The Front Desk That Cannot Cover Saturday Night
You supervise a 24-room limited-service property. Your front desk has four agents: Maria (full-time, 18 months, reliable), Devon (full-time, 4 months, still learning the PMS), Priya (part-time, 20 hrs/week, strong), and Kofi (part-time, 12 hrs/week, just completed training). The schedule for next week was posted Monday. On Wednesday, Devon texts you that his grandmother died and he will be gone Friday through Tuesday. Friday morning, Priya tells you her university moved her final exam to Saturday 7 a.m. and she cannot work her Saturday 3–11 p.m. shift. Maria is already scheduled 7 a.m.–3 p.m. Saturday and has repeatedly said she cannot work nights because of childcare. Kofi has never closed alone. The GM is out of town until Monday and has said no overtime this pay period.
1. What is your first action, and how do you sequence the decisions over the next 24 hours?
Read the worked answer
First action: protect Saturday night coverage before anything else, then address the absence administratively.
- Confirm the facts quickly. Ask Priya for written proof of the exam change (a screenshot of the registrar notice is enough). This is not distrust; it determines whether this is a protected/legitimate absence or a no-show, which changes everything downstream.
- Do not default to Maria. She has a standing, repeated constraint. Overriding it once may 'work' and then become the new expectation, and it risks a resignation from your most experienced agent. Ask her first whether she can swap to a night if childcare is arranged - but treat a no as final.
- Build the coverage ladder. Options in order of cost and risk: (a) Priya swaps to a Sunday shift if her exam is Saturday morning only; (b) Kofi closes with a structured buddy - you or Maria on the phone and a written closing checklist, plus a 15-minute walkthrough before 3 p.m.; (c) you personally cover 3–11 and take comp time next pay period, which respects the no-overtime rule better than paying an agent overtime.
- Handle Devon separately. A bereavement absence is normally covered by policy, not by the schedule. Note it, do not penalize it, and check whether your handbook requires documentation and whether his days are paid or unpaid.
- Document and escalate. Log the changes, and leave the GM a short written summary Monday with what you decided and why.
2. Kofi ends up closing with you reachable by phone. What must be true before you allow that, and what do you do if it is not true?
Read the worked answer
The test is not 'can Kofi do it' but 'can the guest be served correctly if something goes wrong at 9 p.m.'
Before allowing a solo close, all of these should be true:
- He has completed the closing checklist at least once with someone, and the checklist is written, not verbal.
- He can process a walk-in, a checkout, a late cancellation, and a room move in the PMS without help - verify by watching, not asking.
- He knows the escalation path: who to call, in what order, and at what threshold (e.g., any guest injury, any police contact, any system outage over 15 minutes).
- Cash handling and the night audit drop procedure are documented, and someone reconciles the drop the next morning.
- A named backup is actually reachable that night, and Kofi has that number written down.
If any of these is missing, do not leave him alone. Cover the shift yourself, or pair him with Maria on a split (she opens, he closes with her staying until 7), or reduce service - but reducing service at a 24-room property usually means a phone number on the door and a locked lobby, which you must clear with the GM. Never solve a coverage gap by putting an untrained agent alone at the desk and hoping.