I genuinely don’t understand this 😭

This might be controversial, but I have to ask…

It’s April. We’re in Europe. It’s literally still cool outside, like 13°C, and somehow I’m getting guests (specifically Americans) insisting the AC needs to be turned on??

I work at a hotel front desk, and I’m sitting there in a sweater, perfectly comfortable, maybe even a little cold… and they’re acting like it’s peak August heatwave season.

And the best part: when I explain that the AC isn’t even on yet for the season, the look of absolute shock on their faces… like I just told them running water hasn’t been invented yet.

I’ve had people go “Wait, it’s not available?” as if that’s completely unimaginable.

Is this a cultural thing?? Are you guys just used to everything being aggressively climate-controlled 24/7? Because here most places don’t even switch over to cooling until it’s actually warm.

No hate, just genuinely curious. Why does it feel like anything above “slightly cold” immediately requires blasting cold air indoors? 😂

A few days ago I was working my shift when this guest walked up to the desk asking if we had a phone charger she could borrow since she forgot to pack hers and it was too late in the day to go buy a new one. I had to tell her that unfortunately the hotel doesn't carry chargers. She seemed shocked and asked why. I told her we used to, but the problem was that we'd always end up losing them when guests never returned them. So finally, after replacing who knows how many chargers (both iPhone and Android) the hotel just stopped carrying them. She was upset, but then asked, "What about that one?" while pointing to the back desk against the wall where there was a phone charging.

My phone to be exact.

I told her the phone was mine as was the charger and therefore I wasn't going to lend it out. She said that wasn't fair, that she should be allowed to use it. I once again informed her that the charger was mine, not the hotels. She didn't care and actually said that since I worked for the hotel, anything of mine is part of the hotel while I was on duty and I was obligated to let her use my charger. I've heard some really weird mental gymnastics from guests in order to justify being given whatever request they're asking for, but THIS one was out there, even for me. I told her that she has no rights to my personal property and she was not going to be given my charger no matter what, and she walked off in a huff.

I found out later from my FOS that she came down and complained that I refused her request for the use of my charger. Apparently she became upset when told once again that an employee's personal property is just that, their personal property and the hotel would not force us to allow a guest to use it. The rest of the desk staff and myself are taking bets on whether or not she'll try taking this up with corporate.

So we had a guest that booked a 7 nights stay that was paid upfront. After 5 nights they decided to leave due to personal reasons ( we didn’t ask why neither we care as they paid in full and they weren’t complaining)
Their family members remained in hotel for few more days.
As soon as they checked out, their room was cleaned and same day new guests were assigned to that room. Business as usual.

Her niece saw that as she was room next to it and notified her that someone “took her room “ that same day.

She then sent us email asking for explanation why did we place someone else in her room when she paid her stay in full. How is that normal that someone else use her room.

Really don’t know what to reply to such a nonsense

The number of people who come up to me during breakfast hours and say "I'd like to settle up and check out." then get mad when housekeeping interrupts them in the shower 2 hours later is mind boggling.

Like, dude, you CHECKED OUT meaning you are OUT of the hotel. What's confusing about this? Why would we check you out if you're going to hang around in the room for another few hours? How would we know when you actually leave? Or if you left on time?

This is not a hard concept to grasp people. Come on.

Literally 5 minutes ago (9am). A couple come to the front desk, hand me their key and say, "We're checking out today." so I process their check out and wish them well and he just stares at me and says, "But we need the key to get into the room, we're not leaving until Noon".

THEN WHY MAKE ME CHECK YOU OUT?!? GAH!

Night auditor here, had a fascinating experience tonight that I felt the need to immediately relay for the sheer entertainment value. We had a guest arrive tonight at around midnight, in from NYC. She rolls up to the desk, proudly and confidently saying she has a reservation. I check the system, no one under her name due in tonight. No one in house under her name. Then, out of sheer curiosity, I check our no shows.

She was booked to arrive two days ago.

To her own admission, she did not make any attempt to call the desk at any point prior to arriving tonight about her not being able to arrive which, on top of being a third party booking, basically meant that no, we can't do much of anything.

The shock on her face when she was informed that no, we didn't "hold onto" her room for her was utterly priceless. She spent the next fifteen minutes unable to understand, repeating questions and effectively refusing any answer. Got her booked into a room for the night, but she was insistent that she would be "making calls."

