CASE STUDY Number One
DUE DATE: February 22, 2016 BY 5:30PM
It's Not My Job
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in late spring. The heavy spring rains were a memory, the sun was shining, and all seemed perfect for the newly arriving guests of the Boden Oceanside Resort and Lodge. By 6 P.M. most of the arriving guests had checked into their rooms and the staff was busy picking up after the afternoon rush. Maintenance was doing routine inspections, the bell attendants were still delivering luggage, turndown was readying the cart for service, and the front desk was cleaning up the rack. Tipu, the manager on duty (MOD), was checking his list and planning his evening rounds. It was his first night as an MOD. He had recently been hired as a front office supervisor and all supervisors and managers were required to take MOD shifts at the Boden.
Shortly past 6 P.M. one of guests called in to the front desk, complaining of flooding in room 124. Rooms in the 100s were on the ground floor and had lovely French doors opening onto a private patio. They were two-bedroom suites that were elegantly designed. Clarice, a front desk agent, fielded the complaint, and called maintenance over the radio. She received no reply. The front desk, following standard procedure, filled out a Maintenance Request Order (MRO), figuring that maintenance was simply out of radio range.
Clarice then called the guest to say that maintenance was occupied, but would be around soon to fix the problem.
After approximately 20 minutes, the guest again called the front office. Once again, maintenance was radioed. There still was no response. Clarice decided to call turndown service because the complaint seemed to call for mopping the carpet-something she assumed would be a housekeeping duty.
Since the turndown attendant was busy conducting the turndown service, Clarice decided to radio the bell staff to request assistance. Drew, one of the bell attendants, heard the radio request and proceeded to the front desk to ask why maintenance wasn't taking care of the guests' problem. Clarice informed him that maintenance was not answering the radio call.
Not wanting to wait for further explanation, Drew decided to speak to Tipu, who was standing in the lobby beside the front desk. Drew complained to the MOD how tired he was getting from everyone trying to push unwanted tasks onto the bell staff. Within earshot of guests, and in a loud voice, Drew asked, "Why can't maintenance do it?"
Clarice looked at the clock. It was half past six, nearly 30 minutes since the guest had initially called the front desk requesting assistance.
Tipu called turndown to determine whether the attendant knew where the wet vacuum was located. The turndown attendant yelled back through the radio, "I don't have time to do it! I have to complete turndown!" The bell attendant immediately responded in a loud voice through the radio, "It's not our job either!"
That seemed to be the end of that, thought Clarice.
It was now 7:30 P.M. An hour had passed since the yelling match over the radios. Guests in the lobby seemed to have overheard the arguments, and Clarice was still feeling a bit uneasy. She really didn't know how to handle the situation and was wary of every phone call that came in. She wondered how the guests were getting on with the water. Maybe they will go to dinner and by the time they return, the water will be taken care of, she thought to herself. But she didn't know how this would happen.
At 7:45 P.M., Drew, who didn't know how to use the wet vac, found it, and proceeded to the guestroom to mop up the wet carpeting. The guests were nowhere to be seen.
It was now 8:00 P.M. About five minutes after the job was completed, the maintenance person on duty entered the lobby of the hotel. He asked Clarice whether the job had been done. Astonished, Clarice realized that the maintenance person had heard everything over the radio, and chose to ignore it. Since it was quitting time, the maintenance person said goodbye, and clocked out.
An hour later, Clarice was starting her cash-out. A couple in their thirties approached the desk. They said that they had been to dinner and wondered if their room had been mopped up yet. They were polite, but mentioned that they were disappointed with the level of service at the resort. They had had a nice dinner, but the service in the dining room wasn't very good. They wanted to know the name of the manager so that they could write him a short note.
Questions:
1. Was the guest complaint handled appropriately? What could staff of done differently? Please explain your answer.
2. If you were the MOD, what would you have done differently? Explain in detail your response.
3. If you were the front office manager and this was reported to you on the following day, what, would you do? Explain your answer in detail.
Each question worth 8 points, one point for spelling and grammar.