservation and change the guest status to say “confirmed”, you can’t change the date anymore(the gift certificate has been purchased in the past). I learned that the hard way.
So then, once you selected date and room style, go to “E” and fill in the redeemer’s name, address, etc.
Once everything is said and done, go to our gift certificate folder (hard copy, under front desk, by voucher folder) and cross out the gift certificate you just redeemed.
Make sense?
In case a guest doesn’t tell you he has a gift certificate until later, finish the reservation, then later pull up the gift certificate, go to “C”, etc. and finally cancel the reservation you originally made. Ask me if you have questions, yes?
ALARM
Here is how I would like the ALARM utilized: whenever there is something which still needs to be done with a reservation (book massage, make voucher, put champagne in room), create an alarm (go to the bottom of the reservation). Set the alarm for a couple of days prior to arrival if you still need to book massages or tours, for the same day if you simply need a voucher and definitely if you need to put something in the room.
Then edit the alarm as you make changes, for example: wants 60 min relaxation on 12/31 after 11 AM, fee added, needs voucher
Once you book the massage, edit the alarm to: 60 min relax, 12/31, 11.30AM, fee added, voucher needed
The person who makes the voucher can turn the alarm off. Only ever turn an alarm off when everything is done. And in addition to all that, write a very short description of what’s going on in the “requests” field as well, so you know what’s up with the guest the moment you pull up the reservation.
We will refine this system, I’m sure. Let me know if you have ideas on how we can avoid dropping the ball and forgetting about things.
LAVENDERA SPA
will close at 2PM on 12/31/07 and will be closed on 1/1/08.
PETS
Thank you Adam for creating those pet rooms so fast.
Guys, please don’t forget to have people sign the pet policies (in basket on my desk). File the registration with our invoices, give the envelope to the guest.
Also: inside the envelope are our pet policies, they address the pet: Welcome __________ (put pet name here). Just read it and you’ll understand. So, please ask and record our guest’s pet name when taking a reservation, write “pet in room” in housekeeping notes and “request” field, please.
Boy, I guess I had a lot to say.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Steffi:
***110***
Can you please move the people out of 110 for tonight it seems the toilet problems have not been fixed yet and it looks like you locked the rooms selection, that would be great. Can you also put the room out of service for the next few days?
***Alvord Richardson***
Jeff called several times todays he wanted to talk to Cindy but she is on the mainland today. He called several times and asked me to see if the room still smelled like pot, which it didn’t and Martha said she couldn’t smell anything when she cleaned the room. Can you please call him since I know nothing about the situation.
***The Spa***
They returned your call about the guests who wanted a massage on either the 31st or 1st. They will only be open on the 31st until 3pm so they can only schedule them for 2:15.
***Gift Certificate***
???????????? GC # 975518 called and wanted to know the specifics of the gift certificate she set up with you. Can you please give her a call at ??????????????????????????
December 13th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
ELENA
Good morning, Beautiful.
Room: 110: those guys came back from work at night and said their toilet is clogged, they tried calling this morning but of course the office wasn’t staffed yet. I put them in room 112. Please make sure that HK knows to clean 110 and that Seth knows to fix the toilet.
Room 309: Ben Thomas from the SJ School District called late to get a room. He will do a remote check in and bring the signed invoice in the office in the morning. This is a direct bill. Please put signed invoice in Cindy’s box, not in the drawer.
Have a great shift. I see you at 3.
December 13th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Oh, we had a wonderful time, eating Italian things at Lulu’s, stocking up on salami at Rose’s, shopping for bulk food at the food coop, taking a sauna and a hot tub at Doe Bay. It was lovely. Mr. Esspike thinks being a dog for 9 years is totally overrated and if he has to sit in the car for another 4 hours at a time, he is gonna bark up a storm.
FRIDAYS
In the basket to double check online reservations (next to server on back desk) you will find a new rate sheet for FRIDAY’S (without rates). It lists the number of beds and amenities the new rooms will have, in case you’ll get a call or an online reservation. Please don’t forget to check FRIDAY’S WRP new bookings once a day. Hotel ID 590.
