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/
