Some guests think they can do whatever they want when they stay at a hotel, but that could not be farther from the truth! For some reason, these people thought they could do whatever they wanted to front desk workers, but let's just say it quickly backfired.
Hotel front desk workers on Reddit share the best revenge they got on entitled guests. Content has been edited for clarity.
Sweet Revenge! Content has been edited for clarity.
Why Did He Record Himself?
“At the time, most of the guests at our hotel were businessmen. The guys from this particular company had been staying at our hotel for a while, and I got along very well with a few of them, including the person I later found out was the owner.
One evening probably around five or six after my managers had left, three guys from that company came down and wanted to buy drinks and snacks. The first two guys, I sold them their drinks and snacks no problem. The third guy, I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it made me mad, and I could tell he was already hammered, so I refused to serve him. Well he did not like this, and he called me all sorts of terrible names, and just started yelling at me. I told him to go back to his room, but he wasn’t leaving. Luckily his two co-workers were still there and took him out of the lobby. He went back to his room and it was over, or so I thought.
I got a call from his manager, who I knew, asking what had happened. I guess one of his co-workers called and told him what had happened. I explained what happened, and told him how he’s not allowed in the lobby if he’s going to be disrespectful. His manager apologized and said he would get him on a new assignment, and he would be leaving later this week. He told me if anything else happens to call him. Alright, that sounded good to me.
About 30 minutes later, the dude comes back down yelling at me about how his manager called him and is making him leave. He then pulls out his phone and starts to record me, on Facebook live, saying how I won’t serve because I’m a terrible person. He then goes into the shop, and on video, steals drinks from the cooler. He tells me he’s going to get me fired and just started screaming at me again. Unfortunately, his co-workers weren’t in the lobby, so all I could do was tell him to go back to his room. He eventually went back to his room.
I look up the guest’s reservation and call the number on file for the manager I had talked to earlier to tell him what happened. I called and got the voice mail, for whom I thought was his other manager. I knew him as well. I left a voice mail, explaining what happened and he called me back almost immediately. He apologized and since it was late he couldn’t get him a flight that night to leave but he had a flight first thing in the morning. I then found out that this man was actually the owner of the company.
A few days go by, and I get a phone call from the HR team. I explained the situation and they apologized. I then got a call from their risk management team, and they apologized. The next time I was at work, all of the managers, owners, and employees came and apologized. The guy got fired, and every person in the company had to have a harassment class.”
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
“I’m sure we’ve all had those customers that would mention that they knew the owner.
I worked part-time at a Vegas hotel in the 2010s, and every day we’d get about 5-10 people that would bring up they knew the CEO or the owner. The owner lived onsite and often would be on his laptop or phone on the couches placed across from the front desk. He had some pretty awesome laid back rules. The rule of today, ‘Anytime a customer mentions they know the Owner or CEO, write it in their notes section and inform me in person.; Now he didn’t care when we informed him since he’d usually let us know if someone he knew would be staying with us.
Usually, the owner would be up bright and early, go for a swim, and back to the couches. I guess it had the strongest Wi-Fi. But he was ALWAYS there at checkout time. So when the guests would come to turn in their keys, I’d look up their accounts and see the note that mentions ‘They know the owner.’ I’d then proceed to call over to the owner that his friends are here. 9.9/10 he’d look up and simply say, ‘I don’t know them.;
The look on the guest’s faces was always priceless. I wish I could have taken a Polaroid of each one.”
Taking “Bridezilla” To A Whole New Meaning
“‘M’ = mom, ‘EB’ = entitled bridezilla
My mom was answering some text service questions, and so begins the saga of the bridezilla who apparently thought everyone should be doing absolutely everything for her, possibly up to and including wiping her behind.
EB: ‘Hi, how can I make spa and salon appointments for myself and my fiancé?’
M: ‘I’m sorry, but the spa and salon are closed.’
EB: ‘Okay, I am in need of a bridal veil as I am getting married here this week. Where can I find one?’
M: ‘There are two large shopping malls nearby, one just to the south of the hotel and one further away to the north.’
EB: ‘Okay, go ahead and tell one of your maids to get one and deliver it to me.’
M: ‘I’m sorry, the hotel does not provide that service, nor will they pay for your veil’.