PICK UP THAT PHONE
Every time. If you are on the phone already, ask the person you are speaking with to hold for a second. Return all messages promptly. Talk to the people!
RESERVATION CODES
Just a reminder: Please ask, when taking a phone reservation, how a guest has FIRST heard about us. If the guests says “internet”, ask “do you remember which site you were on, google, yahoo?”. The more accurate specific information you can get out of a guest, the better we can track where our advertisement $$ goes.
PET ROOMS
As of today and through the next season the following rooms will be pet friendly:
water - 306
earth - 101 & 118
sky - 325
sun - 332
That way we have a pet friendly room in each category. Please let us know how that goes (I hope we won’t have a dog barking in each building).
There is one reservation over x-mas with pets in 102, that’s o.k., Raquel knows.
I think that’s it. I love our manager meetings. I find them inspiring.
December 13th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Happy Anniversary Steffi, I hope you had a wonderful time on Orcas… Any new ideas to share?
December 13th, 2007 at 8:49 am
Happy Anniversary, Steffi! I hope you had a wonderful respite in celebration of your dozen years together.
December 10th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
RE: #973048
Somebody from the University of Washington Accounting Department will call with a credit card number in the next couple of days, please record in above reservation (under Tony English, UW Educational Outreach). Do not charge the 10% deposit, just record the card number. Thank you.
Christmas cards
are mailed
Thank you guys for rocking my little world again. Cindy allowed me a room trade with a resort on Orcas, where Daniel, Mr. Esspike and I will stay in a cabin right on the water, celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary (Daniel and I) and being a dog for 9 years (Esspike). Thank you. See you all Thursday.
December 9th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Morgan, you rock! Even if you don’t speak English;)
Morgan and I took all STEPS menus and ordering instructions out of the rooms. STEPS will be closed until 12/31/07 at which point they will have a New Years Eve Champagne dinner for a mere $150 per person.
UNIREZ
They keep coming and they keep sending alarms along, saying we are overbooked (we wish). Also, when processing them they default to 100% of the total due as opposed to 10%. No biggy, just pay attention, you’ll need to manually adjust the total due to 10%.
December 9th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
…apparently I forgot the proper use of “there” in the post below. *sigh*
December 9th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
ELDERHO’s
I would be interested in the saline if it was worth it.
Done. Printed out a report an put it in Cindy’s box
SODIUM CHLORIDE GENERATOR
Having a salt water chlorine generator for the pool is possible. Their would be little to worry about as to the installation of it. However, it may not be compatible with our heaters. Low levels of salt or not, it will cause certain metals to corrode faster. Considering how much of a problem we have with our current heating elements corroding I would hesitate to install a saline system without further research. (Before you ask I am on it already). In defense of chlorine, I think if we want to lessen the troubles we are having with the chemicals that are used to stabilize the solid chlorine granules/tablets, we could switch to liquid chlorine. Their is a whole list of pros and cons to both systems. Ask me and we can go over it. I don’t want to get into a chemistry lesson in the blog
P.S. that funky smell in the pool house a couple of days ago wasn’t chlorine. The drain under the water fountain was partly to blame. I flushed it out and the smell went away.
December 8th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
MORGAN
Welcome back to work!
Raquel would like you to give her phone & keys to Orosco and print out the “today’s check -ins and stays” page for her. Raquel will call you in the morning.
Please post Elderhostel checks in Rezo (in your box).
If you have time, please work on the pool trouble shooting and the new training check lists (in your box).
Can you please have Regino sign the Christmas cards, then we can send them.
Aaand: we want a saline pool. Can we have one, please please please? Let’s talk.
I’ll see you at 2. Have a great morning.
VIP gift certificates
are all mailed.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIM MORRISON, if you were alive, or are you, Mr. Mojo Rising? Do the tight leather pants (yummy) still fit at 64?
December 8th, 2007 at 8:43 am
I have no idea why that alarm says “You are overbooked.” I get those messages in my email as well, so I saw it come in and looked at the WRP alarm and tried to figure it out. I couldn’t so we should ask WRP support. I’ll pose the question and get back to you. Great that it’s that easy, though! Thanks for keeping those VIP GCs rolling!
