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Kicking Out Problem Guests

Front Desk Operations

Josh started this discussion 16 years 1 month ago

How do you throw out problem guests?
When do you decide to throw them out?

Here are a few things I've encountered:

Residency Laws
I think it's important to be aware of local residency laws (at least in the USA). In some states here if a guest stays longer than a certain period of time (e.g., 30 days), they legally become a resident and to throw them out of the hostel you have to follow tenant eviction rules instead of hotel rules.

Trespass Notices
At one city hostel I worked at there were quite a few problem guests. We would have to issue trespass notices for it to have any effect, otherwise they would often just sneak back in. The trespass notices would give the police the right to arrest the person if they came back on the property. Without the trespass notice, the police couldn't do anything except issue the trespass notice and give them a warning, and then the problem would tend to repeat itself.

Offering Alternatives:
Something that I've found useful when throwing someone out or when refusing to accept a guest is to provide a list of alternate accommodation options. When someone is under the impression that they are getting thrown out on the street and "have nowhere to go" they panic and can get insistent. If you have a sheet ready that lists other accommodation options in the city, you can give it to them as they start to protest. If they look like they might fit in at the local flophouse, you can even add, "...and it's cheaper too!" If they know they have somewhere to go, they don't resist as much. They may even say "thank you" on the way out :D

Keeping Track of Banned Guests:
At one hostel we used the front desk software to keep track of banned guests. Otherwise they would try to come back on a different shift and check in.

How to you ask problem guests to leave?
Do you give refunds when you have to ask someone to leave?
Do you keep track of banned guests? What system?
What is the worst situation you've encountered when having to throw a problem guest out?

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gordo

16 years

i tell them to pack up their stuff and leave immediately, or i'll pack their stuff up and the police will ensure they leave. usually does the job. thats if its a behavioural issue - if its late rent, im a little nicer about it. a little.

depends what they did and depends how badly i want to get rid of them. if i catch someone red-handed, no refunds. if its a case of really just wanting them out because theyre weird, or a pain in the ass or something else, then i might offer a refund to hurry things up/smooth them out.

we have a 'blacklist' - and most computer systems ive used have a barred list feature too. havent had any real issues with that in the past.

ooooh... where do i start? got my nose broken on halloween, broke up a serious domestic in melbourne, had to almost physically remove an ex-employee from the premises here recently... in more than a few places ive been the only guy that works on front-desk, so i tend to get the rough nuts who dont want to co-operate. fun times. i get to use my 'school teacher' voice :D

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Josh Hostels

16 years

ooooh... where do i start? got my nose broken on halloween, broke up a serious domestic in melbourne, had to almost physically remove an ex-employee from the premises here recently...

Broken nose is rough... this past Halloween?

I've been threatened a few times but have been lucky so far...

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gordo

16 years

yep, like 3 weeks ago - not a bad break. in fact, i didnt think id done any real damage (just a bloody nose) until a physio mate of mine just looked at me and went 'you broke your nose!'. headbutted; never nice.

first time anyone's landed a hit on me though - been pretty close a few other times.

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aboriginalhostel

16 years

yep, like 3 weeks ago - not a bad break. in fact, i didnt think id done any real damage (just a bloody nose) until a physio mate of mine just looked at me and went 'you broke your nose!'. headbutted; never nice.

first time anyone's landed a hit on me though - been pretty close a few other times.

Huhh... sorry to hear that! What happened exactly?

IMHO in such situation the best thing to do is to stay cool as long as possible. If you raise your voice or being upset, it can often result a fight, but let say you have couple of other mates around and ice talk, the fecker cant encounter what's gonna happen... and hopefully would shit himself before he would do a thing. IMHO.

