To most people the porter is the guy who carries your bags up to your room, and for most of history that was true. If you go back to when no one cared about how dehumanising it was to allot someone one task for life then yeah that was the job.

The guests didn’t care if the porter was happy or not. So long as he didn’t look them in the eye it’s all good. And if the guests didn’t care then why should the managers?

A few things have happened since then. The mass-growth of the middle classes worldwide means more disposable income so more hotels and more tourism. It also means that the idea of being professionally stationary for life is out. The idea of ascending the professional ladder and bettering oneself is very much in.

Let me give you an example. The man who started The Hotel Club started as a (3) hotel receptionist. He then moved from there to management and from there to consultancy and from there to The Hotel Club, where you are now.

Example number two is me. I started as a porter, I worked in bar, management, function running, marketing, entertainment promotion, education and now here I am telling you what it takes to be or, as the case may be, train a good porter.

Before working as a porter I worked in a supermarket. I stacked shelves. Stacking shelves is like being a porter but instead of a room there’s a shelf and instead of bags there are tins of beans. **I quit the supermarket almost instantly but I stayed in the hospitality industry for a little over a decade. Why? Because in this era of the individual there’s a lot more to portering than carrying bags.**

**Starting out as a porter you become the hotel's go-for. After a while you evolve to ‘the guy who gets it for you’. That’s because apart from a manager no one knows the ins and outs of every department quite like a porter who’s been around a while. They’re like roving receptionists.** A good porter will know who to ask for what and they’ll call them by their first name too. They’ll be able to step into the bar if they need a hand and they know on what shelf the king-size linens are kept in the bottom floor storage. They know all this because they work on a rotation. (7) The lobby is their principle domain and actually a good trick as a manager is to make sure there’s at least a couple of items that require regular maintenance in your lobby - a fireplace, a leaflet stand, whatever, because this way you only have to wait a few minutes in the lobby on any given day to know whether your porter is on the ball or not.

I know this because I did it myself and I did it myself because it was done to me. My rotation was (8) lobby, toilets - three sets total - corridors for collection of room service trays, fire escapes, front lawn and deliveries. Plus, I carried a phone so I was contactable internally whenever anyone needed an extra hand.

To summarise, for aspiring porters, management or management who intend on being their own porters - nothing wrong with it - the key take-away from this section is that if one does not appear in the lobby every few minutes then something's gone wrong.

All the rotations I’ve mentioned just now you must be thinking ‘wow, what a monotonous day’ That’s because you’re not thinking of the key ingredient in any hotel.

Guests.

(9) Good porters greet every guest they meet with a smile. They open doors, They say how are you and they ask if they can help. They set the tone for the hotel’s atmosphere with every guest they come in contact with. Receptionists would probably say they do that, but they only do that at reception. Same goes for bar-men and waiters. Managers probably do this too, though I imagine they ask if the guests would like something only if they’re having a quiet day. Good housekeeping aspires not to be seen so that leaves old Jimmycake Porter-face as the all-attending eyes and ears of a well-functioning hotel.

Ten years ago you couldn’t throw a rock in hospitality without hitting some jackass who’s day couldn’t be considered complete if he didn’t declare loudly in the face of a longtime industry professional that ‘the future of hospitality is Booking and Airbnb, man. The middle-man is going to be cut out.’ Ten years on and the dust has settled and the market has seen itself segmented in twain. On one side you’ve the guests who want a bed and a key and to be left alone and on the other there’s those who want a genuine hospitality experience and are willing to pay for it and to the latter bunch a good porter, one who anticipates what guests might like, communicates well between all departments and lends a hand when it’s needed, is as key to that kind of experience as four walls and a door, tiny soap and a mint on the pillow.

Now some of you might be thinking - well thanks captain vague - and that’s a fair point but gimme a minute cos I’ve only just begun.

Firstly, one’s position, as detailed in the previous module, is that of the all-seeing, always-attending, eyes and ears of the hotel. A receptionist facilitates check-ins, manages money, etc. They have their zone, as does a bar-man as does housekeeping. A porter’s is the lobby in short but the hotel at large. As a matter of fact, for the purpose of this module in particular, it’s probably more helpful for the porter to think of every square centimetre of the public areas of the hotel as an extension of the lobby, which is their domain. (1) They are the ambassador and master of these domains and they must see to it that weary travellers are not harassed by such bandits as ‘crooked pictures’, ‘wilting flowers’ or ‘no idea where in town to eat tonight’.