December 7th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
UNIREZ BY PEGASUS
I believe I got our first “Inntopia” reservation today. So easy: it shows up in our “New Bookings” section, it also creates an alarm, which says: “UNIREZ ALARM -Warning, you are overbooked.” (Why does it say that Adam, it’s lying, we aren’t overbooked?).
Then about 10 minutes later you will get an email and about 10 minutes after that a fax. All the info I needed to process the reservation was right there in WRP.
If the info isn’t there for some reason, we’ll need to log on to “hotelfactory”. Adam, do you know our User ID and password?
I put the fax with my initials in our “to be checked” basket, please double check and file where inntopias used to be filed.
ROOM 332
Regino put a big rubber storage box with stuff from Friday’s in room 332 and the box is gone. Does anybody know anything about this? Should we consult the black box to see who was in the room?
ELENA
Can you please ask Raquel & Regino to sign our Christmas cards so we can send them off?
VIP’s
About 75% of the $50 off VIP gift certificates are mailed. Elena and I will finish the rest tomorrow.
December 7th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Pay checks are OUT…. Don’t spend it all in one place:) I decided on pet rooms being in room 101, 102 and 118. We should not be needing anymore 2 queens, but if we do let me know. Hopefully, building D will be done by the end of January, it is on the back burner right at the moment, because Regino and Seth are working at Friday’s.
please remember to vacuum during this time of the year, as often as needed.
Is everyone up to par on the new gift certificate option on our website? If not please make sure you ask Steffi or I.
Front office workers
Keep an eye on the Christmas lights, if some are out, let’s let Seth know as soon as possible.
Don’t forget to ask someone when they are wanting to make a reservation for 1 night during a weekend, if they are interested in our special we are offering, Friday or Sunday for only $47.00 what a deal…
Please let me know if anyone sees CenturyTel here, Tim was going to come over and fix the phones last Friday, but he was really sick (he could barely talk) I haven’t hear from him yet. But I would like to know when he pops in.
December 6th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Please don’t tell my kids about Nikolaus. I can’t afford any more holidays…
I do remember when we lived in Holland that December 5th was the night you put out presents celebrating Sinterklaas. If I remember correctly, there was a tradition of camouflaging your presents in some imaginative way. I baked mine into some bread, somebody I knew stuck it in the bottom of a pot of spaghetti (you get the idea). You Europeans are so much more creative than we are. We just spend too much money and try and dress it up with a bow.
December 6th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
PET ROOMS
We received several reservations for the holidays for sun pet places. Building D will not be renovated by Christmas, so we temporary declared room 101, 102 & 118 pet friendly (don’t put guests who don’t have pets in those rooms for now). I moved and called all reservations who had reserved a 2 queen pet room for that time frame and blocked out building D until 2/15/08.
NIKOLAUS
If we were all in Germany, we would put our shoes outside tonight. And if we were good they would be filled with candy tomorrow morning. Yes, St Claus comes to German kids tonight and on Christmas, you have to leave a window open so the little Jesus can fly in and bring presents. Weird, isn’t it?
Einen schoenen Nikolaus Abend fuer euch alle!
December 6th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
WEBREZPRO WEIRDNESS
Ok… Something new has reared it’s ugly head in WebRezPro. Watch out when you book people into a multiple day stay. Sometimes, not every time, it will book people into a room one night then a completely different room for the second night. So make sure their reservation has them in the same room for their ENTIRE stay. Lock the room if you must. Remember if YOU lock the room only YOU can unlock it.
December 5th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Hey
Tonight went smoothly (unlike the problem i cause for you Steffi– I’m sorry, that won’t happen again. )
I worked on addressing all the envelopes for the Christmas cards, Raquel and Regino still need to sign– and we are short about 20 envelopes. The list shows which ones haven’t been done, and places with out street addresses are checked and on top in the card containers.
Morgan- the spa called you back tonight and i let them know you were working tomorrow. and that thing about the stove people.
Be Merry!
