If you want to test the limits of your patience, get a job where you have tointeract directly with the clientele. Whenever people are buying something from you, they can be so egotistical, so stubborn, and so rude that you will quickly find out how many “Sorry” and “Have a nice day” you can fit into one shift. Don’t believe me? Just check outthis Reddit threadwhere former and current hotel receptionists have been describing their worst guests. The customer isn’t always right.This post may includeaffiliate links.
If you want to test the limits of your patience, get a job where you have tointeract directly with the clientele. Whenever people are buying something from you, they can be so egotistical, so stubborn, and so rude that you will quickly find out how many “Sorry” and “Have a nice day” you can fit into one shift. Don’t believe me? Just check outthis Reddit threadwhere former and current hotel receptionists have been describing their worst guests. The customer isn’t always right.
This post may includeaffiliate links.
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We had a guest, who clearly had a pet in his bag and kept denying it. The bag was squirming, and the dog inside was whining. What a selfish piece of s**t to do that to the dog. 🤷🏼♀️.
We had a guest whose kid squat walked a turd/diarrhea 12 ft in a line into the pool then demanded we clean up their child’s poo.Then THEY were upset that we had to close the pool!Also had a creepy old man come up to me asking me to bring rubber duckies to his room for his bath every night in a 5 star hotel and I’d always just kinda nervously laugh?I’m living in far North Queensland in Australia where there are lots of creatures. They get in sometimes, no matter how nice the hotel is- it’s the rainforest.We had a guest from NZ come screaming at us about a “lizard infestation” because she had found a 1 inch gecko in her room. She said her kids were afraid (they were not) and it was unsanitary and unsafe. We removed the lizard and she demanded an entire new room. Then she left a very nasty review because one of us cracked a smile at the term “lizard infestation”.God I have so many weird stories I can’t even remember half of them.
It’s mostly just people lying about having service animals, constantly. And then when you ask them the two questions you’re legally allowed to ask them about their “service animals”, they get super defensive, couldn’t/wouldn’t answer the questions/yell at me “you can’t legally ask me that!!!!!”/make a scene and then lie to management, who watch the security tapes and see they’re full of s**t.People who exploit rules and laws made to help the lives of the disabled are some of the shittiest humans.
I used to work as a night receptionist at a hotel in Jalandhar, India a few years ago. Most nights were uneventful, but one guest will forever be burned into my memory.It was around 2 a.m. when a man came stumbling to the front desk, looking panicked. He whispered, ‘There’s someone in my room!’ Naturally, I was alarmed. I immediately checked the system to ensure he hadn’t been double-booked, but everything looked fine.I offered to check the room with him. As we entered, I turned on the lights, and there it was—the “intruder.” It was a life-sized cutout of a Bollywood actor that we had placed in the hallway for a promotion earlier that day. For some reason, he had brought it into his room, propped it in a corner, and forgotten about it.I tried to keep a straight face as he muttered something about being ‘too tired’ and shuffled back to bed. The next morning, he checked out like nothing had happened. But I’ll never forget having to ‘rescue’ someone from their own cardboard celebrity at 2 a.m.
Had a woman throwing raw steaks at the housekeepers in the name of Jesus.
There was this one guest who demanded a room upgrade because “their aura didn’t vibe” with the one they booked. When told no, they started yelling, cursed the staff, and threatened to leave a bad review—only to call back later asking for a discount because they forgot their wallet.
A man was checking into a room that was under his wife’s name. She did not add his name to the room so I could not let him in. I had to call the wife to get permission.We do this for guest safety.I couldn’t get ahold of her and he was livid.1. He didn’t want to show me his ID.DONT YOU KNOW WHO I AM I HAVE BEEN STAYING HERE FOR 14 YEARS.The hotel was 4 years old, I was very new at the job as well, like 3 months.2.Once I did have his ID he was threatening me and my job saying I would regret the day I did this to him. His wife was gonna kill me.Eventually got ahold of wife. She gave approval, she was so sweet. I smiled and gave him the room key. He told me to go f**k myself.This whole thing was like 30 minutes.
One night a sketchy dude came in with a really long coat. He looked like trouble and like he hadn’t slept for weeks. He paid cash, which even 02 years ago was usually a bad sign. I gave him his key and he went to his room. About 5 minutes later he came back in a huff, yelling. He had a long object inside his coat with his hand on it, he didn’t threaten me but I was on edge. He threw the key over the desk and told me that it didn’t work. I looked and let him know that wasn’t the key that I gave him, so of course it didn’t work. He found the right key and stormed off.About two hours later the police arrive and one is holding one of those parabolic listening devices. They asked if I’d checked the dude in and what room he was in. He was wanted for armed robbery with a shotgun. I gave them the info and they went and staked out the room and arrested him when he came out. It is pretty scary thinking back on it, I’m sure the long object under his coat was the shotgun.