As the more perceptive among you might already be deducing, the goal of the hotel porter is thus an extension of the goal of the hotel itself. In fact, they’re one and the same. It is to make the guests feel welcome.

Keeping all that in mind - and the fact that we will at some point in the not-too-distant produce courses on the topics of communication and conflict resolution specifically - I’d like to break down the basics of good communication practices when it comes to dealing with guests.

Smile, be cheerful, remember names, don’t blame or complain and take ownership of everything.

Now you might be saying to yourself and to me ‘well thanks captain obvious’ which is fair enough - they are obvious. Still, they warrant reminding because even the most obvious of ‘what’s’ go well with a ‘why’. It’s not obvious why you shouldn’t sit too close to the TV, for example. Is it obvious why you should smile and be cheerful?

Positive vibes contribute to the atmosphere. If your hotel had a face I’d like to think it would be a smiling one. You see someone frowning? Approach them with a smile. Someone has a problem? You’re sure you can sort it out. (2) You know that cliche from Western movies when a stranger enters a bar and everyone turns around and stares? A porter’s approach should embody the very opposite of that with every interaction.

**Names? Why? Not that this isn’t good practice in real life also - it is - but remembering people’s names has a disarming effect. Firstly you need to learn them which is why checking the day’s check-ins at the start of your shift is an essential habit to pick up, but more on that later. Asking at the start of an interaction is also a good habit to pick up. Direct questions - ‘What is your name?’ - is a bit of a taboo approach for some people so it’s best to go with a fill-in-the-blank approach, where you offer them the blank.**

**Example - ‘and your name is…’ or ‘yes and remind me you are Mr. …’.**

These kinds of approaches imply a familiarity with the guest. Objectively speaking one could accuse it of simply being a cheap sales tactic. That said, in the moment, using someone’s name works well because most people are used to it only being used by peers and friends and family. It works.

Don’t blame or complain? Who not to blame? Well not the guest obviously and neither another department of the hotel? Why? It implies a negativity that will dilute the positive vibes you’re trying to convey with your general attitude and it also breaks down the unified front of the hotel, which is a phrase that will be understood by any parents out there.

The hotel as an idea is at its most effective when it’s seemingly all working as one. (3) In hotels I worked in in the past, for instance, I knew the trainers from the gymnasium by face and name-tag alone. That said, if I were directing someone towards them for a solution I’d talk about them like we went fishing together most weekends.

Let’s break that down slightly. A guest approaches you. She had no fresh towels delivered that day. Inwardly, you know housekeeping has dropped the ball. No harm, no fowl - it happens. Outwardly - ‘I’m so sorry we appear to have dropped the ball on this, let me get you some right away.’

Finally, ownership.

Taking ownership of everything might sound a bit extreme to some - (4) as a matter of fact that concept originates in a book by that name, Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink - but it’s a highly effective work tactic. You can only solve problems that originate with you so whatever the problem is find a way to make it your fault. In reality, there’ll be many problems that are not but next to none that you can’t help with if you think a little.

Now, this module is about communication. Ownership is a strategy for working and that translates into communication by way of implication. No matter the situation, *imply* your ownership of it. Even if the solution involves another person or department it’s never ‘you need to go to’ or you’ll have to speak to’ but rather ‘I’ll take you to such-and-such right away so we can get this sorted.

Now, I’ve just skimmed the surface here so we’ll for sure need to do a full course on this in future. That said - follow these basics and you’ll not go far wrong. See you in the next module.

I realise that for the most part I’ll be speaking to managers here, which is why I’ll include some recommendations as to how hotels should be run with regards to luggage handling. If you’re a porter or wannabe porter watching this, by all means pass on my recommendations to your manager, but do so at your own risk.

Now - why is luggage handling so important? Hotels wish to make people feel at home and a home is more than four walls and some people. Regardless of how you feel about it to most people, probably including you, possessions matter a lot. A piece of luggage is a portion of someone’s life while travelling. This is why people who lose their’s in transit are so stressed - not only have they lost their possessions but the plan they’ve made for their life for whatever the amount of time. Now, nine times out of ten, a case will contain clothes and clothes alone. This is immaterial. When you’re handling luggage you handle it with care because it’s a part of the guest. Most of the time they’ll be able to see you too. And plus, luggage is expensive, even when empty.