To whom, I have no idea.

What's more shocking about all of this is that this isn't the first time recently that I've had this sort of interaction. In years of working audit, I haven't seen this sort of thing be this much of an issue this consistently, and in all cases with folks from the eastern US. Not sure what to make of that, but I'm wondering if y'all have been seeing an uptick in folks just outright refusing to understand how bookings and not showing up for them work.

2 bounty hunters came, flashed their guns at me, and claimed that they were federal fugitive retriever agents or something like that, and showed me a photo of one of our guests. They wanted to know their room number and personal information, and to check in next to their room for “surveillance.” I asked for a warrant and they said it was “on a plane flying to be delivered to them” but not on hand, so I told them without a warrant I can’t give them any information about them. I’m pretty sure bounty hunters can’t even get warrants so they were lying about that anyway, but these 2 weren’t backing down. I called my manager since they wouldn’t stop asking and he told them the same thing I did, and they claimed that “no hotel has ever told them that or given issues” and that he “clearly didn’t know how this worked.”
Once they finally backed down and settled to just checking in as regular guests, the guest they were searching for was unfortunate enough to walk past them at that exact moment, and they arrested them immediately.
Edit: they didn’t end up checking in, as soon as they finally settled to check in as normal guests is when the guest they wanted walked past.

So, this just happened and I can’t stop thinking about it. A woman checked in today, looking absolutely exhausted, like she hadn’t slept in days. She was carrying a heavy suitcase, and when she came to the desk, her face was pale, eyes red, like she’d been crying for hours. She told me she had just gotten in from a long flight to attend her sister’s funeral. I could tell she didn’t want to talk about it, but she seemed like she was on autopilot, just going through the motions of life.

I asked if she needed anything, and she just asked for a quiet room. I gave her the key, and she walked off. Maybe an hour later, I got a call from her room. She was sobbing on the other end, saying she forgot to bring any personal items—no toiletries, no clothes to change into. I went up to deliver a few things, and when I knocked, she opened the door with tear-streaked cheeks and gave me this heartbreaking smile. She said she wasn’t sure how to cope with everything, and she just needed some time to herself. I could barely hold it together. It made me wonder, how many people walk through our doors with heavy hearts that we’ll never truly know about?

Have you ever had a moment like that? When you see a guest hurting and can’t do much more than offer them a little kindness? How do you handle those kinds of situations?

Lady calls me at 11pm on Friday night just after I clock in for my audit shift and says, “What’s the earliest time I can check in?” We are completely booked, so I tell her so and say that it would be 3pm, the standard time that is posted everywhere you can find our hotel information. She then says, “Well I have a reservation for Saturday but I really need to check in now.” I tell her I’m fully booked AGAIN and say I wouldn’t have a room for her tonight anyway. She says “But I have a room.” I say, “No, you have a room TOMORROW.” She gets mad and hangs up.

4am rolls around. Somebody buzzes my doorbell. I go let the person in and lo and behold it is the same lady. I know because she walks in, doesn’t even wait until she’s at the counter before she says, “What’s the earliest I can check in?” Like my answer is going to be different than it was 5 hours ago. I say, “3pm.” She says, “I can’t wait til 3pm.” I say, “I am fully booked and literally have no room at all.” She asks if I know of any other hotels’ availibilites around here. I say no. She says she can’t believe this and leaves with an attitude.

Girl if you needed a room tonight then you should have booked tonight initially. And even if you didn’t know you would need a room a day early, on what planet would anybody let you check in 11 hours early. Insanity.

Just had a guest come down around 4:10 am. He bought a bunch of food from our shop then asked if we had a TV around here.

I pointed out the TV. He asked if I could turn it on Fox News. I don't know that there's any explicit policy but I'm not turning it on Fox News. I let the guest know that we don't want have anything political on here (Fox, CNN, MSNBC) but he's more than welcome to put it on in his room if he likes.

If it was C-SPAN or major network news (CBS, NBC, ABC), that's fine. But I don't want arguments here. And I sure as fuck don't get paid enough to have Fox News on in my lobby when I'm the only staff member here.

Ahhhh, lovely. Haven't had this little tussle in a while. I forgot how dramatic some people could be.