EB: ‘HONESTLY THIS HOTEL HAS ALREADY RUINED MY WHOLE WEDDING EXPERIENCE AS A BRIDE AND AS A FREQUENT VISITOR TO THIS CITY. I DEFINITELY WILL NOT BE RECOMMENDING THIS HOTEL TO ANYONE! NOW STOP TEXTING ME.’
M of course had no problem not talking to this lady anymore, and decided to do some investigating and looked at her reservation. It was flagged and full of notes about how EB has been terrorizing everyone she has come in contact with. Apparently, nothing had been good enough for her, from the size and price of her room and the rooms of her bridal party to the fact she still had to pay for her meals and drinks. EB is basically a walking dumpster fire tornado.
It doesn’t take more than a few days before M catches wind of an altercation in the VIP lounge. The day before her wedding, EB had to provide ID for some additional guests who were arriving under her name. Of course, she didn’t like that as she felt every single employee on the property should know who she is as a ‘VIP,’ and how dare they ask for her ID? She started throwing a tantrum about how terrible the hotel was being and even today she had already demanded that they redecorate the chapel AGAIN because it was nothing like she wanted. She attempted to go around the desk and attack the VIP clerk. Security took her off the property and evicted her from the hotel.
M never heard anything about what happened with the rest of her party or whether she got married there after all.”
Why Couldn’t He Understand This?
“I was the assistant general manager (AGM), and my general manager (GM) was out for six weeks, so I was acting GM. I constantly deal with issues like this from time to time when people refuse to talk to me because I’m relatively young and a female, and can’t possibly be in the position I’m in at my age.
I was working 3-11 one night when a guy and his wife come in to check in. This happened maybe a month or so ago, and I’ve grown accustomed to seeing chime and cash app debit cards, so I didn’t think twice about it when the wife handed me one. Our system accepts those kinds of cards but is super finicky with prepaid cards. Lo and behold, the card declined. My property doesn’t even take additional authorization for incidentals if you pay with a card, her card declined just for room and tax. They walked back out to the car and told me they were going to go load money on the card.
I heard the front doors open again and the husband walked back in, and this is basically the conversation we have.
Husband: ‘If I go to the convenience store down the street and get a prepaid card can, I use that to pay for the room?’
Me: ‘I can’t guarantee that it will work. Sometimes our system doesn’t accept prepaid cards. It all depends on the type of card and how much money is on the card.’
Husband: ‘Okay, but if I load my money onto a prepaid card why wouldn’t it work?’
We went through the usual back and forth where he phrased the question 10 different ways expecting a different answer. You all know exactly what I’m talking about. He wasn’t pleased with my responses.
Husband in big boy voice: ‘Is there a manager or a man that I can talk to?’
Me: ‘I’m the manager on duty. There is nobody else here.’
Husband: ‘But there’s a MAN here right? There has to be a MAN here.’
Me: ‘Nope, just me.’
Husband: ‘Then who is your manager? There HAS to be a MAN in charge of YOU.’
The rest of the conversation is a blur that ended in me demanding he leave. I was so infuriated by that point, I had to kick him out.”
Did He Really Think That Would Work?
“I work at a big brand name hotel in a beach town. In the summer, our rates skyrocket to almost $300 a night, and we are usually sold out. One time, someone booked two rooms for a long weekend and decided not to show or bother calling to cancel. Our no-show policy is pretty standard – one night’s cost for each room you booked. This gentleman was charged over $500 total for his two no-show rooms. It sucks, and it’s a lot of money, but it’s 100% his fault.
The gentleman called me a couple of weeks later when he got his credit card bill. I explained to him our policy, and that he wouldn’t be getting a refund.
He went off, saying, ‘You don’t know who you’re messing with! I’m not paying you idiot,’ yada yada. Eventually, HE told me he was just going to dispute it with his credit card company.
This is basically what I said to him, ‘Sir, if you want to dispute the charge with your bank, you have every right to do that. I would not personally recommend it though. If this was a case of a stolen credit card, I would agree with you, but we have documentation showing you were informed of the no-show policy. However, if you wish to pass this issue along to the bank, I will gladly deal with them.’
When you dispute a charge, the bank will front you the money while they investigate. When he got money from the bank right after he filed a dispute, he called me to GLOAT. He told me how stupid I was, and how he had won. What I don’t think he understood, is that the money is pretty much a loan, under the assumption that his charges really were fraudulent. Which they weren’t.