Priscilla
December 3rd, 2007 at 4:19 pm
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIA SACCIO……. XOXOXOXOX
WOW, WOW and WOW.. The Christmas decorations look GREAT.. Well done you guys. I went to Browne’s and Ace, the only space heaters I could find was a big whopping “3″, they are in the office, and we will give them out on request. I did purchase many heaters last year, and know one can seem to find them (oh that is so frustrating for me), I am sure they will turn up, when we least expect them to. If anyone has any idea where they might be, please let me know. Let’s remember to turn on a light and the heat in the rooms that we know are checking in, and then if you have a reservation that is made the day of, if housekeeping is not available or is gone, please walk out and turn on the heat and turn a light on .
Michelle will be dropping off 90 boxes of flooring on Tuesday evening, she has a key for room 336, (drop off spot per Seth) and will put everything in there when she gets off the ferry.
Don’t forget our Christmas WHOO HAA is coming up, get out your recipe books..
Since it has been so WINDY, please remember to pick up any lost pieces of garbage. They really want to find their home in the garbage can..
Happy first week of December…
December 2nd, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Hi Steffi,
Yes…you can certainly buy new space heaters, but first, talk to Cindy just to make sure that we don’t already have some hidden somewhere. Besides the Wind Place, where do we need space heaters?
December 1st, 2007 at 3:35 pm
The chocolate cake guys came and i checked them in but forgot to give them their vouchers oops… one of them also brought a bottle of champagne and asked that it get put in the room along with the cake while they are out to dinner (7:30pm)
that is about it the Christmas decorations are almost done just a few more details and we will be ready for the contest tomorrow. Have a good evening
November 30th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
LYLE & BARBARA
If we get any more responses from the mass email with the wrong first names, leave in in-box, I’ll deal with them. But please don’t miss new online reservations (remember, they are flagged blue)
SPACE HEATERS
We need some. According to Raquel we have not one space heater on the premises. I gave Cindy’s to the guest in the Wind house because she has a cold little baby. May we please buy some? It is the season where everybody asks for one.
The Christmas display looks fabulous, you guys are so talented.
Elena, tomorrow # 31597 Equinox package & chocolate cake, all set, vouchers made, don’t mention cake (I picked it up already) upon check in, it’s a surprise.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Hi guys,
here are a couple of clarifications:
GIFT SHOP PURCHASE
When recording a gift shop payment, please go to “house account” and from there to “gift shop”, record your gift shop item there, charge guest and print invoice. If we have all our gift shop items in one spot, we will be able to track them better for inventory purposes.
ROOM RATE ADJUSTMENTS
If you want to discount a guest after they have paid in full and the charge has been transmitted (i.e. the next business day), please use the “room rate adjustment” key, under the knife and fork symbol, and put in the (negative) amount before tax you wish to discount, then record the (negative) payment.
If you need to discount, reimburse, or change the guest charges on the day you recorded payment (i.e. before the payment has been transmitted), please use the little “v” next to the recorded payment. This will void the entire recorded amount, then adjust what charges need to be adjusted and record the correct payment.
DIRECT BILL & CORPORATE ACCOUNTS
When making a reservation for say the Clipper or the Wa State Ferries, make a regular reservation. Once you have a room selected, scroll down the “corporate account” menu and select the account the reservation is for. The system will automatically adjust the room rate and give you the option to put in the guest’s name (very important in case of a Ferry reservation, were we won’t get paid if we don’t have the guest’s name).
This is all much easier to show than to explain. Please feel free to ask Cindy, Morgan or I to give you a little “hands on” demo the next time you work.
Also: Morgan created a (hard copy) folder for tracking gift certificate purchases. When selling a gift certificate, by changing guest status to “gift certificate only, room still available” and writing the next consecutive number (from Morgan’s folder) as the gift certificate number in the confirmation number spot, please record the gift certificate sold in the new folder (under front desk, by voucher folder and front desk manual). Again: let one of us show you.
Cindy bought new golden pens for filling out gift certificates. Please use your BEST hand writing, make a new one if you misspell something, make it super pretty, every time!
HOUSEKEEPING REPORTS
All of you should now be able to print HK reports (let us know if you can’t, for some reason). Click on reports, housekeeping, active rooms only, and voila, it only prints dirty, occupied and newly to arrive rooms. Yeah.
