5-Star Hotel Employees Spill The Tea On Hotel Secrets, And Some Get Really Dark

"Used to work in one two summers ago in a remote-ish place where we lived in accommodations across the street from the hotel. A lot of us have slept with each other (not me, had a gf at the time). And the busiest days are weekends, so we usually have Mondays off. Sundays were called Sunday Funday, where we would go to town or other people's "dorms", and do way too much c*ke."

"This wasn't a 5 star by any stretch, but while in training to install kitchen cabinets for this one company they put the majority of people up in a hotel. This one day we got all our tools to use on the job, chop saw, drills, table saw, etc, etc, etc. This hotel gave one free beer per person, and these guys from training were getting a LOT more than one beer. That night they decide to take apart all the furniture in the room, and install it on the roof.

The company was hit with that bill of course. They were not amused. They also changed how/when they gave out tools as well."

"Sometimes during peak times when we're really busy, instead of washing every single piece of linen, we'll just throw the cleanest looking ones straight into the dryer to get rid of wrinkles, but won't actually wash them."

"We went on lockdown once because a man walked into the lobby with a shotg*n. There were also two loud bangs in the motorcade around the same time. We were sealed up tight for about 45 minutes. We had people escape into our area in hysterics before the doors to the lobby were locked, but I never saw the person with the gun. One woman in particular was hyperventilating because he pointed the g*n straight at her before walking away.

Anyhow, we were told that we'd be fired if we talked to the media. By the time I finished counting my drawer the news was saying that an attempted bank robbery had spilled over into our motorcade before they drove away. By the time I got home that story was gone from everywhere but a single news outlet who issued a correction stating that a car had backfired in the motorcade. We weren't allowed to discuss it. It was kept as quiet as in-house celebrity gossip."

"A lot of the employees are sleeping with each other. Likely all over the hotel, at least at the ones I’ve worked at."

"So I didn't work in one, but I lived in one for 3 months for a business trip. Despite the "5 star" labeling.. they are basically a street side motel, just dressed up. Some things I learned during my stay:

-its okay to take a pr*stitute to breakfast. As long as she's younger and prettier. Ugly ones had to leave.

-hotels do not invest in thick walls no matter how many stars.

-there will be mold. If you can't see it, it's been quickly painted over.

-everything breaks, frequently. I woke up to a waterfall flowing down my bathroom wall from the toilet in the room above me. The staff had experience fixing it.

Edits: read through the comments and figured I would add some clarifications. The hotel was not located in the US, it was in Asia. There was not a pr*stitute beauty contest every morning, but this was like an unwritten rule. The older less attractive men would pay extra to have the arm candy go to breakfast with them. You can definitely tell a difference in relationship between a family member and working woman. Paper thin walls, this I have encountered on more than just the stay mentioned, but this reaffirmed it."

"In the older institutions, really dedicated lifer staff tend to become really elitist. As for guests, the usual. Most people tend to just be another guest but, there is a lot of: Grandstanding, threats against jobs and security of the institution's reputation, entitlement (in my case, handouts of very expensive and VERY officiously regulated products), drugs, gambling, sleeping around with business associates to assure deals and bribery. All things pieced together by hearing multiple conversations within a week. I don't recall bribery of public officials or anything like that, though."

"Hotel food is generally not as good as a standalone restaurant because they have to be more accommodating to guest requests/modifications and have a broader "take all comers" menu. Being more accommodating to mods means you have to get rid of some of the details that might improve dish quality to make it more accessible; for example removing butter to make a dish dairy-free. A bigger menu means that each dish gets less attention and time devoted to it, lowering overall quality. It's difficult to make really interesting good when you also have to make pizzas and burgers and butter noodles for the kids.

Among professional cooks, hotels are often derided for having a low quality of food, but they typically pay better and offer more benefits than a restaurant job. So the cooks who do end up working in hotel kitchens tend to be the guys who are more interested in a paycheck than in refining their craft or whatever. I can't condemn a fella for looking to get paid, but I'm my experience they're more liable to cut corners and engage in "shoemaker" behavior."

srcarruth wrote:
"That those balls of butter come premade, frozen in a plastic tub."

mcderyan replied:
"I hand scooped those delicate looking little b*stards at my hotel. Actually it was an enjoyable task. Much better than polishing silver!"