Day in the Life of a Japanese Hotel Worker

This is a day in the

life

of a Japanese

hotel

worker

. This is johay, he is 30 years old and lives in Tokyo. He just woke up to go to work. Start the day by checking your temperature, as these days it has become a company requirement. He lives in this one room. apartment and by Tokyo standards it is quite spacious, hey, how long does it take you before you leave the house? I guess it's a single

life

. Interestingly, Tokyo has the highest number of single households in Japan, 49, while the average in Japan is 35 percent, damn it. many masks, I guess nowadays it's never enough.

Yohe is originally from Chiba and first moved to Tokyo to attend university after graduating. He began working for his current company, first in Kobe for two years and then transferring back to Tokyo. Yohi lives only five minutes. from the train station and then another 15 minute train ride to work without a transfer, not the shortest travel time but much better than most in Tokyo, plus you don't have to deal with a transfer in the Tokyo rush hour, okay, we're back. With another day in our lives, I am so excited to see how this day unfolds. Johan should be on this train right now, let's see how he slept last night...the night before.

Good day! How did you sleep last night? Is your office far from here? Yohei then works as an assistant manager at the APA Hotel Shinjuku-Gyoemmae. APA is one of the largest

hotel

chains in Japan. There are 623 hotels in the country, with around 98,000 rooms. APA Hotel is uniquely identified as a new urban style hotel. High quality, high functionality, without all the unnecessary services. It is often confused with a Japanese business hotel, which are usually budget-style hotels. Smaller rooms, basic amenities and close to the train station. Originally intended for traveling Japanese salarymen. After checking in, Yohei has a traditional Japanese morning meeting called "chorei." At his hotel, however, there are both day shift and night shift

worker

s. day and night shift workers; and that is why at the beginning of each shift they hold a similar meeting.

To order the principles in unison, staff recite the APA principles in unison, which is typical of many Japanese companies. The staff then practices greeting customers. In Japan there is a unique hospitality custom called "omotenashi." It means that the services are always completely genuine and honest. Because it's so deeply rooted in Japanese culture, the staff goes the extra mile to give guests the best experience possible, without expecting anything in return. First thing in the morning, Yohei cleans the hotel. Yohei! Yohei, do you do this every morning? In Japan, it is important for companies to maintain a clean and well-kept area in front of their businesses; which also includes public roads.

Although it is not their responsibility to clean, they do it anyway. Then, help disinfect the hotel. Due to COVID, the hotel has adopted stricter cleaning and sterilization measures. Yohei visits each of the building's 14 floors and cleans all elevator buttons as well as other high-touch areas of the hotel. During peak check-out times, Yohei focuses on helping guests. The hotel uses express payment tills. The machine has a built-in sensor that recognizes the room number, automatically registers the payment in the system and at the same time notifies the housekeeping team that the room is ready to be cleaned. Oh!

I guess he's going to the hotel restaurant! Yohei then contacts a head chef to confirm the next day's menu so he can prepare signs, as well as inform guests who request it. Hmm! Something smells good! Ah, there you have it, breakfast is served. What's here? In Japan, hotels are often used as evacuation sites, so food and water storage is necessary. So why did you decide to work in a hotel? Oh, looks like they're starting their monthly fire drill. They then select the location of the hotel for the "fire" to start. It is the staff's responsibility to quickly and safely guide guests to evacuate and extinguish the fire, if possible.

The hotel is usually full of guests, so it is essential that the team conduct regular drilling in case a real fire occurs, to keep everyone safe. Wow, they're really taking this seriously. I'm getting flashbacks of another day in the life I had recently. Apparently the company also offers first aid training four times a year! So that all personnel are comfortable with evacuation procedures, reporting to firefighters and even handling a fire extinguisher. After the drill, the team reviews what they did. Good and bad. So they can make improvements for next time. What just happened? Throughout the day you are tasked with handling random guest requests and issues like this.

It is essential that the hotel always maintains a clean and pleasant environment for its guests. For this reason, he also dedicates much of his time to periodically checking that the hotel facilities are in good condition. Yohei, what do you enjoy most about working here? Well! A business man! You don't really have much office work, do you? Additionally, adjust room prices based on current room occupancy to attract more guests. So it looks like Yohei has some office work to do right now. Let's take advantage of this time and see if there is room to explore this place.

