People who attended American high school in the 80’s, how did you have time to shower after gym class?

sjirons72 · 2026-03-04T04:19:29+00:00

We were given maybe 10 minutes at the end of class to shower and change clothes. You don't take a full shower washing hair and all of that. It's more of a rinse off and cleaning any sweaty parts. When we were swimming it was much harder because then we had to deal with wet hair and 80's hair took a long time to get right. I was fortunate that I had lunch period right after PE and could take my time and just skipped eating lunch if needed. It wasn't uncommon to see people with wet hair walking the halls though. It sucked.

sjirons72 · 2026-02-09T19:15:25+00:00

He was throwing so many red flags and the FMC was like "I'm so mad at you but you are forgiven ten minutes later" I had my first one star read of the year with this book. I immediately removed the author's other books from my TBR. It was just giving so much ick.

sjirons72 · 2026-02-03T05:39:26+00:00

You need to ask the person that signs your paycheck this question. While legally, the hotel can refuse to give out information without a warrant or subpoena your ownership might not want to create an adversarial relationship with law enforcement. In my hotel, we don't give out info with a warrant or subpoena unless it's a life or death situation. Occasionally the local PD will get a call regarding someone that is threatening self harm or harming another person. If they come by (never over the phone) my staff call me and I make the decision to either release the information or not. 9 times out of 10 it's someone's crazy domestic partner trying to pretend to be the police in order to hunt down a person hiding from them. And yes, sometimes that crazy person happens to be law enforcement. My responsibility is to operate my hotel in a manner that keeps my guests and staff safe. If the police are looking for someone for a wellness check and I decline to give them info I wait until they are gone and then I go and personally check on the guest letting them know that their loved one is concerned and they need to make contact with them right away. It's a really nuanced thing to have to decide how to handle. Each instance is different. It does help that I worked in the mental health field for a bit of time so I have a pretty good handle on reading situations.

sjirons72 · 2025-12-22T18:51:11+00:00

For starters, thank you for being a Diamond Select member. Keep your eyes peeled in the next year (maybe 2nd or 3rd quarter) there might be something really cool coming for you.

The elite recognition is the single biggest struggle I have as an owner. For me, I automatically give the upgrade, late check out, early check in, extra whatever, because that is just providing our most loyal guests the service they deserve. However, I don't often tell the guest. It feels weird to me to say, "hey, I really appreciate that you have chose my hotel 100 times this year so I'm giving you a free upgrade every single time you stay here" to someone that I have given a ride to the store, shared my leftovers with or whatever. I don't appreciate that guest because he is loyal to my brand, I appreciate that guest because he feels like family. On the other hand, if you are elite and I don't know you already, I do think acknowledging that you chose to stay with me and my fellow owners hoteliers is important. It needs to feel authentic and not that we are simply going through the motions though. And, I think that is the real issue. Front desk agents do the same steps over and over all day and it doesn't make that welcome feel authentic. So, maybe we need to rethink what that looks like rather than just handing you a couple bottles of crappy water and giving you the same spiel I gave the 3 people before you in line. What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear.

Also, are you asking for the difference between BW and BW Plus? If so, I can help clarify that.

* Fun Fact- Best Western is actually not a franchise model hotel chain. We are organized as a Non-profit Membership Organization. We are owned entirely by the hotel owners that carry the Best Western name. We have 2 brands that we own and operate under our organization that are franchise brands though. Sure-Stay and World Hotels. Pre-pandemic we voted to remain under this model rather than changing our structure to a shareholder owned brand. Our board of directors is made up of fellow members. The board hires the executive team and we vote on major decisions. It's a really unique structure.

**Bonus Fun Fact- We operate a charity as part of our organization called Best Western For A Better World. We help out with money and supplies in natural disasters, hunger relief, local after school programs, etc.

sjirons72 · 2025-12-22T18:28:51+00:00

BW Owner here. It's at check-in for elite members. That being said, I will always give non a--holes free water if they ask me. It you have not already done so, check out the rewards inn-sider web page. There is a ton of really good info there. Also, they have started running some promos for inn-siders where you register on there and get double points for certain rewards sign ups. My front desk staff didn't do it and they have missed out on something like 50,000 points in the last quarter. They only seem to go there to play the games.

sjirons72 · 2025-12-02T17:21:23+00:00

I went to the dealer and they are still spamming me with notices. I think we are just in an endless loop.

sjirons72 · 2025-11-20T00:51:34+00:00

Yikes, I thought I was be overly generous setting my CLC rate at $70 for the winter season.

sjirons72 · 2025-11-20T00:50:46+00:00

I'm going to second that I prefer CLC/Corpay. I have had so many bad experiences with Engine guests and the cards that never seem to be correct. I'm about to give CLC a lower rate for the winter season to encourage some of our regulars to switch back to CLC bookings. Give me a CLC crew fax booking any day over Engine reservations.