IMPORTANT: mark rooms clean after 3 and check out all guests leaving that day (if you don’t the system doesn’t let you rent the room to another person). And once you have all your check-ins in, mark all occupied rooms and stay-overs dirty.
END OF DAY RECONCILIATION
When you are closing, print a reconciliation report by the end of the night (reports-reconciliation). Have a look at it, make sure you dropped your cash and make sure all check outs have paid in full. If something looks funny to you, write a little note to Cindy, staple the whole mess together, initial and put in Cindy’s box. That’s it. Much easier than ever before.
November 26th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Morning Elena,
Cindy programmed WRP so that you can access the Housekeeping report now. Please let us know if it works. In case it doesn’t, I printed one out for tomorrow (on back desk).
Have a great shift!
November 26th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
CENTURYTEL
Below is Jan’s email on the issues:
“Hi Cindy,
I am talking with Tim right now; he will be there Wednesday morning and get this fixed. He said he will call Mitel and stay on the line with them until they can help him get this fixed.
I am so sorry to hear they did not show up. When I left on Tuesday I was under the impression that one of the techs from Gig Harbor would be coming by.
I talked with Morgan before I left and he was asking me if the new system you just installed can be tied into the telephone system. If you or Morgan could email me any specs on the system I will work with my sales engineer to get answers.
Again, I am so very sorry for the lack of good customer service we have provided on the voicemail issue.
Sincerely,
Jan”
FRIDAYS
WRP hotel ID for Friday’s is 590, please read Adam’s email in general in-box.
MORGAN
Please go over my preliminary ELEMENTS training check list (in your box) and give me your input and don’t forget the pool trouble shooting list. Thank you for being such a Johnny on the ball (spot? Ach, ze English) with the emails, you rock!
November 26th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
EMAIL
The mass email has been sent. The first responses are starting to trickle in now.
SECRET SANTA
Come and draw your Secret Santa person for the holiday party. The party kicks of at 6pm on Dec. 16th. Remember, there is a $20 limit on the Secret Santa gifts. The name envelope is in the office. Be sure to check off your name after you draw.
ADAM
Thanks for looking into that for me. I understand.
November 26th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Sorry Morgan. That was a great suggestion, but my WordPress Guru says there’s not a way to get the comments box to the top. We can delete old posts, though, or archive them. Let’s start breaking them out by month and see if that helps. I’ve also added a link to the bottom, like you suggested.
November 25th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Hola!
ELENA & PRISCILLA
Do you have any special wishes for X-mas scheduling? If you had your heart set on working X-mas day or New Year’s Eve, no way, I’m taking those shifts, HA!
FRIDAYS
We got a webervation, the old fashioned kind, today. Shall we process it with PC charge or wait until we have WRP?
$$
Guys, please don’t forget to drop your cash (print out invoice you took cash for, put cash and invoice in envelope, date, initial and drop in safe). I had no cash deposits in the safe today but millions, yes, millions of dollars in cash in the tills with no indication where it was from, why it was there and what it wanted.
MORGAN
One of us will need to go to the bank for change tomorrow (we need $5 & $10 bills and quarters)
Morgan will create a nice mass email tomorrow for us to paste into the confirmation emails we will resend to all reservations imported from Rezo into WRP.
It’s good to be back. I missed you guys. The mainland is loud and smelly. I’m so glad I’m here.
November 25th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
EDIT:
..only *known* restaurant..
ADAM
Can we set this page to only display a certain number of entries and put the rest on subsequent pages? Or perhaps get a “jump to bottom” button at each comment heading. Or a “Submit Comment” button at the top that would automatically scroll you down to the comment box? With all these messages it is starting to take a while to scroll down the page.
November 25th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
HOLIDAY STUFF
As of this moment the only know restaurant open for xmas will be the Friday Harbor House. They will send us a menu when they have it finalized. Apparently they will be doing a dinner on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years Eve. Steps will be closed from the 9th of Dec up until they reopen for their theme New Years Eve dinner.
ONLINE WEBREZPRO RESERVATIONS
When a guest makes an online reservation, we will receive a confirmation letter in our email. Because we receive an almost identical one everything WE book a reso, the online rezo will be flagged with a BLUE flag. The system will also play a sound every time one comes in. It isn’t obtrusive but you can hear it if you are paying attention.
