Are You Checking In? - The Life Of A Hotel Doctor

“Welcome to the Biltmore. Are you checking in?”

That is not my favorite greeting, because it means the valet doesn’t recognize me. My response is always: “I’m the hotel doctor. I’ll be here twenty minutes. They hold my car.”

That’s my mantra, delivered a thousand times and followed by a moment of tension. Will he smile, accept my key? Or will he hand over a voucher, jump behind the wheel, and drive off into the bowels of the parking structure? Hotel parking is very expensive.

Once I accept a voucher, my next step, after caring for a guest, is to ask the desk clerk or concierge to validate. Sometimes they comply, but now and then…

“Sorry. The hotel doesn’t handle parking. It’s a separate company.” Hotels often outsource parking, but luxury hotels always accommodate me. Chains are unpredictable, even those where I go regularly. Validation sometimes requires only that the employee scribble “comp – hotel doctor” on the voucher. Once, when refused, I scribbled it myself, and it worked, but I don’t do it. The chance of getting caught is low, but the consequences would be too humiliating.