I’ve been in the hotel business about 30 years, and there are plenty of misconceptions about what it is like to work in one. The American ‘80s television show Hotel really skewed the reality of the business.
The one job that had the most misconceptions, even with people in the business, was that of a hotel inspector. It sounds really glamorous to travel all over, staying in hotels, eating out, seeing the sights, tra-la-la!
It was nothing like that. It meant leaving friends and family behind for weeks at a time, dealing with all of the travel hassles, and being on our own. The work day started at 6am and often did not end until early evening. The only day off (Sunday) was spent sleeping, doing laundry, catching up on administrative work, and getting to the next location.
On a good day, when a hotel passed inspection with flying colors, there might be time to do a bit of sight-seeing, but we’d often find ourselves in Nowhere, USA, where the only tourist attraction was the statue of some local war veteran in the park. On a bad day, we’d discover a hotel that was not going to pass inspection. A lot of time was spent explaining why, taking photos for back-up, and then ending the inspection by having to explain it to the owner, if they were available. Some equated it with us calling their ‘baby’ ugly. Tears were sometimes shed.
And what no one ever understood until they were inspectors is how wonderful it is, despite the downside. We learned something new about the business every day. We shared tips on how to solve their problems. And in our own small way, we helped them help their customers get what they were paying for: a positive experience while staying at one of our hotels.