Employees At Fancy Hotels Divulge Their Best Secrets
Reddit user akumamatata8080 asked: 'People who work at super fancy hotels, what kind of stuff happens that management doesn’t want people to know about?'
Most of us who have not worked in hospitality have dreamed of having a nice getaway for a weekend, or staying in a top-rated hotel, and relaxing in one of its best suites.
But those who have worked in hospitality are ready to point out some of the unexpected features and oddities that circulate around these fancier accommodations.
Redditor akumamatata8080 asked:
"People who work at super fancy hotels, what kind of stuff happens that management doesn't want people to know about?"
Cross-Contamination
"During housekeeping, hotels use different colored cloths to wipe your drinking glasses, cutlery, toilets, and sinks to avoid contamination. They just didn’t bother separating these cloths after wiping and moving to the next room."
- curry-sauce
The Secret Lives of Guests
"I did valet at an upscale hotel in Southern Florida, and the number of times I parked luxury vehicles with drugs haphazardly or precariously stowed in obvious places always blew me away."
"Not surprisingly, those guests were great tippers as they learned who to trust."
- lazerayfraser
Attention to Detail
"We take notes on your reservation profile. Everything from anniversary information to favorite cocktails and foods. We add notes to pass along to other staff."
- dez_navi
Four-Legged Stowaways
"$2k per night and this place has a serious rat problem."
- prof_dynamite
"Could be worse. My hotel has silly rats."
- snapwillow
What in the Mortuary
"It's pretty common to have a dead guest. There's a standard procedure for it and we take care of it quietly."
- Why_am_I_here033
Casino Funds
"I have a pretty interesting one. We know criminal enterprises have funded casinos in the past. I worked at Revel Casino (now Ocean) in Atlantic City before and after its opening."
"One thing they kept mentioning in our onboarding was that the triads were funding the casino. I thought it was super strange that these execs were just openly telling brand new hires."
- hornet_Critical
Like-New Beds
"I only work as a housekeeper at a regular four-star Hotel, but probably about 25% of people either bleed or leave s**t stains on the beds. It's truly atrocious how disgusting people are, especially when they know someone else is cleaning it up. Even the wealthier guests."
"And the best tippers are the cleanest people."
"If someone fully s**t on the bed and used towels to wipe, drank heavily and puked on the carpet in multiple places, and clogged the toilet, that person will not tip at all."
"But the person who barely used the full bed and didn't use the shower at all and was super clean and polite, now that's a good tipper."
- kpo987
Endless Supply of Gossip
"We turn a blind eye to drug dealers more often than you think. They hardly complain and usually pre-pay huge bonds happily. Also, we don't give a s**t if you're having an affair."
- NotTheGary_JustGary
Odd Celebrity Stories
"I worked cooking at an ultra-exclusive resort in Utah ($3k-$12k/night)."
"Nothing that exciting happened in my year there. I found a bottle in the tallboy (large fridge) labeled 'Kristen Belle's Breastmilk. DO NOT USE.'"
"I had put in my two weeks' notice and was really drunk on a day off, and made a post on Facebook about how Gordon Ramsay was coming and I hoped he wasn't filming 'Kitchen Nightmares' with us. I was fired within 24 hours, lol (laughing out loud). I did get to cook fish tacos for him and his family, though, and I heard he complimented the dinner kitchen crew directly (partially open kitchen), which is cool."
- OM3N1R
Poor Cruise Care
"A good friend of mine is a pilot. It's his first professional job. He flies an air ambulance. It's not typically picking up unstable patients in need of urgent care. More like repositioning stable patients."
"The vast majority of people he flies come from the cruise ship industry. If you get sick or injured on a cruise ship, they will dump you at the next port. It doesn't matter if the port doesn't have the kind of medical help you need. They just need you off the ship."
"It very well is up to you to arrange a private flight with medical crew to reposition you from Tobago to Tampa to get the medical help you really need."
- DoctFaustus
Collecting Stories
"We had an entire wing of the hotel infested with bedbugs. They just move through the walls from one room to the next. We waged a war of attrition that took years, and cost a lot of money, but we never stopped renting the rooms."
"We had one old guy though who was rich, divorced several times over, he just retired in the hotel. He had a room on the ground level right around the corner from the hotel bar. I don't know what he paid for it, but it wasn't cheap, and he furnished his own room."
"Everyone on staff knew his habits, knew his drink, knew when to leave him alone or when he wanted to chat. The funniest thing was, after he passed, he'd pre-booked his memorial at a totally different hotel. He liked his privacy, I guess. RIP, Hal."
- machuitzil
Bed Bug Horror Stories
"I worked cheap hotels and this is super common; even heat treating rooms professionally and quarantining nearby rooms they would always pop up somewhere weeks later through an air duct."
"When I check in to any motel or hotel, the first thing I do before bringing my bag in is lift the mattress and check the seams for bed bugs or blood spots. You can learn how from Youtube if you don't get first-hand experience."
"The crazy thing is if they spent a few thousand to bag every mattress they'd cut down on it significantly."
- galkasmash
Wild Stories
"I worked in room service at a very chic hotel in Miami. One guest requested that a specific waitress (not a room service worker) always deliver him food. Not exactly sure what went on in there, but he tipped her with a big bag of weed each time, which she would promptly bring back to share with the room service staff."
"I can confirm that the concierge will get you WHATEVER you want..."
"We had a local couple, who were staying with us to avoid being served for a lawsuit. We weren't allowed to say that they were staying there. The police eventually showed up for them."
"There were several times when guests would come to the front desk claiming the maids had stolen something from their room. They would be irate, demanding we call the police. Every. Single. Time. They found the item either in their luggage or car or their travel companions had moved/packed the item."
"One gentleman claimed that he forgot his very expensive camera in his room. My manager pulled up a video that showed him packing up his car, placing the camera on top of the car, and driving off without realizing it."
- SnarkyVamp
Questionable Christmas Bonus
"I used to work in accounts receivable for a couple of luxury hotels that were owned by the same LLC. We would open blocks of rooms for GENERIC SPORTS SEASON about eight months in advance."
