Editor’s note: This article was originally published on December 1, 2022. It has since been updated.
Hotel receptionists often deal with difficult customers, and an important part of their job is to defuse situations and solve problems. However, some customers just cannot be satisfied, no matter how hard you try. One receptionist shared a story on Reddit about a particularly stubborn customer who claimed to have reserved a room on the nonexistent fourth floor of her hotel. Despite repeatedly explaining that the hotel only had three floors, the woman insisted on being taken to the fourth floor. In the end, in a moment of frustration, the receptionist took the woman and her luggage to the roof. The post was shared on Reddit.
The receptionist said the hotel was privately owned and you could only book through the front desk. Online or third-party reservations were not available, so it was odd when a woman came in claiming to have a reservation. “We are fully booked on a holiday weekend. A woman I don’t recognize from check-in comes in. She puts a piece of paper in front of me and then grabs a ton of luggage. The paper says she has a reservation for tonight at the ‘Days Inn’ (the hotel was ‘Days Inn’ 5 years ago) at this address for 1/10th of the price we were charging before we were fully booked. She comes back to the front desk probably thinking I’ve been checking her in the whole time,” they wrote before telling her there were no rooms left.
“I’m sorry to inform you that we do not accept third party reservations. Unfortunately, we are already booked for that night,” they said, but the woman insisted that she had a reservation. “I have a reservation! It’s right there! I paid good money for it!” she replied. “Ma’am, I believe you,” they replied. “Unfortunately, you are not in our system because we do not accept third party reservations. They sold it to you fraudulently.”
She insisted that she had a reservation. “You’re just trying to steal my money! I have a confirmation number here! I gave it to you,” she said and they replied, “Yes ma’am, you gave me a reservation for a Days Inn. We are (hotel name)” and pointed to a sign. “All the signs inside and outside the building are correct. Then they pointed out, “Also, this is for a fourth floor room, we only have three floors.” She was not willing to give in. “I stayed at that DAYS INN on the fourth floor last year!” Although she kept her cool and tried to convince them that there is no fourth floor, she continued angrily. “Finally, she yells at me that I will immediately move her to her fourth floor room that she paid for! I don’t answer, just stare at her with a blank face until she hits the desk and screams “Now!” again. They decided to give in and take her there as she requested.
“I grab my huge keychain and the two of us load up with her oversized luggage and head up the stairs. When we’re on the third floor, I point to the sign that says ‘Third Floor’ and tell her it’s the third floor. I then use my maintenance key to unlock the door to the maintenance stairs, which are unlit, and she drags herself behind me without saying a word. I open the floor door to the tarred roof and walk out. ‘And here’s the fourth floor, I hope it’s as nice as the last time you stayed here,’ they announce dramatically. ‘I drop her luggage and head back downstairs to the front desk,’ they wrote. The receptionist added that if she hadn’t been so rude or even tried to get a refund from the third party who sold her the ticket, they would have helped her get a reservation elsewhere.
Reddit users sided with the receptionist, saying the customer had no reason to be so rude. “I would have saved myself the trouble of calling the police as soon as she started yelling at me. I’m so sick of stuck-up idiots,” wrote one user. Most made fun of her. One joked, “Legend says she’s still wandering around the roof looking for her room.”