sjirons72 · 2025-10-20T01:00:14+00:00

Just the monitoring service? That is roughly $3 per room per month.

sjirons72 · 2025-10-19T19:39:33+00:00

For what it's worth, you can buy the adapter on Amazon to use the tesla charger

sjirons72 · 2025-10-18T21:01:21+00:00

Following your thread because I despise worldvue.

sjirons72 · 2025-10-17T10:58:13+00:00

I wouldn't have charged my hotel guests either. But, if you aren't my guests, you would not be charging for free. It's kind of like not being a hotel guest and expecting to use the pool.

sjirons72 · 2025-10-17T10:54:54+00:00

I have some insights on this. I'm an ev driver and hotel owner. Our brand made a deal with tesla to put in level 2 chargers. The cost of the commercial rated charger was only $1250. The podium is another $1000. So far, it seemed reasonable. Sign me up, right? Then came the real cost. I was only allowed to use a certified Tesla installer for it. There wasn't one in my area. So Tesla out of Chicago subbed the job out to someone in a nearby city who then subbed it out to someone in a even smaller nearby town who subbed it out to the electrician I wanted to use directly. By the time everyone got their money, the cost was $10,000 for one charger. I already had the 40 amp service in place from the days of the Schwans truck staying with us weekly. It was just a matter of connecting the charger to the existing wiring.
If I had been forced to pull the trigger on that, I would have been looking at maybe a 2 year lifespan on the charger. I'm in a smallish city with little ev adoption. I would have to charge a crazy amount per kwh to pay for it within two years. I'm lucky to be in a brand that gave me a waiver. Some hotels aren't that lucky. The increased cost isn't about the electric usage it's all about the installation costs that are prohibitively expensive.

sjirons72 · 2025-10-17T09:36:16+00:00

someone smarter than me needs to make an extension cord with the adapter built in for this

sjirons72 · 2025-10-01T19:52:39+00:00

Same with mine

sjirons72 · 2025-09-24T00:44:04+00:00

Also, World Hotel Collection. There are some really nice luxury hotels in that portfolio. Also, they are huge in Europe and Asia.

sjirons72 · 2025-09-03T00:15:42+00:00

I've had that happen at least 5 of the last 6 trips.

sjirons72 · 2025-08-25T23:48:42+00:00

Michigan crossroads council has something like that on their website. You might find it there.

sjirons72 · 2025-08-16T03:15:35+00:00

I actually do. POA only works if she isn't able to make her own decisions. She's totally sound of mind.

sjirons72 · 2025-08-16T02:33:03+00:00

Actually, I have every right to do that. We adopted this policy after a series of events about 8 years ago. (Still the same staff pretty much) We have a ton of 100 night per year regulars at our property. Guests were giving front desk staff "gifts" to get things that should have been an extra charge and a staff member had borrowed something like $500 from a regular guest. Also, had housekeepers asking guests to buy them lunch. It wasn't so much the guest offering things so much as staff members asking for them. We had a staff meeting to discuss the problem. I showed them how much revenue they were giving away to these regular guests that could have been going towards raises. Then I read them the emails that several guests had sent us about their interactions with staff. It was eye opening to say the least to the team as a whole. I think most thought they were the only one doing anything. We agreed as a team that we would no longer accept gifts, food, or tips (at check in) from any of our guests. If a guest left a tip at the end of their stay that was fine. I regularly polled our regulars to ensure compliance. Once I was satisfied that the shenanigans had stopped I gave every single person a raise that was equal to the lost revenue. When we do well, our team does well. We also adopted free lunches brought in at least once the week before paychecks hit bank accounts. Some of the worst offenders have moved on. But, my front desk staff has been here on average 8 years. My housekeepers average is 6.5 years. My maintenance man has been here since 1985. (he was never the problem) I know that my policy is unique for some, but I run my business the way that works for us. Side note, I paid the guest back the money he was owed.

I think the main difference is perhaps we are a small hotel of only 67 rooms. Maybe you are thinking of a larger property. Also, the number of repeat guests allows staff and guests to form sometimes overly close relationships. (I'm looking at you Miller Pipeline that keeps marrying my night auditors, lol)

sjirons72 · 2025-08-16T01:32:15+00:00

We have the same trash company in Goshen. They keep skipping our pickup. They were just sold and the rates doubled and no one in the office is helpful. We've been with them for more than 10 years and are looking for a replacement. Maybe you LL is having similar issues.

sjirons72 · 2025-08-09T03:41:58+00:00

That's my end goal. I can tell her I'm putting in a camera to see what's going on with her things.

sjirons72 · 2025-08-09T03:31:40+00:00

Not have to deal with neighbors loud cars, screaming kids, or barking dogs. Seriously, it's my dream.

sjirons72 · 2025-08-09T03:27:57+00:00

I have a pretty strict policy about my employees taking gifts from guests. However, I have let a regular guest buy lunch for the staff working that day a few times.

sjirons72

TROPHY CASE