Business centers are popular haunts for business travelers, especially if they left their laptop at home or just want a change of scenery from the four walls of their hotel room. Leisure travelers like to catch up on their email, Facebook page, or print out boarding passes for their next flight. On a trip to Scotland recently, I used the hotel’s Business Center to print my boarding passes. I had no trouble logging in, found my reservation, and got to the point of printing. There was what I thought was a printer on the desk next to the PC, but when I got to the screen to select a printer, the one on the desk wasn’t listed. A closer look revealed it was a fax/copier. I looked around the room, and there wasn’t any other printer around. I found another printer in another room close by, but it was a different brand altogether, and wasn’t listed as one of the printer selections for the Business Center’s PC.
Frustrated and pressed for time, I had to log out, since I didn’t want my personal information up on the screen for others to see. I ran down to the front desk for help, only to be told that the printer that was connected to the PC in the Business Center is tucked in a drawer in the desk. There was no sign with that bit of information, and no sound of a printer activating when I pushed “print.” The front desk clerk had to come down to the Business Center, only to find that the printer in the drawer was out of order. What was alarming was that other guests had tried to print documents before me, and there were a large number of documents in the print queue. An obvious security issue, since if they weren’t deleted from the queue, they would have printed once the printer was again operational for all to see.
The only fast solution was for me to go to the office behind the front desk and log into their computer. After navigating through the desk agent’s passwords and logging in under his watchful eyes, I was able to pull up my boarding passes and get them printed. This whole episode took about 45 minutes, time I could have spent packing or enjoying the last few minutes before heading out to the airport. The desk agent was pulled away from his station for about 20 minutes—time he could have spent checking guests in or out, making reservations or handling other duties at the front desk.
A small sign letting guests know that the printer was located in the drawer in the lower right hand desk drawer and a line item on the Business Center’s daily checklist to make sure the printer was operational and filled with paper would have avoided the whole incident. As it was, it caused frustration, concern, and time wasted for both me and the desk agent. Resources for guests, such as Business Centers, laundry, room service and newspaper delivery are great marketing tools, but only if they work efficiently and consistently. If not, they can drive guests to think twice before booking again.
Mary Nestor-Harper, SPHR, is a freelance writer, blogger, and consultant. Based in Savannah, GA, her work has appeared in "Training" magazine, "Training & Development" magazine, "Supervision," "Pulse" and "The Savannah Morning News." You can read her blogs at www.skirt.com/savannahchick, www.workingsmartworks.blogspot.com/ and on the web at www.mjnhconsulting.com.
Frustrated and pressed for time, I had to log out, since I didn’t want my personal information up on the screen for others to see. I ran down to the front desk for help, only to be told that the printer that was connected to the PC in the Business Center is tucked in a drawer in the desk. There was no sign with that bit of information, and no sound of a printer activating when I pushed “print.” The front desk clerk had to come down to the Business Center, only to find that the printer in the drawer was out of order. What was alarming was that other guests had tried to print documents before me, and there were a large number of documents in the print queue. An obvious security issue, since if they weren’t deleted from the queue, they would have printed once the printer was again operational for all to see.
The only fast solution was for me to go to the office behind the front desk and log into their computer. After navigating through the desk agent’s passwords and logging in under his watchful eyes, I was able to pull up my boarding passes and get them printed. This whole episode took about 45 minutes, time I could have spent packing or enjoying the last few minutes before heading out to the airport. The desk agent was pulled away from his station for about 20 minutes—time he could have spent checking guests in or out, making reservations or handling other duties at the front desk.
A small sign letting guests know that the printer was located in the drawer in the lower right hand desk drawer and a line item on the Business Center’s daily checklist to make sure the printer was operational and filled with paper would have avoided the whole incident. As it was, it caused frustration, concern, and time wasted for both me and the desk agent. Resources for guests, such as Business Centers, laundry, room service and newspaper delivery are great marketing tools, but only if they work efficiently and consistently. If not, they can drive guests to think twice before booking again.
Mary Nestor-Harper, SPHR, is a freelance writer, blogger, and consultant. Based in Savannah, GA, her work has appeared in "Training" magazine, "Training & Development" magazine, "Supervision," "Pulse" and "The Savannah Morning News." You can read her blogs at www.skirt.com/savannahchick, www.workingsmartworks.blogspot.com/ and on the web at www.mjnhconsulting.com.
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