Hotel Workers Share The Secrets They Aren’t Suppose To Tell Customers

Save Some Space In Your Bag.

“Hotel worker here, ask for everything you need, it will be provided. Also complain about every problem you see, you won’t believe the amount of free stuff complainers get, it’s awful. And never forget to tip your bellboy.”(Source)

Save Your Money On Those “Activites.”

“Yay I can finally answer this! I work at an upscale resort. Nights average $500 a night. I work in the entertainment department, meaning we help with both the daycare center and with large groups in house that companies host. I will say that our child daycare is pretty safe the only thing sketchy thing I would say is that we will ALWAYS tell you that your kid had a good time, regardless if they had been crying up until just before you got there. Parents leave their numbers with us to call if the kid wants to go home but whenever a kid complains that they want to go home, we do everything in our power to make sure that they stay (cuz $$$). Also the in group activities that we do (biking, hiking etc.) are sometimes made up on the spot, since the entertainment dept, decided not to properly train us in all of our offered activities, newer staff (generally the people that only work summers) are told the morning of that they’re running a certain activity and given a really vague rundown of how it’s supposed to go and told to do their best to ‘make stuff up but make sure it sounds good’. Companies pay thousands of dollars for these ‘activities’ but I can assure you the thought that goes into these activities is essentially 0.” (Source)

How To Work The System

“Ex-hotel employee here, if you ever need to cancel a hotel reservation but it’s already past the cancelation deadline just call and move your reservation up a few days. Wait 5 minutes. Call back, now well within the cancelation window, and cancel your stay for free.” (Source)

They Really Do Want To Make Your Stay Pleasant.

“I’m a front desk manager at a hotel. Someone always says that the front desk GSA can upgrade or change rates for a guest if the guest is nice to them/tips them. While this may happen sometimes, it is not common. If one of my employees gave someone a cheapo rate, he has to explain why. It will come up in our reports. That being said, hotels are a ton of fun. I can’t think of any big secrets, but I will say this. If you have any questions or requests, no matter how stupid or weird, let the staff know. We love to help people, that’s why we went into the industry. And it makes it a lot better for both the guest and the staff when we can help you while you’re still in the hotel, and not when you’re calling corporate after checkout to complain.” (Source)

Always Call Ahead.

“That hotels sometimes overbook rooms, typically more so in the summer since that’s a busy season. They are relying on some people either canceling or not showing up. Always a good idea to call and confirm your reservation on the day of arrival, especially if you’re gonna be late.” (Source)

Bring The Lysol.

“I worked at Holiday Inn Express for a little bit. Spread a towel out on the counter before putting your stuff on it, because I know some of my coworkers would go from floor to shower to toilet to sink with the same rag. We typically get 10 rags a day to clean, they are color coded to match the cleaner they’re used with (i.e. bathroom is pink, window/glass is blue, dusting solution is yellow) and we use 2 or 3 per room. If you have 15 rooms, that means you use the same cleaning rag for 3 bathrooms, and for the guest thats the best case scenario. I know girls who would do twelve rooms or more with two rags: bathroom and not bathroom. Nobody gave a f**k, the goal was to remove all traces of the last guest and make it smell nice. It was the most disgusting and demeaning job I’ve ever had.” (Source)

Just Go Out To Eat.

“Hotelier here. I worked in numerous luxury 5 star properties world wide. You will be SHOCKED if you know the food quality in buffets. I’ve seen yellow food coloring added and labelled as ‘saffron sauce’, pan fried sea bass? Haha! It’s pan fried white fish that comes in generic bags labelled ‘white fish’. People change the expiration date on stuff so that the food cost doesn’t increase. The amount of frozen food sold and labelled as ‘fresh’ is astounding! Ala carte food tends to have much better quality!” (Source)

Apparently Dress Up For Checking-In.

“At IHG hotels, that is holiday inn, staybridge suites, crowne plaza etc. if you say you’re there for a funeral/death, and you ASK for the bereavement rate, it’s close to 50% off. We also weren’t allowed to mention it exists, or give the rate unless directly asked for it by a guest checking in. Something else we hid from guests: Generally when a guest booked a room from a third party company (orbitz, booking, Expedia) they typically paid more. Our managers had us go out of our way to hide that from guests. Lastly, if a guest came into the hotel that didn’t fit their ‘ideal guest’ that is, tattoos, tattered clothes, etc, we were instructed to quote a much higher room price. And if they decided to stay, to actually charge them this inflated price.” (Source)

They’re Honest…To An Extent.

“If we recommend a restaurant, we probably either like that place or know our coworkers like it. If we recommend an activity, it’s entirely possible we were basically bribed. I would never tell someone to go somewhere I think is awful, but if there’s seven rafting places in town of equal quality, I’m gonna send you to the one that will bring me sandwiches for sending you. We take your sht. Not immediately, but if we can’t figure out who you are or the number doesn’t work when we call and you forgot your $300 watch and can’t be fked to try and find it for 3-4 moths, that’s my watch. Again though, we are very honest about lost stuff, most places I’ve been have some sort of file for lost and found or at least organize it by month, if you call we will look and do our best to find your stuff, but people lose so many things that if we kept it all half the rooms would be full of your bras and flip flops. It doesn’t hurt to ask if there’s a better rate. Depending on the property, if you’re nice, or in a pinch the front desk has the power to do a lot with your rate. At one property I worked at if we were almost full and it was past 9pm I could cut $50 off the rate if I felt like it, at most though I can only really give a 10% discount, but I can do it for almost any reason. That said, DON’T FIGHT ABOUT THE RATE! No harm in asking, but if you push or get belligerent I’m not doing sht for you. Also, don’t argue with me about the rate being right. Yes the tax is stupid high, yes we’re expensive, no I won’t give you the winter rates, yes I’m sure that’s right, the computer is smarter than both of us.” (Source)

You’re Movie Orders Are No Secret.

