I work in a hotel. Recently, our management changed, and the old manager had a lot of these “regulars” who would never have to pre-authorize their credit cards and would just pay for the rooms at checkout. Our new general manager is pretty stern about always taking pre-authorization no matter who the guest is, which is pretty fair.

A lady comes in claiming to be a regular. She tells us she used to work with the previous manager, and she is being nice, so we also check her in politely while making some small talk.

Me: “Can I please see your credit card and ID for pre-authorization?”

Her entire expression changes and turns into a scowl.

Guest: “You’ve never done that before!”

Me: *Politely* “It’s a standard process, so I need to do it.”

She quickly hands me her ID and credit card. I put in the pre-authorization amount.

Me: “Can you put in your PIN, please?”

Guest: “I don’t remember my PIN; I never use it.”

I offer to manually put in the credit card details to process the pre-authorization for her, and she agrees and lets me do it for her while standing right there the entire time.

We then finish the check-in and I hand her the form to put in her car details. She doesn’t remember them, so she goes outside to put that in and comes back. We hand her the keys and it’s all good until the next day. We receive a call from the guest’s daughter yelling at us for noting down her credit card PIN in our “notebook”.

This confuses the h*** out of me because I vividly remember what happened.

Me: “Ma’am, your mom didn’t even know her PIN, so there was no way for us to note it down if she didn’t have it in the first place. I manually entered the details into the credit card machine, and your mom was there the entire time, so there was no way for me to write in any notebook so that isn’t true.”

Daughter: “This is ridiculous! You’re just trying to scam my mother!”

This incident happened a month ago. Yesterday, the guest left a review on our website stating that we noted down her PIN — which she didn’t even know — and scammed her! Oh, well. I guess we are magicians because we can put in her PIN even though she herself didn’t know what it was.

I work in a hotel. Around 7:00 pm, a guest was checked into a room, and she didn’t like the room because the carpet was “sticky”. My coworker moved the guest into another room.

I come on shift at 11:00 pm. My coworker explains the situation to me.

Coworker #1: “[Room] was checked for the ‘sticky’ carpet, but housekeeping and management didn’t find anything wrong, so they made sure the room was put back to vacant ready, but just to be sure, they put in that it’s out of order but could be used if needed, and we can reduce the rate for that room.”

It’s about 12:30 am when a couple comes in. They’re super nice and not from the area. They’re really understanding that I am sold out.

Me: “I can offer you [room]. It’s going to be a reduced rate, but… the carpet may have some stains from a previous guest.”

Couple: “We don’t care. We just don’t want to drive anymore.”

I take the room back from out of order status and check them in.

After that, the night is quiet, and I’m enjoying the night with some anime on my iPad after completing all the tasks and restocking for the marketplace. Then, at 6:50 am, ten minutes before the end of my shift, the former guest of [room] comes down to my desk.

Guest: “I can’t find my keys; I left them in my first room.”

Me: “The room has already been cleaned and sold to someone else, so your keys would be in the housekeeping department if they were found. Housekeeping doesn’t come in until 9:00 am.”

Guest: “Go to the office and look for them, then.”

Me: “I can’t; I’m the only one on the property currently.”

Guest: “What?! This must be a terribly run hotel if only one person is here working!”

My property is only 288 rooms, not a big fancy five-star resort. We have security, but they went home at 6:00 am. She’s giving me that entitled vibe, asking me to leave the front desk to go find her keys.

Me: “I cannot leave the front desk until my coworker arrives.”

Her husband has now come down and is on the phone with corporate saying I won’t cooperate with them. And not three minutes later, corporate calls asking why I’m not helping the guest out. And of course, corporate, only hearing the one side, is giving me grief.

I tell the woman from corporate what’s going on and she then hangs up on me, leading me to believe that either corporate had better things to do or this wasn’t corporate at all but a family member pretending to be so I would be scared. (You can’t scare someone who is following protocol and has awesome bosses.)

My coworker comes in and the guest darts for him.

Guest: “Oh, look! Another employee! Your coworker here isn’t helping me look for my keys!