"Due to high demand, these reservations had to be a two-day FRI, SAT stay. The payment was made in full (450-800 depending on room type). Refunds were available only if you canceled a month before the arrival date."
"When I first started in the position, I discovered $63,000 worth of reservations that had been canceled on time but were never refunded."
"I showed it to my manager, an absolutely incompetent woman who couldn't check in a guest if she needed to, she got back to me after discussing it with one of the owners."
"I can't remember how exactly she put it but I was told to just forget the matter and not to mention it to anyone. I got a $500 dollar cash Christmas bonus that year."
- Weirda**mustache
Secret Security
"Not a hotel employee, but associated with a popular convention that everyone would recognize."
"The convention attendees get so out of control that the hotel will only host the convention if they have a private security force."
"Since the private security isn't law enforcement or licensed, they do pretty much whatever it takes to keep trouble out of the public eye. Mostly it's locking people up in rooms or escorting them out of town, but they can get rough at times."
"But none of the convention attendees know they are there and the hotel staff pretends they don't see them. Even those who run afoul of them don't know exactly who it was that grabbed them."
- rusty0123
While everyone might think that staying at a fancy hotel would be great fun, it may not be such an enjoyable experience for those who work there. With all kinds of questionable behaviors performed by guests, not to mention the messes that need to be cleaned up, that fancy hotel may not feel so fancy for very long.
Things Management Of Five-Star Hotels Don't Want You To Know According To Employees
This might not surprise you much but you should never trust the glass in hotel rooms.
A relative of mine refuses to use glasses and would rather drink out of cups she brings with her. She said it was because hotel cleaning staff are so stretched for time that they will clean the glasses with the same rags they'd use to clean the bathrooms.
When she said that, it put me off using glasses put out in hotel rooms ever again.
But that's not the only horror story from the land of hotels, five star or otherwise.
People shared their stories with us after Redditor catstevenseagal asked the online community:
"People who work at 5-star hotels: what type of s**t goes on that management doesn’t want people to know?"
"Every single hotel..."
"Bedbugs. Every single hotel from run-down motels to 5-star resorts has dealt with bedbugs."
Soulilkeether
My worst nightmare. I dealt with them once and never, ever want to deal with them again.
"Our concierge..."
"Our concierge was Les Clefs D'or, had all the connections, this dude could get you into the French Laundry same day. He would often greet guests with sangria and sprigs of mint from his garden. Sometimes he had lemon slices from his tree too! He loved to tell guests all about his garden and they ate it up.
Yeah, that's all BS. Mint, lemon, and any other garnish we got from the local grocery store. The sangria? Cheapest boxed stuff we could find. But he sold the story like no other. At the end of the day, it worked."
Duwinayo
It's all about the image.
Guests at these fancy hotels might need to think twice about what they're paying for.
"Some were greeted..."
"We weren't allowed to greet celebrities by name since they wanted to be anonymous, so we would use their alias that day. Some were greeted by sex workers who were always super nice to everyone. A regular would rent out a room for a day, once a month, and make 30-40k that day from clients. Celebrities, business guys, you name it. Crazy."
Mubly
You've got to respect the hustle.
"I worked at one of the premier hotels at a ski resort in the country; top 10. Met celebrities, royalty, politicians, athletes."
"Hockey players are the nicest athletes by a wide margin. Royalty is great or more likely, awful. A-list celebrities want to be left alone or treated as just another person. Politicians are bigger aholes when they're with their families. Saw lots of sex, drugs, underage drinking, sex workers, the usual."
pdx4nhl
Duly noted. I will only hang out with hockey players from now on.
"In some places..."
"Dead people. In some places, there's a reasonable chance somebody has died in your bed. Obviously, it varies with the type of hotel and its clientele, but in some places you get deaths weekly (not that the hotel is unsafe but you have unfit old people over-exerting themselves). One place I worked maybe 40% of the beds had been died in."
KaneMomoa
I suppose this shouldn't come as a surprise. People die anywhere and everywhere all the time. Hotels are no different.
"What goes on..."
"What goes on in the room next to you. This week we had to evict and arrest a couple for causing over $15K in damages to a room. This was done quietly late at night and the nearby rooms never found out."
counterslave
When done correctly... no one will ever know.
These businesses have a reputation to uphold. They're not about to let something like that come out and make the news.
"NEVER EVER EVER..."
"NEVER EVER EVER (I REPEAT!!) USE A CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN FROM A HOTEL OR BANQUET HALL!!!"
UnusualForm3237
Okay, okay! I believe you! I'm not going to do it!
Nor would I...
"Middle eastern royalty..."
"Middle eastern royalty ships in multiple Ferraris and Lamborghinis to the hotel from their home country to drive for the week; caught drag racing later that night by the cops in the neighborhoods of Beverly Hills."
candybarkiller
Middle eastern royalty is truly a different specimen altogether.
"A lot of lonely people..."
"A lot of lonely people going on vacation to end their life. Happens a lot but is never mentioned on the news."
Cool-Lemon-662
In quite a few states, there is an actual law for this. They must check.
"Worked at the high end restaurant at a ski resort that hosts a famous film festival. Lots of sex in the walk in coolers, but never the people you'd want to walk in on."
[deleted]
Oh dear.
Not that you'd join... that would be quite unprofessional.
Ask any of the hotel staff to share some stories with you the next time you stay somewhere. What they tell you might surprise you... or disturb you.
Have stories of your own? Feel free to share them with us in the comments below!
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Hotels are weird, if you think about it for longer than five seconds. You're paying money to lay down on a pillow for sure a thousand other people have slept on.
Hopefully, the hotel has done their due diligence, cleaned the room as best they can, and provided excellent service to make you forget this fact.
It's when the hotel doesn't cover the previous tenants that we seem to find the biggest problems.
Reddit user, harbac, wanted to hear the horror stories from the moment you checked in when they asked:
"What was your worst hotel stay experience and what made it so terrible?"
You don't expect opening the door to your hotel room to feel like a raffle, spinning the wheels of a slot machine hoping for them to line up to a pleasurable experience.
*Grandpa Simpson Leaving The Restaurant GIF
"My dad went to a hotel once and checked in to a first floor room. He went in the room, put his stuff down, opened the curtains...and a man was hiding there."
