Unusual Hotel Guest Requests: Surprising Stories

Hotel staff are accustomed to the mantra 'the customer is always right.' They work around the clock, solve emergencies, change rooms for dissatisfied guests, and even whip up meals at odd hours. Yet some guests leave an indelible impression—just because of their particularly strange requests.

The social network 'Reddit' recently reached out to its members in the hospitality industry: Tell us about the weirdest guest requests you've ever encountered. Here is a list of some of the most bizarre stories received in response.

"Wrap the TV in Tin Foil"

"The strangest request I ever encountered came from a middle-aged woman who came to the front desk and asked me to come up to her room and wrap her TV in tin foil because she suspected it was haunted by ghosts. I did it, and she was calm for the rest of her stay."

"Won't Sleep Without the Author's Picture"

It turns out many guests request hotel staff to hang pictures of their favorite celebrities in their rooms, from athletes to singers. But some people's admiration reaches obsessive levels. "I once had a guest who made it clear she wouldn't go to her room to sleep until we hung a framed picture of J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series."

"Fetch My Clothes from the Other Room"

Guests may come to hotels to relax, but most do not display the level of laziness shown by a British singer. "This happened when I worked at a hotel in Beverly Hills. The singer was staying in a suite with two rooms and summoned me to bring him his clothes from the other room to the one where he was sitting. For this service, I received a £65 tip."

"Would You Mind Carrying My Backpack?"

An employee at an American hotel was asked by a wealthy guest to retrieve his backpack from the car parked outside. "It was a leather backpack full of boxes typically used to contain illicit substances. I went up to the room and found a guy with red eyes and an unfocused look. He gave me a $100 tip."

"Take Down the Devil Picture"

"In one of our hotel rooms, there was a Disney picture—the 'Beast' from 'Beauty and the Beast.' A guest in that room insisted we remove the picture because, according to him, it was an image of the devil. The picture was bolted to the wall, and we had to call a specialist to detach it so the guest could sleep peacefully."

"Absolutely No Balloons"

A worker at a resort with 10,000 guests had to declare a ban on balloons after a woman announced she had a balloon phobia and requested not to encounter them anywhere. "Of course, we couldn't control balloons guests might buy outside the site, but management agreed not to distribute or hang balloons anywhere as long as this guest was staying with us."

"Help Us Empty the Room of Furniture"

A group of motorcyclists rented a row of rooms in a hotel and a conference room. After arriving, they called the front desk and asked for help rearranging the rooms. The maid arrived with garbage bags in hand to find some of the rooms already devoid of all furniture except the TV. "I asked them where everything was, and they said outside. I went out to the hotel courtyard—there were two beds, nightstands, a work desk, and another table..."