EVEN MORE CRAZY HOTEL STORIES from r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk 

People refusing to accept that you are in charge (regardless of what title you have) are so obnoxious. I was on the management team when I worked at a pool. Every lifeguard was in red except the shift supervisor, and the back of the shirt said *POOL SUPERVISOR* in letters so large that if you can't read them from three feet you are probably literally legally blind. Now sometimes when people kept asking for my supervisor, they were actually asking for my boss, the aquatics director. But 95% of the time the person they were looking for was me. And they refused to believe I could possibly be in charge. It was extra annoying when people would just walk up to my face and bark "I need a MAN!!" and refuse to tell me what they wanted....I'm not a woman. One of them kept harassing me asking for my supervisor "because you clearly can't help me" until he got a really big grin on his face and walked around me saying "Finally, a man, someone with some AUTHORITY!". I turn around and start smiling myself, because the employee he was walking towards was 2 hours into his very first shift. And couldn't answer his question because he hadn't memorized the pool hours. Yes, pool hours, this idiot thought I was too stupid to know the pool hours of the pool I was on the management team for. The other employee (having assessed the situation nearly perfectly) "very helpfully" offers to get his manager, which is gratefully accepted with "Finally, where is he?" and the employee points over his shoulder saying "Right behind you". He was not pleased to turn around and see that I was the one behind him.

I am 70, and when I heard the group were in the 50s and 60s and they’d be quiet and go to bed early, I knew where this was going.

Anyone else just love the fact she says "going to borrow my dads lightsaber" without a thought. Like going to borrow dads wrench set or skill saw. Thats great!

I can explain why some people do not want a suite. The lead singer of a band whose music I love is one of those guys. When the hotel he stays at finds out he is the lead singer, they always want to upgrade him to a suite. If he is given a suite to begin with, he switches with someone, usually the backup singers because none of the other guys in the band wants a larger room either. It is easier to keep track of your belongings and make sure you haven't left anything behind if you have a smaller room.

The biggest problem that I have with the excuse "I didn't touch anything, I just sat at the desk" is that, yes, you did! Your butt was in the chair and your hands were on or near the desk, so that's multiple touches! The only way that statement could be remotely true is if the guest were levitating like Doctor Strange!

I didn't know that about upgrades because no one ever explained it before. The first time I was offered an upgrade, I thought they were going to charge more. This last time, the person explained it was at no extra cost. Same price I got when I booked and the $20 cleaning charge which would be and was refunded a few days after my stay. It was awesome. Nice quiet room with a good view of the city line.

20:00 The real thing Grandma is trying to say is "Can I speak to a manager that will agree with me". But like, no manager will miraculously open a pool in December, if it's still under construction XD

As a property manager, I'm pretty sure the reason she kept asking for a manager was because the poster started out saying "Assistant Manager". Litterally the moment you said "assistant" you might as well have said you were starting your first day as a janator because she thinks you don't have the authority to do what she wants. Every time you said "manager" after that, Grandma appended the word "assistant" to the begining of it. There's really nothing you can do at that point. Still, it's always a laugh when that happens!

Oh, the concept of a "room block" makes a lot of sense. A couple of years in high school, I was in orchestra and we (and band) went to a competition each of those two years in different cities. I never really thought about it then but we had two busloads of people staying at the same hotel in the same general area and a room block is probably how they managed that while keeping it affordable for this Middle America public school. Really cool!

I've declined an upgrade because the room I booked had 2 beds and the upgrade had 1 bed although it was a bigger bed. I told the employee that if I was travelling alone, I'd be happy to take the upgrade but since I was travelling with others, I needed 2 beds.

So, about room upgrade refusals... I don't travel often, at all, like maybe once every few years. Until you mentioned it in this video, I always thought a "room upgrade is available" means "we have a better room available if you would like to pay the extra $$$ for it." Like it's an up-sell. At no point has any desk employee ever specifically used the word "free", and I never thought to ask for clarification.

I have worked at this motel for nearly 8 years now. I work primarily the night shift which is midnight to 8 AM. I also do audit, prepare breakfast for a 40 unit motel, and serve breakfast and do check out. I really appreciate the videos and could relate to a lot of them. I think every front desk employee would benefit from watching your videos. keep up the good work.

The color switch of the captions between Jess's anecdotes and the reading of the reddit posts was a good touch.

First, I love all your videos. Party Princess, Disneybounding, and Hospitality. That being said, I really need to see the fully realized Jedi skit. That would be so funny.

