[LiteraryLark]

My front desk trainer is absolutely golden. Everything she says I write down because when she opens her mouth genius comes out. I am so glad to have her as my trainer.

Something she said that I really want to work on is what she calls "Patience and Fluff". It means the way I act and react to my guests. Patience, of course, deals with the many emotions and struggles of our guests, particularly the reaction to the guests who are unhappy and stressed and the action to turn their day around the best I can. Fluff deals with the conversations I have with my guests, polite and courteous, listening to the guest and keeping the conversation on the guest, never about myself.

I am looking for advice on how to practice Patience and Fluff. As a GSA I am the face and representative of my hotel and I will deal with many unhappy guests which is entirely out of my comfort zone. I am also someone who is sensitive to emotions and negative emotions is stressful for me, so how do I accept the emotion of the guest and be creative enough to turn the situation of the unhappy guest around to make it a little more positive? I have written down some phrases me senior GSA uses and I am hoping to practice those scenarios, but in the moment, and yes I am aware and she is aware I am new, I tend to freeze up when I am faced with a difficult guest and hurry to get them on their way, but I would like to have some phrases handy to so turn around some of the issues my guest have. My hotel is near an airport so canceled flights and long flights is a common issue. Being tired, exhausted, and cranky is another big issue. I think Patience and Fluff go hand in hand because you need patience in order to make some polite conversation aka fluff with the unhappy guest to get through the check in process.

Another issue I have being new is my tone of voice. Because I am new and I don't know what I'm doing I realize my speech is very high-pitched which comes off as phony. I practice a lower-tone of voice when I answer the phone, but once I get lost my tone of voice gets very high. How do I train my voice to sound like I am "in control" and "knowing what I'm doing"?

Thank you!

[Angelique67]

For fluff, it seems to me it just needs good listening skills, and try to put yourself in their shoes. You might want to emphasize your sympathy for their crappy travel experiences, and that can make them feel listened to and sympathized with.

The higher tone of voice, that's a really good question. I had that too for a long time. It's mainly a stress reaction. When I was having surgery, back in '84, I heard my voice which had gotten very high-pitched due to fear and anxiety. And people were remarking about it, which made it worse. I think if you keep your attention on them, your tone of voice may change more toward natural. For me, it took its own time. I'm not sure if it's gone for good, but I think it mostly is. Good luck, hope it works out well for you.