As front manager at the Sun lite Plaza Hotel in Tokyo, Akari Nakamura is often asked to solve problems. Thirty-five-year-old Akari says: "We try to make every guest feel special during their stay But sometimes we have to deal with guests who are difficult to please. It's important to listen carefully, find out exactly what they want, stay positive, and try to solve their problems. Akari was trained in college to understand guests' needs, but she says it on-the-job experience that has helped her most. Above a she says, she has learned that every complaint must be dealt with patiently and taken seriously, no matter how strange it may seem. So what kind of strange complaints has she had? "For example," she says "there was the angry Australian guest who wanted to move out immediately because the air-conditioner in his room made a strange noise. sent somebody to check. We discovered that the strange noise was coming from an electric toothbrush in his own suitcase! Or there was a cell phone call from a German woman who complained that she was on the second floor and the elevator was out of order. I went to the second floor and there she was in the elevator. She kept hitting the '2' button. said, "Madam, you are on the second floor and you are hitting the second-floor button. She was very embarrassed But Akari's favorite story is about a young woman who thought that the do-not-disturb sign on the doorknob inside her room meant that she mustn't open the door and leave the room. She phoned reception in a panic! It is clear that Akari loves her job. But is there anything at all she would change if she could? "Nothing at a she says. "Most guests are quite relaxed and don't complain. Good travelers understand that things might be different than the way things are back home.