"My dad went “excuse me”, closed the curtains, got his stuff and left. Went to the front desk to explain that a man was hiding in his room. Turns out the guy had just robbed a place and somehow got into the room with an open window."
arcant12
Peeing With The Buddy System
"The bathroom locked from the outside. If you accidentally shut the door all the way, you had to have someone in the room open the door for you when you were done. If you were by yourself, you were SOL until someone came back, or you called the front desk from the bathroom to send someone up. This was pre-mainstream cell phone usage, so you may not have had your phone on you at all times."
"Needless to say, we got our stay comped."
cousin_geri
Charging For Their Mistake
"One time when I was on Nebraska, the hotel we stayed at, they gave us the wrong keys and gave us the keys to someone else's room! Then when we complained, they said "oh well. We'll have to charge you for another room. " Like WTH then when we got OUR room keys, the beds were unmade and the bathroom was dirty, plus there weren't any towels in the room either. By far the worst"
neelas23
Double Up!
"Motel 7 in El Paso had a software problem, lost track of occupied rooms. Rather than checking, they issued keys to possibly occupied rooms and waited to see if anyone complained!"
"I twice opened my new hotel room door to find other guests in there. Jesus."
FrankieMint
Hotel Room A/C Is Famous For It
"The air conditioner was SPITTING OUT ICE while I was sleeping. Woke up thinking I wet myself but then realized half the bed was soaked. Other than that it was fine."
kimochii12
Excuse Me, You're On My Sheets
"I checked into a hotel once and when I got to my room I opened the door and found a couple having sex on the bed. I went back to the desk and asked for another room."
debroq
Recently "Used"
"Booked a last minute no name motel in Niagara Falls NY the night of Black Friday. Figured we’d drive down, rest until the stores started to open then hit the malls. Got there probably around 6-7PM."
"Front desk told us our room wasn’t ready. Thought that was very odd, but we accepted it and went for dinner first."
"Came back, got our key, went in, and the room reeked of sex. Bathtub had soap bubbles on it, bed had fake rose petals and oddly some baby carrots under it/ the pillows, entire room look disheveled."
"We sat at the table and watched the tv rather than risk touching anything."
"We made a comment when checking out that it was a very unsanitary and sketchy location. Guy claimed our room smelled weird because of the ‘air freshener’."
"That was the last time I went cheap on a motel."
not-jess
Ready To Peace Out
"I needed to find a hotel in Dayton, OH because of my daughter’s gymnastics competition. I read online reviews and the Travel Lodge there got good reviews. The price was good too, so I booked it."
"I had difficulty finding it because it was dark and their sign wasn’t lit. Parking lot was pitch black. Just outside the entrance there were 2 sketchy guys that looked like they were negotiating a drug deal."
"Inside the motel lobby was dimly lit with flickering lights. The room was no better. Stained sheets, holes in the bedspread and hair in the shower. The fitness room consisted of a stair stepper that was broken and an old tv on the ground that was also broken."
"I told the front desk that I wanted to cancel our reservation. She said, “I don’t blame you. This place is gross. I had an I interview at Kohl’s & hope they hire me so I can quit this place.”
DareWright
Keeping The Answers Close To The Chest
"Checked into a casino hotel in Shreveport, La. Put our stuff in the room and then went to the casino. Came back hours later and could not get into our room. Traipse to the front desk to find out why the card key was not working. Was informed that our room had to be exterminated due to "an infestation". When I inquired what type if infestation? I was told that the desk clerk was not allowed to divulge that information. Got hotel manager and he lead us back to our room, let us in and the place was tossed: furniture overturned, mattress off of bed, etc. There was our luggage and belongings pretty much where we left them."
"Manager than took us to our new room and gave us the key cards for it. I asked how the hell do you check someone into a room then discover it is infested with whatever? He was unable to adequately answer my question. I asked him about what type of extermination chemicals they used because our stuff had been exterminated as well. He again could not comment. Wound up throwing out any consumables, didn't wear anything from our luggage and checked out early the next morning, never to return again to that hotel. When we got home washed everything in the hottest water available. As an aside: itched for a couple of days afterward but this was probably power of suggestion."
whatoosee
A Lot Of Movement
"Happened over Christmas time in China. Came back to the hotel after dropping my boyfriend off at the airport so was clearly not in the best mood only to find a lot of my belongings moved around the room and items missing... including my passport..."
"There was food that she moved into the bathroom, my deodorant was in the shower and my shower gel was on the tv cabinet, things were taken out of my suitcase and other items were put into my suitcase, jewellery was on the floor etc. Just really random stuff had been moved."
"I had to go to reception and try to speak Mandarin (I was studying) and explain the situation. My passport was the main issue and I managed to get it back but I had gifts from my mum that were thrown out."
"Turns out the cleaner had taken my passport with the sheets to the laundry room which is crazy as it was actually in a cupboard (no safe available). Checked out 2 weeks early and got a refund for all the missing items as she admitted to throwing them away but she wouldn't say anything about why she had gone through my things or why she had moved anything."
mao64
These are probably the ones you were expecting.
Just, so much blood.
Kind Of Hard To Miss
"I stayed at a Travel Lodge a few years back. Went to get into bed and there was a blood stain on the sheet right in the middle of the bed. Pulled the sheet back and there was a HUGE puddle of it on the mattress, still wet. Not nice!"
kaylrobs
"Not as bad as that but Airbnb I stayed in a few weeks ago. It was just a room in the bottom on someone's house that had 3 other secluded rooms. Was pretty rough even by my standards but was late so settled in, finally laid down to find the duvet was covered in dry blood."
"Decided to sleep with just a sheet and heater on high woke in the middle of the night to a faint/tranc like voice speaking another language nonstop for 30mins (probably longer after I fell asleep)."
"First thing in the morning noped out of there.."
kosterzoo
Blood And Bugs Are A Terrible Combo
"Back in 2015 I travelled to Switzerland and we made a stop in Interlaken and decided to spend the night. The area was pretty much super busy with tourists so we ended up at a hotel and paid $250 Swiss francs for the one night ($300USD-ish)"
"Woke up a few times during the night feeling somewhat itchy but figured it was the summer heat and linens. At one point I woke up to use the bathroom and I was itching myself as I was taking a leak in the dark. I turned the lights on and noticed black and red specs on my legs and forearms.... Bedbugs and my blood. Went back to bed and turned on my cell flashlight under the sheets to see a bunch of scattering bedbugs all over our sheets."
