I am working nights at a [Motel Chain] in college. A guy walks in absolutely falling-down drunk. Getting to my desk takes two faceplants and a sideways stagger.

He claims that he left his key card at the bar and wants me to let him into a room. I check the registration, but his name isn’t on the room.

Me: “I don’t have your name with that room number. I can’t let you in.”

Guy: *Slurring* “I know the hotel’s owner and I’ll have you fired.”

Me: “It’s a corporate-owned chain, sir. There is no ‘owner.’ So, no. I’m still not letting you in.”

Guy: *Screaming* “LET ME INTO MY F****** ROOM!”

I am now very much over the idea of bothering to use long sentences and logic.

Me: “No.”

Guy: “NOW!”

Me: “No.”

We go back and forth for a few minutes, but I don’t budge, so he wanders off. He comes back half an hour later and slams a card down on the counter.

GUY: “HERE’S MY F****** CARD! LET INTO MY F****** ROOM, YOU F****** A**HOLE!”

I slowly slide the card back to him.

Me: “This card is for [Completely Different Chain]. Your hotel is two blocks south of here.”

He stared at me for a long time, and then the lightbulb flickered dimly behind his eyes. He managed to grab his card and lurched off into the night. No apology was given.

For a few months, I worked the 3:00 pm to 11:00 pm shift at a hotel, and I met some interesting people.

It’s a fairly busy night. We still have some rooms left to sell, but my manager has told us to not take any walk-in reservations. A guest comes up to the desk.

Guest: “Excuse me. Do you have any rooms available?”

Me: “We do not, ma’am, but there are several other hotels in the area that may have availability because we are in the middle of downtown.”

She gets annoyed and walks away.

Ten minutes later, I am finishing up a phone call with a guest who is having issues with Wi-Fi, and the same lady walks up.

Guest: “Do you have any rooms available tonight?“

Me: “Ma’am, as I have mentioned we do not.”

Guest: “Well, who were you on the phone with, then?!”

Me: “It was a guest staying here with us, ma’am. As I have mentioned, we are in the middle of downtown, so there are other rooms available at other hotels.”

She storms off but comes back fifteen minutes later after I have just finished checking in a guest who had a prior reservation.

Guest: “Do you have any rooms available?!”

Me: “No, ma’am, we do not.”

Guest: “Well, why were you checking in that other person?!”

Me: “She made a reserve—”

The guest walked away and didn’t come back.

Later on, I was telling one of my coworkers about it, and she said that the lady did the same thing to her, as well. I am so glad I work from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm now.

If you think this (potential) hotel guest was bad, check out 11 Of The Weirdest Hotel Guests Ever!

A man approaches the front desk.

Guest: “I would like to reserve a room for tonight.”

I run through the process, run his credit card, and take all the necessary details.

Me: “All right, sir, to get to your room, you can take the elevator, which is on your left.”

Guest: “Great. Is the hotel’s restaurant open?”

Me: “No, sir, it opens at 7:00 pm, but there are a couple of great restaurants nearby.”

Guest: “Sure, any restaurant will do; I’m starving!”

Me: “Okay, sir, the nearest one is two minutes away. When you get outside, take a right, then another right. After that, take the first left and then again, a left.”

Guest: “Great, thank you.”

Thirty minutes later, he comes back in with his bags, looking exhausted.

Me: “Welcome back, sir.”

Guest: “I did exactly as you told me: right, right, left, left. Yet I could not find my room number!”

Me: *Confused and shocked* “Excuse me, sir? You mean the restaurant?”

Guest: “What? No, the room!”

You can’t imagine how hard it was trying not to laugh at him while trying to explain what just happened. I mean, a hotel room outside the hotel, two blocks away? Really?

Related:
This Hotel Has Much Room For Improvement

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Our hotel is across the street from a famous park, and some of our rooms overlook this park. Not all of them do, of course, and not the least expensive. The lowest floor with a view is the fifth, as the lower floors have the lobby, restaurants, etc.

Guest: “I have a reservation for a ground-floor room with a view of the park.”

Me: “Let’s see here; it says you asked for a room on the ground floor, and we’ve assigned one. But be aware that there’s no view of the park, just the parking lot.”

Guest: “That’s completely unacceptable! I want a ground-floor room with a view of the park!”

Me: *Checking availability* “I do have a room with a view on the fifth floor available—”

Guest: “You’re not listening! I want a ground-floor room with a view!”

Me: “But we don’t have any.”

Guest: “Well…. go make one!”

At this point, I’m done, and I hand her off to a manager. It’s time for my lunch break, so I disappear for half an hour.

When I return, the mild-mannered manager is explaining her options to the guest in the most short-tempered terms I’ve ever heard him use.

Manager: “You have three options for where to sleep tonight. You can sleep in the ground-floor room you booked, you can sleep in a fifth-floor room with a view at the same price, or you can sleep somewhere else. Now, pick one quickly, because the first two options are about to disappear!”

At this point, I heard some filing calling from the back office and went to deal with the papers instead of sticking around to watch.

A guest approaches the desk near the beginning of my morning shift.

Guest: “I’m in room [number], and my room wasn’t cleaned yesterday. And I requested towels, and no one ever brought them up!”

I pull the reservation up and see that it was complimentary, and she is departing today. Current policy where I work states that unless a guest pushes for recovery (free stuff and credits), then I can’t offer it. There’s nothing I can really do about the problem other than what I am about to say to the guest.

Me: “I apologize for those problems, ma’am. I’ll make sure housekeeping is aware that this is an issue going forward.”

Guest: “Okay, but that’s not for me. Did you hear what I said? I said my room wasn’t cleaned and I didn’t get the towels I asked for!”

Me: “Yes, ma’am, I understand, and I’ll make sure housekeeping is aware—”

Guest: “Okay, but that doesn’t help me!”

Me: “What would you like me to do, ma’am?”

Guest: “Just forget it. Who is your manager?”

Me: “My manager’s name is [Manager]. She won’t be in until later.”

Guest: “Okay, I’ll call up here later.”

I’m really stressed by this interaction by this point and genuinely want to help — that’s why I’m in hospitality, after all — so I try one more time to try and get the guest to ask me for recovery directly.

Me: “Ma’am, if you would just tell me what you would like me to do for you—”

Guest: “Oh, just forget it! You’re useless!”

The guest stormed out, and I was left upset and frustrated, unable to help simply because I wasn’t asked directly. She’ll probably complain to my manager that I didn’t offer her anything for her inconvenience. Yaaaaay.