November 24th, 2007 at 12:10 am
hey y’all
today was busy with lots of walk ins and thanksgiving travelers. getting used to the system the more i use it..still have a few questions though like- how do you credit people back or give local discounts?? and also a review on canceling reservations, one today may look like a no show, but really she just wanted to switch room types and in the frenzy of it all- i just made a new reservation for her.
if elena goes offisland i will be replacing her in the afternoon- whatdaya know morgan!! you can clue me in on whats going on.
Emilio is a friend of Reginos and should get a special rate, i didn’t charge him tonight but gave him a reservation and took his credit card. i think he would like to opt for a cash transaction. Brockliss has change on the back desk for her reservation because the till key was missing during her check in (dont worry i found it). Sugahara is the lady with an extra reservation, please delete her “earth place” rez. Wayne needs to be credited back 10% he was a late walkin and the room sold. and alsooooooo…..room 321 would like a late check out; meaning as late as possible around 12:30 or 1:00.
that was a mouthfull..
-Priscilla
oh yeah, ps. what kind of pillows do we use here?? someone phoned in today raving!!
and how are rooms marked clean at the end of the day?
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:49 pm
well today went smoothly for the most part, a man will stop in sometime tomorrow to talk about the cost of the room. phones dead and i tried to sign out of the rez system to put it under my name but then it was gone and i couldn’t figure out how to get back on! eeeeer!
November 21st, 2007 at 9:26 pm
So everything went smoothly today i hope i didn’t forget anything! i made a new hours sign for thanksgiving and checked in a few people today but thats about it. i think im starting to get a hang of this new rez program. since i found out the deli next door is closed i will be available to come in on time at 2pm tomarrow evening to pick up the shift. Burrr…… its freezing outside but wheres the snow???? one of our guests wanted to inform us that the peppermill was closed tomarrow just in case anyone was wondering. everyone seems nice and happy so there shouldnt be any problems. thats about all i have to say! oh ya…. HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!! (dont eat too much)
November 21st, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Happy Thanksgiving everyone:) Just to respond to the cancellation procedure, follow Steffi’s directions, BUT, when you have to enter the cancellation amount, you will have to manually calculate what the 10% non refundable deposit is pre tax, to do this you take the 10% deposit that the guest has already paid, and divide it by 1.077, this is your pre tax amount, you enter that in the dollar amount and then enter the sales tax amount (not room tax) into the sales tax box. To find the sales tax amount you minus the 10% they paid and the amount you got after you divided that amount by the 1.077 and that is the amount that will be the sales tax amount. WOW do you have that??? If not just ask me..
You are all the BEST… Happy Turkey eating.
November 20th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Below entry is from Michael, his first log entry.
We are getting there, yeah!
Good idea on the cancellation fee, Adam. No, POS, charges don’t revert to zero after canceling.
We are finished double checking all Rezo imports.
CINDY
I charged Colorado Heart Cycle for the deposit. Can you please send them a group confirmation email (and show me how to do that) and change their status to “confirmed”. I put their cc on file and put their hard copy file in your box.
MORGAN
Priscilla will come tomorrow at 2 and work until Michael gets here from his other job, so you don’t have to be here forever.
When you are done importing the gift certificates and creating the paper tracking form, can you write us a little introduction to gift certificate redeeming, please?
Did you block the Clipper rooms for 2008?
Room 111 never came for their refund. Can you refund them tomorrow?
I’m off to the land of central heating, where the showers never go cold, the walls are lined with hard cover, first edition books you can borrow, and when you ask: “Can I help with anything?”, the answer is always: “Oh no, you just relax.” AAAhhhh.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
November 20th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Michael came in to check out our new reservations system. FUN FUN! He’ll be arriving at four tomorrow and on Thursday’s due to his work reschedule at the world renowned BIG STORE, so to all those who have to fill the extra hours thank you! his work schedule as of now at THE BIG STORE is 8-4pm Monday through Friday (just a little FYI)
November 20th, 2007 at 8:00 am
Great work Steffi. Thanks! Laura and I will be on the island over the holiday, and we are always available if somebody down there really needs us. I don’t want you dedicated holiday workers to feel abandoned!
