住都飯店股份有限公司

Night shift front desk staff:

1. During the late-night hours (3:00–5:00), you can take a short nap at the desk or do your own things.

2. Foreign-language skills are not particularly required. When I joined, I was one of the few front desk staff who could speak English, Japanese, and Korean; most colleagues only knew basic English phrases used in hotels.

3. Uniform dresses are provided.

4. Salaries are paid consistently (earlier when payday falls on a holiday). The front desk department occasionally receives tip shares. Although there are small cliques among colleagues, people are generally easy to get along with.

5. The company does not proactively dismiss employees, making it suitable for coasting toward retirement. (Highly recommended if you prefer a conflict-free life and are good at slacking or quietly cutting corners.)

1. The entire hotel currently operates as a quarantine hotel. The chairman originally guaranteed that every employee would receive an additional NT$5,000 as a pandemic allowance, but it was only discovered at payday that not everyone received the full NT$5,000. I received only NT$2,000, while colleagues privately discussed some receiving NT$3,000; very few actually received NT$5,000. When we asked administrative staff, they helplessly said that the allowance was adjusted according to ability or position at the director's discretion, which left employees stunned. Since the chairman's guarantee was only verbal (although many colleagues heard it in person) and there was no written announcement, upper management later changed its story and claimed that it had never promised everyone an additional NT$5,000, reducing employees' sense of trust and loyalty.

2. It is a family business. The owner's five brothers are wealthy landowners who do not lack money, have little management ability, and only think about making money. Basically, senior positions are all held by family members, so do not expect to advance here. Several front desk supervisors alone have already worked for more than 10 years and are still only low-level supervisors.

3. Continuing from the previous point, because advancement is difficult in a family business, even if you become a team leader or supervisor, there is little room or authority to demonstrate your abilities. When a junior employee gets into trouble, few supervisors will step in to handle it. Instead, they stand by and ignore it, leaving the junior employee to deal with it alone. However, junior employees have no authority and can do nothing to remedy the situation, making guests even angrier and more likely to complain. At that point, the assistant manager and manager will heavily scold the employee, while the supervisor remains silent beside them from beginning to end.

4. There is virtually no room for salary increases.

Whatever your starting salary is, that is what you will continue to earn. If you want a raise, find a way to move up—but see point 3. It is also said that even raises are not very substantial.

5. As long as a supervisor tells you to do something, you have to do it. Although you are hired as a front desk receptionist, when the service center is short-staffed, you have to work there; because there is no housekeeping department on the night shift, if a housekeeping-related situation arises, front desk staff must deliver items or escort guests during room changes; if the restaurant does not have enough part-time staff, you have to help pack meal boxes and deliver meals. In short, wherever there is a staffing shortage, front desk staff are pulled in to help, while still being expected to complete their own front desk work. (There is no additional pay; the company asks employees to endure the difficulties together.)

6. The hotel's equipment is outdated, including not only the physical facilities in the rooms but also the front desk computer system. It crashes from time to time, seriously affecting work efficiency and guests' waiting times. The chairmen believe that if the equipment can still be used, there is no need to upgrade it.

7. There is no SOP.

Basically, guests who make a fuss get what they want, and the supervisors have very few principles. For example, they may initially tell staff that rule A cannot be provided to guests. After a guest checks in and demands A, the junior employee first explains that the rules do not allow it. After the guest complains, the supervisor cheerfully and politely delivers A to the room. This causes the guest, after checking out, to come back and scold the junior front desk staff, saying that the colleagues provided poor service and did not know how to do their jobs. The supervisors also will not step in to explain or calm the guest down. Over time, all the junior staff leave.

In addition, there is no formal training. It depends on the new hire's luck—whether they happen to be guided by a serious and responsible senior colleague. A good colleague will guide you well; a bad colleague will make you even worse.

There are many more annoying trivial matters, but I will not elaborate. Recommended for job seekers who need a transitional period or a place to coast toward retirement.

(Before the pandemic, many colleagues joined to pad their resumes for 1–2 years before moving on to ground staff positions in the aviation industry. Currently, more colleagues are hanging on as a transitional job because it is difficult to find work during the pandemic.)