'It was like a clown car': Bullheaded Karen expects a free upgrade after booking a tiny hotel room for her whole family, finds out the hotel is completely booked

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Dec 3, 2023 1:00 PM EST

Imagine how audacious you'd have to be to expect a free upgrade everywhere you go? Like if you were heading to the mechanic for a tire rotation and expected a full new set of tires. And if you had GA concert tickets, imagine thinking that the band would personally find you in the crowd, upgrade you to VIP, and take you on their tour bus after the show! Or if you had coach tickets for your flight home for the holidays and Jeff Bezos just showed up to the tarmac insisting you take his private jet instead. Feels silly, huh? 

People that feel entitled to an automatic upgrade don't realize that the upgrades are more expensive because they require more work to provide a higher quality service. However, entitled Karens everywhere have been pushing the boundaries on what's reasonable for a loooooong time.

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  • When it comes to hospitality, a lot of customers and guests feel the thrill of pushing the envelope when it comes to available upgrades. It's as if every Karen coming up to the front desk rubs their hands together maniacally wondering if they can get the receptionist to turn to putty in their hands after asking for management. 

  • However, some receptionists can douse a fired-up Karen instantly with some cold hard facts. If their requests are literally impossible, there's not much a smiling desk jockey can do about it for them. Scroll onward for our next story where a hotel receptionist totally pwns an entitled Karen by explaining one of the most obvious truths of the world. You can't get a free upgrade for your hotel room if there aren't any rooms available.

    After this, here's another story of entitlement where a lazy DIYer tried to pin their failed project on a hardworking hardware store employee, only to get totally called out by management. 

