Cancun –Springbreak of 1997…

Once a year, hords of thirsty American teenagers flocked down to Cancun, to celebrate springbreak, a few days of freedom from school and parental guidance…
Those days I was working as Restaurant Manager of the Blue Bayou, a Cajun cuisine restaurant, in one of the many chain hotels built in the late seventies, located in the “Zona Hotelera” of the city : the Hyatt Cancun Caribe resort.

 

Since springbreak falls in the lower season of Mexico’s Caribbean, each room is rented for up to 4 guests, with a lower average rate than usual, in order to obtain the best possible occupancy…

 

With this questionable revenue management technique –you will understand why  later!-, the hotel gets filled quite rapidly, with a fairly decent average rate for this time of the year.…

The “only” downfall is for guests who are not “springbreaking”, and simply came to enjoy the beach, the sound of the waves, the hotel’s pool, maybe a few crazy nights out, but mainly seeking a few relaxing nights of sleep…

I have witnessed strong winds and even hurricanes in Cancun, the latter will make anything fly off the ground and high up in the air… One particular evening all kinds of items started flying out of the windows : mattresses, bedside tables, lamps, TVs, anything  that could be thrown out…

Only this was no nature at work … only human nature, under certain very specific circumstances…

When I got called by the reception to face -understandly- very angry guests, I thought about the seventies, and the members of bands such as The Who or Led Zeppelin, well known for trashing out hotel rooms… at least in this case it was part of the myth 🙂

 

But that night there were no rock stars to blame, and I somehow had a difficult time dealing with guests complaining about :

* Noise

* abuse of legal – and illegal- substances by most of the hotel guests, making it a challenge to even walk out of one’s room!

* mattresses floating in the swimming pool, making it quite unpractical to swim

A few minutes later, knocking on the door of teenagers’ doors did not achieve much either, as they were often quite intoxicated and unable to open them… how about calling the police for help?… well, they were probably busy in another hotel, where the exact same situation was happening…

Somehow, eventually, peace was found, after some challenging phone calls to the troublemakers’ rooms… things finally settled down, until the next morning… when a round of room inspections was carried out to assess damages, and prepare related bills… handle more complaints during and after breakfast!

Another day in an hotelier’s life, and one more example of the diplomatic skills required to succeed in this trade : be absolutely prepared for the unexpected, for any situation, even as absurd as it may seem!

Makes me wonder, wouldn’t a lower occupancy have been slightly more beneficial to the hotel…?