Probably the one who pooped into the ice machine.Or the one who mugged a blind woman and stole her cane.Or the one who turned on the fire hose and flooded their floor. Oh, wait, that was the same guy who shat into the ice machine.Or the one who slapped me because an ice storm hit, the phones were down, and I had to knock on doors if they had scheduled wakeup calls.
I have too many but will start with one.I was working in a party hostel in Prague and it was just after lockdown so there were barely any guests. Anyways, the owners opted to allow a family of Syrian refugees ( a father and two teenage sons) to stay for free through an NGO.Anyways, they are in a dorm room and opposite them is the bathroom. My duty at night is to check the bathrooms and I find the toilet opposite them completely covered in st. I concluded that someone must have stood on the seat and then squatted. Since this family were the only ones next to it, I figured it had to be them. Worse, they were staying for three more nights.So, I tried to explain the next day but they spoke little English, resulting in me using my skills in mime to try to get my message across. I guess it worked as there was no st seats after. The family were not horrible but it was a horrible experience.
Helped take care of Lil Wayne. 4 diamond hotel. Leed platinum certified.He was a piece of st. Along with all his staff and personal chef. They destroyed the entire top floor of the hotel.He did pay for it to get fixed…but still. Deuche-nozzle and treated everyone like cp. 0 tips. .
Had a guest who clogged the toilet, blamed us for ‘faulty plumbing,’ and then left a handwritten complaint on the bathroom mirror in lipstick. 10/10.
I had a guest who came and complained that his window wasn’t closing properly. I offered him a different room, he refused and demanded I come up to fix it. He kicked up a huge fuss until I finally called my duty manager (another woman). He wouldn’t settle down until we went up to the room to take a look. He insisted on walking behind us. When we got to the room we insisted he go in first. He had thrown the table in his room down so it blocked the walkway past the door, and we both refused to enter the room as he clearly wanted us to do while he showed us how the window wouldn’t close. My duty manager stepped in and shut the window properly.We retreated to the office and he came down again shortly after, claiming there was another issue and he needed us to come up again. When we refused he said we were racist for not helping him! After my duty manager shut him down, we didn’t see him again for the duration of his stay. He definitely wanted to get us alone in that room. Still creeped out just thinking about it. I’m not sure if he was just a predator or if he was on d***s, but his behavior was definitely erratic.
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I used to work the night audit shift as I was a night manager, and we had this one guy who became a serious issue. He would periodically come in, but if it was early, like 2 am, stroll in. If he saw that, there were 2 females he’d claim the shower wasn’t working properly. When you went up, he would start to undress when you had your back to him. Our management was absolutely shite and wouldn’t care, so we made it an unofficial rule that if we worked alone or it was myself and the other female we would just tell him that our staff policy changed and was now that 2 people had to come up to the room. After that, he just stopped coming less and less.I’m not sure what happened to him as I was one of the 10 people that management fired because we knew what was going on at the hotel….. the main manager was sleeping with the maintenance man while she was still married… and he was sleeping with her daughter, who may or may not have worked there. That was a blessing in disguise, though I met some cool people that I still talk to today, and that was over 10 years ago.
There was a man from England staying at our hotel who had bipolar disorder. At first, he seemed like a decent guy—friendly enough, though a bit unpredictable. However, things started to take a strange turn.One day, he began bringing homeless people into the hotel, partying with them in his room. He even showed up with a hickey after one of these wild nights. It was clear his behavior was spiraling out of control.The situation escalated when, during her morning run near the hotel, an unsuspecting woman became his target. Out of nowhere, he ran after her and punched her for no apparent reason. The poor woman ended up with a terrible black eye and, understandably, called the police. They arrived quickly and arrested him on the spot.As it turns out, the man came from a wealthy family. His father compensated the woman generously for her pain and distress, and as a result, his son was released shortly after the incident.When he was in one of his “bad phases,” his behavior was even more intolerable. He was rude to everyone, especially the waitstaff and receptionists, making their jobs a nightmare.
Either the regular in room 222 who always, always ALWAYS wet his bed, or the couple in 250 that were staying with us after their house had burned down who would inspect their towels each night and any tiny spot would come exchange them with the front desk, then inspect *those.*This was a little “no tell motel” that sold rooms for 25 a night in 1990. Mainly catered to construction workers, cheap business travelers, and people who balked at an ID with their credit card because they weren’t using their real name.
I wasn’t Front Desk, but their best stories were heard around the hotel.This couple and their dog checked in to the hotel. I’m going to give them the names of Sam and Pat. They get into a fight, and Sam storms out, leaving Pat and doggo. Pat stays the night, but to punish Sam, leaves the doggo at the hotel in one of the staff service areas, where it is found.No one knows who the doggo belongs to, end of day comes, member of the HR team brings the doggo home, as it can’t be left wandering the hotel, obviously.Next day, Pat wants to reconcile with Sam, but Sam is still upset about doggo being left behind and won’t talk until Pat retrieves it. So Pat comes to the hotel, where staff explain a team member took the doggo home for safety and will go get it. Pat has a total breakdown and decides they will cause a scene until doggo is returned. They strip completely naked and climb onto the front desk and sit there, screaming for the doggo. Police are obviously called.Police show up and chase Pat, who is apparently so slippery that staff are wondering if they’d covered themselves in grease pre-encounter (they had not, for the record). Cops eventually catch Pat and take them away.I don’t know what happened after that, but doggo was returned to Sam and Pat eventually.