"I’m the morning I told my wife since I didn’t dare wake her up to tell her. We put the DND sign on our door and went down to speak to management but they weren’t around. Decided to have breakfast in the hotel and then sift through our things before trying the manager again. We get up to our room and it was serviced by housekeeping despite the DND sign. Every last bedbug was removed with the sheets and we had no evidence besides the welts."
"Went back down, found the manager and told her about the bedbugs. She initially didn’t believe us and obviously didn’t see anything in the room when she came up since it was cleaned. As a last resort, I asked the manager to ask the housekeeper to bring over the linens from our room and low and behold the sheets were still littered with bedbugs."
"Needless to say, we ended up not paying for our stay and spent the next few hours sifting through all our luggage and washing all our clothes."
sbellotti84
What?! Even More Blood?
"Went to a historic hotel in Chattanooga, TN. Walked in the room, blood everywhere. The bathtub, the curtains, the walls, floor, lamp, everywhere! Hotel refused to move us. We moved ourselves to a different hotel that night."
ResLifeSpouse
"I stayed in a hotel on the strip in Vegas for a conference a few years ago. Was talking to my wife on the phone while getting ready for dinner, and had to tell her "Honey, got to go, I think I just found wet blood in my room.""
"Called the hotel, and they said they'd send someone up to look at it. I pointed out what I had found - a drop on the frame of the dresser. He took it apart, and someone had bled all over this thing and all they had done to clean it was wipe off the surface. The frame around every drawer had puddles of blood."
"They neither moved me or reimbursed me. Unfortunately it was the same hotel where the conference was held so I was kind of stuck."
Matosawitko
Look up reviews, ask around, and be willing to cancel if something goes wrong. There's no need to sleep in blood.
Ever.
What's the worst hotel stay you've ever experienced? Tell us about it in the comments.
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Hotel Workers Describe The Weirdest Things They've Ever Walked In On
Hotels can be great places to work, but it's definitely not always an easy job. Guests can be demanding, but they also get up to all sorts of freaky things behind closed doors. Often, they leave hotel staff have to deal with the aftermath.
Reddit user u/Silver_Reddit asked:
"Housekeepers who worked in casinos/hotels, what's the weirdest thing you walked into?"
"One night"
I was a bartender at a Marriott hotel years ago. Along with regular bartending duties, I also delivered bar orders as part of room service. One night I received a typical order (Wine, beer) from a room that called down to the bar. I brought the drinks to the room and was greeted by an early 50's man wearing a white robe. He greeted me and asked me to place the drinks on a dresser fairly close to door.
As I went to place the drinks down I noticed the bed had between 10-13 sex toys laid out neatly along the foot of the bed. The sizes ranged from normal to horse. They were evenly spaced and all facing towards the headboard.
While he was signing I made my way to the door and as soon as he handed me the book I smiled and said "thank you, have a great night! He just smiled and that was it, 0% acknowledgement on his end.
"I worked in a casino..."
I worked in a casino where I watched a middle aged man literally shake a solid turd down his pant leg, sit back down and continued on his machine. I turned around with backpack vacuum on and went to my lunch break. I didn't get paid enough to pick up stranger's crap.
"The event manager wanted to..."
When my wife and I were looking at wedding venues, one we went to was a hotel. The event manager wanted to take us up and show us the "honeymoon" suite.
She opened the door, and there were two, old men (like 60s-70s), shirtless drinking vodka in the room. She was so extremely embarrassed and apologetic. She was very sweet too, but you could tell she was so mad at whoever screwed that up for her.
We didn't choose the place (wasn't why), but I hadn't thought about that in awhile, and figured someone else may get a kick out of it.
"Dead body"
Found a dead body under the bed, Manhattan.
Well this blew up.
Here you go :) https://youtu.be/jG0EDUp7i5A
"Youth trip"
Was on a youth trip with my church. Guys stayed in one room girls stayed in the other. All us bored kids start looking around the room, ya know because kids, and we found a nug of weed under the bed. Super big find for a couple of church kids. We go to tell the girls what we found and they go on to tell us they did the same thing and found blood all over the wall.
"I had a teacher"
Had a teacher who was the manager of a Marriott in Germany for a while. She has wild stories.
- Once found an anaconda in the bathroom, wrapped around the shower curtain pole.
- Pulled naked devil worshippers out of the pool at 3 AM when the pool closed and they refused to get out. They weren't even guests.
- Saw the janitor with a wheelbarrow, a hose, and a shovel. He went somewhere, went to lunch and came back. After his lunch she followed him and asked what was up, he didn't speak good german and just said "Cleaning up African lady leg." Turned out some lady had jumped from the top floor of one side of the building (Hotel was kind of like an L shape, one side higher then the other) hit the emergency ladder on the way down and had her leg torn off before becoming mush on the roof of the other side of the building. He had shoveled most of her into the wheelbarrow at this point, was just working on getting her leg unstuck from the ladder. Acceleratour
"Worked housekeeping for a few weeks..."
Worked housekeeping for a few weeks, guess the weirdest sh!t was a 70 ish couple left their room so I went to clean it. Big bottle of ky and a sex toy so big even Ron Jeremy would have been jealous left out on the bed.
"I was a supervisor at a hotel"
Scary stuff! I was a supervisor at a hotel in Canada about 6 years ago, a man's 80 year old father called me one Sunday morning very worried about his son. He was supposed to meet him at 9 for breakfast but didn't show up, The father asked me to see if he was up in his room. I went up and knocked but no answer, I could hear the shower running so I assumed he was in there. I slid a note under his door to call his father asap and went back to work. 40 minutes later the father called back asking if I found him.
I went back up and was about to knock when I heard the shower still running so I went into full blown panic mode and entered the room, he was on the floor between the two of beds actively overdosing. Called 911 and hopefully saved his life. I have never heard anything more from them. Cleaning the room afterwards was super sketchy because there were needles everywhere.
