A First! No Front Desk; No Desk Clerk; No One Present When Checking Into A Hotel

I have not run into this before.  

While on our recent road trip, we were unable to find any accommodations in the Duluth, Minnesota area.  None.  Not at any price.  In fact, we couldn't find any hotel rooms for 50 miles around Duluth.  We had four of us searching.  What to do?

We drove on to Michigan's Upper Peninsula and found an inexpensive hotel in Ironwood, Michigan.  My friend called and made a reservation for two rooms for the three of us.

When we arrived, there was no front desk in the lobby. Huh?  No desk clerk or any employees anywhere to be found.  What in the world......?

The only things in the lobby was a sofa, a couple of chairs, a coffee pot and a counter where, I assume, some sort of continental breakfast would sit in the morning.

What we did find was a kiosk and a sign telling us to "Tap on screen to start."  Okay.  One of us tapped.  In a second or two a fellow that looked as though he is of Indian heritage appeared and offered to check us in.  This is different!

When asked about this kiosk system, he said it was developed during the pandemic and the owner of this hotel (and another) decided to keep the system instead of having employees check guests in and out.  Okay.  

He took all the information and the kiosk spit out three key cards and a receipt.  I asked if there was anyone on the property who could help us if we had any needs, such as towels, etc.  He said yes, gave us a number and said to call and someone would be able to help us.  I also asked him where he was located and he said he was in the Philippines.  Okay...

Now that was different.

In the morning, I was up very early (as usual), went to the lobby to see if coffee was there (it was) and decided to drink my coffee in the lobby while perusing my iPad.  While there, several people checked out by using the same kiosk.  This time it was a woman of Indian heritage that checked them out.  Upon checkout, she instructed them to drop their key cards in a bin attached to the side of the kiosk.  Quick and gone.

Being that the woman in the morning was also of Indian heritage as was the man the evening before, I thought what are the chances of two Indian individuals who work for the same hotel be in the Philippines?  I don't think the guy was being honest with me.  He might of been, but I just don't think so.

As I said, I've never experienced this before and I've stayed in literally hundreds of hotels around the county.  This was as first.  All in all, I must say, it worked.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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