Hotel Employees Share the Little-Known Facts, Hacks, and Red Flags of the Hotel Industry
This article was originally published on Constative.com
Hotel experiences really run the gamut. Some hotel stays are amazing and relaxing, while others can be awful experiences from the depths of the unknown. If you’re looking for the best hotel experience possible during your next vacation, there are some things to keep in mind. Hotel workers across the nation have taken to Reddit to share the dark secrets and hacks of the hotel industry. Some pieces of advice are nice common-sense reminders, while others are little-known facts that can help you hack your next hotel stay. Use these tips, tricks, and confessions to improve your next trip.
#1: Breakfast for Champions
We kick this list off with tips from a former hotel kitchen staff worker. They let us know first-hand the feelings of most hotel staff towards guests. They also gave us some advice on how to get better service. First, being polite to waiters increases your chances of getting better service and items you request a lot faster. This seems like a no-brainer, but evidently, not everyone knows the Golden Rule of treating others as you’d want to be treated.
Another tip they share is to never eat from the buffet if you have serious allergies. Guests swap serving spoons all the time, and chances of contamination are high. Staff is always happy to make something for you if you let them know of any food allergies. Lastly, they reiterate that even though the staff is there to help guests, they are not personal assistants. They’re people, just like you and me, and they’re trying to do their job.
#2: Don’t Be Stingy
This is a hotel confession that might make you feel good about yourself. We always assume people driving expensive luxury vehicles are super-rich and throwing money around left and right. According to this former valet driver, that’s far from the truth. Turns out the people who present themselves as the most wealthy are the cheapest guests!
They revealed that people driving regular cars tip way better than those driving expensive cars. Who knew rich people were that cheap?! Now that we think about it, being a bad tipper might actually be how they stay so rich. Or maybe they don’t know how hard it is to work a service job and make ends meet. Whatever the reason, don’t be like them. Always remember to tip!
#3: Cancellation Hack
This person gave a pretty smart tip to help avoid paying cancellation fees. Having to cancel hotel reservations last minute has probably happened to most of us at one point in time. The cancellation fees, while understandable from a business perspective, are annoying. No one wants to pay a steep fee for something we don’t even get to enjoy! There’s a way to avoid this nuisance and save money, though.
Instead of canceling last minute, just reschedule your reservation to a random date farther out. After you do that, you can call the hotel back later and cancel the new reservation. That way, you can still cancel plans and avoid having to pay any penalties. How genius is that? Hopefully, most hotels haven’t caught on to this hack!
#4: Just Be a Decent Person
We don’t know how many times we have to say this, but being nice to service workers should be a given. If you’ve ever worked a service industry job, you know that’s far from the norm when it comes to customer interactions. This former front desk worker confessed that most staff members will give perks to nice customers, sometimes without even being asked.
They confessed that they would sometimes give room upgrades to nice guests while checking in. If someone did ask about an upgrade, they’d only give it to them if they asked nicely. If they were rude or entitled, it was a hard “no.” They also let us know there’s never any shame in asking for more towels, toiletries, or any other free stuff at hotels. Staff honestly doesn’t care how much you take, as long as you ask for it.