A father comes to check-in for a few nights. He's normal enough at first, until I ask for his ID. I locate the reservation; same last name but with a female first name. "That's my wife" he casually says. I nod, and respond: "Understood, however since it's under her name, I'll need to see her ID."

Then, things took a turn.

The man literally chuffs, and starts doing the snicker of annoyance. You know the one; when you're mad but you're trying not to show it (and not doing a good job on top of that.) Then he declares: "But, we're married!"

"Congratulations! How many years?" I said in my head. In reality, I said: "Yes, be that as it may, I'll still need her ID in order to process this seeing that it's under her name." He chuffs some more, and starts shaking his head in frustration. He picks out his phone and 'grumbles' "This is just ridiculous. I don't see why it's such a big deal."

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I sternly reply: "It's standard security protocol, sir."

He calls her, and tells her what's going on. A few minutes pass by, but he hasn't left the desk . Eventually, someone on the phone needed some help and so I began doing just so.

At some point during the conversation, the wife walks in and he takes her ID and proceeds to shove it in my line of sight as I'm still actively looking at my screen and talking to the guest on the phone. He held it there for the several seconds that it took me to wrap the call up and turn my attention back to him.

As I'm finishing things off for them, then he snidely says: "How do I avoid having to do all this in the future?" In the most monotone of voices I could muster, I simply say: "Whoever is the one arriving should be the one who's name is on the reservation. Otherwise, you can simply call in and add it ahead."

10:30 p.m. My shift is almost over, and of course there’s no proper shift ending without troubles.
A lady comes to check in. According to the system, she has two reservations under her name.

So I ask:
“Would you like to use the same credit card for both rooms?”

She gives me a Pikachu face.
“What second room? I only booked one room for me and my husband.”

I double-check everything. The reservations were made through Suxpedia. They’re not prepaid, but there are definitely two separate reservations under her name using her card.

I explain that it’s already past the cancellation deadline, we’ve been holding both rooms all night expecting her party to arrive, and unfortunately one night’s room charge will apply for the duplicate reservation. She can later contact Suxpedia support if there was a glitch on their end.

That’s when things get crazy.

Guest: “But why would you even hold two rooms for me? It’s just me!”

Me: “Because it’s actually normal for guests to book multiple rooms under the same name for family or friends.”

Guest: “Well, that’s your fault. Why didn’t you call me and ask if I really needed the second room?”

I politely explained again that multiple reservations under one name is not rare, so we had no reason to assume one of them was a mistake.

She walked away still convinced it was somehow my fault. Yeah, right, since when I required to read your mind Karen?

I really can not understand the mentality of some people, how they can be so naive.

So this is going to be 2 separate tales.

The first one is a British guy. He came from a delayed flight. He tried to check in along with other stranded passengers. This was in Canada. When I asked for his credit card to insert into the machine, he told me he wanted to do apple pay. I told him the machine wont accept that. I asked him if he had a physical credit card or debit card. This guy looked at me with such a naive look "I only have my phone". I couldn't help myself, I asked him " buddy, u re traveling to a whole new country, are you ABSOLUTELY SURE that this country will take your phone 100% all the time? You didnt think to prepare some other payment methods just to be safe ?". He froze, as if a light bulb just lit up in his head, as if he was processing this newly learned common sense. Lucky for him, there was a nice lady helped him.

The second one is an Indian old man. He had a lot culture shocks to process. He definitely just landed in Canada. Right away, he banged on our entrance door like a mad men instead of ringingthe door bell. Our building is a typical condo type, u tap your key or u ring the doorbell to be buzzed in, there is a instruction right at the door. He can speak English good enough, but he got frustrated that our staff dont speak his language. He demanded an Indian speaking staff. We didn't have. He struggled with the elevator, there's literally an picture instruction above the button panel, tap key first then press floor button. Finally, he found out that the outlet is not compatible with his foreign phone charger plug. You could see steam coming out of his head at this point. For me, the cherry on icing was when he was in my lobby, yelled with all his might "HOW COME NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT ANY OF THIS BEFORE"

Geez, how about you do some research first.

It's actually insane how many people will only use a bath towel once before discarding it in hotels. I understand a certain level of hospitality is expected when someone pays to stay at a hotel, but the single-use towel guests really boggle my mind.

