Let me tell you a story.
I was housekeeping manager at a casino property. I was on shift until 2AM. It was 1.30 in the morning when the General Manager called. His wife had a complaint — not a guest, the GM’s wife. A bat had entered her room and would not leave.
Five minutes later I was in a car with a driver, heading to deal with it. We arrived at the property. The GM was there. A security officer was there. And somewhere in that room, a bat was doing exactly what bats do — flying in unpredictable directions at high speed while three grown professionals chased it with towels.
I will not tell you how long it took. What I will tell you is that we got it out. And when it was over, nobody laughed harder than the GM.
That story has stayed with me for years. Not because of the bat. Because of what it represents.
Showing up is the job.
In housekeeping management, the complaint is never just the complaint. A guest calling about an insect in their room is not calling about the insect. They are calling because they feel unsafe, uncomfortable, and unheard. What they need — before anything else — is for someone to show up.
Not a phone call. Not a promise. A person, at the door, ready to deal with it.
Flying insects are the most common version of this. Peak season, windows open, lights on — moths, mosquitoes, beetles, the occasional wasp — they find their way in. The guest calls reception. Reception calls housekeeping. And now it is your problem.
The correct response is always the same: go. Immediately. Bring what you need — a towel, a cup, whatever works for the situation. Do not send a junior attendant alone if the guest sounds distressed. Go yourself, or send a supervisor. The speed and seniority of the response tells the guest everything about how seriously you take their comfort.
What you are actually managing.
When you walk into that room, you are not there to catch an insect. You are there to restore the guest’s sense of safety. That is the real job.
Acknowledge the complaint without making the guest feel dramatic. A simple “I completely understand, let us sort this out right now” is enough. Then deal with it calmly, efficiently, and without making a scene that unsettles them further.
If the insect is gone by the time you arrive — and this happens — do not dismiss the complaint. Check the room, check the window seals, offer to move them to another room if they are still uncomfortable. The gesture matters as much as the action.
Prevention is part of the system.
Insects do not appear randomly. They come in through gaps in window frames, broken fly screens, doors left open during turndown, lights left on near open balconies at dusk. A seasonal deep clean that includes checking and reporting damaged screens is your first line of defence. A pest control programme that runs before and during season is your second.
Neither eliminates the problem entirely. But they reduce it — and they give you a paper trail when a guest complaint escalates to management.
The bat, the GM, and the towels.
I have told that story many times over the years. It always gets a laugh. But the point I always make afterwards is this: the GM did not call a pest control company at 1.30 in the morning. He called his housekeeping manager. Because in that moment, I was the person he trusted to show up and handle it.
That trust is built shift by shift, complaint by complaint, bat by bat.
Show up. Every time. That is what separates a manager from someone who just manages paperwork.
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