Crazy Stories from Hotel Workers

[sbkhider]

I worked front desk at a hotel. I had a guest come to rent a room for what turns out his wedding night. His family had gotten him and his bride at another hotel that the family and bridal party was all staying at. He didn't want them invading their night since they made the reservation so they knew the room number. When he told me it was their wedding night he also said he wanted to do something special for his bride but had no idea what to do. I suggested rose pedals (silk not real) on the floor and bed, a bouquet of flowers and snacks including beverages. He thought it was a great idea but needed help. I asked if he could get all the items and bring them back to the hotel and I would be honored to help. He got everything, brought it back to the hotel and had to leave for the church. I decorated the room and the next morning he and his bride couldn't stop thanking me for a wonderful wedding night. His friends and or family members tried calling them but of course we could not confirm or deny if they were staying at our hotel. That is why he didn't want to stay at the other place. Peace and quiet!

[tracyweekley]

I was in Chick-fil-A grabbing lunch with my son a few months ago. He was playing around on the serpentine bars, and I told him to stay off of them. As I was placing our order, he tried it again. An employee caught him and spoke to him. I turned around and gave him the "Mom" look as he got down. The employee apologized for speaking to my son, but I quickly shut that down and thanked her. I addressed my son to remind him that it was her job to protect the customers. I wasn't the least bit offended. ❤

[spragit]

27 year hospitality veteran here, who’s corporate hotel job was eliminated due to Covid. These stories are so true! Jess doesn’t lie. A lot of college grads think that they can start out as General Managers, but with hospitality you start at the bottom and WORK your way to the top! Having a degree gives you some of the knowledge, and will help AFTER you truly work the business.

[queenbee]

Jessica has the most calming and beautiful voice I've ever heard. She sounds and looks like a Disney princess personified.

[jacig]

I'm a housekeeper in a hospital and I really think you should do an episode about service workers. Believe me, they will have some stories to tell. Love all your content.😁❤️👍

[sarahheck]

I was an assistant general manager at a quick serve food establishment and we had a group of 15 year olds who could only work on the register. Whenever we had a person start yelling at one of them I would physically step in front of them and say "excuse me. I am the manager. If you want to yell, you can yell at me but I am not going to allow you to yell at my teenagers. Thank you." 9 times out of 10 that was enough to point out how horrible they were acting and they stopped yelling. A couple of the teens asked why I did that and I always said "This is your first job. I want you to not HATE working."

[DanielleBaum]

yay it's Jessica! she's my favorite!!!

[bjm]

I went to Disney World in 2019, a couple nights in we saw 1 bug, we called up the front desk and told them the situation, they sent someone to take a look, the hotel we were at was full so they couldn’t just send us to another room, so we were like it’s 1 bug we’ll stay here, bugs happen, they gave us some fast passes for the following day, the next day we saw more, and we all were like it’s obviously a situation you need to look into so we need a new room, so we had to go to a different hotel and they gave us more fast passes and a nice gift card balance, it definitely pays to keep your cool in these situations

[RynKimVay]

One of my favorite complaints I ever got was an old man screaming in my face, and my store manager's, about how I was horrible for wearing my political affiliation on my lapel and that people should keep their politics to themselves. The pin? It was a Loki pin 🤣 So the running joke at my grocery job was that my political affiliation was the Loki Party

[NivaraTinuviel]

The point about the “paradox of hospitality” i think she called it is so true.
Theres this one little “vintage” (read: old and kindof run down, but incredibly charming) hotel property that offers single room cabins by the beach that my partner and i like to stay at on special occasions.
The first time we stayed there was in November for my birthday. We booked specifically because it had a huge jetted tub, and i with my chronic back pain was SO EXCITED. Well we get there, and there was no stopper for the tub.
We called the front desk, and the sweetest lady answered, and not 20min later, she showed up at our door with three different sized stoppers to make sure we had one that fit properly.
We booked a two night stay for new years before we even checked out, and they called us asking if we’d like to stay in the same cabin.

Something as small as being kind about bringing a tub stopper has seen us back at that property 5 times already and we’re considering staying there for our honeymoon too.

[AmandaGeyerSnobahr]

When I was working retail, I got a Complaint, for my behavior. My manager came to me and said, "We got a complaint about you for doing [thing]. I know you wouldn't do [thing]." To which I looked at my manager and grinned, "Well, no. Not while I was on the clock, of course not." My manager grinned back, knowing how correct that statement was. We did not have a 'uniform, ' but we did have nametags. My tag went straight into my purse the moment I clocked out.
... that "thing" was "ignoring the customer while having my nose in a book, at the burger joint across the street on my lunch break."

