Hotel workers don't get paid enough for the things they put up with. While most of us would pride ourselves on being reasonable guests at a hotel, there are definitely some bad apples who cause a ruckus with their absurd behavior and requests.
Below, hotel staff share stories of the worst things guests have done or requested. Check them out!
(Content has been edited for clarity.)
Only Mildly Alarming
“One time, a guy wanted a large framed picture of himself to be hung in a woman’s room for her when she arrived. He, of course, also wanted me not to inform the woman, as this was supposed to surprise her. But this dude was creepy and set my spider-sense off. I called the woman who had the reservation to ruin the surprise for her.
It turns out the guy was her stalker. We called the police. Can you imagine how it would have been for that poor woman if she walked into the room, and had a picture of that guy in it? It gives me shivers today.”
Spotted!
“I worked at a five-star hotel in the heart of Boston as a room attendant (We would be the personal concierge for certain customers who paid extra). I’ve all sort of weird things requested. People would ask me to find all sorts of illegal substances, get them the strangest foods, and one lady wanted me to feed her. We were told that no matter how weird the request, save for the illegal ones, we were to try and fulfill them.
I once had a man, overweight in his 50s, ask me for an intimate favor. I kindly told him no and he threatened to tell my boss that I was refusing his request and that he will not only have his favor but have me fired as well. He called my manager and told him I was refusing to do what he asked. The manager came up and asked what was going on, and the man said he asked for me to take his dry cleaning and I refused. I denied this and told my manager what happened. The customer then got angry and demanded I was fired. What he didn’t know was that we had cameras in the hallways (that had sound) and that one of the cameras picked up him asking for the favor.
The man was quickly escorted out and banned for life. My manager felt bad and gave me a paid week off. Later on, I found out that the man was arrested for assaulting his personal assistant.”
A Casual Convict Trap
“I worked front desk at a Best Western for a few months. One day, I get to work, and the hotel manager lets me know that we have been informed by local police that a man they’ve been looking for is planning to check into our hotel this evening. I was then instructed to check the man into a certain room where the police would have access to arrest him when he went to leave the next morning. I wasn’t told what the man had done.
So I say ‘Sounds good’ and the manager says ‘Alright, let me know if you need anything. I’m going home for the night.’
So I’m left alone to check in a wanted convict. Everyone else has gone home. No housekeeping, no maintenance.
So the guy shows up and uses his prison ID to check in! So he leaves the desk. And I have six hours left until my shift is over. I was terrified.
Well, the plan was a success. They got the guy. And the news report informed me that he and his brother robbed a Super 8 motel the week before. It could have been me.”
Neglectful Parents Afoot
“I worked a summer in Spain as a part of a ‘new’ kids entertainment program.
The stuff I saw was unbelievable, such as parents dropping their kids off at 9 a.m., and forgetting them to pick up at 6 p.m. (or showing up after having too much to drink which kind of forced me to ask the kid if they wanted to play some more until their parents were sober). Also, some kids just throwing stuff and hitting other kids because they lost a game.
In general, the most annoying thing is parents just incompletely neglecting their kids, causing the kids to tear up because I have to tell them mommy and daddy aren’t coming yet because they were stuck in traffic. The thing that will always stick with me is a little girl who was on vacation with her parents and another couple. This girl got dropped off at 8 a.m., even though we weren’t open until 9, by a parent with a hangover and they didn’t pick her up until after the ‘kids-show,’ which was from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Because of this, the girl never ate with her family, causing her to miss meals. This family stayed for two weeks, and in the last week, the mom showed up at 10 p.m. to pick up her daughter. Because I was getting kind of sick of the parents’ behavior, I kindly requested her to drop the kid off on time, pick her up on time, and to eat dinner with her kid.
This woman just lost it screaming at me that I can’t tell her what to do, that I should do my job and take care of her kid and that I should stop trying to steal her kid with gifts (I bought the girl a swimsuit with my own money because she didn’t have one and we had ‘swimming-games’). Later, both parents show up, screaming I should be fired for kidnapping their kid and that they are demanding a huge sum of money from the hotel.
I’m not sure what happened to the girl (all though there were rumors the parents got sued for child neglect and she moved to her grandmother). After this happened, the hotel gave me a paid stay at their hotel for the upcoming three weeks I was supposed to work there.”
Racism And Lying
“Probably the thing that drives me bananas is when people are obviously lying:
‘I’ve NEVER been to a hotel where they authorized extra on my credit card!’
‘The last time I was here they gave me the presidential for free!’
‘No one’s EVER needed my photo ID to check in!’
‘The girl who checked me in yesterday said that I could have an upgrade to a suite today for free!’
‘I’ve NEVER seen a hotel charge for parking, what kind of scam is this?!’
Another thing that bothers me to no end is racism!
‘The pool’s too crowded! My kids can’t swim there! Make some of the others leave!’ The pool has no one but an African American family with two small children playing at one end of the pool.