I would like to add one suggestion to Steffi’s cancellation instructions. Whatever reservation amount is going to convert to a cxl charge, apply it to the reservation before changing the status. That way you can read the charge directly from the reservation and it will match whatever special rate the guest may have been quoted. Or does the cxl charge zero out as well? If that is the case, at least write down the reservation amount that will convert to cxl charge before changing the status so we don’t mis-charge cancellations. Does that make sense to everyone?
November 19th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
THANKSGIVING
All boss ladies will be unavailable over Thanksgiving. Morgan is the go-to person in case a decision needs to be made (Morgan, let me give you the phone number of my friends in Oly, if you need to contact somebody, contact me first, we’ll go from there)
CINDY
I couldn’t process Janice Kampbell’s and Colorado Heart Cycle’s credits cards, due to address mismatches. I tried all kind of things, but it didn’t let me do it. Maybe we can ask the credit card processor to let us run credit cards without the exact address, security code, phone number, etc. or have a way to override the requirements?
Morgan blocked out the rooms for Elderhostel 2008 and other groups with blocked out rooms. We are almost done double checking all imported WRP reservations against the Rezo reservations for 2008.
ELENA
Olga’s, Soco’s, Kaitlyn’s and your time cards are up here now. Just swipe to clock in. Can you let the other’s know, please?
MORGAN
Please don’t forget to block out Clipper rooms for 2008. Karen Okerlund never called back. I think you should change her reservation to match Rezo’s.
CENTURYTEL
Jan (who is still here, room 324) says a technician will come out in the next couple of days to deal with our front desk phone and to check compatibility with WRP
ONLINE RESERVATIONS
Morgan, can you set it back so they won’t print automatically from the email, please?
For now: when we get an online reservation, print the first 2 pages manually, process like you processed webervations and put in basket with confirmation number and initials for another person to double check.
CANCELLATIONS
If a guest cancels 10 or more days prior to arrival: change guest status to “canceled”, room charges will revert to zero, showing that we “owe” guest deposit. Scroll down to area where you can record payment, click on “fork and knife” symbol, enter “cancellation fee”, click off all taxes and enter 10% nonrefundable deposit amount.
If a guest cancels within 10 days: change guest status to “canceled”. All room charges (not the deposit and not other charges, like add-ons) will revert to zero. Add a “cancellation fee” in the amount of the room charge before tax (right now: $139 per night) and charge guest’s credit card for the amount due (room rate before tax, plus system adds sales tax).
If a guest is a no-show: do same as cancellation within 10 days, except: wait until the next morning, don’t change status or charge anything the night of the no-show, in case the guest shows up after all. But do write in the housekeeping notes that the guest was a no-show at closing.
PRISCILLA
Can’t access housekeeping report when she logs in. She also can’t print a reconciliation report for the entire day, just for herself. Does that have something to do with her level of access?
LOCKING POSITIONS
I’m sure you all experienced it by now: if one of us opens a reservation, the reservation is locked and no other person can edit it. Let’s get in the habit of always clicking out of reservations, when we are finished with a task.
PROMO
Adam, I liked your “buy a Saturday night, get Friday or Sunday half off” idea. I think it would be great to have a dead of winter special.
Sorry for the “lenghtyness” of this entry
November 19th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
I have changed our pricing on the GDS (online travel agencies, expedia, etc) so that the prices for them will be the same as our rack rates through April 30, 2008. From May-Sept 30 reservations taken through that system will be $20 more per night. I figure in the winter we can eat the commission since our occupancy is so low. Does anyone think we need a promo rate?
November 18th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Good call Adam!
Adam suggested to go through every single reservation in WRP and Rezo, comparing the two. I caught some pretty significant things: WRP didn’t import reservations which had been previously canceled, and a couple of packages which hadn’t been flagged. I made it through December 8, 2007.
Morgan, can you pick up from there, please? I know this is tedious, but it needs to be done.
Also: Can you get quarters out of the washers? We are out in our tills.
Good Night everybody, see you tomorrow
No