I easily won the dispute, proving that he willfully did purchase these rooms, and was informed of the no-show policy. Then the bank billed him back for the money they fronted him. He called me again. Lucky me. He told me that the bank was billing him and I had to pay it. He said because it all started with my hotel, it was our responsibility to pay his bank bill. At this point, I didn’t even know what more to say.
I just said, ‘No, have a good day,; and hung up. Down the road, he called AGAIN, saying that his credit card company was threatening to turn over the bill to collections if he didn’t pay. Now he wanted us to pay $800 because of the interest. I told him that his personal finances are his own business, and to stop calling. I tried to warn him in the beginning.”
But They Did The Right Thing?
“So, working as a night manager at a large hotel where we had four overnight staff: myself, a cleaner/houseman, the night auditor, and a security guard. The guard’s duty is to walk around, listening for noise incidents.
Our hotel is very close to a plaza that is FILLED with bars, including a very sketchy country bar known for over-serving and not checking IDs.
One night, we saw three or four ladies in their late 40s and a younger girl barely legal, leave shortly after 11, dressed for the country bar for sure. Just before one in the morning, the younger girl and one of the older ladies returned. It was pretty obvious the younger girl was quite trashed, but they were being quiet so I didn’t hassle them on their way to the elevators. Twenty minutes later, the older lady was heading back out to party with her friends. Another 20 minutes went by, and we got a call from the security guard that a woman is passed out on the floor in the hallway
I headed up to the floor in question and sure enough, slumped against a room door was the young lady from earlier. She was unresponsive to our verbal commands and then she starts throwing up on herself. We rolled her into the recovery position, and called an ambulance.
While waiting for the ambulance, the mother and her friends returned to their rooms. We informed the mother we called an ambulance for her unconscious, unresponsive daughter, who was throwing up on herself, and she started SCREAMING! How DARE we call an ambulance? What are they going to think? Her husband is a first responder and will find out! She is going to sue us!
Now, the houseman arrived with the EMTs who start making sure the young woman can breathe, and they load her onto a stretcher to take her to the hospital. One of them does in fact know the mother, and that is when we find out the daughter is only 16!
He looked at her and told her she better call her husband. She goes off with the ambulance crew, crying.”
Nice Try, Karen
“I worked at a hotel that had a lot of conventions. One weekend we were at capacity with no rooms to spare for one big company. Cue the entitled woman who didn’t have a reservation. I’ll call her ‘Karen.’
Karen asked to check-in and gave me her name. I looked her up but found nothing. She claimed she has a reservation, but can’t give me a confirmation number or any other information about it. I told her it ain’t happening: no reservation, no room. She demanded the manager, where I happily smile and replied, ‘THAT’S ME!’
She scuttled off, angry.
An hour or so later, my manager showed up and asked about the woman. Karen had gone to the hotel restaurant and demanded my manager to complain about me. Turns out she’s with the convention (She never told me that), and there was some kind of misunderstanding with her reservation.
As we’re looking at the computer, Karen comes back up, smug to see my manager standing over me. She asked if we’ve found her reservation. We said no, we’re trying to locate a room for her. She starts to give us trouble, saying we’re unprofessional and she’d be recommending another hotel to her company for the future. Then she goes off to find the bathroom.
While she’s gone, another woman comes to the front desk, she’s the chairman of the convention group. She wanted to go over the list of people checking in that day and the rooms they are assigned.
Me: ‘Perfect timing! We have one person with your group that doesn’t have a reservation. Her name is Karen.’
Chairman: ‘Karen? I don’t have anyone named Karen listed, and I know pretty much everyone.’
I see Karen come out of the bathroom. I waved her over, and she looked happy like she’s gotten her way. She approached the desk.
My Manager: ‘Karen, I assume you know Chairman? She’s not finding your name on the list for rooms.’
Chairman: ‘I’m sorry, we’ve never met? You’re with (Company name)?’
Karen’s eyes get all wide.
She said: ‘Oh no. Not THAT company, the other convention this weekend.’
Me: ‘We only have one convention here this weekend Karen.
Knowing she’s caught, Karen went ballistic.
She demanded: ‘Are you calling me a liar!??!?!’
Um, yeah. But we all just stand there and look at her.