Had a guest who pooped in the shower and left a “thank you” note on the wall. Classy.
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Some guy was hauling off on my GM (who was a really decent person) and I was doing houseman stuff. It just kept escalating and I finally said “Kevin, I’m gonna take out this trash.” The guest looked at me like I just challenged him to a fight until I went around the corner with my bin full of garbage.
Had a guest one time that was problematic from check-in. First, he had a huge problem I had no clue who he was, saying he “was here all the time” even though I worked most days of the week and had never seen him before. Once I finally got his name and started checking him in, he asked how much the room costed, I told him the price and he immediately started complaining that it was too expensive even through he had booked the room online himself AND PAID. Not much I can do but keep checking him in and offer a free drink from the bar which he very quickly took. Later in the evening he came in with what we assumed to be a prostitute and drank heavily at the bar, then stumbled back to his room to do the deed with his lady friend. At some point in the night I received a phone call that I NEEDED to come back to the hotel because apparently he had “fallen asleep” in the shower and laid over the shower drain flooding not only his room, but the next two floors under him. He then blamed us for having s****y shower drains and refused to pay the damages. Now I remember his name…
I’m that guestA couple months ago, I was staying in Minneapolis for a conference. One night, while I was sleeping, I had a bloody nose. When I woke up, it looked like a massacre. There was blood smeared everywhere on the white sheets, white comforter, and white pillows. I cleaned it up as best as I could and left a $100 bill out for the cleaning staff, hoping they would skip my room that day. When I got back that night, the room was completely blood free, but the cleaning staff were so good, they didn’t even touch the tip I left them. On the little hotel writing pad, I wrote a note saying sorry for the mess and, to make it up to them, here is some money. The next day, I get back and the money and note are untouched. By this time, I’m starting to get frustrated and this pattern continues for the rest of the trip. I even added to the pot, but the cleaning staff were professional to a fault. When I checked out, I put the cash in an envelope, with the note and handed it to the front desk person to hand to the cleaners. I just hope they got the money and don’t have me pegged as a problem guest who bleeds all over the bedding.
I’ve been in hospitality for over 12 years. I’ve been a GM for 6+ years. I have seen so many things. Most recently, maybe 8 months or so ago, I checked a guest in. He seemed perfectly normal. Asked me some basic questions, including about our guest laundry. I ameer his questions, give him his keys and tell him how to get to his room. 30 minutes later, I have police at the desk. Apparently the guest I checked in had crossed state lines and checked into my property after shooting his wife 3 times in the head.
It’s always about poop. I’m in maintenance but I work closely with front desk. A guest had laid some tissues down at the front desk and left them. The fd girl didn’t notice them for a while and when she finally did, she noticed a certain stench. Thought ok maybe it was their dog. She threw them away and wiped herself down with Clorox because ew. She was ranting to me about it when I had to go to the bathroom… and discovered s****y paper towels in the trash… and a toilet seat covered in st. It was even on the stall walls. How?!My boss told a story of a wedding reception and how a lady had gotten ps drunk and shat herself, leaving a trail from the meeting room all the way to the elevator and the carpet in the halls.It’s always poop 😭.
The couple on the 9th floor room in full view of the 10th floor restaurant in the neighboring tower late evening, dark, with all their lights on, having romping sex with their curtains wide open. Restaurant manager called me at the front desk to figure out which room it was and to alert them they had an audience. Oh they knew and just thanked me for calling and carried on. Hotel manager had to go up and have a chat with them and point out there were children in the restaurant too.Then there was the fellow who jumped from one of the towers one night and we didn’t know until someone came in to say there was a body outside. Just horrible.Lots of hookers with damp cash who wanted change but no way was I touching those bills. Then they’d act like I was the problem.Drunken guests making everone miserable. Other guests soliciting the bellman or room service guys for sex..much more common than with with female staff.Worse was the old ex military hotel security duo who used any excuse to beat up homeless guys just trying to stay warm in the stairwells.Not really answering your question as overall, there was lots of entitled trash and poor souls who came through the doors.
A guest who refused to pay for the room after using it for a few days. They checked in under one name, then the credit card was flagged for fraud. When we confronted them about it they tried to play it off as an “honest mistake” and proceeded to leave without paying, claiming they were “too busy” to handle it right then. After series of phone calls it took a while to sort everything out but it was a mess.. it’s wild how entitled some people feel when they walk into a hotel.
It broke my heart because I was a fan, but Art Garfunkel was such a giant AH.
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Justinas Keturka
Greta Jaruševičiūtė
Social Issues