**Rules when it comes to luggage handling are super important. If you know what to do in whatever situation you project an air of confidence, which is super important when it comes to how the guest perceives the hotel. By all means, write your own rules but obey them and see them obeyed once you do. There will be busy days and there will be quiet days but if they’re run by the same rulebook they’ll all come out the same.** Here are mine.

Rule one: familiarise yourself with the check-in list at the start of every shift. This will tell you how many check-ins you’ll have to take care of, the names of the guests who’ll be staying and where they’ll be staying. One might say it’s a bit ardent to learn the names beforehand but not for those in search of a tip and certainly not for those in search of career advancement.

Rule one asterisk: Whenever possible try to get an estimated check-in time from guests booking with you.

Rule two: have an efficient communication system connecting reception to porters. In my day this was a beeper system and to be honest I see no reason why yours shouldn’t be but you do you. The point is, when a porter is needed for luggage there should be a very easy way to communicate this in an instant.

Rule three: If the handle on a wheeled case is sticking a little, as they tend to, do not force it. Lift the bag to the room.

Rule four: If the bag is too heavy, use a cart. Not only is forcing yourself to lift something that’s too heavy for you extremely bad for your back but you’ll also be much more likely to handle the bag roughly in this case.

Rule four, asterisk: If you don’t have a luggage cart then get one. Your staff will thank you by not suing you and your guests will be glad to see their luggage being given such a VIP spin. Plus, in my opinion, they add an element of class that a teenager struggling their way through the lobby overburdened with a giant case and a golf cart simply lacks.

Rule five: Unless explicitly instructed to then do not take the bags out of sight of the guest.

Rule six: Organise your luggage storage by room number alone, from left to right. There’s nothing worse than a guest asking for their bag from the storage and a porter disappearing for twenty minutes like a librarian in a warehouse. Any dealings with luggage storage should be quick and efficient as a maitre d taking you to your table.

Rule seven: For incoming tours make sure it’s communicated directly to the tour director that each piece of luggage should be labelled with the surname and first name of every guest - clearly. Depending on the size or location of your hotel, whether the luggage comes in the front door with the guests is anyone’s guess but in nearly every tour I’ve checked in, and that’s no small number, the guests would be given thirty minutes or so to relax and have a drink to go over itinerary before heading to their rooms. This leaves the opportunity for some real hospitality magic as their bags will be waiting for them above. The achilles heel of this trick is a poorly labelled bag. Don’t trust the receptionist or sales to take care of this - call directly and ensure it happens.

Rule eight: Read the room when it comes to small talk. Some people love it and some people don’t or worse will see it as simply fishing for a tip.

Rule nine: when arriving to a room with a piece of luggage in the company of its owner, ask them where they’d like it, do not assume.

Rule ten: when delivering luggage to an empty room leave it on the luggage rack.

Those are mine and they stood me well in my portering days. I’d say take it as a starting point and adapt it to your own property and once it’s fully initiated you’ll have a luggage handling team that work like an efficient factory floor but ask can I help you with anything else as they’re doing it.

That’s it for luggage handling, see you in the next module.

(1) Both are in essence ciphers for the whole building, one simply ranks the other. An effective porter will have the same knowledge base as an effective concierge, even if they lack by definition the authority to act upon it in the same manner.

In this module I’m going to list the concierge duties a porter can and should take the wheel on. We’ve spoken already about taking ownership of every situation. In taking on concierge duties you’re taking ownership of the experience of whichever guests you’re speaking to, which is no small thing. Conveniently, I’ve broken it down into three simple sections.

Firstly, take every opportunity available to you to personalise a guest's experience. This means, almost by definition, going the extra mile.

I recall an American professor of theology who would stay in a hotel where I was head porter once from time to time who had a rather irreligious taste for martinis which he took, bizarrely to me at the time, with two or three toothpicks in which he liked skewered cocktail onions. Whenever he ordered them at the bar he’d have to go back and ask for more and whenever he ordered them from room service he’d have to call down and ask for more.

Once he arrived and was to check in late that day and sure as clockwork called down for a martini with extra cocktail onions. I arrived with a martini featuring one toothpick and one onion and nothing more. He was confused, because he knew I knew what he liked, at which point I gestured him to his mini-bar, (2) into which I’d placed a litre-jar worth of cocktail onions earlier in the day when I saw his name on the check-in list. He laughed and laughed and I’ve never forgotten the encounter and I bet he hasn’t either.