"I used to work on a military base as a house keeper..."
I used to work on a military base as a house keeper. I was there for about a month and a half.
One time someone checked out early so I had a room added to my list. Knocked, went in and there was blood everywhere. I immediately called down to the the front, I need help now. I was new, I was not prepared for this. Blood. Blood everywhere. It had soaked down through the duvet, layers of sheets to the mattress. There were bloody hand prints everywhere. On the mirrors, on the head boards, on the back of doors, showers, carpet, the kitchenette, in every crack and crevasse of the bathroom, on the shower head... EVERYWHERE. Someone had decided to have a finger painting session during that time of the month with their boyfriend.
Turns out some brass' daughter had got a room while visiting dear ol' dad and had her tinder date over. Daughter had enough foresight to tell her parents that she was on her period and may have bled through the bedding, but she was scared and didn't know what to do. When we said her date was accountable too, she claimed that she 100% didn't have someone else in the room with her. It was $1800 to clean up that mess and replace everything and dad was loosing his mind over it, yelling, and screaming the whole time. They kept saying there was no way that it should cost so much. Calling us liars. After sitting in and listening, calmly, after being screamed at, my boss slid over the pictures to him. From that point on you could hear a pin drop. He got out his checkbook, wrote the check, and quietly left.
"I will NEVER forget this one room"
I will NEVER forget this one room I had to clean as a housekeeper... it was one of my first jobs, I was 16. We were given 30min max per room and I walked in and immediately radioed my manager letting her know I would need longer. The stench smacked me in the face immediately... B.O. and meat. The tan carpet and all of the sheets were stained with deep red bbq sauce and there were over 40 rib bones EVERYWHERE.
There was a tripod left on its side in the corner of the room and handcuffs on the floor lamp, which they obviously lost the key to, because they tried to break the base of the lamp to get them off. I almost cried trying to get the damn bbq sauce out of the carpet... the manager sent two women up to help me when she saw what I was dealing with. I only assume a cheaply made food porn was filmed the night before.
"My mother was once a housekeeper"
My mother was once a housekeeper at a Harrah's casino hotel. She opened up a room and a terrible smell hit her. Apparently a handicapped man staying at the hotel was waiting for his help to show up but they never did and his sh!t had overflowed its container and his phone was dead and he couldn't move. she went to go find help and left that day and never came back.
"Worked a summer job at hotel"
Worked a summer job at hotel near Cedar Point back in the early 90s. Went to a room to see if the guest had left without checking out. She checked out alright. Shot herself in the head on the patio. Room was on the 3rd floor... her blood and brains dripped down 3 floors between the deck slats. Had to keep 3 rooms closed for days afterwards. Lots of power washing and bleach.
Almost as bad as the fella who slipped running on the treadmill and caught his twig and berries between the roller and belt. 911 was summoned.
"My husband use to manage a hotel in our town"
Not me but my husband use to manage a hotel in our town. Our town is very industrial in Alberta (that gave the town away right there) so when oil was high all the hotels where full of drillers and rig pigs and frat boys.
So when morning, the house keepers where cleaning a room and saw a 10" thick sex toy with ribbed edges, metal I believe they thought it was. Course no one touched it to confirm. Left it where it was and finished cleaning the room.
Older tough looking guy was renting the room. No one said anything and he didn't say anything either. This was about 10 years ago.
"My mom cleans houses for a living"
My mom cleans houses and babysits for a living.
It was a Monday, so she hadn't been to this clients home since Friday morning. Come Monday, she's vacuuming the master bedroom as usual. Next she goes down to vacuum under the bed when she sees the clients dead cat fully stretched, like the cats home team just scored a touch down and it's face, eyes and mouth wide open like it had seen a ghost. My Mom screams and calls the family. The father of the family comes and takes care of the cat while keeping it out of sight from his wife.
True story bro. My Mom says she has more weird stories from this house, Lemme know if y'all wanna hear them.
"I was working on a job in a shady part of WA"
I don't know about them, but I was working on a job in a shady part of WA called Yakima. We were working 12-14 hour days. I just left my gun in the drawer and I'm not a cluttery person so I just empty my pockets into the nightstand drawer every night. One day I left my gun, a roll of duct tape, some big zip ties and a knife in the drawer. When I came back, room was clean and the drawer was organized nicer. After that, the housekeeping lady would scuttle away upon my visage.
"I worked as front desk for night shift"
I worked as front desk for night shift (2300 - 0700) in a small (20 rooms) hotel + restaurant. We have a regular customer who used to arrive at 3-4 am, always ringed before arriving cause he demanded help from the staff for his luggage and asked everyone to call him "Doctor". One night he asked me to take out the TV out of his room, I offered him a TV-less room but he insisted on just removing the TV. On another time, he arrived alone (as usual) and stayed for 3 or 4 nights. Last night he filed a complaint about someone from the staff sneaking into his room, drugging him. The weird part is that he arrived alone, and that night it was the only customer in the whole place. It was only him, the guy working as handyman who was in the restaurant at the time and me.
No one saw him go in or out with anyone, when he left his room (alone) at 4am I entered to see if everything was in order, he had put the sheets in the tub and were soaking wet, he ripped the pillow cases and tried to flush them in the toilet, there was a lot of red yarn in the floor. No signs of no one else. It bugged me to this day cause I don't know if he was psychotic or what. Other time one of the housekeeping ladies called me cause there was a bed that looked as if Jack the ripper had killed someone and were covered in blood, really strange.
"I was working through a temp agency for motel 6"
I was working through a temp agency for motel 6. So one of the other workers had a room to clean. The occupants were supposed to be gone. So the worker goes into the room and there's a man tied up in the bed with some type of bdsm outfit on. He was gagged also. She didn't even help him lol she just called the cops. He was fine, it was a kink of his but the other person just left him tied up and took all his things.
"I was a bellman at a Holiday Inn"
I was a bellman at a Holiday Inn and was asked to deliver drinks to a guy (who was paralyzed from the waist down) cause he was being "inappropriate" verbally to the restaurant waitresses. He ordered 2 martinis and 2 double screwdrivers... round 4. I walked in to a disaster. Enormous mess. Crap everywhere and chew spit all over everything... including his face. The toilet was covered in poop... of which I told no one for fear they would ask me to clean it up.
