There’s a general warning that you should never be too awful to restaurant servers, or shouldn’t send food back for it to be “fixed” too many times, because they could spit in your food. No one knows if the warning is 100% based in truth, but frankly, in this day and age, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Over the years, we’ve gone over how people in the airline industry have gotten revenge, appropriate or not, on passengers who’ve “done them wrong” in some way, shape or form:
- A pilot’s perfect revenge on an entitled passenger
- The flight attendant who got revenge on a “fake vegetarian”
- How hundreds of FAs have gotten their revenge when a woman got “one of their own” in trouble
So is it REALLY that far fetched to think that hotel employees – especially those who work at the front desk – are not above “getting even” with entitled, demanding hotel guests?
Examples of Front Desk Revenge
Here are several instances we’ve learned about, over the years…
Making you wait
Sometimes you get to your hotel before check in time and the room is ready. Sometimes you need to wait until check-in time. Back in 2010, a retired hotelier from Tucson told Christopher Elliott that might have been on purpose.
“For guests who are rude, drunk or just obnoxious, a clerk may well make them wait,” said Michael Matthews, the retired hotelier. How long you have to wait may depend on the seriousness of their “crime,” as per people who have experienced the wait. It may be a “Have a seat, we’ll be with you in a minute” for someone with a less-than-polite attitude to “Your room is still occupied, what’s your cell phone number?” for something more serious. “Guests really are not aware of the power of a front desk clerk,” adds Matthews.
New keys
One person said that when they had a rude guest checking in, they’d wait for the to get on the elevator and then deactivate their keys so they’d have to bring their luggage back down, in order to ask for a new key. (Note: just because your room key doesn’t work, don’t automatically assume it was revenge from a petty front desk clerk – sometimes room keys really are duds)
Adding Charges
If a guest has been particularly obnoxious, some front desk clerks say it’s not below them to charge the guests for things in the minibar, long distance phone calls, etc. One said there was a guy at their hotel who screamed at them for “no good reason.” The guy had 2 dogs with him, but the clerk noticed he had not been charged for same. So he added in that $75 fee. Per dog.
Crank calls & spam
Some front desk clerks are willing to go above and beyond, if they feel a guest deserves it. We’ve heard about crank calls in the middle of the night and, since they have access to your address and email, placing you on lists so you’re overrun with email spam or even inundated with snail mail.
Crappiest room in the place
We’ve heard of more than one front desk clerk who’s assigned obnoxious guests to the “bad” rooms – rooms near the elevator, near the ice machine, near the room where the cheerleader/hockey team are staying, the smallest room in the hotel, the room with a view of the dumpster, the room with the noisy air conditioner, etc.
Best story along those lines:
I would put problem guests in room 1617. It was a Suite – so I would swing it as a comp upgrade for those road weary travelers. Absolutely nothing wrong with the room except the room number. 1617. The Boston area code is 617. And what would an inebriated individual staying in our hotel dial at 2am to order delivery? You can bet your a$$ they’re not dialing 8 for the outside line prior to 1617.
Pure genius. Evil…but genius. 😉
The other direction
Of course, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar and the guest who is kind, helpful, etc., has a chance of an upgrade (higher floor, larger room, perhaps a suite), small gifts, etc. But if they’re mean, obnoxious and demanding? They shouldn’t be surprised if their hotel experience is not exactly “all that.”
Front desk clerks have a lot of power that can affect a stay. Respect them.
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