31 January 2023 , 12:31
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A hotel receptionist has listed the five annoying things guests do without realising.
Justin Aldrich has spent the past seven years helping customers at the Marriott hotel chain, making sure they've got everything they need to enjoy their stays there.
While the customer is, of course, always right, sometimes they are also annoying.
Often people feel like they can get away with pushing the rules or asking for an extra discount, when in fact they cannot.
The hotel veteran has shared the five things that customers do that rile up staff, as a warning to future guests who want to stay on the right side of hospitality workers.
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Justin urged people not to wind up receptionists (Getty Images/iStockphoto)Disputing room rates
According to Justin this is an increasingly common problem caused by guests searching online for the hotel after they've booked their stay.
Often they will ask for a discount based on a separate price they saw online at Expedia or another booking site.
Justin is often shown screenshots of a separate price which, as an employee, he is not able to match or independently verify.
If he were to offer the discount asked for he'd end up being hauled in front of his manager the next day.
Not realising each hotel is different
This is a problem that is specific to staff who work at a hotel, such as the Marriot, Hilton or Holiday Inn.
Guests sometimes act surprised when the particular branch they are staying at has slightly different amenities to another.
"Although select brands within a hotel family, like Marriott or Hilton, try their best to maintain consistency across the world, they can't," Justin told Insider.
Don't complain about the price of minibar snacks, he urged (Getty Images/iStockphoto)Complaining about the price of hotel snacks
It is a truth as widely known as the price of a pint of milk, and a gripe hotel staff are sick to the back teeth of hearing.
Yes, minibars are expensive.
Justin says that the point of the diminutive-cooling-aid full of snacks is to be convenient and luxury, and those things always come with a price tag.
While they may cost about as much as food from a petrol station, telling the receptionist that you're annoyed about the price isn't going to make it any cheaper
Smoking in your room
Too many guests smoke in their room and think the staff will never know, Justin said.
The weary customer service pro has seen every trick in the book people deploy to try and get away with cadging a crafty fag.
"The towel under the door, the candle and bathroom vent don't do what you think they do... Every person has been hit with a £200 to £400 fine," Justin said.
Justin warned that few people get away with smoking in their hotel rooms (Getty Images/iStockphoto)Checking out late without asking
Needing to spend a few extra hours in a hotel room is a very relatable problem, particularly in the post-lockdown world of less reliable air travel.
Justin said it's much easier for the staff if you request a late checkout, rather than just checking out late with no prior warning.
Often staff are happy to accommodate a bit of extra time in a room and can give housekeeping enough of a heads up.
It only becomes difficult when you don't communicate what you're after as you might get locked out, Justin said.