As I am about to walk out... he asks me if I want to make $50.... nothing sexual, so he said. I said sure cause I'm a high school student and $50 would be awesome. I trust that he wants nothing sexual and luckily all he asked was for me to go in his van and get him some clean clothes. He was clearly living in this van... the whole thing was full of clothes and crap scattered everywhere. I bring him back the clothes and he actually gave me $50. I come back to work the next day and turns out he wanted waffles at like 2am and cussed them out so bad when they said no that they finally kicked him out.
A tow truck shows up to pull his van to wherever... remember, he is paralyzed. From what I was told, this fool wheeled his chair to the tow truck. Stands up. And climbs into the passenger seat. Turns out he just divorced his wife and was traveling around the area getting all f**ked up and being ridiculous at various hotels. Best of luck to you sir and thanks for the $50.
"I was trying to get into my room"
On the flip side, I was trying to get into my room when I arrived to a hotel late at night by myself. My key wouldn't work so I was confused and trying it multiple times. After a minute or two I'm calling the lobby and a housekeeper comes out of the room with a guy. I'm kind of stunned and confused and say sorry while I'm also on the phone and they're both slinking away, without saying anything, like dogs caught rummaging through the garbage.
I was confused, then amused then, then annoyed at the inconvenience of getting another room. Funny story now though.
"In the 80s my aunt was a maid"
In the 80s my aunt was a maid in a hotel, but was on holiday when this happened. She was Polish, didn't really speak English, and she just made enough money to travel with her husband and friends to Vegas for a vacation. As the night went on in the casino, she decided to go to bed. As she took the elevator, it stopped one floor up and two huge dudes in suits walked in (I mean, like ceiling high) and a short man came in with them, smiling at my aunt.
They pushed the Penthouse Button. As my aunt was, well, scared, especially the two huge dudes and a grinning stranger, she started panicking, talking to them in Polish not to hurt her and giving them her watch. The men were obviously really confused, but the short one couldn't stop laughing. As the elevator stopped on her floor, she ran to her room, glancing back at the elevator. She noticed the men were checking which room she was in.
Of course, she panicked, didn't sleep all night, kept talking to her husband how she almost got kidnapped or whatever, but nothing happened all night. In the morning, someone knocked on the door. As they opened, a hotel employee said they got a gift from someone. It was a huge bouquet of roses. In each rose was a 100$ bill. And a card saying: "To the crazy lady from the elevator. Thanks for the watch- Eddie Murphy"
True story.
"So I was doing one of my first few overnight desk shifts"
Oh oh pick me!
So I was doing one of my first few overnight desk shifts at a hotel it had been a fairly quiet night until this point. I go into the server room behind the desk and there's water POURING from the ceiling. Like literally just pouring out over all of the computers. So I call my on duty security guard and my management team who tells me to have my security guard go to every room above the server room until they figured out where the water was coming from. He finally figured it out around 4-6 floors up..
So he gets to the room and sees water spilling out from under the door so he knocks, no answer, repeats this a couple times (deadbolt was locked so the master key was useless) he FINALLY gets in (maintenance came up with the deadbolt key thing) and this dude is laying on the bed Stark naked spread eagle (and this was a BIG dude) and there's a lady of the night also naked passed out in the shower with it on full blast and her butt over the drain.
She flooded 5-6 floors of rooms (1 room per floor) all the way down to the server room.
"I've been a hotel manager for about 5 years"
I'm late to this because I'm working overnight at a hotel tonight and I just woke up. I've been a hotel manager for about 5 years (a year of that was spent in housekeeping) and the worst was a chick who had overdosed on something and smeared poop literally all over herself and the bathroom. The smell was indescribable. There were sex toys and syringes everywhere too. Her boyfriend tried to call us and say she had just forgotten to take her insulin that night... I think I showered like 10 times after work that day.
Most recently the weirdest thing we found was a cat. Some fool had left a cat in his room and trashed it. The cat had no food, no water and no litter box but was the sweetest little dude ever. The owner called back and tried to get his cat and we lied and said we'd turned him over to animal services. He's happily living with another manager now.
Another time, another manager and I were inspecting rooms and she radioed me to say there was a brown smudge on a pillow and she wasn't sure if it was poop or chocolate. She asked me if she should touch it and I said yes, like an a**hole. It was poop.
"Not what I walked in to.... but the aftermath"
Not what I walked in to.... but the aftermath Two very business looking men, clean cut, amazing manners, five star reserves. High class hotel. Stayed for a week. DND sign in door. Left garbage and dirty towels outside door. Walk in. Omg. First I see a puddle of blood in the hall. Turn left into bathroom. Blood and human feces ALL over the place. Yes, even the ceiling. Freak out. Think someone was murdered. Investigate deeper. Used condoms TIED to the lamp shades. Blood and feces all in the beds. On the walls. Headboards. Desk. You name it. Condoms galore. Must have been $200 worth of them. "Dirty" bottles and toys (if you know what I mean). Freaking TERRIFYING. Hazmat came in to save the day. Got a $100 tip. I can't put into words everything I saw that day. But imagine.
"We rent out whole hotels and the staff knows"
On the flip side of this... I go to kinky parties in hotels. Like we rent out whole hotels and the staff knows. Most people try and do a good job putting away toys before the housekeepers come in. I went down to the pool with a few friends and then we came back to her room.
She put the do not disturb thing in the door but in Vegas or at least the hotel we were staying in they do wellness checks on the third day. They made the bed, cleaned the bathroom, put her various stuffed animals on the bed, her diapers on the table and her plugs lined up on the nightstand. We felt super bad for the staff. As a rule of the party people are suppose to be respectful of the staff. Don't put the staff in any awkward situation that kind of stuff....
It was an honest mistake. It wasn't my room but I wish they would have just turned around and left. no one got in trouble with the people hosting the event or the hotel but it is one of those things where we are trying to be as polite as possible because we are all nice people and not many hotels will let us do this.
26.