My manager: ‘Karen, I’m sorry but if you aren’t with the convention we can’t offer you a room this evening. We are booked solid.;
Karen turns around and walks away – doesn’t say another word. I guess when you’re caught lying, there really isn’t much more to say.”
She Got Charged For A Reason
“I’ve evicted multiple guests from my property, but never had an issue with a noise complaint get to this point, until tonight.
Me: ‘Front desk. How can I help you?’
Nice Lady (NL): ‘Hi sorry to bother you, but we’re trying to sleep and the people next to us are talking really loud. Could you ask them to quiet down?’
Me: ‘Of course, just give me a few minutes and I’ll take care of it. If they don’t quiet down within 15 minutes, call me back and let me know.’
NL: ‘Thank you!’
I went down the hall and listen to see who it is, then I went back to the front desk to make the call.
Rude woman (RW): ‘Hello?’
Me: ‘Hi, this is the front desk. I’m sorry to bother you, but I got a noise complaint and was just calling to ask you to=’
RW: ‘Ugh seriously?’ hangs up
Well, okay then!
20 minutes later
NL: ‘Hi sorry to bother you again but they are still being really loud.’
Me: ‘I’m sorry about that, I’ll ask them again.’
NL: ‘Thank you!’ and then she hangs up.
I call room again.
RW: ;Hello?!’
Me: ‘Hi this is the front desk again, I-‘
RW interrupts: ‘If you call again, I’m going to come down to the desk and kick your butt!’
Oh, is that a threat? Guess it’s time to call the police.
I call police and tell them what happened. They send someone down. The officer got here, I told them her room number (1st floor right down the hall so I can hear some of the things they’re saying). The officers knock on the door, and started talking to her.
I’m not 100% sure what they said at that point, but I do hear her say, ‘She’s full of it,’ and ‘Why do I have to leave?’
Eventually, she agreed to leave and came storming into the lobby with all of her stuff.
She screamed, ‘You better not try to charge me for the night!’
She’d been in house for seven hours already. She’s getting charged. I smile and say that she can call the manager tomorrow and ask him about getting her money back (I already know that’s not going to happen). Officers take her out the door.
I decide to call my manager and let him know what’s happening. My manager laughed, and confirmed she would not be getting a refund and he’ll deal with her tomorrow when she calls.”
This Is Why It’s Important To Be Nice
“One night, a guest came in all upset with his girlfriend at 2:30 am.
Him: ‘I wanna check in now!’
Me: ‘Ok, looks like your reservation is for the Fo-‘
Him: ‘It is the 4th! Check me in!!’
Me: ‘Sir, I can’t check you in yet, I can check you in if you’ll wait fifteen minutes.’
Him: ‘No! Now!’
Me, completely fed up with his behavior: ‘Ok I can check you in now.’
Him: ‘Took long enough.. Can I leave my car out front until I unpack?’
Me: ‘Yes sir, take your time….. But I do want to inform you would need to come back down and move it because that is a tow zone.’
Him: ‘You think I’m blind?? I can read, thank you!!’
The guest never came back down, and I got to witness his car get towed right in front of the building. So. instead of paying the eight or nine dollars to park, he had to pay a 200 dollar towing bill. Maybe if he was a bit nicer, I would’ve done something about it!”
Why Did She Think This Would Work?
“I was working Corporate Guest Relations and I received a VERY long email from a guest about their stay at our Resort property in Mexico. This was a very nice All-Inclusive Beachfront Resort.
She put a lot of effort into the email, which was basically a day-by-diary of her eight-night stay, listing every possible complaint someone could come up with, along with a huge collection of pictures as ‘evidence.’ It was several pages long, and it looked something like this:
Day 1: The shuttle driver was rude. We had to wait 30 minutes to check in. The view was horrible, we couldn’t see the Ocean. The sheets were dirty (picture attached). The A/C was so loud, I couldn’t sleep. There was a crack in the sidewalk outside our room (picture attached). My dinner was cold and there wasn’t any salt/pepper on the table. The shower had no water pressure.
Day 2: They were out of pancakes at breakfast. My daughter’s favorite cereal _ wasn’t available. There were loud children playing in the pool all day. There was a light out on the pathway (picture attached). I called the front desk to ask for more towels and no one answered. I think housekeeping took money out of my purse. The chairs in the lobby were uncomfortable. One of the electrical plugs in my room doesn’t work.