OMG YES. Stories adjacent to the third one happened ALL the time when I worked hotel front desk. The number of times I have heard "well, I can use this card, it's my mom's and she said it's fine-" Okay great, that's super cool, can you prove it? No! You can't! For all I know, that credit card belongs to your estranged relative, or your divorced wife, or literally some random stranger who just happens to share your last name! And that's in the most charitable situations where the last name actually DOES match. Where matters of funds and reputation are concerned, businesses generally can't just take your word for it. Yeah, the person who committed fraud or theft would be in the wrong, but the business who charged the card without doing their due diligence can end up just as responsible in the eyes of the law. Keep spreading the good word, Miss Jessica. You're doing great!

lol that reminds me of my 6yo. “Would you like hot dogs?” “No.” Some time later… “Where are my hot dogs?”

I wish with that last story when the woman requested that they call the manager they just used the phone at the front desk to call themselves and have a whole conversation with themself

I've showed up at hotels with a paid reservation around 2 A.M. and they didn't have a room for us because we were a "no show" so they gave the room away. One time we got a stupid expensive upgrade. The other time was a too bad so sad.

Hi Jessica, I love your skits and the stories about where they came from. The lighting was just fine in this video. We're here for the story, not the lighting. It was just fine. It must be a lot of work to put a skit together. It's much different than just videoing a single scene with everyone in it. You do a great job and I watch out for the next one. Thanks for sharing the latest stories.

Don't apologize! We love your great stories.

Speaking from the UK, I find it hilarious that a lovely day in Florida is a cloudy one! You need to come and live in the UK- you'd love it :D

Hey Jessica!! This is probably an odd comment to make, but I just wanted to let you know that as an autistic person with auditory processing issues, I greatly appreciate you adding visual captions on the video itself for better accessibility instead of relying on RU-vid captions. It's a little thing, but it's so so so thoughtful and helpful for those of us out there who sometimes have trouble understanding what people are saying in real time. Please continue to do this on any of your longer videos, it really does make a difference!

Your storytelling is so captivating I never even noticed the lighting. My favorite is the security guard - “I didn’t do anything wrong.” Glad he got blackballed - too many people don’t understand how crucial integrity is…

The only thing I can think of is that one time my husband and I were offered an upgrade. We were checking in with friends and the desk clerk said there was only one upgrade available. Now, while these friends are very dear to us, we know that he (the husband) is very demanding and we would have had a miserable vacation if he had not been offered an upgrade and we had. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Hi, Jessica! I like this video format! Wish you all the best results no matter what camera, lighting and frame you use!

Very well done! As a meeting and event planner I deal with everyone in the hotel but have a special place in my heart for front desk staff. You (and all of you) guys often see the calm before the storm and should get way more credit. I always hope to see the FD manager at precons...and include this group in post-con gratuities. You're doing a great job at bringing a glimpse of reality to this role...hope you keep it up!

I've been working for the french mouse for 10 years, I love all of your stories because I see similar stuff happening on a daily basis 🤣

Hotel room upgrades can be a wonderful experience. This past summer I was visiting Montreal to attend a music festival and for the night of my arrival and the night before my departure I stayed at the airport terminal hotel (it was part of a larger hotel chain). When I was checking in the night before my departure, I was informed that I had received a complimentary upgrade and that my room was at the club level... which was a pleasant surprise. It's difficult to understand why any traveler wouldn't enjoy that experience let alone actively reject the option. It made a memorable week in Canada truly unforgettable.

Were you at Disney during the heyday of the "prepaid" scammers? They'd put a prepaid card with $5-10 on it as their on-file card, then charge everything to the room, knowing the hotels only ran the incidentals on check-out. They'd leave the night before checking out, repeating the process until they tried to charge something at a non-Disney location in old Downtown and got caught.

I saw a video a little while back about getting upgrades in a cruise and in that case it does happen that the "upgrade", while being a bigger and nicer cabin, is in a much worse location (eg. right below the nightclub) than the original room

I want to stay at the hotel where you are working. I'll just kick back on the couch in the lobby with my popcorn and hot chocolate and watch all the crazies. Thank you for the smiles.

Hey Jess, as always… great video! FYI… I have turned down an upgrade only twice (offered many times) those two times I had already been in the room and… USED the bathroom, remote control and sat on the bed… AND… unpacked a fair amount of stuff. Didn’t want to repack to change rooms. ps.. I never made a request to upgrade after getting into any room.

Jessica you have such great energy and enthusiasm. You make any story enjoyable. Don’t worry about the lighting.