My coworker who just got on has that “Oh, man, I just clocked in” look, and I feel for him. He’s a supervisor and I’m the manager on duty, so technically, I still have the higher authority. I ask him to mind the front desk while I go to housekeeping to look in the lost and found. Short story long… no keys.

Me: *To the guest* “Sorry, I didn’t find any keys.”

Guest: “Fine. Then call the room and see if we can go up there and look for the keys.”

Me: “No.”

Guest: “Fine! Then I’ll call the room!”

And I snap!

Me: “Ma’am, if you call that room at all, you will be removed from the property. I will not hesitate to evict you and call the police if you do not comply. Now you will wait until that guest checks out and we will inspect the room after they have and we will see if your keys are there!”

She and her husband had nothing left to stand on after that. They left me with a “we’ll get you fired” face and went to breakfast. I later called the general manager and informed him of the situation, and he said, “Yeah, we’re not bothering another guest because of someone else’s stupidity.”

I returned the next night for my shift and found out that the keys were not in the room. My supervisor asked the couple in the room if their phone rang anytime in the morning, and it did not.

I work on weekends at a popular hotel chain doing night audit and security. I arrive at 10:00 pm and notice that there are lots of cars in the front and side parking areas. We have four spaces dedicated to a shuttle service; one is currently in use by the company while the other three are occupied by, I’m assuming, hotel guests. It’s still early and our restaurant and lounge are still open, so I give them time to move.

At 1:00 am, I notice that one car is still parked there and notify my front desk coworker that we may have to tow. He says to give them until around 2:00 am. I do a patrol at 3:30 am and notice that the car is still there, so I inform the front desk worker and call the tow. At 4:45 am, the front desk worker informs me that the guy whose car was towed is at the front.

Needless to say, he’s highly upset.

Guest: “You towed my car?! I park there all the time and I’ve never gotten towed! I have permission from [Assistant General Manager] to park there!”

Me: “[Assistant General Manager] is the one who conscripted me to tow any vehicles parked there with no exceptions.”

He has no reply to that.

Guest: “There’s no sign saying I can’t park there. Go outside and check!”

Me: “I know what the sign says. It says it’s shuttle parking only and others will be towed. Since those spaces don’t belong to us, if our guests park there, we will be fined.”

But he doesn’t care about our plight.

Guest: “But I’m a [Rewards Program] member! I park there all the time and I’ve never been towed! There’s no parking in the front, and I’m scared to park in the back; I don’t want to get mugged!”

Me: “Sir, all the the employees, including me, park in the rear. Actually, during the day, it’s probably the safest place since employees are often taking smoke breaks there.”

He has no reply to that, either; instead, he continues to complain.

Guest: “There are no shuttles even parked there. I’ve been coming here for months and never seen a shuttle parked there.”

Me: “There’s a shuttle parked right next to where your car was.”

I withheld the urge to state that since he parks there all of the time, he must be well acquainted with the sign since you literally cannot miss it as each individual space has the sign.

After continuing to yell at me and cut me off mid-explanation, he had the nerve to ask me for a ride to pick up his car. I was so flabbergasted that I let out a chuckle, informing him that I couldn’t even leave the property.

After spending a night in a hotel while traveling, I get up at about 8:00 am to check out and get back on the road. My room is on the second floor, with a window overlooking the main entrance of the hotel. I shower, dress, pack my bag, and open the curtain to check the weather… and see several police cars and an ambulance clustered around the main entrance, all with lights flashing. Check-out time isn’t until 11:00 am, so I sit back down on the bed and get my computer out, planning to wait a while to see if all the commotion dies down so I can check out without having to walk through the middle of everything.

After ten minutes, the room starts feeling a bit stuffy, so I go to open the window and let in some fresh air. The ambulance and police cars are still there, and now there’s a family gathered around, some of whom look like they might be crying. Not wanting to invade anyone’s privacy, I start to close my window, but then I overhear a seemingly random hotel guest approaching the family.

Random Guest: “Hey, I saw the flashing lights. What happened?”

Family Member: *Looking annoyed* “We don’t know yet.”

Random Guest: “Was it a heart attack or something? Or did someone fall and hit their head?”

