When you stay at an upscale hotel, the general belief is that you’ll have an experience that’s above and beyond what you could ever get at a lower-level hotel.
To some extent, this is true. On average, the bed will be more comfortable, soaps and shampoo will be a fancier brand, restaurants will be better, and the staff will be more involved in your satisfaction with your stay, etc.
However, for all the extra money or points paid for these 4- and 5-star hotel stays, the hotel management hopes you never, ever find out about plenty of things that happen at these establishments. Fortunately, thanks to the internet, it’s easy to find these dirty little secrets.
A while back, a Redditor known as akumamatata8080 asked the provocative question:
People who work at super fancy hotels, what kind of stuff happens that management doesn’t want people to know about?
Heads up: if you click the link, some replies are NSFW.
Anyway, the responses showed that these fancy-shmancy hotels have the same issues as any other hotel…and perhaps even more, precisely because they’re fancy-shmancy hotels.
- Front desk knows all the call girls. We give them water on the way out and sometimes call them taxis. Management doesn’t like us doing it but escorts tip well. — ColorfulClouds_
- 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
- I used to work at a high level hotel and there’s a department head who uses the penthouse suite for grindr hookups.– WerewolfCircus
- Some luxury hotels that cater to sports teams have standing agreements that no room service is allowed after the team departs, otherwise, the girls the athletes brought back the night before will rack up huge bills the team has to pay– TakeThatPlant
- We had valet service at our hotel, and due to huge amounts of theft and break-ins in our lots, we had to go through guests’ cars, take everything of value out, hide it in our conference room, and then put it all back before we brought their car around. We had to keep it under wraps. It was ridiculous. — Harambeaintdead yet
- The amount of sex toys left behind will blow your mind.– Mexicancandy77
- In the 90s, I was doing a shoot at one of the top five hotels in Paris. The manager told us they basically had a racial quota – they would turn down the majority of Arab reservations to help their European customers feel more comfortable. He was quite open about it.– Roy4Pris
- $2k per night and this place has a serious rat problem.– prof_dynamite
- I know owners at high end nyc hotels that keep a trusted drug dealer around bc having them arrested or removed opens it up to rivals and gangs, which bring in drama and violence– ilikehemipenes
- I worked in a 5Star resort in college. The amount of drugs the staff consumed wasn’t nearly as much as the guests. People left blow as tips. They left weed. They left a lot of stuff that is not supposed to be reusable.
Also a lot of sexual assaults happened in the SPA. A LOT. It was rich white trash a-holes thinking they could get handsy.
I also saw a server spit in a very famous person’s food. I had no idea who they were at the time, but even the manager was OK with it. I was personally mortified, even if the dude was a racist, misogynistic a-hole, it was hard to process that behavior as being acceptable at a place that was about perfection. I think about that often. If it can happen to that dude….lots and lots of MAGA people have had spit put in their food by wait staff. Even at the high end resorts. Wearing those red hats is an advertisement to point out who are the biggest a-holes in the group. — GiuliaAquaTofana - A ton of porn is shot. They’ll reserve the waterfront penthouse, some guys unload a bunch of camera gear, a couple of done-up girls come and leave, and then everyone checks out. No one stays the night even though the room is paid for. — some_damn_guy
- Just recently quit my job at a very old hotel that’s rated 4-stars and extremely popular.
For an entire summer, we weren’t given sponges and had to scrub toilets, tubs, etc. with nothing but our gloves hands and tilex. Some housekeepers bought their own sponges, but there was no way I was going to spend money when the hotel makes millions every year. When we finally got sponges, we would use the same one for every sink, toilet, and tub/shower.
There was mold growing behind the wallpaper in some of the bathrooms, especially the poolside rooms.
We prioritized speed over cleanliness every time.
If pillow cases didn’t /look/ used, we were taught to not replace them.
It just has to look clean, it doesn’t have to actually be clean. — PixiePoogle - 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. And every…single…time they found the item either in their luggage or car. — SnarkyVamp
- I work at a 5 star hotel in an Asian country and here’s some of our interesting facts:
We have a feng shui master on retainer who does cleanses regularly and also pay for an annual ghost ritual cleanse once a year
Depending on how much you spend at our hotel, you can destroy the room and we don’t charge. In fact, it’s expected the VIPs will do this
Not my hotel but another hotel very nearly almost served dog meat to Hilary Clinton when she was SOS. The staff confused her with a Korean dignitary — Lazywilliam - Human trafficking became so bad that the company gave us training on looking out for it.
There is policy in place to knowingly cause you issue and pacify you (ex: routine elevator maintenance during a busy period because the tech travels around and it is now or 3 weeks from now. The elevator did not “have unforseen issues”)
Professionals are the worst guests for partying and puking everywhere and pissing in halls and breaking things and f**king in public areas… lawyers, doctors, teachers. In that order. Whenever they had conventions, extra staff were on the next day for dealing with damage. — NameDeleted - I saved the best one for last:
Good management constantly fixes mess ups and guest never know.
In my experience as manager:
If maintenance shows up with the manager to “check something in the ac or tv” then a employee accidentlly checked in the wrong reservation. Manager gets your name, gets you a free drink at the bar and fixes the mess up.
Using the elements: Rooms ac and heating go out all the time. If its a hot summer and the ac doesnt work but we are over booked, last check in will get the room. We bank on it being cooler in the night.
We know everything about you especially if we have a reason too. I know that brand new corvette is rented, I know your schedule, and all your movements through the hotel. If you are good at hotels then you have a good idea of who what when and where most of the time.
All hands on deck- Ever noticed a random maintenance guy on one floor and security on the next floor and then a manager checking out a picture on the other floor. Ive spread the team out on each floor to deter kids with sports teams. The parents like to get drunk and let their little darlings run free on the hotel.
Low grade porn movies- Yes the half drunk girl you walked in with your five buddies who just want to see the pool is obvious porn. We know and have cameras then everyone gets pikachu faced when your asked to leave.
Rappers- I saw you rapping at 3 am walking down main street with your buddy filming using a Iphone. Youre good but we know you arent a guest so just walking in the hotel isnt going to work. We know its a nice place but ask for permission. Same with influencers.
Beer is our bartering system- I could feel pools with the amount of beer Ive given away. Got a maintenance issue, go to the bar and have a drink on me. room not ready and your mad have a beer ect.
Events pays the bills not guest: We could sell every room every night and still not hold a candle to event revenue. 40k weddings, 85k Hospital party, 65k Shriners event ect. When guest say we will close because their room money is what helps keep the lights on we have a chuckle behind their back.
Bed Bugs: Larger hotels have better insurance to compensate for bedbugs. We wont say their name but we will hand you over to human resources who files a claim and start a compensation package. As for when it happens it can cost us between 2500 and 5k to clear a room of them and we treat the rooms on each side of the infected. Also all hotels get them but if a wealthy person gets them, they will spend tons of money to fix the issue where as small cheap hotels get people who just cant afford the treatment.
The hotel has a nervous system: The Fire Panel is wires that run through the whole hotel telling us of any water, fire or tampering to the hotels safety. How do I know you are smoking in your room, I didnt walk by, the fire panel told me. How did I know you tried to remove the detector, the fire panel and why are you using steam to cover up smoke. The correct way would be a thick plastic closed hair cover but no promises. But the panel know much and those housekeeper are also looking for evidence of smoke window seal smokers.
Drugs: We dont care about high end drugs, I have had elitest drop a small bag of cocaine and I returned it to him in the bathroom. Its not worth our time to confront them or get police involved unless its a full on drug party thats out of control. –NameDeleted
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