I love this I recently retired after working at the front desk of a hotel for 22 years you are so true and so much of this people are funny

Hey Jessica, the skit with the Grandmother wanting to book over Christmas for her grand daughter is hilarious!!! 😂💙

I was out in Vegas in 2000. Due to a mix up at the hotel, I got offered an upgrade. You better believe I grabbed it! I was there for 10 days and had a gorgeous suite the entire time.

I was in Tampa for the ReliaQuest Bowl and have been on many other trips with my band (no it wasn't Wisconsin). We regularly have around 350 people all in one hotel all at the same time. The fact that our wonderful finance manager is able to find rooms for the band and its staff in ONE hotel ON NEW YEARS is nothing short of amazing since we were literally on Clearwater Beach.

I can't even count the number of times i had to stop the checkin process and send a CC Auth form to the actual cardholder, then wait on a fax back to be able to check them in. Gigantic, but necessary, pain.

Jessie I am absolutely in love with your channel. First off, your videos are surprisingly informative and I've learned A LOT about hotels from you. Second, they are SO FUNNNN! I love watching your skits when I come home, all tired from work. Thank you so much girl you're amazing ❤️

I wish you were around 20 years ago when I was a career hotel worker. You're stories are so validating!

We've been having some great weather down here in FL this week🤣 I'm down in the Keys... you'd be amazed how many people we have wanting a discount because they didn't get to do the activities they came down here for due to the weather. I could understand if these were activities that we offered or were booked through us, but they aren't. These people want discounts on their hotel rooms because they have to stay in their hotel rooms 🙄 Because the weather is our fault.

props on the subtitles!!! i love you for that!

Jessica, please stop apologizing. Your videos are amazing. I live in Florida also and I know how hinky the weather is. It never does what you want it to do. I love you videos. Thank you so much for sharing. I’ve learned a lot.😊

I didn't notice any lighting changes. You are good with that. I enjoy listening to your skits. Keep up your good work!

Jess seems like she would be a really good like, preschool teacher or daycare runner or something like that. Idk just her reading makes me think she would get really into the kids books and reading to them.

Hi Jess. I've worked in two hotels, and I love and respect your stories. Thank you for sharing.

We used to regularly stay at a specific room type at a hotel because it had the best layout for access with wheelchairs and was their only room with a kitchenette which was handy. So in that case I would often decline an upgrade as it was for a specific benefit. But otherwise never said no to an upgrade haha.

35 years as a business traveler. Up to the people camping in the lobby restroom I hadn’t been surprised as I had made my share of mistakes on reservations or locations and more. Or witnessed them unfold before me while waiting my turn. Great work!

Yep I have been in so many situations where you give a customer an amswer that is different than what the customer wants to hear and they just keep staring at you and asking over and over again trying to get you to change your answer to what they want it to be, but you can so it just ends up being this endless circle of "but I want this *_stares_* " and "I'm sorry but that's not possible" on repeat.

No problem with lights, truly love your videos, and my favorite was the last one with Grandma over pool 😂

Jess you are wonderful with telling the stories as well as your skits. My favorite of these stories has to be the older lady not thinking she is speaking to the manager when she actually is. 😂

I don't work at a hotel anymore but I did every position except sales and GM over 5 years that I did work at one. This channel is great. I just found it recently and I'm very glad I did.

I not only remember the 'old lady and the closed pool' skit, I've watched it twice!

Favorite story, the couple whose credit card failed and camped out in the lobby rest room.

I really liked this story time type video! I agree the security guard one would be a really funny skit!!!!

Keep up the good work Jessica. Being a Florida resident, I particularly love your skits.

10:22 - 14:22 -- Yes, that happens. Usually it's a couple or trio who have been partying a little, show up after midnight, and have no luggage. "It's my mother's card" or "It's my husband/wife/cousin's card" -- They will decline any service the next day, decline to check out timely, and make every human effort to carry away every portable object in the room. Beware the guest with no luggage.

Some of those situations you relate of people repeatedly asking the same question seems similar to my job. I work in tech support for a line of industrial printers and often get a dealer calling to verify part numbers, pricing and availability of an item that isn't a common usage part. Sometimes it is out of stock and backordered. Very often I will then get a call from a different dealer several days later, looking for the same thing. The end user has been calling around asking for the part, not realizing nobody actively stocks it, so they all call me looking for it. If they don't get the answer they want, they figure they will ask someone else, or ask it again in a different way. To be fair, I learned a long time ago that when dealing with any large bureaucracy, I can get different answers from different people at different times. So I understand why they do this.