  • 01
    "I can't give you a room I don't have"
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  • 02
    il r/TalesFromTheFront Desk. Posted by u/Other-Cantaloupe4765 9 hours ago The lion, the witch, and the audacity of this : Don't book a single room for your whole family under the assumption that we'll upgrade you for free
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 03
    It baffles me that so many random people walk in and say they would like an upgrade. It... doesn't work like that. We don't just give free upgrades to anyone who asks. We don't even randomly upgrade the Shiny Members. If we make a mistake with your room or reservation, we'll ask if it's okay to upgrade you. If we accidentally overbook a certain
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 04
    room type, then we'll offer someone an upgrade. If something in your room is not functioning and it doesn't represent the standards we keep, we'll upgrade you. If it's a slow night and we know you're having a hard time (ie had a car accident, escaping domestic violence, unexpected death of someone close to you) we'll quietly ask if it's okay to upgrade you.
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 05
    Sometimes third parties upgrade people without asking them first, and I'm the one who has to take the when they don't want that room. Sometimes (a lot of the time) third parties literally just lie to people. And sometimes people are entitled bungholes. Even worse are the entitled bungholes who book using third parties. That's the type of person this story is about. I'll call her Kim.
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 06
    It's a busy af night. We are completely booked and have no rooms left to sell. So Kim comes in at like 9:30pm having booked a pet friendly single room (one queen bed) as a prepaid, nonrefundable reservation made through booting dot com.
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 07
    She comes to the desk, tells me her name, and says "and I'll take a free upgrade, thanks." And then she just kept going through her purse as if she didn't say some entitled :. That ain't how it works ma'am. I blinked at her a few times until she looked up, and I said, "I'm sold out, there aren't any other rooms available to upgrade you to."
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 08
    She immediately jumped to saying, "Well booting.com told me I could book this room and then ask for an upgrade when I got here and you'd give it to me." Did they now. I can't say whether they did or not. Tbh it could go either way. I can see booting doing that and I can also see Kim making that up. Lemme also say
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 09
    that if you book OTA, we aren't giving you an upgrade unless something in your room is seriously I and another room of that same type isn't available. If you book a PPNF, I can't put you in any other room type anyway. When thinking about who to upgrade, we cross off OTA reservations first.
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 10
    "Ma'am, even if I did have a room to give you, I wouldn't be able to switch you because you booked a prepaid nonrefundable reservation, and I'm not able to edit those in that way." "But booting.com SAID you would give me an upgrade!" Well booting.com lied to you bro.
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 11
    "Like I said. This is the room you booked. I'm all sold out and I can't change your reservation." "Well what am I supposed to do now? Huh?? I have my kids and husband with me, and we can't all sleep in a single room!!"
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 12
    Okay then don't BOOK a single room for your whole family and assume I'll give you another one for free when you show up. The entitlement, holy .I can't believe I have to say this, but if you're traveling with your whole family, you need to book a room that accommodates your whole family.
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 13
    "That's up to you. I can bring some extra pillows and blankets if you'd like, and I think I still have a rollaway available if you want that." And Kim is Asian and primarily speaks an Asian language (apologies, I can't differentiate between Chinese/Japanese/Vietnamese etc), so she's having trouble understanding what I mean by a rollaway. I try a few synonyms (cot,
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 14
    portable bed) and describing it, but she's not getting it. Which is fine, I deal with language barriers on the daily with this job. Meanwhile her two daughters are standing a bit behind her while this is all going down, and the older one- probably about 10 or 11yo, I'd guess- steps in to translate it for her, which was super helpful.
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 15
    And Kim says it's not acceptable and wants to be upgraded. I can't give you a room I don't have, your majesty. I said, "that's the best I can do. Bottom line. Would you like the rollaway bed I offered?" Kim starts to take a breath and her 10yo daughter interrupts her and says yes Imao. I looked at the daughter and said, "sounds good, I'll bring it to your room when I have a minute." And then I finished checking them in.
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 16
    Pretty bad when your 10yo kid is more reasonable than you are smh. Oh, I told my manager about it and she checked the cameras. I thought it was just four people she was going to have in the room. My manager told me she counted nine people going into that room. She said, "holy , it was like a clown car- all these people kept packing in there. All I could think was "yep, that's a fire hazard."""
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 17
    Insane. People, book the room you need. Don't walk in and expect us to give you a free upgrade. A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 18
    Jay Gomez44. 8 hr. ago This was not a lack of planning- she was trying to take advantage of you. Vote Reply Share Other-Cantaloupe4765 OP. 8 hr. ago Her plan to take advantage of me was not very well thought out
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  • 19
    Other-Cantaloupe4765 OP 1 day ago edited 9 hr. ago Usually we don't allow more than four in a single room, and we typically inform them that they need to get another room or find other accommodations if they have more than that. Sometimes though, people sneak in the whole army. I had no idea she snuck so many people into that room. I thought it was only the four of them.
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 20
    Winterwynd 1 day ago "...and I'll take a free upgrade, thanks." Like, not even a request but a demand or statement rather than asking. The audacity indeed. 132 Reply Share Other-Cantaloupe4765 OP 1 day ago That was the part that seriously ticked me off. If you ask about it, okay whatever. But the people who come in and demand it? If you come in demanding an upgrade, I don't care if you're the only person staying in the hotel that night- I'm not giving it to you smh.
    via u/Winterwynd
  • 21
    Justdonedil 1 day ago You know she books airline seats without paying for seat assignments, then throws a tantrum when people won't move to accommodate her.
    via u/Justdonedil
  • 22
    lapsteelguitar. 1 day ago "Sir/Madam, if <ota> promised you an upgrade, you will have to talk to <ota> about that. I have none available." 43 Reply Share Other-Cantaloupe4765 OP 1 day ago I told her that haha. Call the OTA if you have an issue with the reservation THEY made you. I can't believe the amount of times I have to say that to people every day.
    via u/lapsteelguitar
  • 23
    FunkyPete 1 day ago The whole idea that all anyone has to do is ask and they'll get an upgraded room is crazy. I mean, why do they think hotels charge more for those rooms to begin with? They're just hoping someone will pay out of the goodness of their heart rather than just use this one trick that hotel front desk agents hate?
    via u/FunkyPete
  • 24
    Other-Cantaloupe4765 OP 1 day ago I knooow, it really irks me the amount of people who come in asking if I can give them an upgrade. No sir I'm not going to give you a room that's a $30 price increase for free just because you asked...... I swear people must google "hotel life hacks" and find a bunch of made up crazy that they take notes on.
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 25
    AngelaIs Not MyName 1 day ago I like how they say what the problem is and simultaneously not realize what the problem is. "Well BOOOOOOKYNG says-" Indeed. THEY said it. Which means your issue is with THEM, not US. They're not our boss. All we have to do is give you the room you were too cheap to pay full price for.
    via u/AngelaIsNotMyName

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