When it comes to the hotel staff, they remember guests with the most shocking and nastiest things they’ve left behind. However, some keep very funny things.
Anyone who’s ever worked in the hospitality and service industries has been witness to at least one of such events. Let’s take a look at these unbelievable stories shared by hotel workers on Reddit. From the strange to the startling, you won’t believe what they discovered.
Comments have been edited for clarity and grammar.
1. The Silent Bachelor Party
u/[deleted]: I’ve been cleaning up after people in hotels for over five years, and just when I thought I’d seen it all, yesterday happened. Picture this: a huge bachelor bash booked in one of our rooms right before the groom’s big day. He marches in, leading a crew of about 20 guys.
You’d expect chaos, right? But then, silence. Not a peep for hours. No one coming or going. Weird for a wild night, right?
The plot thickens when this young lady shows up, looking for her soon-to-be hubby. She’s got his phone, which he’d left behind.
We get no response at the door, so we sneak in, and it’s dead silent. But there’s light from the bathroom and the sound of water. We tiptoe over, and I kid you not, my jaw hit the floor.
There, in the bathroom, was the groom and his entire entourage, fully clothed in the tub, conducting what looked like a makeshift “naval battle” with toy boats and all. The fiancée turns ghost-white, lets out a shriek, and yells, “The wedding is canceled!”
Why the freakout? It turns out the groom had a history of letting his love for elaborate, child-like games overshadow serious commitments.
The fiancée had made it clear: no more games at inappropriate times. This was the last straw for her. I laughed myself to sleep, thinking about the absurdity of it all. Only in the world of hotel housekeeping, folks!
2. The Unused Toilet
u/Letsbeguin: I was cleaning rooms one summer when I entered the bathroom of guests who had checked out. I noticed rolled-up towels on the floor, but that was not uncommon.
When I started picking them up, I found a pile of feces under them. Feeling an overpowering stench, I opened the shower curtain and found at least ten piles in the shower, mixed with urine.
Meanwhile, the toilet looked clean. It looked like the guests hadn’t even used it. Needless to say, that was my last day at work.
3. The Pizza Puzzle
u/aNathan113: Pizza was the worst thing I found in a guest’s room. It was not just like leftovers, but an entire pizza. There was not a single slice of it in the box.
The first red flag we found was the slice of pizza smeared all over the TV. Then, we saw two slices side by side like they had worn them for slippers and dragged their feet across the floor.
We also found one slice in the dresser, one in the nightstand, one in the sheets, and one in the bathroom sink.
We cleaned the room and put all the pizza in the box. The whole time, I wondered why someone would do this. Was the pizza not good?
While I was doing the final checks in the room, it still smelled like pizza. Curious, I flicked the lamp on to search for the last slice. I finally found it, shadowed in the lampshade.
This individual had smeared the last slice on the inside of the lampshade. That was the final piece of the puzzle (or pizza-zle). This person bought an entire pizza just to hide it in his hotel room.
4. Too Much Luggage
u/serenityvoiid: I worked at a hotel during one summer break, but it wasn’t the best one. It had 50 rooms and only two people at the reception.
We usually used to get super busy, so it was challenging to keep up with everyone. One day, we had a couple book a room for a week. The strange part was that they had too much luggage. My colleague and I were shocked at how many suitcases they had brought.
It turned out they were here to steal everything from the room. They even stole the windows by taking them out. Needless to say, my colleague and I got fired that day.
5. Where’s the Bathroom?
u/Starkeye311: I saw a guy in a very upscale hotel (> $1500/night) who had to use the bathroom. He made his way to the bellstand to ask where the toilet was.
After the man went downstairs, the bellman smelled something and saw human waste on the floor in front of his stand.
While walking downstairs, the man left a trail of feces behind him. He wore long pants, and everything just tumbled out of the leg hole every few feet.
The man made it to the bathroom and smeared human waste all over the walls of the stall. He left the mess and his pants for housekeeping to clean up.
Once presented with the bill for cleaning the next day, he threatened to write a bad review since he was a hotel critic. We blacklisted him, and he never got his pants back.
6. The Sleepwalker
u/sbouvette: I was working at a small boutique place and just starting my day shift around 6:30 a.m. when something strange happened.
A woman came to the desk, visibly shaken. She said, “I can’t find my husband. He’s not in the room, and all his clothes are still there. He’s a sleepwalker, and I’m worried he has wandered into another room.”
At this point, I started to chuckle a bit to myself but quickly stopped with the thought of a screaming woman finding a naked stranger in her room. My first thought was to check the CCTV footage.
We headed up to the first floor. Our CCTV was in the back of our linen storage, and I brought the woman with me. I’m not even sure why I did, probably because she wanted to come.
Soon, as I got the door open and the lights on, there was her naked husband sleeping spread across our bundled duvet covers, with one covering half of his body.
She woke him up, and he had no idea where he was. She wrapped him up and took him back to bed.
They checked out later, and the guy was bashful. I told him not to worry about it as he gave me a great story to share. I also told him I would tell anyone who would listen. And I plan to!
7. The Mouse
u/MerylSquirrel: Once, I lived with my grandparents at their guesthouse for a while, and I also used to help them out. This story has always stuck with me.
During that time, a couple was staying at the guesthouse. They had been there for a week and were due to leave that morning.
They called Grandma to the desk, and she thought they would check out, but no. The woman dropped a live mouse down on the desk.
The woman was furious and ranted about how they had heard things crawling around all week, that their stuff had been nibbled, and that the hotel was crawling with mice. Long story short, she wanted their money back for the whole week.
Grandma was upset but was also suspicious because she kept the guesthouse spotless. My grandad came to the guesthouse and stalled them while grandma took the spare key and went into their room to inspect it.
She found a torn box in their bin, which had the logo of a local pet shop. Grandma immediately recognized it and called them to ask if the guests had bought a mouse from them. It turned out the pet shop had sold a mouse to the couple a day earlier.
She returned and told my grandfather, who told the couple they weren’t getting a refund. He also told them he would call the police if they didn’t leave the guest house in five minutes.
They kept saying they’d sue us, but we never heard from them again. Moreover, my grandfather rang all the guest houses they were friendly with and gave them the couple’s names and a warning.
Meanwhile, it was my job to catch the mouse. He recovered and ended up moving in with my cousin’s mice and living to a ripe old age.
These revelations from Redditors unveil an unseen world within the hospitality industry, a realm unknown to ordinary guests. Behind the scenes, hotel workers navigate unpredictable and unexpected situations, striving to ensure every guest enjoys a seamless and comfortable stay.
We’re curious – have you ever encountered something unusual during your hotel stays? Share your strange experiences with us in the comments section.