Now, some complaints seemed plausible, but really, who spends their entire vacation making a log of everything they think is wrong with a resort? Especially a hotel we get very few complaints about. So I contacted the FOM to discuss the guest, assuming the system (which I cannot access) would have all the logs from this woman’s complaints.
But there was nothing there. In fact, the entire time she was at the hotel she never voiced any complaints. She merely logged them in her little ‘complaint diary,’ and went about her business. Many of her issues were extremely petty, for example, the ‘crack in the sidewalk’ was about three inches long and was flat on both sides. It wasn’t a tripping hazard, just a small crack. The light out in the path… even in the picture I could see that the area was still very well lit because they have lights everywhere in that area. Her room didn’t have an ocean view because she booked a courtyard view. The picture of dirty sheets showed one tiny little black spot in the corner, like if you tapped the sheet with the tip of a pen or fine marker. It took 30 minutes to check in because she showed up three hours early and they had to get a room ready. The shower in her room was fine, and the A/C unit was not loud at all.
We looked into everything, talked to all of the department heads, and had the room she stayed in fully inspected. While the list made it seem like she had a horrible stay, there really wasn’t any substance behind her complaints. So, since this all seemed a bit fishy to everyone, I called the guest and spoke with her about her complaints. I told her that I had been in contact with the hotel and we couldn’t find any record of her complaints, and I inquired who at the hotel she had spoken with while she was there… and she admitted, no one.
I gave her my apologies and suggested that next time she should express her complaints while on property, so they can be immediately addressed. Keep in mind, she was there for eight nights, at an all-inclusive resort with seven different restaurants, four bars, multiple pools, etc. She probably never left the hotel, but never said a word about all the problems she was having.
So, in the name of Customer Service, I tell her that we would like an opportunity to make this right, and offered her three FREE nights to come back in the future.
Nope, that’s not good enough, she wanted a FULL refund ($6,500) and nothing less. I told her I would get back to her. The next day, I informed her the hotel would not offer a refund, but they were willing to add in another night, so now that’s four free nights.
Nope, unacceptable, she continued to demand a full refund. We went back and forth. She wanted my manager, who then told her the same thing. The guest hung up on my boss after things got a bit heated. A few days later, she called again and wanted to know the status of her refund. Ummmm, how do you give someone status on something that’s never going to happen?
She says she’s going to contact Corporate. I roll my eyes and explain to her (again) that I am the Corporate Guest Relations Coordinator. I am Corporate. I spent forever on the phone talking with this woman, who just refused to accept the free nights and was bent on getting her money back.
She just kept going back to her list, ‘Well what about ? What are you going to about __?’
I wouldn’t budge. It was 4four free future nights or nothing lady.
Then, the unimaginable happened. In all my years of Customer Service, I have never EVER had a scammer resort to telling the TRUTH. When she finally realized she wasn’t getting a refund, she cried, ‘I can’t afford to pay for this, I don’t have the money! I don’t know what to do… you have to help me!’
I was like, ‘You… can’t afford to pay? Weren’t you planning on paying for your stay when you made the reservation? It’s not like we are charging you more than you agreed to …and we are still offering you free nights for your next visit…’
She responded (completely broken and weeping), ‘I didn’t think I would have to pay!! I thought I would get my money back! I don’t know what I’m going to do. Please, you have to help me! I can’t pay for this, I’ve got kids! Please, you’ve got to do something to help me out. I need you to give me a refund. I don’t know what I’m going to do if I can’t get that money back, I can’t pay for this.’
Did this woman just admit she planned all this, thinking she was just going to complain her way into a $6,500 refund? Yes, yes she did just say that.
Me: ‘Ma’am, I’m sorry, but there is nothing I can do.’
Guest (who now sounds like she is having a panic attack): ‘I’ve got to get that money back, I’ve got to do something! You’ve got to help me out here, I don’t know what else to do. I don’t have the money, I can’t pay for this!’
Me: ‘Ma’am, you should have thought about that before you went on a vacation you couldn’t afford.’
She cried some more, then she resorted to screaming so I hung up on her. Everything was noted. All my calls are recorded so I went ahead and attached that file. She did send some hate mail to our Corporate offices, but due to the fact that I had a RECORDING of her admitting she was trying to scam us, they ignored her letters. Oh, and her ‘frequent guest’ membership was flagged as being banned from all properties. We did not send her the free night certificates either.”