Jessica, you are doing a great job! I love your stories and skits! I have learned a lot of useful information about your industry. Keep it coming!

Love this new format you're using for video... and the story telling is easy to follow... and entertaining too!

I had an incident about 10 1/2 years ago at a motel. I was living in Montana at the time and was flying down to Florida for my son's wedding. My parents were going down also and had booked different flights than me as theirs was basically last minute. I flew into Denver and then got a connecting flight to Florida. My flight out of Denver was delayed for 2 hours, so I would not arrive in Florida until after 1 A.M. local time. I had added my parents' names to my room reservation because they would arrive before me. When I finally got to the motel and went to check in, I was told that I was already checked into the room. I kept telling the front desk agent that it was my parents who had checked in and that I needed to check in myself. He kept telling me that I was already checked in. This went on for about 10 minutes, until I finally had to tell him that yes, my parents had checked in, but that I needed to know what room we were in and get a key for the room. It was very frustrating after traveling all day.

I worked frontcdesk and then reservations in an 8 story hotel with about 200 rooms, back in the late 80's early 90's for 10 years It was a business/ convention hotel, not to many vacationers. Securiity and procedures were pretty chill back then. I listen to your stories about pre room assingment , pre payment ect. We didn't do any of that.

I think that experience of cruise ship upgrades has made people suspicious, since the new room is worse than the original one.

When I worked for the Airlines the Airport Hotel was literally only 200 yards away from the airport! Flight ✈️ Crews loved this because it didn't eat into their 10 hour turns waiting for the van Also if there were ever a Snowstorm Skeleton crews for our Station could stay there free and work their shift then sleep! A great deal 🤝! I love it! i

I really liked this! I didn't care about the lighting changes, and felt it actually added to the mood of the stories!

Love your stories! They remind me of when I was a desk clerk at a small hotel many years ago.

I'm not a regular traveller (to say the least) and the only time I've stayed in a hotel was in Italy in 1978 (yes, seriously) so, not knowing how these things work, if I was in a hotel and was offered an upgrade I wouldn't know - nor would I just assume - that is was free. My immediate response would be along the lines of "Thank you, that's very kind, but I couldn't afford it." Why can't people understand a simple, "It isn't open" or "No, that's not possible"? I love your videos, and they're so entertaining I doubt anyone noticed anything amiss with the lighting - certainly not me.

We stayed at a chain hotel (now closed) few years ago that smelled like barf when you walked in. The 1st time we chalked it up to an accident. Booked again a month later, same smell. Front desk said it was the new fire suppression system. Luckily it was mostly in lobby. This was at the early days of the pandemic. Dining room was under construction with no progress so think they punctured something.

Another thing about blocks of rooms... the rooms in a block are not necessarily within a certain area of the hotel

I've been watching your shorts, which led me to your full skits, which led me to loving your channel! You are so entertaining and real. Keep up the great work Jess! I look forward to anything you share :)

I adore Jessica - let me just start there. This is not a personal attack on her - just an observation and hopefully it puts her at ease. But I have such a pet peeve when RU-vidrs explain lighting issues or plug ins or back end stuff. Like, don't worry babe. We literally do not care. We're here because we love you and your content, don't fret about stuff like that and don't bore us with it....we're going to watch you anyway. Because we love you.

Love your stuff!!!! It amazes me what people do!!!

Lol I love your story telling! You are so expressive. Please keep making videos they make my day! And please get your dad's star wars gear and make the skit because I know you will make it into gold!

You're doing great. I've learned a lot from your skits.

Your doing a great job. I love all the skits. they give me a good laugh.

I have redused a free upgrade in the past because I had hand picked the room I wanted based on a bunch of things like top floor view and proximity to elevator and ice etc an upgrade would have changed my well laid out plan lol

Have you done more of these? I need to look m up now, I like hearing pros respond to relevant reddit stories. This is great ^^

Makes me glad that I make the effort to treat hotel staff with respect!!

First dude complained about not being able to sleep cause of the noise but only have used the desk like its normal to be sleeping on/at his desk sooo okey then. Love From Scotland xxxx 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I am looking forward to seeing you in a security guard uniform watching videos. Run out of the room with a half-empty barrel of popcorn!

The stories are great fun! I loved the "I am the manager!" story. Sometimes people just can't process that they could possibly be mistaken!