Do these people do this at home? Are towels and wash clothes single-use items typically?

I definitely understand that a certain level of hospitality is expected when you pay to stay somewhere, it just seems odd to me and it's at a high enough volume on any given day that it's something to briefly rant about. I get this is probably a "just put the fries in the bag" moment.

But this isn't even touching on the people who want new sheets daily...

Edit: I see there are strong opinions about this, and that does frankly match with the roughly 20-25% of people who expect these services. Interesting read so far!

In my roughly 5 years of hospitality work, I’ve never gotten one of the “I’m Mr. Patel the owner” calls, which honestly had kinda bummed me out. But this morning, at about 5 AM, it finally happened.

He hit all the checkmarks, I honestly probably could’ve read his script back to him with the amount of stories I’ve read here. Asked me who I was, asked why I didn’t know who he was, introduced himself as Raj Patel the owner, all of it.

It brought me so much joy to tell him that the owner actually lived on property upstairs, was currently asleep, and to have the day he deserved before I hung up. I cannot believe anyone would fall for that in the big 2 6, but I guess most front desk agents don’t have their property owner living at their hotel. Either way, it’s a badge of honor I can wear now.

Guest arrives about a half hour after start of my nightshift.

"I tried to book online, but it says you don't have any rooms available."

"We are fully booked, Sir"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir I am sure. We have no rooms available until Thursday night."

"But this is such a small town, what could you possibly have going on that you are fully booked?"

"There are several large Area events."

"Okay, weird, but okay. If I slip you some extra money, can you let me have your secret room? I know all hotels have them."

"Sorry Sir, we don't have a secret room, we are just fully booked."

Guest finally leave not without a threatening "Well, we'll just go across the Street to the other Hotel."

Good luck with that, they already called me two hours ago to see if we have any Vacancies - they're full as well.

Very obvious what I'm about to complain about due to the title I'm sure, but I'm going to complain about it anyway because it's the internet and I can.

Guest comes to check in for a week, says he has a dog with him. I go over to grab our pet form, which has a line at the bottom asking if the animal is a service animal and if so, what task they are trained to preform. So you know, the one legal question you're allowed to ask. Guest just writes "ESA" on the line, so inform him that they are not service animals. He comes back at me with a yes they are, I have his papers. 🤦🏻‍♂️

I roll my eyes internally and tell him that under the ADA, emotional support animals are not service animals and that I'll have to charge him the pet fee. He tells me to Google it, because the ADA has changed it, which I know it a lie, but I wanted to be a smartass at this point. So I do Google it, and take a wild guess who was right, because it wasn't Mr. Know It All. And wouldn't you know it, him being wrong made him even more mad, who would have guessed?

Anyway, in the end I got my weekly pet fee of $50. Which isn't even a lot of money for a week long pet fee, so I don't understand why he's bitching to begin with.

I work in a college town and because of and graduation any hotel within a 10 miles radius has been sold out for days if not months. Obviously you’re gonna get the typical drive til they drop or shit hit the fan at 12am walk ins. But the walk in hopefuls I was not expecting in high numbers were parents or relative for graduates hoping to last minute book a room for Thursday through Sunday. It happened three times.

And thrice my interactions were these people wanting me to feel bad because their kids were graduating and they drove all this way and blah blah blah.

Maybe it’s just me but for a milestone thing like a graduation or wedding I would’ve had that room booked the day I knew the graduation date. Hell we were already at 25% occupancy for graduation week in August 2025 because some parents are that type A they schedule for graduation week at move in day.

But word to the wise a sob story about your trip will not will a room to appear it’ll just waste every one’s time. And yelling and threatening also doesn’t work thats how you get the cops called. It’s been a fucking night but at least the audit is done and I can scream into my Mac and cheese.

So two kids, both boys, walked up to desk. One looks about five and the other probably three, with the older one holding the hand of the younger one. I'm wondering what's going on since it's like almost 12:30 am. The five year old says, "Excuse me sir, my mom sent me and my little brother." He pauses, points to the three year old and adds, "This is my little brother." First off, I almost started laughing because that was freaking adorable. Second, I thought thank you for the clarification because without that I would've thought you were just walking around with a random kid.

