Listings in hotel room directories

[Magic]

Hi, all:I did a brief search for this topic, but I don't think it's been addressed directly:Has anyone tried/had success/had horror stories from being listed in a hotel's in-room service directory? I just received a letter from a Doubletree hotel that is near where I work -- I'm not interested in doing outcalls to the hotel, but our facility is close enough that it might be a good idea.Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[boomboom5483]

Listings in hotel room directories

I have long been hesitant to provide outcall services to hotel tenants. I have never felt it was a safe alternative, as there are more and more pervs/weirdos in this day and age. However, I could target females specifically; maybe even offer a discount for a couple who both wanted massages. I'd like to put together a professional package to present to the hotel owners/managers. Anyone out there done this and could give me some pointers?Be well,Jen

 

[daryl dante]

Listings in hotel room directories

I've never had success with this. I've been to 6 hotels in the area, none of them were willing to have massage therapists come in. One of them stared at me as if I were filth and said "No, we're not a w.hore-house, we're a hotel." Didn't get to explain myself or anything. Another just looked me up and down and snarled "Not interested." and looked down at her papers on her desk. I tried a few high-class hotels in the neighboring city, they took my information, and told me that if someone asks the front desk for a massage therapist, they'll look on the roster and call out the first one. Seems I wasn't the first to try those hotels, or they were just telling me that.Anyway, I'm assuming they look in the yellow pages to find someone to go out to their hotel. I'm not listed there yet, so I get the ones who find me on the internet. Ah well, so be it. I don't like outcalls much anyway.

 

[snvffy]

Listings in hotel room directories

I should clarify -- by saying "our facility is close enough that it might be a good idea" I mean that *being listed* might be a good idea, *not* doing outcalls. So, has anyone had success getting people to venture out of their hotels to visit local massage therapy businesses? The hotel has approached me (and other businesses presumably).I would have to pay (not sure how much yet) to be listed in this directory, and I'm wondering if it would be worth it. Thanks!

 

[mikew19532004]

Listings in hotel room directories

Generally speaking, hotel listings are a waste of money, but it depends on how much money they are asking.Most hotel business is after dinner or weekends when your facility is either closed or booked!Also, Doubltree's are a 3-4 star hotel, which means the clients usually shy away from outcalls costing over $100 or facilities charging more than $70.If you are just in a book with other advertisers, I would shy away. If you are featured by the hotel, listed on their website as an amenity, included in a weekend package, then I say go for it!

 

[MikeE]

I worked for a company that started out doing outcalls to hotels and that was still a main part of their business.  They have great success with it and when the owner went to one of the nicer hotels here they looked at her and said no, but as soon as they found out that she had landed the Ritz Carlton as a client, they were so quick to sign up!  All of the hotels that I went to were very good about taking care of us, they would call and let the client know that we were there and we would call into the office when we finished, so they always knew where we were.  If there were ever a time where we felt unsafe, we just had to leave the room and alert security.  They charged $70 with the 2 main hotels, we billed them so the client paid when they checked out and I typically got $20 tips.

 

[Mary Anne]

When I worked for the salon they used to send me over to do massage at a local resort in one of the three "Hosptitality Suites." I was a little more comfortable with having it in a meeting room as it was "neutral territory."Only once did I have trouble with a male client.He started out complaining that he didn't understand why he couldn't have the massage in his room. It's a good thing it was in a more public area of the hotel, any more private and I'd have been even more upset than I was.  (There was no phone in the room, so I always wore my cellphone at the small of my back, off of course.)Anyway, when I went to the resort to do the massages in the hospitality suite we charged $10 more to do the outcall there than at the salon... which by the way was only a block from the resort.  We had a table and boom box that lived there just to make it a little easier on me. As I had to bring over oils, linens, sheets, etc.Anyway, the resort started letting some other MT come in and massage people and they started using our massage table and our room heater and boom box disappeared, so the salon owners decided to get the table out of there before it too ended up getting stolen. The room was kept locked and only available to employees when not in use as a hospitality suite and then the equipment was stored in a nearby storage room.I made pretty good money doing the work at the resort, and got better tips than at the salon even. But after the salon pulled out over the missing equipment they still referred people to us if the salon was open. There was No payment to the resort for any of the scheduling or for including the price of the massage on the bill.Only problem I ever had there with getting paid had to do with a client who requested I work longer than the 1 hour his girlfriend had prepaid for because his lower back was so bad from the 6 hour drive there. Thinking he'd make up the difference I complied. He, however, did not pay for the additional time. So after that I never accomodated anybody wanting more who was receiving it as a gift. You live and learn I guess!   :BTW, the resort and it's clients were also very bad at cancelling... I had a lot of no shows which I Did Not receive payment for either. Since the salon would not confirm with a credit card.