I come on duty at 7.30pm, half an hour early after a slow walk from the apartment to the hotel, only stopping to have a look in Toys R Us at the Star Wars goodies.

I know, what a geek.

I didn't buy anything but the thought of buying the Star Wars version of Mr PotatoHead (Darth Tater!!) is in the back of my mind.

Probably tomorrow.

I enter the hotel and I get the buzz that I miss. The hotel is busy and there are a lot of guests around. A lot of stuff is going on and it feels great.

The only time it is better than this is when there is a big awards dinner upstairs and on nights like that the hotel truly comes alive, playing host to it's diners.

I walk into the back office and say hi to a few people, I check who is on duty and have a mini tantrum as the day team has left me short staffed.

The mini tantrum works and I have some guys doing some overtime.

I don't work night's as a rule, but I am the only guy -bar the night managers- who can do it so I am the obvious choice when the night managers have managed to screw their holiday dates.

And I don't really mind.....part of me actually enjoy's it. I make a mental note to raise the rotaring issue in the morning and I've learnt from experince not to raise these issues with the GM but to raise it with the right person in front of him, as his presecence usualy galvinises them into action.

I check the arrivals (30 to come and we are fully booked) and J on Customer Services tells me of an issue with the aircon in room 1417 and that she will have to be moved to 1212 but the guest has gone out so I make a mental note to contact her during the evening and move her.

My mind, made of grey post-it notes.

I walk around the building,letting all the relevant people know that I am here should I be needed.

The restaurant first -it's busy and the atmosphere is electric. Then the kitchen, again busy but under control. Room service is quiet and I head to the back doors and the canteen to make sure everything is in order.

Back in reception I get caught on the desk and end up checking a lot of people in. I love this and I am good, I can do the tech stuff with my eye's closed. I can roll with the punches and juggle the room allocations easily and I'm happy to chat to the guest about this and that. Regis is next to me and we fall into our little competition of who can do it quickest and best. I win.

I get talking to a guest who has just returned from a retaurant that was recommended to him. While the place he went to was fine, I give him another recommendation for the following night, knowing he'll like it better as the place rocks.

I notice some bags sitting on a luggage trolley and I ask who they are for, the receptionist tells me they are for room 1403 who has gone to park his car.

One piece is a laptop.

I grab the bags and head up to the gods. I exit the elevator and go into 1403, deposit the bags on the bed and turn on the aircon for the guest.

When I arrive downstairs I walk in to the guest and inform that his bags are in his room and that it should be nice and cool by the time he reaches there. He smiles and heads to the bar for a drink, happy.

I get stopped by a member of the Saudi group that has been with us for the last week. He wants the address to the Royal Lebanese restaurant. I google it but nothing. I call directory enquires and the same. I try to explain to him and he asks me to look into one of the restaurant guides we have.

I do so and come up with the a resturant called the Cedar Tree. He says this is the one.

Royal Lebanese. Cedar Tree.
Yep they sound alike.If your from Mars maybe...

I move into the back office and sit down and start to go through the forty or so emails sitting in my inbox (this from one day), most of them are consigned to the ether via the delete button.

Before I know it, it is 10.15pm

I try and call 1417, no answer.

I get called out to speak to a guest who complains that his toilet is blocked and if it cannot be fixed then he would like to move rooms.

I send one of the porters with him to investigate and move the room if necessary , the porter informs me later that the guest will move tomorrow as he has a lot of luggage and does not want to pack. I leave the necessary traces for the day guys.

I get called into the lobby as a guest who has dined in the resturant wants to express how pleased he was and describes the food as magnificent.

I'm a little taken aback as I am usually only summoned when a guest who wants to complain.

He goes on to say that whoever served him was charming and he offered some genuine constructive critiscm. I ask him for his business card and promise to pass on his comments.

Which I will do.

Whilst talking to him it occurs to me how sexy he is. He's a big guy with a bald head and hairy chest.

Just my type. Well, one of them...

Having sex with hotel guests is a fantasy all hoteliers have, only in my case I've done it.

But that's another blog...

I call 1417 and the guest is in the room, I inform her that I have another room to move her too but she declines saying that she will be fine and thank you anyway.

I sit down at my desk and begin some of the paperwork, the balancing of the days business, this takes me through to 1am and I begin to feel hungry.

I like nights because at night the kitchen is mine.I have access all area's. I could cook myself anything.

But I don't.

I have a cheese sandwich with fries and chow down whilst continuing the paperwork. Apart from the night stuff that has to be completed I do some of my own stuff I usually do during the day and I stream the radio through my PC.

The bar manager asks me if it is ok to call last orders in the bar at 1.30. I say fine, it's quiet anyway.

Just because our guest's can legally drink 24 hours a day does not mean we have to serve them 24 hours a day.

I take another walk around and everything is fine. Our guests are sleeping tight,with no bed bugs that can bite.

At 4 am as the sky begins to get light outside I take down the various systems in preparation of running the night audit.

Most systems go down nicely, some need persuasion.

The night audit kicks in and for about 30 minutes the hotel is without a computer.

The night audit stops with error messages. I dial the support number by heart and speak to sweet sounding Irish voice who dials into the system and works her support mojo.

The night audit completes, puking paper after paper with statistic and revenue out of the printer. I collect them and memorise the revenue figures.

The GM will call around 6.30 and he'll want to know how we did.

I do a floor walk and it takes me thirty minutes to walk the whole hotel from tit to ass.

On the 14th I get a stunning view of Manchester, grey skies and quiet streets. I can see all the way to the Penines and the sun is being smothered by the sombre clouds.

I don't have to do the floor walks, I mean I could get away with not doing it but I would feel guilty.

And our guest's trust us to look after them while they are here, they are in our care and we have a duty to them.

I return to the lobby and pick up a morning paper.

The night is nearly finished and I will take a slow walk home along the canal like I do every morning but this time in reverse.

I'll climb into bed and fall asleep whilst watching some dvd.

I'll wake around four, get up and sit down with cup of tea and just chill until it's time to go back to work, stopping off briefly to buy the Darth Tater toy that I liked.