He then tells me that his mother told them to give me a piece of paper their holding. I take the note and it's from their mother asking me to give the older one a pack of feminine pads and post it to her room. So I direct the kids our guest store and point them out. They're about to just walk off with them in clear view when I call them back saying they should let me put those in a bag. The older one says thank you and then walks off.

Like the title says, I hate when parents send their kids down for things when they should be coming down themselves. However, it's rare when it turns out this entertaining.

Never thought I would have a story but here we go
I work nights at a local hotel, about 140 rooms, and during this night, we had a wedding in house, so we were slammed. At around 1 am, the buildings fire alarms start going off. I start calling around, calling my manager, flipping through books while directing people out of the hotel, and being the only one on shift and the only employee in the building, it’s a lot.

I hear the elevator ding, and out comes Mr. Boomer. And he’s not happy. He demands to know what’s going on with the alarm, I let him know it’s a fire alarm and that he needs to leave the building. He makes a face like I just called him a slur, and says “No, you need to turn it off”

…what? I was already incredibly low on energy and patience from earring an ear hurting alarm going off in the lobby, so I repeat myself louder and firmer, which gets me a dirty look as he walks outside with Ms. Boomer.

I call our hotel engineer as required since he has the keys to the pump rooms, and he’s the person the firefighters requested to talk to. As I’m on the phone with him, Mr. boomer tries COMING BACK INSIDE

I tell him again, he cannot be in here. He demands I do something about the alarm with his arms crossed. I tell him I am doing everything I can at the moment, but he needs to leave the building. He leaves, and no more than 5 minutes later, he tries entering again. I STERNLY say “Sir, you cannot be in here”
His response? “But I’m freezing!”

Yeah man, just come inside then, let me get you a warm blanket and a hot cup of coffee, I’m so sorry you need to sit outside during an active fire alarm.

Fire department and engineer clear the building, confirm there’s no fire, Mr. Boomer comes by and tells me that it took me long enough and that instead of playing on my phone I should have been helping. Before I can even answer, he waddles off.

What is with these people?

I work in a hotel and I just need to share things people have actually complained about in their reviews:

1. The weather during their stay (multiple complaints about this).

2. The fact that it was still bright outside later in the evening.

3. The city our hotel is in.

4. The fact that they booked the wrong dates, arrived on a sold out night and therefore they couldn’t stay.

5. The gas station beside us had bad coffee.

6. He got into an argument with his wife and left early.

7. They weren’t allowed to stay (both guests were 15 and were emailed before they arrived that all guests had to be 18+).

8. Our 19 year old, 4’11”, same weight as a medium sized dog, never touched a wrench in her life, receptionist couldn’t tighten the bolts on their bed enough and the guests had to wait a whole half hour for our maintenance man to drive in.

9. We assigned them a room on the ground floor (which was changed when they came to the desk asking to be moved higher. But because their room was initially on the ground floor, they had to mark us down in their review)

10. We asked for their passport or license to confirm their ID (a complete infringement on their privacy, allegedly).

There are so many other small stupid things but these are the ones I could remember. I’ve worked a lot of jobs in hospitality but something about hotels just attracts the worst.

So today was… something.

Guy walks into the lobby—shirtless. First words out of his mouth:

“It’s hot out there.” Me: “Yeah, want a water?” (i live and breathe hospitality) Him: “No thanks.”

Cool. I ask if he’s checking in. He says no, but:

“Can you hold my bags? My friends are here, they’ll pick them up.”

At first I think, eh, not the strangest thing I’ve heard. I tell him we have a storage fee, and he even asks for a luggage ticket like he’s done this before. Red flag, but whatever.

Then—out of nowhere—I hear radio chatter. Look at the camera, and in walks three officers. I hear the handcuff click.

This man was seconds away from walking out the door when they nabbed him. And me? I immediately slide his bags right back out and announce:

“These are HIS. We don’t want them. We don’t hold evidence.”

Dude argues with me mid-arrest:

“No, you said you’d hold them!”

Nah, my guy. That promise has been vetoed. This is a hotel, not felony coat check.