Family Member: *Still annoyed and getting angry* “We don’t know. Please leave us alone.”

Random Guest: “I’m just asking. With all these cops and everything, I get curious about what’s going on.”

Family Member: *Now just plain angry* “Please leave us alone.”

Random Guest: “Hey, man, I’m just trying to check out. My car is over there, so what am I supposed to do? Just ignore all the flashing lights and everything?”

One of the police officers finally realized what was going on and pulled the random guest away from the family. I closed my window, so I don’t know what happened after that. The ambulance left twenty minutes later, and I was able to check out.

I obviously don’t know why the ambulance was there because it wasn’t my business, but I hope everything turned out okay. To the random guest… you need to go back to kindergarten and learn about social boundaries.

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains content of a legal nature. It is not intended as legal advice.

I checked a lady into our hotel who said she had a service animal. Okay, cool. No issues until today when the lady called me today.

Guest: “I don’t want housekeeping in my room at all during the week because of my dog. My husband and I are going to be at work.”

Me: “To clarify, the dog will be left unattended?”

Guest: “Yes.”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but if it’s a service dog, it does need to be with you at all times. You can’t leave it unattended. It has to be under your control. That is the law.”

Guest: “It is a registered service animal.”

Me: “Again, it is in the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the law that makes provisions for service animals, that the dog has to be under your control. You cannot leave it unattended in the room.”

Guest: “My husband works next door; he can come and check on it.”

Me: “That’s not really the issue, ma’am. If it’s not an animal that you need with you at all times, it’s not considered a service animal, and you will have to pay the pet fee.”

Guest: “He’s registered as a service animal with the government!”

Fun fact: registering your service animal is entirely voluntary and there is no need for it because you need no documentation for a real service animal. There are a lot of predatory companies with .org at the end of their web address who want you to believe otherwise.

Me: “Ma’am, if you’re going to leave your dog unattended, you’re going to have to pay the pet fee.”

Guest: “Fine, I’ll pay it, but I want it back!”

Me: “No, it’s a fee, not a deposit.”

So, she said she’d come talk to me in person, and I pulled up the Frequently Asked Questions About Service Animals page on the ADA website, printed out the sheet with the relevant information, and highlighted it while I waited for her.

She came and tried to argue with me.

Me: “No, the law specifically says you cannot leave a service animal unattended in a hotel room.”

I held up the paper for her.

Guest: “No, not everyone needs their service animal all the time.”

Me: “Then it’s not covered by the ADA.”

She held up a service dog registration card.

Guest: “I have his ID right here.”

Me: “And I have the law right here. You can’t leave a service dog unattended in a hotel room. If you want to leave him in the room, that’s fine, but you will have to pay the pet fee.”

Guest: “I don’t know where you got that, but I know the law! I work at [medical job]!”

Me: “I know the law also. I got this from the federal government’s website. I’d be happy to print out the entire FAQ for you so you can read it in full for yourself.”

Guest: “I was told that he could be left unattended in any housing I live in.”

Me: “I can’t speak for other housing, but this is a hotel, and he cannot be left unattended in your room. So, if you are going to leave him unattended, you will have to pay the pet fee.”

We argued a bit more. She said she wasn’t trying to argue, I pointed out that she is arguing, and ultimately, she decided she would pay the fee today and talk to the general manager tomorrow. She went back to her room to get her bank card, and I used the opportunity to call my boss to make sure he and I were on the same page. We agreed that she needed to pay the pet fee and that being misinformed didn’t mean she didn’t have to follow the rules.

She came back with her bank card, and I made her sign specifically that she was agreeing to the pet fee charge. She seemed confident that she could convince my boss to give her the money back. I assume this is because she has not met my boss, who called a woman a peasant lettuce farmer last week when she was mad that he opened her door forty-five minutes after checkout time. (In his defense, he knocked, and she didn’t answer; he didn’t realize she was still in the room when he opened the door. She came to the desk screaming at him and he responded in kind.)

I told her that I’d already spoken to my boss and that he agreed with me, but she was welcome to talk to him tomorrow, as well. We’ll see how that goes, but I can almost guarantee it won’t be the way she wants it to.