I have a favor to ask of you.
PLEASE stop complaining about the service you get at hotels and restaurants (post pandemic). Here’s why. Mask restrictions are finally loosening up, so hotels and restaurants are trying to get back to business as usual. But it’s different now. Hotels say they are getting a lot of complaints from customers who seem to have higher expectations than before the PANDEMIC. And the complaints have to do with waiting in long lines for check in, not enough housekeepers, and many hotels that have eliminated room service. They would love to offer all of these services. But they just can’t find enough people to staff their operations. When the shutdown happened in April of 2020, many of you were able to work from home through Zoom or some other virtual meeting option. But hotels and restaurants can’t be remote. They had to completely close their doors and lay off all their employees. Then, when the vaccines became available in January of ’21, some places reopened and rehired a few of their people…but you remember seeing restaurants with tables 6 to 8 feet apart – some with plastic bubble domes. And if you remember, only 25% of their regular staff were responsible for the entire restaurant.
By the Spring of 2021, just as hotels and restaurants were starting to get some “reopening” momentum, the highly contagious Omicron Virus swept through the world. By November, the hospitality industry had to lay off everyone, again. Millions of Hotel and Restaurant workers didn’t come back to work because they had already been forced to switch careers.
Luckily, the Omicron virus blew through the U.S. population fairy quickly. Mask restrictions are finally being lifted. Hotels, restaurants, and the airline industry are slowly coming back. However, companies are still operating with only about 60% of their original staff. That skeletal staff is having to perform double and triple duty. I talked to one hotel chain who couldn’t find enough housekeepers, so they asked the building engineers and front desk clerks to the strip sheets off beds.
So please, dear Customers, ease up a little on your service expectations. As you start to plan your summer vacations, give hotel, restaurant, and airline employees a break. They’re happy to be back to work – and they are trained to treat you well. But they need YOU to be patient. Show them some kindness. These dedicated individuals are working overtime to save their careers and rebuild the entire leisure and business travel industry.
Don’t they deserve your courtesy?