‘There are people being loud in the restaurant! Kick them out! They’re CLEARLY not paying customers, you can tell just by looking at them, and the only reason no one’s saying anything is that you’re afraid of being called racist!’
This person also tried calling corporate on us. They did not get far.”
Just Fess Up Already
“I worked hotel maintenance. If you accidentally break something in the room, be honest and let the front desk know. There’s a 99-percent chance you won’t be charged for damage. It also gives maintenance a heads up to fix it at our earliest opportunity and not have to rush to fix it when the next guest finds the damage because the housekeeper didn’t report it either.
Where I worked, if a guest reported the damage, they wouldn’t be charged for it. If they just leave and don’t tell anyone, they’d be charged a damage fee, usually $100.
One time, we had some nice suites that people often rented for weddings or birthday parties. One guy had his 7-year-old’s party at the hotel along with eight other kids. Come to find out he left the kids in the room all night and was over at the local bar. Housekeeping goes in the next day and the walls are stained with Koolaid. It looks like a murder scene. Two of our lamps had to be repaired and the lamp shades replaced.
The dad flips and tells us there’s no way. We proceed to send him pictures of the damages and charged him for the repainting of the walls and the lamps.”
Not So Clever Anymore
I worked in hotel building maintenance. Honestly, most people are okay, if a bit weird, but I can’t stand the unnecessary damage from drinks and hyperactive children. We had a guy urinate all over his bed before sleeping in it because he decided it was a hilarious idea. The next morning he demanded the bed be clean for him when he got back. His boss had a good ‘laugh’ of it when we called to explain we’re charging the company for the cleaning fee. Even if the guy isn’t personally held responsible, the boss we contract with is a funny guy and having the scoop on a bed-wetter probably gave him some leverage.
Also, people break or tamper with things in their room to try to get a discount. Like seriously? We inspect the rooms after each cleaning and also our clean rooms get checked every day. We know it was working before you were in there.
Best Of Luck Finding The Titanic
“I’m on concierge on Oahu. One time I had a group of four older German people come up and demand tickets to see the Titanic. At first, I thought they were referring to the movie, but nope, they wanted to see the actual ship. It turns out that they really wanted to go to Pearl Harbor, but it took about 30 minutes to convince them that the Titanic wasn’t in Honolulu.
Another time, I had a guest come up to my desk to ask if we could store some chest milk for her. She was in one of our smaller rooms that didn’t have a full kitchen, just a microwave, and small fridge and she needed it to be frozen. We said yes, and she came down with the largest box of chest milk I’ve ever seen. I’m talking moving box size. It filled up our entire icebox freezer and our break room freezer.
She ended up bringing new boxes every couple weeks when she picked up the previously stored ones, and none of the staff could bring in any frozen foods for lunch for about three months.”
There’s My Two Weeks
“A housekeeper was cleaning a room and there was poop all over the bed. She moved one of the pillows and there was a certain ‘toy’ sitting there, though she had no clue what it was. She came running down the hallway to find me to complain about the room, and ask me what it was she found, and if she needed to send it to lost and found.
She brought me to the room, and I immediately gagged because of the smell and seeing the sheets. Then she showed me the ‘toy.’ I slapped it out of her hand and told her to wash her hands immediately, put gloves on, and throw it away.”
Hold On, Let Me Just Ruin Everything
“The hotel I work at does not own its own parking garage. We have a discounted rate for the garage next door. $18 per night in and out instead of $50 without in and out access. Whenever I explain this, guests look at me like I have eight heads: ‘What is this, Manhattan?’ ‘Wow, FIFTY DOLLARS? There’s that much going on in town?’ ‘Do they wash and detail your car for you?’ Yeah, because I am the one who built that garage and manages it too while working front desk for the hotel at the same time.
Early Check-in: During summer we have to flip the entire hotel in a day sometimes; People will come in at 10 a.m. and expect to be checked in immediately, usually the membership guest. ‘But I’m Platinum.’ Yeah, so that means we can rip guests out of bed before checkout and clean the room in five seconds just for you.
Concert/Construction/Outside noise: Guests will call and complain about noise like concerts or construction we have no control over. I had one lady call and complain about outside noise from a concert around 9 p.m. I explained there was a concert, and there was nothing I could do. As if I’ll go up on stage and pull the plugs on the speakers.”
Thank You For Your Kindness
“I work at a hotel in a small, beachside Florida town. Our town has little parking, and we advise our guests of this, especially during peak times that we (as well as the entire city and all other surrounding properties) will have to restrict parking to only one vehicle per guest.
I understand that it’s not always the best, but, people who’ve been coming here forever know that in high season, there is no place to park, so they begrudgingly will find a way to carpool.
But, not everyone does. Often times, many locals will rent a room, and then invite everyone to come on over and, of course, everyone has to bring their own car. Not happening, because if you bring more than one vehicle, you are taking someone else’s spot.
