A Helping Hand

As promised, I have a feel good story for you (a little delayed, but it's here) from the week of Sandy:

As you know, we had no power in our hotel during Hurricane Sandy.  We had a backup generator that powered the exit signs, stairwell lights, and the elevators, but that's it.  This left us with no power in the lobby, guest rooms, hallways or offices.  As you can imagine, a lot of the guests were not happy with this.  Mostly about the shower, or lack there of.

Along with everything mentioned, there was also no power going to the hot water tank, so showering in the hotel was an unpleasant experience, to say the least.  The temperature was in the high 30's/low 40's at night that week, so the water was at an almost unbearable temperature.

Luckily, we have some fantastic regular guests in our hotel.  There was one in particular that stays with us multiple nights a week, every other week.  She's basically part of our family and we give her whatever she needs when she comes in.  She was here working on a big project for two weeks already when Sandy hit, and she continued to stay through the week (and another two weeks after that).  On Wednesday night (day three of the power outage), she came to the front desk and handed me a room key.    I looked at it and saw that it wasn't for our hotel, so I was pretty confused.

After asking me what it's for, she told me that her company wanted her to stay in a hotel with power so they booked a room at a nearby hotel a few blocks North.  Unfortunately for her, she has two pugs that are handicapped that she travels with all the time and the new hotel isn't pet friendly.  The company paid for the room anyways so she can have a warm room with lights so she can do her work.  She told me that since we were stuck in the hotel and couldn't go home and take a proper shower, we can use her spare key when she's not there.  We can feel free to shower, sit and watch tv, thaw out.  You know, normal life things that we didn't have for a few days.

It was really such a small gesture, but at the same time, it might have been the most satisfying shower I've ever taken.  In a time when most guests were getting antsy and frustrated, she was helpful and considerate and we appreciated it more than she knows.

I don't think she'll ever see this, but if she does, thank you!!

My Frankenstorm

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard about this huge, historic hurricane that hit the Eastern Seaboard. Or, as the weathermen coined it, Frankenstorm. I know I started hearing about it last Wednesday when I went to Weather.com to see the forecast for the weekend. I saw how crazy it was projected to be, and started spreading the word, just in case people hadn't heard yet. I went about business as usual, working the overnight shifts on Saturday and Sunday nights. As I was leaving Monday morning for my two days off, I checked the weather again and told my manager that if the storm is bad enough and the MTA goes through with shutting down the subways, buses and all other forms of public transportation, she should give me a call and I'll come in to help out. Turns out that may not have been the best idea...

I got out of the car at the hotel after packing up and immediately noticed there were no lobby lights. UH OH. That didn't look good. This is what the street looked like:



That light right in the middle was a car about a block away. The rest was pitch black. So we headed inside to see what was going on. The first thing I saw was the general manager, assistant general manager, front office manager, executive housekeeper and bellman all standing around the front desk trying to figure out what to do. In the two plus years I've been here, we have never had a blackout. So no one really knew what to do and how to react.

Being here these last few days has been an experience, to say the least. I've seen a natural disaster force the City That Never Sleeps into a panicked slumber. People are walking around with flashlights so they don't trip on debris or walk into other people. A few blocks north, where there is power, people are lining the convenience store walls with extension cords to charge their cell phones. There are people so desperate to work and connect with the outside world that they are huddling together outside Starbucks just to use the free WiFi. It's a scary sight.

I have now been at the hotel for three days. Let me tell you, it's not easy. There is no power, no heat, and no hot water. Our refrigerator and oven aren't running, so we don't have a full breakfast. Guests are getting antsy and want answers as to when the power will be coming back on. Unfortunately, we can't answer that. Our chief engineer got in touch with someone at ConEd and was told it could be anywhere from 2-7 days. We've done our best to accommodate guests as best as possible. We've called every hotel in Manhattan to find any available rooms, but everything is booked. The nearest hotel with vacancies is about 15 miles from the City. We've called airlines to help reschedule and confirm flights. It's tiring.

I'll tell you this though. Most guests we've had are completely understanding that this situation is out of our control. They'll stop by the desk to see how we're doing and how we're holding up, offering to run out to get us some food or coffee. They thank us for sitting in the cold lobby, dealing with their uneasiness and frustration.

Others, though, aren't as understanding.

"Why can't we have a place to charge our phones?"
"Why don't you know when the power is coming on? What kind of business are you running?"
"I don't think I should have to pay for my stay because of what happened. There's no power, heat or hot water."

We had a few unbelievable and great (in an amusing way) exchanges with guests that I'll post over the next few days. For now, we're just trying to get our guests out to fully operating hotels at reasonable rates so they can be more comfortable. And so we can shut down and go home until the power comes on. We're cold, tired, and spread thin. It's time to go home.