Everything. No management on duty, the guests are awful, you have no control over prices and are always yelled at for something by someone. The SOP you have to follow is a joke, the lack of amenities and quality in the hotel is laughable and making guest pay what they do for it is border line stealing. I could never get a hold of my management in times of dire need - pipes burst and the hotel was flooding, he was out of town and wouldn't pick up his cell phone. Call the district manager and you'd get a voicemail. But since you're alone for 8 hours at a time, if you call out for your shift it's immediate write up. Doesn't matter if you're in the hospital ill.
The guests can pay up to 1,500 a month and the quality they get is, again, a joke. A couple TV channels (oh, but Showtime is included) and a laundry room with a couple washers and dryers. If you go down the west coast the Extended Stays have a swimming pool, but here on the East coast that's it. The "grab and go breakfast" is coffee and granola bars with stale pre-packaged muffins and if you're manager orders it in time, disgusting stale apples and oranges.
This company is cheap. If you work the front desk you're supposed to market up the "kitchen" aspect and the "long term is cheaper" to make the hotel seem nicer....
But seriously, this place is a fancy motel. End of story.
Working house keeping was a nightmare and almost destroyed my body. You're expected to deep clean these rooms in less then 25 minutes, 30 minutes if the guest has stayed there for more then 8 days. That means if the guest has stayed there for 2 years, you have 30 minutes. You're given a chart of 20 rooms and calculated how much time you have to finish. Good luck! If you can't do it, you're not cut out. So you find ways to half butt the cleaning and, guess what guests - that's why you're room isn't perfectly clean. Because corporate doesn't want housekeepers there longer then 4 hours for 3 days a week. And yes, if you stay you don't get daily housekeeping. 8 days you get 1 day stay-over service. Working front desk, this was horrible explaining to guests.
If you're part time, expect less then 20 hours a week. There were times I'd go into the front desk from 7 am to 10 am. 3 hours. I'd get 12 hour weeks when I needed 30 and they didn't care. They scheduled me 3 hour shifts to baby sit until they came in.
If you need this job, don't stay for long. The company name will hold you down. Other hotels don't want to hire someone who has worked for Extended Stay. It's a dirty name. So don't expect to stay very long and move on to the Marriott. I've had interviews with other hotels who have flat out told me my experience at Extended Stay was little to nothing good. My time there has meant nothing, and my headache was for nothing. I'm lucky to have had a manager who has taken me under his wing and erased the damage that ESA has done to me. I've started fresh with a new brand flag and hope to never speak of ESA again.
If you can avoid this company, do so. If you can't, do not stay longer then a couple months. 1 1/2 years almost destroyed my resume, and my soul.
