What the hell is the deal with Springhill Suites? (Job ad)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Since I was recently searching for work (my search was successful), I could not help noticing that Springhill Suites (a hotel chain) has been advertising on Craigslist for a hotel General Manager position. I was not interested in the position, since I’m in no way qualified for such a job, but I read the ad out of curiosity. And since they’ve continued to to advertise the job for several months now, it’s been both amusing and baffling to periodically check the ad each time they repost it.

Here is the current local ad:

http://wenatchee.craigslist.org/fbh/4079177340.html

Read through that list of qualifications, and then look at the “Compensation” bit at the bottom.

They’re currently offering $16.50/hr. When I read the ad for the first time a few months ago, they were offering $10.50/hr, which was less than I was making as a freaking cook at my then-current job. Since then, that “Compensation” amount has changed nearly every time the ad has been posted. Sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down, and sometimes it says “DOE” (Depending on Experience).

Aside from the fact that even $16.50/hr seems like an extremely lowball pay offer for such a job (my last cooking job was for a hotel, and I have an “in the ballpark” idea of what my hotel’s GM made), I have to ask, since when is a General Manager of a hotel paid an hourly wage? Isn’t that kind of job usually a salaried position?

Is the person posting these ads a complete idiot? Is Springhill Suites that cheap? Does the Craigslist posting interface present such problems that they can’t actually enter an annual salary and have to resort to posting an hourly wage instead?

WTF? I’m starting to think the ad is just a scam. Except we did have a new Springhill suites hotel open in my town within the last two years.

EDIT: 16.50/hr works out to $34,320/year, assuming a 40-hour workweek.

2

Did someone use a Business Buzzword generator for that ad? That was painful.

Financial stuff:? WTF?

3

I would say that the answers are definitely yes, definitely yes, and maybe.

What gets me is that they are looking for an EXPERIENCED hotel manager. I can’t imagine anyone with experience who would work for that little, unless s/he is an ex-con who has no other job skills and can’t get any other job.

4

Yes, real managers get salaries, profit-sharing, etc.

Glorified flunkies get called “manager” because “managers” are exempt from overtime laws.

This is as old as food service.

Craigslist prides itself on being free to most posters. Under its FAQ is the note that they make money on the “help wanted” section - by charging LESS THAN THE NEWSPAPER OR OTHER VENUE for “help wanted”.
These clowns actually think they’ll get a real manager, who knows how to develop a business plan, and perform to it, for little more than minimum wage.

The best part? I’ts tne low-cost brand of Marriott - rooms starting at $175
“Free breakfast” is a selection of rolls - at the end of hot plates with scrambled eggs, bacon, ham, etc - presumably NOT free.

Sleazy from check-in (see lobby) to room - not doors or drawers on the “vanity” - looks like Wal-Mart shelves with fake woodgrain over particleboard.
Pathetic.

Wanna bet how many employees are allowed to work 40hr/week?

5

I figured there was some reason that this ad has been running for 6+ months, clearly without success.

I’m still especially amused at the $10.50/hr offer I saw the first time I read the ad. This is in Washington state, which has the highest minimum wage in the nation ($9-something/hr). I was immediately all, “You have got to be kidding me!”

6

This is really strange because Springhill Suites is not some unknown brand. It’s a division of Marriott. Presumably they know how to hire hotel staff.

7

I’ve worked in a few orgs where in order to not loose a position that wasn’t currently filled (and didn’t need to be filled currently, but possibly in the near future would be) they would post it every so often with pretty terrible terms so as to not get any eligible applicants. Maybe it’s a situation like that?

8

It’s a reply to a Yahoo mail address. How likely is that to be legit for a Marriott corporate job? Especially when it’s on [del]Fraudlist[/del] Craigslist.

9

Springhill Suites is a franchise, which could explain the yahoo address and Craiglist approach.

10

And the shitty pay. It sounds likely that the franchise owner doesn’t know how much a hotel manager should make.

11

Seriously, I saw the Yahoo e-mail address and could barely get past it. Then I saw “Financial Stuff” and thought that this isn’t even well-disguised bullshit. Plus if this were a real ad for such a ginormous company, there would be a link to their HR job portal, or whatever they call it, that requires you to go through something like 17 steps in order to submit your resume and profile to a job robot. Everything about this ad screams fake.

12

Hah, I didn’t notice the Yahoo address!

This is starting to remind me of the Red Robin restaurant ads I keep seeing on Craigslist, which I’ve become convinced are fake, and a scam. As part of my search for a new job, I had responded to one of these ads for cooks. It sent me to what appeared to me to be the legitimate Red Robin corporate site, to fill out an online application. I should mention that I’ve been an Internet denizen for 17 years, and I’m pretty good at spotting scam “phishing” sites. The link sent me to the genuine Red Robin web site (i.e., it was definitely redrobin.com, not redrobin.com.scamartist.th/application). I went through the ridiculous application process, which included a six-page questionnaire about how I would respond/how I felt about various random situations. I bulled my way through the challenge, and hit “Submit”.

A couple weeks later, my phone rang. I normally don’t even answer calls if I don’t recognize the number, but since I was looking for a new job, I had to answer. Unfortunately, this phone call came in mere minutes after I had woken up and gotten out of bed. I hadn’t even gotten into the shower yet, let alone had any caffeine. So I wasn’t entirely awake, but once I realized this was a call regarding my application, I put my best professional voice on and answered every question the caller asked me. Including giving information that, had I actually been fully awake, I would not have given out over the phone. But as I conversed with the caller, I started getting subtle clues that I was not speaking to a real human male, I was speaking with a clever, computer-generated “person”.

But up to a point, every question I’d been asked was a legitimate question that an employer might ask of an applicant. But then the “person” asked a question that went something like, “If you could fit it around your work schedule, would you be interested in enrolling in a continuing-education program at …” And at that point I became convinced I was being scammed, and simply hung up.

That was several months ago. I’ve meant to call the local Red Robin to inquire as to whether the ads I keep seeing on Craigslist are legitimate, but I’ve never gotten around to doing it.

Still, I don’t completely discount Craigslist. I got my current job by responding to an ad there, and my former employer is using Craigslist to try to find a replacement for me.

13

The above kind of reminds me of this job ad I found that took me to this site called gigats.com. To apply, you have to register with them. Fine.

However, it requires a cell phone number, and one of two checkboxes, either for:

I would like to receive status updates and alerts on my registration via email, text or cell phone number (listed above) by Gigat’s highly automated system. Message and data rates may apply. Consent is not a requirement to receive alerts. To unsubscribe at any time Text STOP to: [number].

Or:

I would like to receive updates by US mail only. (I understand that I would need to send Gigats pre-stamped self addressed envelopes).

This (and the fact that I couldn’t find the job on the company’s official sites) rang enough alarm bells that I didn’t proceed.

14

But you’re actually a valuable person, honest.

15

LOL. That last job had started to suck so bad. One of my coworkers told me, “Dude, this is going to suck with you gone!” And I said, “No, it’s going to be great!” Of course, my perspective was that it was going to be great for me that I was gone :stuck_out_tongue:

FTR, here’s my thread about leaving my last job and starting my current job:

But yes, I’m a valuable person. I’ve been doing what I do for 30 years, and I’m damned good at it.