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30 Hotel Workers Expose The Worst Guest Behavior They’ve Had The Displeasure Of Witnessing
If you want to test the limits of your patience, get a job where you have to interact directly with the clientele. Whenever people are buying something from you, they can be so egotistical, so stubborn, and so rude that you will quickly find out how many "Sorry" and "Have a nice day" you can fit into one shift. Don't believe me? Just check out this Reddit thread where former and current hotel receptionists have been describing their worst guests. The customer isn't always right.
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#1
In the late 80s, my wife was in line at the Atlanta Hyatt Hotel and watched as a man was making a young desk clerk ugly-cry and shake. The clerk was so upset she had to go back and get a manager. She stood there and shook.
My wife could tell by the smug set of the abusive customer’s shoulders that whatever it was he got what he wanted.
He turned around, and, to her astonishment, she saw that the horrible customer was entertainer, movie star, comedian, and alleged humanitarian Bob Hope. His trademark smile popped onto his face. He immediately went into star mode.
“Without filter, my theatrically trained mouth growled, ‘YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF.’ It rang up the central atrium like I yelled at him in church. The Bob Hope fell off his face, and I have never seen a man run to the elevator bank so fast in my life,” she recalls.
“You can always tell the quality of a person by the way they treat those they would consider beneath them,” my wife adds.
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#2
Far too many to list them all, unfortunately. One of the worst was during my first week not in training (love it!) where I was thankfully in the back office right behind the desk doing some reservations work instead of being at the desk (where I’d mostly been during training). A groom had emailed our team and asked us to please go into their room and get the bride’s dress to steam it before their wedding the next day. We made sure we had permission to enter the room and whatnot, and our staff, though very uncomfortable, got the dress.
She noticed right away that there were rips and dirty spots on the dress, which she took pictures of as soon as she opened the dress bag. (Time stamps lined up right after she got the dress. There was no way she could’ve done it.) The bride came down after SCREAMING at our staff and accusing our staff of trying to steal her dress and then destroying it, making it “unwearable” (it was a few tiny rips and smudge spots that, again, we didn’t do). Was running around the lobby screaming at the top of her lungs, threatening to get violent with staff, screaming that her rich daddy would have the hotel closed down and all of us fired (it was a luxury hotel in a major U.S. city).
Her belief was that we stole her dress, wrecked it for fun, steamed it, and then put it back in the room. How any of that makes sense? No clue. Our manager calmly asked her to step around the desk and read the email from her fiance telling us to do this and that the bride requested it. She accused us of lying, despite the email proof from his direct email address, lmao. When the groom came down, our manager pointed out that he’d asked us to do that, and he played dumb. The day after the wedding, her father came down to check out and berated our staff for “upsetting his daughter before her wedding” and asked for discounts. We said no, lolol. Genuine psycho behavior. Hope she got therapy.
#3
We had a guest, who clearly had a pet in his bag and kept denying it. The bag was squirming, and the dog inside was whining. What a selfish piece of s**t to do that to the dog. 🤷🏼♀️.
#4
It all started when the guest checked in late one evening. He seemed normal enough until he asked, "Does my room come with a microwave?" I told it didn’t, he looked absolutely devastated and said, “I cannot survive without a microwave.” I offered to warm something up for him if needed, but that wasn’t good enough. He stormed out and came back an hour later—dragging a full-size microwave he’d purchased from a nearby store.
The trouble really started at 3 a.m. when the fire alarm went off, waking the entire hotel. Turns out, Mr. Midnight Microwave decided to cook a steak in his new appliance. Not just heat it—he’d seasoned it, wrapped it in foil, and popped it in like it was an oven. The foil caused a small fire, which set off the sprinklers in his room. By the time we got there, his room was soaked, the microwave was destroyed, and he was trying to "save" his steak by patting it dry with hotel towels.
When asked why he’d thought this was a good idea, he replied, “I didn’t know microwaves couldn’t cook steak! This is YOUR fault for not having one in the room in the first place.”... Needless to say, he was charged for the damage, the room was out of commission for weeks.