“Front desk agent here, when you order movies through the television we know what you watched. So when you watch all of ‘backdoor sluts 9’ then call the desk and say ‘oh I didn’t know what I chose,’ we know you are a lying a** who doesn’t want that mysterious $15 charge on your bill because the company is paying. Also I despise people who intentionally go around rooms looking for the slightest thing to complain about, have even had people go as far as sabotaging rooms to try and get free nights. One of the worst parts about working for a brand that has a 100% satisfaction guarantee.” (Source)

Trashing And Getting Trashed.

“Hotel worker here also. When you bring your children to our hotel for sporting events (baseball tourneys etc.), we really hate you more than them because you get drunk and ignore them while they tear our hotel apart.”(Source)

How To Not Get Caught Cheating.

“Tip number 1; if you’re going to f**k around on your spouse, use an assumed name. The front desk agent will probably be cool and not ask too many questions a $20 bill doesn’t answer. I had a guy come in and say he lost his room key and forgot his room number. I asked for his ID and it matched the last name on my ledger. Gave him a key with the number (that was protocol). Turns out he was there to catch his wife in the act. Tip number 2; always use that second arm lock, though some hotel staff have a tool to disable that as well.” (Source)

All You Ever Need To Know Part 1

“Hotel worker here. Worked evenings and overnights for a few years now. This all doesn’t apply to all hotels, but many. A lot of these will depend on how you treat the staff. Chargers are the #1 most forgotten item. We have tons of them. If you are nice and ask where you can buy one, we will offer one. I don’t care who you’re banging in your room. And no I don’t know where to find hookers. Well I do, but I’m staying out of that. We know what’s good to eat. We also know where you will get sick from eating. Sometimes it’s both and I’ll warn you. The pizza guy tells me if you stiff him on the tip. If you’re an awful person, I’m less inclined to go out of my way to help you. I will not disclose whether you’re here or not, but if the wife spotted your truck in the lot, you’re still f*ked.
Use the safe for valuables. Most housekeepers are trustworthy, but are humans that are around your valuables.
I can give you a discount. We have a little leeway with the price of your room. If we’re not booked I can knock off some cost. If we have one room left, I can also jack up the price, and my bosses will reward me for it. I have also jacked the price up just because I don’t like someone. Had some tweekers come in, every time they asked the price again, I raised it $10. They ended up paying 130$ for a $90 room. Food quality varies. Don’t expect gourmet meals. We only have a microwave and oven. The eggs are from a box, but are still real eggs. Muffins are like the ones that come in the tubes. Gravy is powdered mix. Everything is Sysco, so it’s not BAD, but it’s not great. Be wary if you see a Smart & Final truck outside, their quality is sht. I can’t always fix a noise complaint. If it’s the people directly above you with kids running around, I can get them to stop. If it’s some loud sex and I can’t pinpoint where it’s coming from, you’re going to have to wait it out. If you leave change out after leaving for the day, housekeepers assume it’s a tip. Don’t complain when $0.70 is missing from your room. (Source)

All You Ever Need To Know Part 2

“I will tolerate your sht, but only to a point. You can be rude, but if you get abusive, (name calling, making a scene, etc.) that’s over the line. Yes I can kick you out. No, you won’t get me fired. Yes I will call the cops. No there is nowhere else in town to stay on a Friday night. Yes I’m still going to charge you for the first night (cancellation policy, especially if I can’t sell the room again) We have EVERYTHING you may have forgotten. Toothbrush, razors, sewing needles/thread, deodorant, etc. Just ask. If we’re booked, I will tell you so. Asking again will not magically make a room open up. We will call you a cab, but you damn well better be ready. The cab drivers have no patience for tourists, they know you’re not long term business. If you do drugs in the room, keep it quiet and don’t do anything that requires smoking in the room. We will call the cops and they will arrest you. The cops are our buddies. I’m in a small town and am on first name basis with them. We are a huge revenue stream for the city. If I call them, they are usually here before I hang up. They will always side with us. A night in a cell for trespassing is not fun. As an aside they don’t bother me at drunk checkpoints, so that’s nice.
Don’t steal from the room. We will bill you for it. It will cost more than you expect. If you damage something, come clean. If it’s something the maintenance dude can fix, we’ll probably just bill you for supplies and an hour of his time. If you try and hide it, we’ll bill you contractor rate. If something was damaged when you get in, let us know right away in case we missed something from the last guest. Always inspect your room as soon as you check in for this reason. People do die here. About half are old people that die of being old. The other half are people that check in to check out. It’s a really f*ked up thing to do to the housekeepers. The housekeepers here are kind of superstitious and do not like going into rooms that people have died in. It’s kind of weird knowing I’m the last person that someone talked to.” (Source)

They Are A Business.

“Former hotel worker. People have sex and then leave all the time. We don’t care that you’re having an affair, you don’t need to come up with some lame excuse for leaving early, you don’t need to sneak out. Your checking out early means I can turn over the room and sell it again in what is likely an already overbooked night. You’re making us additional profit for that night, that’s all I care about. Also, almost every hotel is overbooked on busy nights. In general roughly 80% of hotel guests will show leaving a 20% oversell that we can work with. Since we’re charging you for the first night if you’re a no-show and then canceling the rest of your reservation this means we are making around 115-120% sales on busy nights. Why do you care? If you are arriving late and are relying on that room CALL IN ADVANCE to tell us your coming. You are then guaranteed the room type you wanted rather than what we have left when you arrive. Yes it’s unethical as h*ll but profits are profits.” (Source)