To every housekeeper reading this ... as a former road warrior... thank you for your thankless work... I used to stay 200+ nights a year in hotels and you made it bearable in 99% of the time... road warriors sitting on a clean throne deucing right now be sure to drop some cash on the bed to say thanks when you check out - And say hi when walking down the hall... you'll make a crap job a little better for the person cleaning up after you.
"I was the one that was found by housekeeping"
I was the one that was found by housekeeping. Passed out after a night of drinking on the strip. But was "smart" enough to take my clothes off and sleep in the bathtub to avoid having to clean vomit the next morning. Was woken up by housekeeping poking me with a broom stick and asking if I was alive. Forgot to put the do not disturb sign on my door.
"I'm currently housekeeping in a small town in Utah"
I'm currently housekeeping in a small town in Utah. This isn't too weird, but there were a lot of polygamists staying in our hotel and working at a local farm. Most of them had pictures/shrines with pictures of Warren Jeffs in their rooms. Gave me the chills for sure.
Also, I walked in on a guy sprawled out buttnaked, sleeping. I don't know how he didn't hear me knock super loud and yell "HOUSEKEEPING" but he was sleeping like a baby with his penis out.
"I was at random party"
I was at random party taking place in a suite and I go into the bathroom and see a guy in the bathtub with an entire rotisserie chicken. He looks up at me and sticks out a greasy finger as he finishes chewing and then says, "Don't mind me."
"I was a second shift house attendant"
I was a second shift house attendant at a decently fancy hotel attached to a casino. This was one catered towards businessmen and high rollers. Well one night I'm delivering chocolates to the VIPs. Basically the important people get complementary chocolate with their stay. One of the rooms was a suite, which is like a small apartment with a sorta hook shape. You walk in, there's an entry area that leads to a small dining area and then it turns about 30 degrees into a living room type area and then hooks again to the bedroom with the bathroom in the same view. I think you see where I'm going with this. Basically, I knock a few times and get no response and since there's no Do Not Disturb up I head in and cautiously poke my head around. Good thing I did because I see two dudes in the bathroom going at it. They're doing it, hard in that tub. So I freaked out a bit, leave the chocolate on a nearby table and dip the heck out.
"As a guest on the 7th floor..."
As a guest on the 7th floor in a South Korean hotel I thought it was weird they had a "In case of fire" box with a rope about 2-3 stories in length.
"Crabs!"
Crabs! Crabs everywhere! It was a hotel by the ocean and in a huge 4 bedroom 2 level suite. They people staying there took the time to put crabs EVERYWHERE. In the coffee pots, the toilet, the vases, the sinks, the dishes in the cupboard etc... Most were tiny babies and still alive. We put them in buckets and took them back to the beach. . But honestly it was so fricking weird
"One time I walked into a room"
One time I walked into a room and it was completely covered in red stains. Absolutely everywhere you could see. On the beds, the carpets, the floors, the walls, all over the bathroom. And even a bit on the ceiling. No idea how they managed to do that. At first I thought it may be blood, but then I noticed it reeked of alcohol. They spilled red wine absolutely everywhere. The room had to be shut down and they had to bring up the shampoo machines. I think they may have had to repaint too.
Bonus story: That very same day I walked into a room that was very heavily smoked in. The smell was so extremely bad, that I couldn't breathe at all. My manager said that it takes at least five people chainsmoking for at least twelve hours straight to make a room smell as bad as that one did. That also required a machine. And they had to replace the mattresses and curtains. Smoking was not allowed anywhere in the hotel.
"I used to work in reservations"
I used to work in reservations in a big chain hotel in London. Housekeeping once told us there was one regular guest who used to ALWAYS leave a single whole in-tact raw egg in the bed when they checked out. Nobody ever figured out why or where on earth they got that single raw egg in the middle of central London (grocery stores aren't frequent in the area and they certainly don't sell eggs one by one).
"A couple came to this luxury dude ranch"
A couple came to this luxury dude ranch I worked at and spent over $5000 to stay there only to not come out of their room the entire time. Went in to clean the room when they left and saw incredibly expensive unopened alcohol and boxes of sex toys around the room. On the bed they left a note that said enjoy.....um what? We threw out the toys (who would use a used sex toy left by an unknown person?) and got hammered that night.
"In the late 90s"
In the late 90s I had a roommate who managed a hotel in Manhattan. He came home one night and told me they found a 3 foot Nitrous tank in one of the rooms. They disposed of it personally. These days they would probably call the bomb squad.
"This couple made a hasty retreat"
This couple made a hasty retreat from a five-star hotel I was working for. They left an entire brick of cocaine on the bathroom counter.
"Cleaned a room..."
Cleaned a room that contained both a deck of Uno cards and a knock-off deck of Ono cards
"Someone I know..."
Someone I know worked housekeeping at a casino. He walked in on a guy smearing poop over the walls with his bare hands. He was pissed that he lost money and thought he was justified to do it. Housekeeping called security, he was charged and banned.
"One of the housekeepers was asleep in the chair..."
We had a hotel room one time and checked in around 3-4 ish (can't remember what hotel it was). When we walked in one of the housekeepers was asleep in the chair, apparently had taken a rest and checked out, for who knows how long. We woke her up when we came in the room. She was very apologetic and took her cart and stuff with her right away. We never said anything to the staff or saw her again, the room was all clean and set up so nothing to complain about.
If she is anything like the housekeepers I know that was one of MANY jobs, working double shifts isn't uncommon and many of those ladies work extra when offered. You are good people for not saying anything.
"Working double shifts"
Agreed, that lady needed that sleep. No one willingly breaks rules, and jeopardizes their job unless they're desperate for some sleep.
"I stayed at a hotel that hosted a Magic The Gathering tournament"
I stayed at a hotel that hosted a Magic The Gathering tournament (was visiting Atlantic City, only realized what it was as I played magic a decade ago). In the morning as I was leaving a housekeeper had a room opening and cleaning; he stops me and says "wtf is this? Is it worth money?" I look in and someone has filled the bathtub nearly to the brim with lands/commons.
"I worked as a Concierge"
I worked as a Concierge for an upscale hotel so, naturally, because there wasn't a line for my desk, I fielded complaints regularly. One day a woman, very nice and patient (rare) calmly explained to me that her five year old opened the door to their bathroom and there was a housekeeper pooping in there. The housekeeper and the boy screamed so loudly that I had already gotten noise complaints from the adjacent rooms. Needless to say, that family got a free night and an upgrade.