So this is one of each of the floors. Let's go in and see what they have! I guess it basically has everything you would expect. It has sheets, towels, it has soap, it has batteries, it has cups. That's pretty much all you would need. What's quite interesting is that the elevators here have two doors. One is used for customers and then the other for workers. This right behind me says luxury bathroom! Let's see what a luxury bathroom is like. Let's close that. Basically, here you have your basic baby changing table and then you have your normal automatic toilet;

That I love. It even has a special flushing sound so you don't bother anyone or if you make special noises in here that other people can't hear from outside. And right behind me they even have their own parking lot! But, because real estate is a bit scarce in the city, they have a special type of parking, let me show you. Wow, look at all these batteries right here. I guess with 411 rooms there are as many or even more remote controls. I assume that today you have decided to have lunch in the hotel restaurant. Since the staff rotates during breaks, Yohei usually eats lunch alone.

Oh, that's the same curry we saw before! I wonder what he tastes like. He looks like he's going to have a hamburger for lunch. That looks amazing! Do you eat here often? After lunch, he prepares for room inspections. To maintain the highest level of room cleanliness, perform quality checks on 10 random rooms. If he finds a problem, he fixes it himself and reports it to the cleaning team so the same thing doesn't happen again. Oh, there's Shinjuku-Gyoen Park! Yohei, how was this room? Well, that's one room less, nine to go! These are standard size rooms. Cool! It even has luggage space under the bed.

So after this check, he disinfects the room again. The cleaning team also disinfects the room, but since they came in later, the room must be disinfected again. Oh! Now he will go to the Daiyokujo. In English, it is a large bathroom in a ryokan or hotel. Yohei, what are you doing? It is well known that the Japanese have a deep-rooted bathing culture and prefer full baths to showers. For this reason, many city and business hotels today offer a shared bathing area. In fact, many salarymen and other Japanese decide the hotel based on whether it has a shared bathroom or not.

Here they have the onsen bath where all guests can come and use it. What you can see right behind me is that they have these cubicles where you can shower and clean yourself before you come in. And look there, they have everything you need: shampoo, soap and conditioner. During peak check-in time, Yohei assists guests with the check-in machine. At your hotel, guests can also check-in through an app to save time at the front desk. Guests can simply scan the code and immediately receive their card. Oh, the guest sent a package to the hotel in advance! Now, Yohei is helping him carry him to his room.

In Japan, tipping is not a custom and in some ways it can be uncomfortable as it is unexpected. It's ingrained in Japanese culture to be proud of your work, no matter the level. Therefore, receiving a tip as an incentive to provide the best service is considered unnecessary and everything relates to Omotenashi. As assistant manager, Yohei also helps train staff throughout the day, providing guidance on proper procedures and general guest services. How long have you been working here? What do you like most about this job? After the records dwindle, Yohei has to perform various other tasks. Oh, this is Keigo speaking.

It is a formal way of speaking polite Japanese, intended for clients, superiors, and hotel guests. Schools in Japan generally teach students the fundamentals, but it is only used until one enters the real world. Therefore, even for Japanese people, it is sometimes difficult to speak without practice. How long does the hotel keep lost and found items? What about expensive things? Good job! That's another happy guest! He still has a little time left, so he disinfects the used cards for next time. And now, clean the hotel one more time before leaving. Hurrah! Finally finished! After work, he often goes out to dinner with his friends, as there are many restaurants and bars in the Shinjuku area.

But because of COVID, these days he's going straight home. Oh, he's making gyoza tonight! That looks pretty good! In his free time, Yohei plays guitar in a band and writes his own music. Wow, he is very talented! I guess he's feeling it tonight! So it looks like Yohei is going to play guitar for a little while longer. He will then take a bath and probably go to sleep at 12 midnight. Let me know what you thought of this day in the life of a Japanese hotel worker. Let me know in the comments. If you want to help support the channel, check out my Tokyo merch.

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