Journals of a Hotel Manager

I love technology. I am not a tech-snob who goes after the latest phone or computer at any cost. As long as the gadget works and gets things done, I am happy with it.

This cannot be said with our in-house fire alarm system. The hotel was not built to accommodate the latest technological demands. During the most recent renovation, about 10 years ago, all the guest rooms were wired to the central PBX system should a fire breaks out. Once an alarm is triggered, the PBX will send out a CODE RED signal to all users. In the beginning it was via pagers - remember those little black boxes? Now it is via BlackBerry or text messaging. The trigger is not very reliable but we tend to react accordingly rather than be sorry later.

Yesterday when I was luxuriating at home in my shorts I received a CODE RED at room #136. All the rooms that start with #100 series are ocean-view rooms, hence the furthest away from the lobby and where I live. I hastily stepped into a pair of pants and ran out of the door while pulling an old T-shirt over my head. I couldn’t care less about my appearance should my hotel burn to the ground.

I ran through the back corridors and incredibly I did not run into one single staff. They must have all gone to #136 and it appeared the fire was legitimate, I thought. I sniffed the air as I ran along.

Strangely, when I arrived at #136, puffing and huffing (which reminded me that I should have gone to the gym instead of just wallowing in bed), there was no one there.

Acting quickly, I crouched down and gingerly touched the door with the back of my hand, as I had been taught - there was no heat from behind the door. I sniffed the air again - no smoke. What’s happening?

Just as I scratched my head while sitting on my haunches, a housekeeping staff emerged from the adjacent room. We locked eyes for a second and he gave me a big smile.

“Fire alarm?” asked he.

“You also got CODE RED?”

“Oh you are too late. It was yesterday. False alarm anyway,” he shrugged and walked away.

10 minutes later, I flopped back into bed as I could neither figure out why I received the CODE RED today, nor why I didn’t receive it yesterday.

I hate it when technology fails on such a simple task, especially when I look like a fool in front of my staff.