#5
We had a guest whose kid squat walked a turd/diarrhea 12 ft in a line into the pool then demanded we clean up their child’s poo.
Then THEY were upset that we had to close the pool!
Also had a creepy old man come up to me asking me to bring rubber duckies to his room for his bath every night in a 5 star hotel and I’d always just kinda nervously laugh?
I’m living in far North Queensland in Australia where there are lots of creatures. They get in sometimes, no matter how nice the hotel is- it’s the rainforest.
We had a guest from NZ come screaming at us about a “lizard infestation” because she had found a 1 inch gecko in her room. She said her kids were afraid (they were not) and it was unsanitary and unsafe. We removed the lizard and she demanded an entire new room. Then she left a very nasty review because one of us cracked a smile at the term “lizard infestation”.
God I have so many weird stories I can’t even remember half of them.
#6
It’s mostly just people lying about having service animals, constantly. And then when you ask them the two questions you’re legally allowed to ask them about their “service animals”, they get super defensive, couldn’t/wouldn’t answer the questions/yell at me “you can’t legally ask me that!!!!!”/make a scene and then lie to management, who watch the security tapes and see they’re full of s**t.
People who exploit rules and laws made to help the lives of the disabled are some of the shittiest humans.
#7
I used to work as a night receptionist at a hotel in Jalandhar, India a few years ago. Most nights were uneventful, but one guest will forever be burned into my memory.
It was around 2 a.m. when a man came stumbling to the front desk, looking panicked. He whispered, ‘There’s someone in my room!’ Naturally, I was alarmed. I immediately checked the system to ensure he hadn’t been double-booked, but everything looked fine.
I offered to check the room with him. As we entered, I turned on the lights, and there it was—the “intruder.” It was a life-sized cutout of a Bollywood actor that we had placed in the hallway for a promotion earlier that day. For some reason, he had brought it into his room, propped it in a corner, and forgotten about it.
I tried to keep a straight face as he muttered something about being ‘too tired’ and shuffled back to bed. The next morning, he checked out like nothing had happened. But I’ll never forget having to ‘rescue’ someone from their own cardboard celebrity at 2 a.m.
#8
Had a woman throwing raw steaks at the housekeepers in the name of Jesus.
#9
There was this one guest who demanded a room upgrade because "their aura didn't vibe" with the one they booked. When told no, they started yelling, cursed the staff, and threatened to leave a bad review—only to call back later asking for a discount because they forgot their wallet.
#10
A man was checking into a room that was under his wife's name. She did not add his name to the room so I could not let him in. I had to call the wife to get permission.
We do this for guest safety.
I couldn't get ahold of her and he was livid.
1. He didn't want to show me his ID.
DONT YOU KNOW WHO I AM I HAVE BEEN STAYING HERE FOR 14 YEARS.
The hotel was 4 years old, I was very new at the job as well, like 3 months.
2.Once I did have his ID he was threatening me and my job saying I would regret the day I did this to him. His wife was gonna kill me.
Eventually got ahold of wife. She gave approval, she was so sweet. I smiled and gave him the room key. He told me to go f**k myself.
This whole thing was like 30 minutes.
#11
Probably the guy at a stag party who managed to s**t himself in the lobby and then run away pursued by security as he dribbled a trail of diarrhoea across the lobby, up the stairs, in the lift, etc, like the world's worst Hansel and Gretel. When security caught up to the (surprisingly fast) drunk guy, he had made it to the first floor public bathroom and flooded it trying to flush his trousers and underwear. Just standing there, runny s**t dripping down his legs and full bait and tackle swinging in the breeze.
#12
One night a sketchy dude came in with a really long coat. He looked like trouble and like he hadn’t slept for weeks. He paid cash, which even 02 years ago was usually a bad sign. I gave him his key and he went to his room. About 5 minutes later he came back in a huff, yelling. He had a long object inside his coat with his hand on it, he didn’t threaten me but I was on edge. He threw the key over the desk and told me that it didn’t work. I looked and let him know that wasn’t the key that I gave him, so of course it didn’t work. He found the right key and stormed off.