The point is to anticipate the requests before they come - simple as that.

Second, know the area or at least learn to sound like you do. I’m a simple man. I like movies, pubs, football and the occasional concert. That said, were you to ask my advice for an evening out at any of the hotels I worked at you’d swear I was an art collecting food and theatre critic with a masters in local history. I never came up short when people asked me what there was to do in an area where I was working.

Top tip in this regard is to be ready to free-style. Don’t bother asking people what they like to do just dive in with what there is. It’s like if you ask someone what kind of music they like they’ll say ‘a bit of everything’. You need to draw them out - ask them if they like rock music from the 80s, for instance. Similarly with doling out advice to guests just name things to do and go into detail if they bite at anything. Watch their eyes for giveaways.

Also, **if you see someone you advised the next day then ask them how they got on. The feedback is good and also you get to store whatever they say to you to weave into you next round of advice. I remember once I recommended a comedy club to a couple from Bristol who said it was like being given a guided tour through the Irish sense of humour - I used this line many, many times afterward to sell the club, which was great for me because the manager was a friend and I could book directly for the guests, which is always impressive to do.**

(4) That’s my next and final point. Whenever and wherever possible you should book directly right in front of the guest. March them to reception, make the call from the desk phone and watch them nod in approval - ‘this cat knows what he’s doing.’

Service professionals in towns and cities tend to get to know each other so if you approach your position like this you’ll build up the kinds of contacts in no time at all that will mean you’ll be able to get tables where there aren’t any anytime and even if you can’t, that phone call in front of the customer is worth its weight in gold when it comes to how the guests will speak about the hotel during and after their stay.

There’s different aspects of safety to consider for different departments and a porter’s is anything happening in a public area of a hotel. It’s not simply keeping your eye out for things that have happened, but responses to those things and anticipating them.

I’ll start out with captain obvious then, though this is less obvious than you’d think to some people I’ve worked with. No running.

None. Not anywhere in the hotel, by anyone. (1) It’s not just because as opposed to presentable you end up a God-awful sweaty mess it’s because if there’s an accident waiting to happen then it’s sure-as-anything going to happen quicker if the person at risk is running. It looks bad in the public areas but it’s dangerous everywhere - no running.

Anything on any floor is a falling hazard. There’s no need to narrow this down. A drop of water, a puddle or a penny - people can fall. Never mind the fact that a good deal of the time people in hotels are on some form of vacation and prone to let their hair down by imbibing alcohol and thus more likely to trip and fall, this can happen to anyone. And guess what? The better you’ve been doing your job of trying to make people feel at home then the more likely they’re to fall. Why? Because in hospitable zones you raise the expectation of everything being perfect. Know your zone. Whatever oughtn’t be on the floor, short of luggage, ought to be moved. End of story.

Caveat - (2) some hotels don’t replace their rugs on time and they wear enough to lose grip and become a tripping hazard. Eyes on everything is the only policy here.

Next, know the fire code. Know the basics. This way you’ll know if a route is obstructed or if an extinguisher is missing.

Right, captain obvious is out and sergeant insightful is in. Spend the time to learn or train proper tray carrying. Folks, I can’t stress this enough.

This. Is. Massive.

No one will tip you for this or give you the employee of the month but I’ve seen too much to not emphasise this for every department. I’ve seen porters with legs burnt through pants from hot egg yoke from an overloaded breakfast tray. I’ve seen the back of a woman’s neck need stitches from a wayward steak knife. Hell - this right here is from delivering champagne flutes to the lobby of the Marriott in Ghent Belgium, true story. Across every department - to the point that we’ll probably have to do a course on it - learn to carry a tray or just don’t bother.

So, if the trays are safe and the floor is safe what more can go wrong? Two things. Staff and guests. Wow, broad much? Yeah but don’t worry I can answer to that. I’ll narrow it down. The real categories are staff behind you or around a corner and guests that are behind a drink or three or four.

This is much like the luggage rule guys. (3) Some places use the words ‘behind’ or ‘corner’ and some simply go with ‘watch your back’ or ‘watch out’. I prefer the former because they’re more concise and official and the latter two can seem rude but I’ve worked in places where they were effective as anything. Bottom line, establish a code across all staff that signifies this in an authoritative way. It’s not rude, it’s a code, Corner. Behind. Etc.