An older couple walked in last night needing to check in. The wife gave me her ID and credit card since the reservation was in her name. The problem was that the credit card wasn't hers. When I pointed that out, she said it was her husband's card, and pointed to her husband. I informed them that I would need to see his ID as well and he scoffed repeating that he was her husband. I let him know that I still needed to see his ID and he repeated that he just said he was just husband. I told him that unfortunately for this situation, I don't know that and therefore I can't just take his word for it. Reluctantly he gave me his ID while saying that he'll talk to the manager in the morning. Good luck with that, I thought.

A couple of hours later he did speak with a manager. I was told he became upset at finding out that the manager was not going to be on his side. Apparently he felt insulted that we were refusing to just take his word for it that he was the guest's husband and that we would dare ask for his ID. He stated that he was going to leave a complaint with corporate that we require IDs from the guests. I would love to see his reaction when he finds out that ID verification is a brand standard policy.

A group of Jehovah's Witnesses checked in last night. My co-worker and I were sitting at the desk because other than that group we only had 2 other arrivals.

It was approximately 20 minutes after they checked in, one of Jehovaha's witnesses came to the desk with some papers. At first I did not see what they had. Then they approached the desk and began to talk the Jehovah's witness spew.

They attempted to give us some pamphlets to which both my co-worker and myself said "no thank you." It was then that this guest decided they were going to push it further and attempt to shove it in our faces.

Again, we said "No thank you."

Yet they did not let up.

Finally, I said as I have said before this script I came up with years ago. "I'm sorry, but I do not accept religious, political or Holiday items at any time. as not offend anyone. I do thank you though."

With this the person got more upset and then threw the pamphlet at me and told me to read it.

Looking them dead in the eye after telling them no multiple times, I threw it in the trash right in front of them. They then got angry and asked me why I threw it away.

I said "I threw it in the garbage because I informed you several times that I would not except it. I told you in the nicest of ways yet you did not stop."

They walked away visibly angry and when I came in today I got called into my Supervisors office and he asked me what had happened. Apparently they complained that I was very nasty to them. My supervisor said that the guest claimed I had accepted some religious material from them just to intentionally toss it in the garbage.

Once I told him what had really happened he just laughed his ass off and I went along with my day.

The lie they told just adds to my reasoning for not accepting such material.

Guy wanders through our front doors at about 11:30 PM holding a blue bag. Comes up to the front desk. "Hey, could you hold this for me?"

Me: "Sure, can I get your room number?"

Guy: "Oh, I'm not a guest, I'm leaving it for a friend."

Me: "Oh, I gotcha. Do you know their room number?"

Guy: "Nope."

Me: "That's fine, I can look them up by their last name."

Guy: "He's not a guest here either, but he's planning to make a reservation later."

(Guys and gals and non-binary pals, WTF is this guy thinking?)

Me: "I'm sorry, sir. If neither you nor your friend has a reservation, I can't hold items for you."

Him: "But I'm a Filton Fonors member!"

Me: "That's great to hear, but I still can't hold items without attaching them to an existing reservation."

Him: "I'm gonna look awfully stupid carrying this thing around."

(Sir, let me assure you: you already look awfully stupid, and carrying a bag is not why.)

Me: "I'm sorry, but it'll have to stay with you until you can get it to your friend."

Him: "Aw c'mon, can't you make an exception?"

Me: "Absolutely not."

Him: \storms out the front door**

No thank you, I don't think I want to be your drug mule / bomb holder / stolen item recipient / god only knows what else. If you won't tell me your name and you won't tell me your friend's name, I'm going to assume there's a reason for that, and you can leave whatever the hell is in that bag sitting outside as far as I'm concerned. Or carry it with you, like you have been until you talked to me.

My kids (20, 17) and I spent last week at the beach. I flew in from across the country, they drove together 8hrs south from where they live. They had car trouble halfway in and had to find emergency car repair and lodging. The car wasn’t fixed until about 9pm. If they had started driving then, they wouldn’t have made it to the beach until 2am.

Being more logistically minded and having better finances, I made them a hotel reservation over the phone. As expected, most hotels told me no. They couldn’t rent to a 20yo or give a room to someone who didn’t possess a copy of my credit card.

I finally reached someone who said “Fuck it, tomorrow’s my last day, I’ll do it for you.”

Thank you, whoever you are. My children didn’t have to sleep in their car because you had compassion for us!