About two hours later the police arrive and one is holding one of those parabolic listening devices. They asked if I’d checked the dude in and what room he was in. He was wanted for armed robbery with a shotgun. I gave them the info and they went and staked out the room and arrested him when he came out. It is pretty scary thinking back on it, I’m sure the long object under his coat was the shotgun.
#13
My 66 year old mother apparently.
She came home, eaten alive by bed bugs. After staying in a B&B. Video proof of the bed bugs and all. She was sick for weeks after that.
She posted a review on Google reviews. The owner then replied saying that she had multiple men back in the room that night and that she left the room in a state. Unbelievable and untrue.
#14
I've told this story in the hotel front desk sub, but here goes.
Elderly woman who stayed with her son who had mental disabilities. She'd sold her house, and hadn't bothered to even start looking for a new place, so was spending her money on a hotel than rather a home. After a while I switched to another hotel, and don't give her a second thought until she starts staying at that new hotel. She'd built up a ton of reward points, and would pay for her room with those points whenever possible. One day her point reservation was up, and when she came in, I waved her over and quietly asked if she wanted to use points again for that night, or pay with a card. She said she'd pay, and I thought that'd be it. Nope, next day I was told I had a guest complain about me, which I assumed was a joke. No, she'd made a complaint about me, saying that I had screamed at her, in front of a lobby full of people, that she owed me money. I refused to have anything to do with her after that.
#15
Probably the one who pooped into the ice machine.
Or the one who mugged a blind woman and stole her cane.
Or the one who turned on the fire hose and flooded their floor. Oh, wait, that was the same guy who shat into the ice machine.
Or the one who slapped me because an ice storm hit, the phones were down, and I had to knock on doors if they had scheduled wakeup calls.
Wang Zhuang 1 month ago
What kind of sick bastard would poop in the ice machine? Hope that guy got arrested
#16
I worked in Las Vegas in college and worked at a major resort on the strip. We had one guest in particular, a popular singer. I will not mention her name, but I will say that she is fully thawed this time of year. She was not only the worst guest I ever worked with but also one of the worst human beings I worked with. When her car was in the porte-cochère, no cars under $100k were allowed to be in the area. Even if her car was just parked. Cabs were supposed to drop off guests on the upper porte-cochère, so hundreds of cab drivers had to be diverted to the lower, creating huge backups. They would get in one lane anticipating being sent up top and now had to be moved across three lanes of queued traffic to go to the lower. The lobby and casino floor needed to be cleared whenever she was passing through so nobody could bother her. She refused to use the back entrance that every other major celebrity used. She demanded housekeeping three times per day and demanded her staff's rooms be treated the same. She did not want to see any of the staff at any time unless they were directly interacting with her or her staff. She was just a plain vile person to anyone she viewed as beneath her. My wife and I had a table at a nightclub that night and she was there because her SO was DJing that night. She had an entire section of the club blocked off, and security kept one of the bathrooms clear for her people to use.
To counter this, Jay-Z and Beyonce were the absolute best celebrity guests I have ever worked with.
Eric Von Beagleburger 1 month ago
Tell me you're talking about Mariah Carey without telling me you're talking about Mariah Carey...
#17
An entitled Karen burned a bag of microwavable popcorn, threw it out in the hallway and called down to me at the front desk and demanded I come get it at that exact moment. I was the only one working at the time in a college town during football season. I had several groups in the lobby waiting for me to get to them and I was so busy. I told her I couldn't come up there right then and I'd be there when I could. She flipped out and started yelling at me so I told her I was very sorry and I hung up. She then proceeded to scatter the burned popcorn and the bag in the elevator which I found out about from another guest that witnessed her throwing a loud tantrum. She then came down to the front desk laughing, pointing and taking pictures of me saying she was reporting me to corporate. I'll never forget that horrible woman and thankfully I never heard a thing from my boss about it. I left that job a few months later, I had many other situations happen and I'm actually not sure she was the worst one now that I think about it... Hotel work isn't for me.