[crichards]

Regarding the conversation around the 18-20min mark, I remember having a long-term guest (for about 2 months before she got kicked out) in the hotel I worked at because her house burned down early Christmas morning. We were all so sympathetic for her circumstance until she started getting drunk and picking physical fights with our bartenders and other guests every night, coming to the desk demanding things all day and night, etc. Then we found out the reason her house burned down was because she got blackout drunk on Christmas eve (with her 2 teenage kids asleep in the house), put a bunch of wood in the fireplace and passed out with the fire raging like a bonfire. Her teenage son was the one that woke up from the smoke, called 911 and got everyone out. She (and her 2 kids who were wonderful) stayed with us, "fully funded" by her homeowners insurance, for about 2 months. After the 3rd time we had to call the cops on her, her insurance dropped her and they were all forced to leave. I don't really care about her, but I do hope her kids are doing well...

[rmetal]

Because of Jessica's videos, I learned to emphatize with the frontdesk more and not let my temper get the better of me.

Last Christmas was a huge test. The hotel where we booked (a large, popular chain) was so full of guests trying to check in and the staff was overwhelmed. We had to wait 2 hours passed the check-in time but I simply told the staff who assisted us not to worry and calm herself. She was so grateful for the concern that she gave me some Christmas goodies. That was unexpected but very much appreciated.

Btw, the hotel also served delicious cookies and drinks to appease the waiting guests. I think that was good customer service.

[heathermurphy]

I fell into the hotel business by accident and ended up loving it. I worked my way up to general manager with nothing more than a high school diploma. It’s definitely an accessible career but it’s definitely something you either love or hate 😂

[christianavance]

During the pandemic when a lot of people were losing their jobs, I got my 1st job in years after an auto-immune issue. I started working at a women's shelter, that was also restricted on ability to let people stay on site. On the other hand our city took unsheltered people in town that tested positive and put them in hotels under isolation to allow them an opportunity to survive. That also kept staff at several local hotels employed and they had safety standards that also kept them safe.

[crichards]

I once had a guest on a fully-booked weekend call down at 1am asking for a "real blanket". I asked if he meant one of our heavy wool blankets or another comforter. Neither would suffice. Dude legit expected me to leave the hotel unattended during night audit to drive about 30 min away to a 24-hr Walmart to buy him a "real blanket". Umm sorry, no. I still to this day apparently have no idea what a "real blanket" is. 😂

[chelseaalsdorf]

I stayed in a hotel summer of 2021 for a delayed honeymoon in LA (hubby and I got married fall of 2020 in the middle of shutdown). The poor girl at the front desk was brand new and didn’t know how the system worked, she ended up setting up my credit card to be charged the hold for the room a good six times. She fixed the issue and felt so bad that she gave us some coupons for the hotel bar. She was so nice and made the stay so welcoming that anytime I had to go back to LA for work I stayed at that specific hotel.

[shelagh]

I'm a substitute teacher, but I've just been hired for front desk at a Princess Lodge in Alaska for the summer. I love Jessica's videos and will use them as inspiration.

[EdwardBrowne-smli]

As a college student in Louisiana, years ago, I worked as a night auditor in several chain hotels in the New Orleans area. I had a major incident regarding guests staying in the hotels where I worked that were totally off the chain! In one incident, the police came to the hotel front desk, , at 2AM asking for guest 'Bill Noname' and which room he was in. The officer produced an arrest warrant, at which time, I gave him the info he requested. The guest was in a 1st floor room at the end of a long hall, the very last outside parking lot facing room.

The officer signaled to other officers outside, who immediately went to the parking lot just outside of the room's window and waited, guns drawn. The two officers at the front desk drew guns and proceeded down the hall, stopping on either side of the room's entry door. When the officer knocked, the door "exploded" from a shotgun blast from inside, then went silent as the officers outside the window took the suspect down. The guy was taken to hospital for wounds received, then arrested. The guy was an escaped convicted murderer!
I spent the rest of the night talking to the hotel manager and legal team discussing what happened. Fortunately, no other guests, or officers were injured. And no one was in the adjacent rooms when all this went down.
Seriously scary stuff for a 19y/o at the time. 😎

[Addylillis]

I worked in one of many restaurants in a huge retirement community and I remember hearing of covid, my college had a small break to make a switch online and everything happened so fast. The commute was quiet, all the restaurants had to go to delivery. I just remember how quickly it happened.
I had this one manger decline my request off for my high school graduation and when I told another manger..he gave me to okay, and he wasn’t happy because he knew(this was in 2018) that I was graduating from high school. I asked off two weeks in advance and this manger she said in the notes, “you will need to find a cover if not you are still working” I told this to the other manger and he gave me the go ahead to have the day/night off for graduation. He wasn’t pleased with the other manger. He is really a big advocate for education.