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gordo

16 years

99% of the time im cool - but i, like everyone else, have my limits. violence or threats of violence result in one thing; you being escorted, forcefully if necessary, out of the building. dont have your bags? too bad. ill pack them up for you.
im a very calm person and can talk my way out of (or into) almost anything. im surprisingly charismatic :D

in the case where i got my nose broken, it was actually an altercation between other guests that i tried to break up that then escalated. im not 100% sure on what started it, but when i saw it getting physical i stepped in and when you've got 2 guys kicking off against a group of nearly 100, if I dont stop it, its going to get vicious. so when i was trying to get between these guys and force the 2 out of the bar, they took it personally and started on me. so i called in my bartender (a 7'2" swedish guy) to give me a hand and well, it didnt go to plan. i copped a forehead to the nose, he got a fist to the cheek. not a particularly big deal in the end but yeah, broken nose. sucks but hey.

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aboriginalhostel

16 years

in the case where i got my nose broken, it was actually an altercation between other guests that i tried to break up that then escalated. im not 100% sure on what started it, but when i saw it getting physical i stepped in and when you've got 2 guys kicking off against a group of nearly 100, if I dont stop it, its going to get vicious. so when i was trying to get between these guys and force the 2 out of the bar, they took it personally and started on me.

So as always, the sheriff gets the first shot! :D

so i called in my bartender (a 7'2" swedish guy) to give me a hand and well, it didnt go to plan. i copped a forehead to the nose, he got a fist to the cheek. not a particularly big deal in the end but yeah, broken nose. sucks but hey.

Woa, thats a story!

It reminds me a quote from Woody Allen: "Once I've beaten up two guys on the street: "I've stomached down the first one's fist and headed down the other one's knee."

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HostelOffice

15 years

Hostelworkers have big smiles and are willing to say Yes to have a successful hostel. One way to keep staff motivated is when they know they can say a BIG NO and Get Out to the wrong guest.

Not every guest is a guest.

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KrazyBackoffice...

15 years

Shit happens. Ocassionally we have to deal with pricks, freaks and badly behaved people. We of course try to be as accommodating as possible but if there has been a serious violation of in-house rules we do ask the initiator to leave the premises. Does not always work if you are being polite. Even if you threaten to call the police - sometimes they just do not give a flying damn.

It usually takes 10 to 30 minutes to convience the bad guy to leave. In worst situations we do call the cops. But they are really pissed at us if we bother them with such things. They tend to say - call us once you get killed, please.

Coouple of golden rules for such situations:
1) Politeness - never shout, leave any kind of bad emotions for yourself (keep up the best customer service, do not forget there are people around you that actuaally paid not for the theatre but for a nice place to stay in)
2) NO phisical contact - do not touch the bad guy EVER (u nless you want to be sued)
3) Never pack or touch his staff (even if something will not go missing the guy might say you did steal couple of thousands while packing his stuff)

Those are the things that I always keep in mind, works pretty good. Yeah, have a colleague by your side whenever you are about to ask the guy to leave.

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wavesporter

15 years

I had to break up a fight at a hostel once... between 6 BIG british dudes and... my drunken co worker... (he was being innaproprite with one of the brits girlfriends and didn't like it when they told him top back off) he is a brazilian mixed martial artist, and was holding his own against 4 of them till 2 others jumped in... anywho.. Everytime I broke up the fight and the brits would walk away, Edwardo would jump kick into the crowd of them and it would all start again... finally I stood between the 2 groups and told everyone to go back inside... then I got punched in the back of the head... by my coworker... I blacked out and had a bad concussion, he had 2 broken ribs and a messed up face, and the british guys just had some bruises... luckily I had hooked up with one the the british girls with them, so they still gave us a great review on hostelworld. :D

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AndrewC

15 years

... then I got punched in the back of the head... by my coworker... I blacked out and had a bad concussion, he had 2 broken ribs and a messed up face, and the british guys just had some bruises... luckily I had hooked up with one the the british girls with them, so they still gave us a great review on hostelworld. :D

Willing to take a punch in head for a good HW review. A true hostel manager!

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