#18
I have too many but will start with one.
I was working in a party hostel in Prague and it was just after lockdown so there were barely any guests. Anyways, the owners opted to allow a family of Syrian refugees ( a father and two teenage sons) to stay for free through an NGO.
Anyways, they are in a dorm room and opposite them is the bathroom. My duty at night is to check the bathrooms and I find the toilet opposite them completely covered in s**t. I concluded that someone must have stood on the seat and then squatted. Since this family were the only ones next to it, I figured it had to be them. Worse, they were staying for three more nights.
So, I tried to explain the next day but they spoke little English, resulting in me using my skills in mime to try to get my message across. I guess it worked as there was no s**t seats after. The family were not horrible but it was a horrible experience.
Gadaffi Duck 1 month ago
That could be not knowing how the toilets work as it's very different in the middle east and parts of Asia. Tho I'd expect anyone to know to clean up after.
#19
Had a guest take a bunch of plates, silverware, etc from the breakfast, they filled a children's carriage and dumped everything in their room for the cleaners to fix later.
Another time a guest tried billing to a nonexistent store, quickly racked up a bill over $1800 for the entire stay and ate for $800 the first night. They called us racists when we threw her and the rest of her family out the same evening, they never paid for anything either. During the few hours they stayed they also trashed the room.
The family (their small children) were caught stealing from a nearby store not long after.. trashy people like playing the victim card.
Great times, probably forgetting someone.
Brian Droste 1 month ago
I hope someone called the cops and had then arrested for stealing from the store.
#20
Helped take care of Lil Wayne. 4 diamond hotel. Leed platinum certified.
He was a piece of s**t. Along with all his staff and personal chef. They destroyed the entire top floor of the hotel.
He did pay for it to get fixed...but still. Deuche-nozzle and treated everyone like c**p. 0 tips. .
#21
Had a guest who clogged the toilet, blamed us for 'faulty plumbing,' and then left a handwritten complaint on the bathroom mirror in lipstick. 10/10.
Toujin C'Thlu 4 weeks ago
Lipstick on mirrors is fine on RuPaul's Drag Race, not fine elsewhere
#22
I had a guest who came and complained that his window wasn't closing properly. I offered him a different room, he refused and demanded I come up to fix it. He kicked up a huge fuss until I finally called my duty manager (another woman). He wouldn't settle down until we went up to the room to take a look. He insisted on walking behind us. When we got to the room we insisted he go in first. He had thrown the table in his room down so it blocked the walkway past the door, and we both refused to enter the room as he clearly wanted us to do while he showed us how the window wouldn't close. My duty manager stepped in and shut the window properly.
We retreated to the office and he came down again shortly after, claiming there was another issue and he needed us to come up again. When we refused he said we were racist for not helping him! After my duty manager shut him down, we didn't see him again for the duration of his stay. He definitely wanted to get us alone in that room. Still creeped out just thinking about it. I'm not sure if he was just a predator or if he was on d***s, but his behavior was definitely erratic.
RajunCajun 1 month ago
When I was an EMT, we had someone pull that c**p. One of my guys had to jump out a 2 story window to get away from him.
#23
I used to work the night audit shift as I was a night manager, and we had this one guy who became a serious issue. He would periodically come in, but if it was early, like 2 am, stroll in. If he saw that, there were 2 females he'd claim the shower wasn't working properly. When you went up, he would start to undress when you had your back to him. Our management was absolutely shite and wouldn't care, so we made it an unofficial rule that if we worked alone or it was myself and the other female we would just tell him that our staff policy changed and was now that 2 people had to come up to the room. After that, he just stopped coming less and less.