"I worked for a hotel chain in Colorado"
I worked for a hotel chain in Colorado and one day my coworker and I went to strip a bed and the bed was full of oranges. The dresser oranges. Side table, cans of mandarin oranges. Not exactly shocking or disgusting, but it was weird.
"
Had an American guy come into our hotel"
Hotel worker.
Had an American guy come into our hotel, meant to be staying for 3 days. Went into his room and never left the room in over 2 weeks (he kept phoning down to extend his stay).
The strange thing was, he had the same routine every day. Around 8am, he would order 8 bottles of beer and 20 cigarettes to be sent up to his room. He'd sign the cheque off to his room for the beers but had to pay cash for the cigarettes as they came from the hotel shop, which wasn't owned by the hotel therefore wasn't able to charge to the room. The cigarettes came to around £11, and he would always give us a £20 note and told us to keep the change.
Lunchtime rolls around, and again, 8 bottles of beer, and 20 cigarettes.
Come dinner time, again, another 8 beers, but 40 cigarettes this time (assuming to keep a stock of when the shop closed at night time).
This happened every day he was staying with us. No one ever saw him leave the hotel, so assumed he had a stack of £20 notes to pay for his cigarettes. He also instructed housekeeping not to clean his room.
When he eventually left, the maid was greeted with hundreds of empty beer bottles, the bin was half full with cigarette ends and ash, and the room was left remarkably clean, albeit smelling awful.
We tried to research the guy, but could only find he was part of an American broadcasting company (it was a long time ago and can't remember), so assumed he was over here to lie low.
He checked out, paid off his bill (didn't even bother to check the bill), into a taxi and never to be seen again.
"I walked in on a couple sleeping"
I walked in on a couple sleeping on the bathroom floor of a hotel room in the hotel I work for. The bed was untouched and everything was normal with that one exception.
"Last time I went to a Vegas casino"
Last time I went to a Vegas casino for a conference, they said my room wasn't ready yet but they'd text me when it was. A few hours later I got the text and went to the room. Upon entering I could hear a loud vacuum cleaner running, and saw a man on his hands and knees working on the floor behind the bed with a wet vac. I cautiously approached because I knew he didn't hear me enter. I inevitably startled him, and he stood up and shouted, "you're not supposed to be here yet!" I said, "I got a text that the room was ready and an electronic key sent to my phone."
He glanced down at the floor behind the bed, and back at me and calmly said, "This is really bad. It's going to take me a while. This is really bad." I asked, "what is it?" He said, "Not sure but it's bad."
I shrugged and set my bags down on the clean side of the room. I figured 2 "really bad" ratings from a man who's job is to clean Vegas hotel rooms is probably advice I should heed. But also made me realize I've stayed in rooms like that without knowing what kind of damage had been previously done. At least I knew not to walk on that side of the bed.
"I was an IT guy for a casino"
I was an IT guy for a casino. Got a call that a guest couldn't get his device connected to the wifi, so I had to go up and give him a hand.
Come to get his tablet connected. He's in the room. Older guy (60+), wearing a pair of gold booty shorts. He's got three girls (ID's meant they had to be 21, but they weren't much more than that) in there with him. Thongs and fuzzy high heeled slippers. Topless, shameless.
They want to connect the iPad so he can play some video to go along with the game they're playing. Couple bags of "toys" and tubes of stuff scattered all around the room. I've got my own kinks so, who am I to judge?
Got his stuff connected, and they were able to get his movie, and got it playing on the TV in the room. He tipped me a couple hundred bucks, all in $50's. I took the money.
Find out later, he was a VIP card member, and typically dropped $20 grand or so on the tables.
"I was a house keeper at a dive of a hotel"
I was a house keeper at a dive of a hotel in Chico, CA in the late 90's. A week or so before a local homeless woman had stuck her arm in a tiger's cage (a circus that was traveling through town) and got mauled. That weekend I was cleaning rooms and knocked on the door of a room paid for by a local charity organization. It turned out the guest was in the middle of sexy time. Quickly realizing it wasn't a good time to clean the room I said I would come back later.
To my dismay the woman opened the door and asked me to join her and her friend, I declined. She then reached out and grabbed me by the arm and tried to drag me in. Her arm was covered in bandages and lacerations. It was the woman who had been tiger mauled! I yanked my arm free and ran away, I'll never forget what her shredded bandaged hand looked like.
"a friend was a maid at a cheap hotel"
Not my story but a friend was a maid at a cheap hotel in our university town. She has a bunch of gross and weird stories but the most absurd is when she came into work and found a full abandoned methlab in the bathroom of one of the rooms.
Her manager made her clean up a bunch of trash from the different ingredients and scrub chemical stains that must have been left by spills. Apperantly the room smelled like a bad science experiment (or just normal meth) and the management refused to get any police involved.
I imagine they believed it would discourage their regular clientele. I believe she quit very soon after.
"Worked at a huge water park resort"
Worked at a huge water park resort. I was doing a late shift at a time of year when the resort was almost empty. So, tired of knocking on all the doors, I just barged into the rooms.
(To clarify, I always knocked. But I was getting tired after 20 or so rooms without a guest.)
Come this room in the 4th floor. I walk in and there's an old, heavy guy feasting on a bucket of fried chicken. Lights off, in front of the TV. He stared at me for a couple of seconds and I apologized before he could say anything. Left the room immediately.
I later found out that room was supposed to be vacant. I have no idea where he came from, why he was there or how he got there.
"my friend from Ukraine worked at a crappy casino"
Not me, but my friend from Ukraine worked at a crappy casino hotel in Wendover, Nevada because they would sponsor his work visa. He wasn't a housekeeper but would have to do maintenance in rooms. He said one day he went to a room where the people had already checked out and there was a chicken in the room. Like a live chicken. Just chilling there.
Maybe the story is funnier when he tells it with his accent.
Why eez cheeken in room?
Hotel and service industry people have seen it all... that's why we should all leave better tips!
Do you have an experience to share? Put it in the comments below!
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
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