One time, our security officer got a lady who brought three cars on a sold-out day. We don’t have room for that, you are on your own to try to find off-property parking for your other two cars. Good luck.
She wasn’t having it. Of course, she was throwing a fit about not being able to have two extra cars. Our security officer stood firm. Finally, the lady said, ‘You’re full of crap.’ The best response our security officer ever had to anyone, ‘No I’m not, I took care of that this morning. But thank you for your concern for my good health and regularity.’
I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. He put her in her place, and she had no choice but to move her cars off the property.
Overall, it’s the sense of the ‘rules don’t apply to me, and so what if I inconvenience someone else, as long as it’s not me.'”
Read The Fine Print
“I was an assistant front desk manager of a boutique hotel. I’d say third-party booking sites are the bane of our existence.
In order to make any changes to your reservation, you have to speak with their customer service team so they can reach out to us to fix whatever the situation is. It is a big waste of time on everyone’s part. You’re better off spending the $10 in savings on booking directly through the hotel and cutting out the middleman. You honestly don’t save that much money in the long run.
We’ll get guests who book the third-party and ‘don’t get the hotel room they booked.’ Here’s the thing about third-party: you’re not guaranteed the room type you think you’re booking; you’re only guaranteed a room somewhere in the vicinity of the hotel you booked. So I’m sorry that I gave all the ‘good’ rooms to the guests that are paying more and put you in the room with the blinking street light just outside the window.
Billing also gets tricky for the guests. They often expect to have a receipt at check out and we have to explain that their receipt comes from the third-party company, not the hotel. The guests don’t often read the ‘additional fees’ portion of the website either. Then they get mad at my staff when they find out about our ‘hidden fees.’ I have a binder of printed screenshots of every booking site’s page for our hotel where it specifically states the additional fees for our hotel – desktop site, mobile site, Android app and iOS app. Whenever a guest says it isn’t there, I pull the binder and ask why they didn’t read the sites booking page where it clearly states the fees. They will argue, and I just review the site with them. If they want to take it to the next level, they won’t be doing it with me. I provide them with their specific booking sites customer service team and wish them luck.
Whenever the third-party’s customer service team calls me, I tell them that the fees are specifically written out on the site, and we will not be budging on it.”
Some People, I Tell Ya
“I work overnight as a front desk supervisor.
Most of the time, the most irritating guests are the ones who have stayed at the hotel previously and get mad that policies have changed. When I started working front desk three years ago, I could copy and paste a credit card off of a reservation. Now, I don’t even see a number, and we have to swipe the card in person, no online payments are supported. This drives people insane, and they always jump straight to the ‘Well, it wasn’t a problem when I stayed here last year’ argument. It’s incredibly frustrating having people who don’t understand that policies change, that those changes are not, in fact, my decision, and that they’re done for their own good.
Or the time we had someone pleasuring themselves in the lobby bar.”
Decency, Please
“As a housekeeper, these things bother me to no end:
Please, answer the door. I know people don’t want to deal with us, and you want us to clean while you’re not there, I prefer it too, but don’t yell at me through the door. If you answer the door, I just say hi, do you want housekeeping now, if not, what time are you leaving. The door between makes it much harder for me.
Don’t refill those water bottles in the room with tap water. Honestly, we have a sign saying what it costs, if you don’t want to pay for it just drink the tap water you poured in the bottle. I check in every room if the seal is broken, and you get charged anyway.
Don’t leave your ‘do not disturb’ on for the entire day if you want service. Housekeeping is only from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., so don’t take your sign off at 4 p.m. and get mad when we can’t clean your room. We put cards under each door that clearly states if you don’t remove the sign by 3 p.m., you can only get towels from the front desk.
I could go on for days talking about this, but lastly please recognize I also want you to enjoy your stay. I love talking to nice guests and honestly, if you are nice to me, I will go out of my way to help you out. Don’t act like you are entitled to the universe because you’re paying to stay at our mediocre hotel. Honestly, when people treat me in a friendly way or tip me, I give them all the extra stuff they could need. Specifically with turndown service, if you don’t treat me like crap like half the people I talk to every night, I will give you like six of those little chocolates.”
You Mean, You Can’t Stop The Snow?
“I worked at a Hilton years ago in high school. It was actually a fun job and I still remember stuff 20 years later. Things that bother me:
If I am helping someone else I cannot carry your suitcases on top of this other guest. You can see that, stop being impatient.
One group was holding an event in one of our conference rooms. Maybe 30 people. They all had to be well hydrated because I probably brought them 30 one-gallon pitchers of water. Not counting what the wait staff brought them.
The woman that work here will not sleep with you. And that girl that works here is 16 years old.
Guests that call up every 10 minutes asking for something odd or complaining about something we have no control over. Sorry, I can’t stop the snow.
No, we cannot drive you three hours to someone’s house or some convention in the hotel van.”