I'm not sure what happened to him as I was one of the 10 people that management fired because we knew what was going on at the hotel..... the main manager was sleeping with the maintenance man while she was still married... and he was sleeping with her daughter, who may or may not have worked there. That was a blessing in disguise, though I met some cool people that I still talk to today, and that was over 10 years ago.
Upstaged75 1 month ago
I worked in a fancy hotel after I graduated from college and can confirm that everyone is sleeping with each other. It broke up several marriages while I was there. And everyone knew what was happening so there was lots of gossip.
#24
I managed a hotel near the beach in Rhode Island. Managed for a room and got paid by the hour to clean. We had a room with a broken shower. Fourth of July weekend. Rooms are $300 a night ( this was the nineties) $150 for no shower.
Most of these rooms were booked a year in advance. People would literally book the same room for next year.
I've been telling people since 6 pm that no shower room is the only thing available for sixty miles. ( Because I was nice enough to call around for people) Finally around ten someone just takes it.
Some family from earlier comes back at like midnight screaming at me insisting I said I'd hold that room for them. No, bro I don't hold rooms on fourth of July weekend. He demanded I let him and his four kids sleep in the closed in gazebo thing. Like, no? It's locked up. The credit card machine and guest records are in there. Get out.
He literally grabbed and shook me. I was a twenty something year old chick. Good thing the fisherman who kept his room year round heard. He saved me and we still had to call the cops.
I'd rather deal with ornery, anti social, slightly off smelling fishermen that rented rooms off season and slept on their boats otherwise than tourists.
Tabitha 1 month ago (edited)
If they cross that line—-the one where they cuss at me, make personal remarks, make threats, or the ultimate no-no, touch me in any way—-I am calling security if the hotel has any, as well as the police. No way am I going to be treated like that ANYWHERE. The good employers will have your back on that, and believe it or not, there are a few of them out there. You can tell which ones they are, because they have a lot of longtime employees, and several seasonal employees who come back every year, as well as loads of repeat guests who have been staying there every year for years. Being a good employer breeds that kind of loyalty, S****y employers won’t, of course, which is why they always have brand new staff and guests who stay once and never again.
#25
Huge sport conference during hurricane season, with a formed storm being watched.
Storm got bigger, headed right for our faces. Hotel was under a mandatory evacuation, which we announced both via speakers and flyers, with lists of places they could relocate to in a safer area.
One gentleman came down and was *livid*...he wanted us to 1) refund his entire stay (obviously people are refunded for the days of the evacuation, but he wanted a refund for the days he'd already stayed, as well), 2) make a reservation for him at a place of his choosing, and 3) pay for his new accommodations and transport his family and luggage.
This is while the hotel is actively being evacuated, so people and luggage everywhere. He's standing at the desk, yelling so fiercely he was spitting, telling us it was our fault and we would have to "make it right". He refused to step aside to allow any other guests to be helped, and ratcheted up to threats.
We had to call the police to have him removed, while he's still screaming that WE ruined the tournament by ALLOWING a hurricane.
#26
I've got a couple!
There's a lady who has been a regular guest at my hotel for decades and is crazy entitled. Recently she decided she didn't like the room she was given, but rather than tell the front desk she found a maintenance worker and got him to let her into a room that wasn't hers by claiming that she'd lost her key. Then she proceeded to move all of her stuff into the new room.
Another guest was a homeless lady who had been staying at the hotel for a few months, apparently a friend of her father's was paying for it. One night she was found in the dry storage room stealing food. When she was evicted they found her room was full of giant piles of stuff she'd apparently been stealing throughout her entire stay. It was like a hoarder's house. The next day she snuck back into the hotel and tried to steal more stuff, then set up a camp in the parking lot until the police were called.
Finally, years ago I was working at a hostel in Kyiv. We had this one guest who was absolutely disgusting - he would sit in the kitchen and shovel food into his mouth while staring off into space. Crumbs falling all over his body and the floor, then eventually get up and leave without cleaning up after himself. He never talked and he smelled awful. One night when I was thankfully out with my ex, apparently he s**t himself in his sleep so badly it woke up everyone in the dorm. My coworker was unable to wake him up and he didn't seem to be breathing so he called an ambulance, paramedics came to revive him. Apparently he's taken a bunch of pills while drinking. Everyone in that dorm had to sleep in the common room that night, all the bedding was thrown away, and the smell still lingered for a couple of days.
