Some people believe that the rules apply to everyone else but them. So they’re shocked when someone ever-so-gently pushes back against their sense of entitlement.
Redditor u/rottiem0m recently went viral after sharing a story from a few decades ago when they worked for a well-known hotel chain. The OP revealed how the staff firmly but politely put a couple of rude guests in their place after they tried to get around the fact that the hotel was fully booked in advance. Read on for the full story.
Dealing with less-than-respectful guests is unavoidable when you work in the hospitality industry
Image credits: DC_Studio (not the actual photo)
One former hotel worker revealed what happened to some entitled guests who tried to go around the rules
Image credits: Max Rahubovskiy (not the actual photo)
Image credits: rottiem0m
Hotel staff ought to find a balance between empathy for the guests and enforcing healthy boundaries
Image credits: Mikhail Nilov (not the actual photo)
Dealing with rude and overly entitled people is inevitable if you work in the hospitality or food and service industries. At some point, you will have to face someone who is less than polite and has no respect for you.
Though these sorts of situations can be quite challenging to deal with, they’re also a great opportunity to showcase your professionalism, diplomacy, as well as your communication skills.
You always have to strike a balanced approach. You cannot be too soft and let your guests walk all over you and your boundaries. On the other hand, you can’t go about shouting at or calling out rude people (even if they deserve it) because it’ll damage the hotel’s reputation and your career.
The way that Reddit user u/rottiem0m and their colleagues handled the situation was marvelous. For one, they got the communication part absolutely right. They’d explained to the guests upfront that they could only stay for one night. They then followed up with a reminder about their checkout time.
Rude guests need to clearly understand that improper behavior will have very direct consequences
Image credits: Mikhail Nilov (not the actual photo)
When that didn’t work, they didn’t cause a scene. They didn’t start any drama. They simply took action to solve the issue. The staff packed up all of the guests’ things and brought them downstairs.
This was petty revenge at its finest. The situation sent a very clear message: the hotel respects its guests, but it demands equal respect for their rules, too. All guests are equal and someone who has booked and paid for their room a year in advance will get it.
Ideally, anyone working in the hospitality industry will get the right training so that they know how to handle problematic guests in a courteous and professional manner. It falls to the hotel owners and managers to polish the communication skills of everyone who has to directly deal with people in their day-to-day roles.
That means knowing how to (politely) resolve conflicts, showing empathy where and when needed, and de-escalating tension when it boils over. The training can involve roleplaying so that the staff have some practical experience—not just theoretical knowledge.
Good training and proper support can help staff stay calm and professional even when the situation gets out of control
Image credits: Kateryna Naidenko (not the actual photo)
It’s important to note here that not everyone who is rude or snaps at the staff is a bad person. They might be having an incredibly bad day or the hotel’s made some genuine mistakes in handling their requests. However, some guests know perfectly well that they’re behaving in inappropriate ways and need to be shown that they do not get a free pass.
The hotel staff need to reach out to their managers when things get really out of hand. Their managers, in turn, need to be able to quickly and fairly assess the truth of the situation.
They shouldn’t automatically side with the guests: they need to show the staff that they have their backs, too. But the main thing to remember is to stay as calm as possible, no matter how frustrating and tense the situation gets.
As Hotel Chantelle notes, hotels always have the option of banning unpleasant guests by putting them on no-stay lists. If someone is disruptive, rude, and puts the staff and other guests at risk, they won’t be permitted to stay at the hotel or chain any longer.
However, if things escalate even further, it might be necessary to get the authorities involved. Hotels can, when needed, file for official trespass orders to enforce the no-stay regulations. Of course, all of these are last resorts after everyone’s exhausted their patience and politeness.
The author shared some more context in the comments
Some internet users had more questions while others shared their own similar stories
Here's what some readers said after reading about the exhilarating hotel drama