I taught Hospitality classes 8 years ago. Wish I´d had your vids then! Ty for your work and have a wonderful time during Christmas and on!

I feel you! I worked in sales and let me tell you, customers are either crazy, not listening, or just drama people! I was sampling teas at the front of a tea store I used to work at (it was part of my job). So i'd say "would you like to try some teas?" (holding the samples tray)...and people would come to me asking "is it tea?" (uh yeah-uh i just said it is"...then you can only imagine how the sales would go from there! Making you lose precious time, going over many items and at the end, that rude annoying customer would not buy anything...or as a barista in that same store, i'd make ordered teas for my customers, and certain (same) creepy customers would give me a hard time "it's too sweet! not enough sugar! it doesn't taste good! Can you redo it?!...The joy of public jobs! yikes...

I love your stories, always told with style

The midnight thing drives me crazy. I deal with it all the time as a night auditor. Saturday morning at 1am is still Friday night. You can come back at 4pm.

I love your skits! I have of course it stayed at hotels, but I have never been privy to the stuff you guys have to go through! You have the patience of many Saints! Thanks for all the info and, of course, for all the chuckles! Happy I found your channel! 😊

I enjoyed the readings and look forward to the new skits. It is amazing how people do not actually listen to what workers say and make up their own dialog as to what they think you said. Wow

In response to that guest in the first story wanting to switch rooms to one other guests hadn't checked into yet... I was flying somewhere and got trapped while making a connection in Toronto during that massive Ice Storm ages and ages ago (the one in which the mayor made National news for calling out the army for assistance in clearing the snow). All planes were grounded, so the airline was scrambling to find hotel rooms for all the passengers for the night. I was one of the last to get a room, and they even asked if I would be okay sharing with another couple of passengers (of the same gender). We got the very last hotel room this one hotel had vacant, and because of the rush to prepare the rooms and the hotel having fewer cleaners than usual because the night shift crew couldn't make it in due to the weather, it hadn't been thoroughly cleaned. There was a cigarette butt floating in the toilet, the room smelled faintly of cigarette smoke, and one of the beds had the sheets turned down like someone had slept there. At least the bedsheets on the other bed seemed clean. But even then, the three of us were extremely uncomfortable sleeping there that night. I don't think any of us slept under the covers; and one woman ended up sleeping on the couch instead of the turned-down bed. We didn't complain because of the situation, and we knew the hotel staff did the best they could under the circumstances, but yeah... I completely understand why hotels would never just switch a customer to another room if all guests weren't checked in yet, since housecleaning can't thoroughly clean or check the room. That was the worst hotel experience I've ever had.

Hey Jessica, I haven’t watched too many of your long form videos (love your shorts for a long time tho), but I just want to say thank you so much for having captions on your video! While I don’t personally need them, I do prefer having captions on when I watch something, and I know how important it is to others who need that accessibility. I have a degree and diploma in film making, and learned quite a bit about accessibility options for videos, and it always thrills me to see people take the time to do that for the content. And to see you do it so well, makes me happy. Thanks for all your hard work!

Jessica, I just wanted to tell you thank you and I think you do a wonderful job and your video brings so much joy to so many people so please keep it up. You do a great job.❤

i really enjoy your stories. This is the first one I have seen that isn't a short. Thank you for making enjoyable content

I just love your skits and follow you whenever I see you. You are awesome. Thank you for making my day and adding joy.

I love your skits and you do a wonderful job reading them as well. I look forward to more, they make me smile.

It’s been so rainy all week in Gainesville. I’m sure it must be the same down in Orlando.

Jedi Mind Trick skit pleeeeeeeaaaaaaase I know that feeling so well, especially when you have other people to help but clearly the person you’re talking to isn’t done just yet.

I enjoy this larger and LONGER setup you have here. It's fun also to see you as yourself.

I really love your videos teaching people how the hotels work, keep doing it pleaseeee❤🎉😊

You are such a good story teller that I just felt like we were sitting in the room together and didn’t even notice any lighting issues.

As for saying no to upgrades...I think it just happens so rarely for some people it catches them off guard or they feel like they might be being difficult even though they're getting offered that upgrade rather than demanding it. I've never been offered an upgrade so such a new (although probably simple) experience would throw me off & I might stammer out a no without even thinking about it.

Wow, the standard rooms at this hotel must be pretty good if people say no to an upgrade. Could be true if people might think of it like a scam or some creative marketing up sell job on them. Just like when a lux hotel have butlers who can press your suit, "do I have to pay for that"? comes into your head.