Upstaged75 1 month ago
No hotel staff is supposed to give you a room key unless your show them your ID and confirm with the front desk that it's your room. Once I locked myself out while going to the ice maker in my pajamas (I had nothing but the bucket with me) and security escorted me to my room and had me get my ID before I was allowed a back in.
#27
There was a man from England staying at our hotel who had bipolar disorder. At first, he seemed like a decent guy—friendly enough, though a bit unpredictable. However, things started to take a strange turn.
One day, he began bringing homeless people into the hotel, partying with them in his room. He even showed up with a hickey after one of these wild nights. It was clear his behavior was spiraling out of control.
The situation escalated when, during her morning run near the hotel, an unsuspecting woman became his target. Out of nowhere, he ran after her and punched her for no apparent reason. The poor woman ended up with a terrible black eye and, understandably, called the police. They arrived quickly and arrested him on the spot.
As it turns out, the man came from a wealthy family. His father compensated the woman generously for her pain and distress, and as a result, his son was released shortly after the incident.
When he was in one of his "bad phases," his behavior was even more intolerable. He was rude to everyone, especially the waitstaff and receptionists, making their jobs a nightmare.
#28
Either the regular in room 222 who always, always ALWAYS wet his bed, or the couple in 250 that were staying with us after their house had burned down who would inspect their towels each night and any tiny spot would come exchange them with the front desk, then inspect *those.*
This was a little "no tell motel" that sold rooms for 25 a night in 1990. Mainly catered to construction workers, cheap business travelers, and people who balked at an ID with their credit card because they weren't using their real name.
#29
I wasn't Front Desk, but their best stories were heard around the hotel.
This couple and their dog checked in to the hotel. I'm going to give them the names of Sam and Pat. They get into a fight, and Sam storms out, leaving Pat and doggo. Pat stays the night, but to punish Sam, leaves the doggo at the hotel in one of the staff service areas, where it is found.
No one knows who the doggo belongs to, end of day comes, member of the HR team brings the doggo home, as it can't be left wandering the hotel, obviously.
Next day, Pat wants to reconcile with Sam, but Sam is still upset about doggo being left behind and won't talk until Pat retrieves it. So Pat comes to the hotel, where staff explain a team member took the doggo home for safety and will go get it. Pat has a total breakdown and decides they will cause a scene until doggo is returned. They strip completely naked and climb onto the front desk and sit there, screaming for the doggo. Police are obviously called.
Police show up and chase Pat, who is apparently so slippery that staff are wondering if they'd covered themselves in grease pre-encounter (they had not, for the record). Cops eventually catch Pat and take them away.
I don't know what happened after that, but doggo was returned to Sam and Pat eventually.
SheamusFanFrom1987 4 weeks ago (edited)
I'm from Malaysia and we have a saying for people like these aka Sampat (meaning wacky or nutty or in worse cases, ret*rded). How ironic for the names XP
#30
Had a guest who pooped in the shower and left a "thank you" note on the wall. Classy.
What do you think ?
Learner Panda 1 month ago
Staff in any capacity have the ability to make your visit/stay a joy or absolute hell. I will never understand the people who abuse, upset or otherwise threaten the very ones who are there to help.
Guess Undheit 3 days ago
And to think I was called "difficult" because I expected a NON-SMOKING floor room I had booked, and the idiots put me on the smoking floor.
Learner Panda 1 month ago
Staff in any capacity have the ability to make your visit/stay a joy or absolute hell. I will never understand the people who abuse, upset or otherwise threaten the very ones who are there to help.
Guess Undheit 3 days ago
And to think I was called "difficult" because I expected a NON-SMOKING floor room I had booked, and the idiots put me on the smoking floor.
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