**The last thing is one some will say is obvious but I’m sorry it just isn’t. People drink. I drink. And loads of drunk people are fine but some are a danger to themselves, others, you, your staff and you need to watch out for them.**

**In Australia, a famously booze-friendly nation, it is illegal to serve a drunk person alcohol. Now people do it but if they’re wise they use their discretion. In my country, Ireland, it’s not illegal but it is extremely frowned upon. This is because drunk people are a danger to themselves and others. It’s the only drug that makes people more aggressive. It also makes them more sluggish behind the wheel and impulsive when speaking to strangers. If there’s a guest of yours drunk on the premises of your hotel keep an eye on them. Roughly fifty percent of the time they won’t give a choice but keep the eye on 100%. The lobby is porter-town and anyone drunk is a barbarian at the gates - believe that**.

Anyway, that’s all from me for now. See you next time.

I’d like to take this moment to reiterate what I’ve been saying all along - if you’re a porter watching this then great but there’s also real value here for management, particularly in this module. If you’re looking for speeches to motivate the porters in which you see potential then by all means take notes and pass on the following sentiments. If you take the position of hotel porter seriously then the sky's the limit.

Now I could be philosophical here, and I will for second. (1) I started out as a porter, I carried on through various management positions and now I write and produce educational content. Before this I did about a five year stint teaching and selling courses on English language for professional life. Hotel porter, at fifteen, was the first time I worked in a public-facing position with an aim to please and I’m still drawing on the skills I began to gather back then. Work with the public for a month or two and you’ll encounter almost as many types of people as there are in the world and if you pay attention you’ll learn something from each and every one. Ok philosophy done.

From a purely practical hospitality standpoint only porters and managers get to know the whole machine as well as one can. Depending on the type of porter you are there are three positions that are natural evolutions for a porter with no previous experience.

If you’re hyper-organised and generally find yourself most in your element when dealing with the check-in side of the job then reception is a perfect fit for you. You’ll already know half of the job if you have made looking over the check-in report part of your daily routine. For the most part porters are roving receptionists. Any porter who learns the ins and outs of the hotel’s software, does a bit of work to formalise their manner of speaking as a rule and learns who to call for what is a receptionist in waiting, as far as I can tell.

If you’re into the more social aspects of the position and you find yourself caught with the service bug wherever the opportunity to go the extra mile presents itself then you might be a concierge at heart. I’ve spoken about this at length in module 4 so I won’t delve too deeply again but a concierge, to me, is as natural a fit for a good porter as a beret and a baguette for a Frenchman - believe that.

Finally, and this is especially appropriate for porters in larger establishments, but daily operations management is a no-brainer. Most porters will be working directly with ops managers anyway when they need to check in on anything front-of-house, so just watch and learn. (2) The ops manager makes and monitors the ultimate checklist for the hotel. What’s more is, it’s by definition a middle management position so no one stays in it forever. A porter paying attention will spot a moment to step up when the position vacates and then they’re officially on the ladder.

The other thing to say about each of these positions is that they’re a natural stepping stone to an actual management position. You’ll be learning and growing as you work and if you do it well you’ll be impossible to ignore.

I hear a lot of you out there crying ‘but what about management school!?’ This is a valid question and while there are a million exceptions to what I’m about to say a great deal of the time management school is a very expensive way to get one’s foot in the door.

**Most management courses will involve fits and starts of course work and long stints of ‘work experience’ in different positions at the same hotel. The idea is you get to know the industry by working it on every level - reception, kitchen, bar, the works - and get connected with an establishment in the process. It works and it tends to guarantee a position where portering does not but there’s no homework with portering. Also I knew more than a couple of porters who sought and received their tuition fee from the hotels where they’d been working for a year or two by the time they were old enough to begin college. There are certainly theoretical things that portering will not teach you but all of it - anything valuable - you can learn on the job. Don’t feel pressured to get the piece of paper that says you’re worthwhile if you think you have it in you to do it on your own steam.**

Now, in summary, a good porter is the eyes, ears and mouth of any establishment worth its salt. The lobby is the battle station of the porter but their trench encompasses the whole hotel and they must get to know every nook and cranny by patrolling that trench. Take ownership of everything you can - it’s the only way to grow.

At some point we’ll delve into areas I’ve hinted at here - communication skills, concierge duties - that might be worth a course on their own. That said, for an ambitious porter or a manager looking to instil ambition in their porters, I feel we may have just about covered the basics. I hope you enjoyed the course and that you continue with some of the others we have to offer. See you soon.