‘Sorry, I can't check you in’: Front desk clerk refuses to give demanding guest a room after they booked a reservation that went against hotel's credit card policy

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Apr 6, 2024 7:00 AM EDT

Some people think that if they will just ignore a problem, it will go away on its own. And as much as we all would have loved it if that was the case, it is often not, which means that if you want something to be sorted, you should probably do it yourself.

The guest in this Reddit story thought that all his problems would be sorted by themselves, and then had to deal with the consequences when it turned out that they didn't just go away. The story was written by a hotel clerk, who was approached by a man who wanted to book a hotel room. The man booked his room online while standing in front of the clerk, and ignored all the clerk's instructions for what he needed in order to check-in. The guest mentioned he didn't have his credit card on him but proceeded to ignore the problem even while the clerk told him he would not be able to check him in.

The clerk did not give in to the man's insistence to ignore everything he said, so keep scrolling to read what happened next. After that, click here for a story of an overworked IT guy who used his skills to take revenge on his company

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  • 01
    "You should have listened" RECEPTION
    via Canva
  • 02
    Sir, I told you you're not going to be able to check in
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  • 03
    A man got dropped off by an uber then came up to the desk and said, "I saw online you have rooms for $56?"
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  • 04
    Which was news to me because our rate is $90 after tax tonight, and I told him this along with our credit card requirement and security deposit. He asked if I could match the Ricewine rate
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  • 05
    and I apologized and said I couldn't, but said it was fine if he wanted to take a moment and book it there. He decided that's what he was going to do and lingered.
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  • 06
    around the desk fiddling with his phone. Meanwhile the desk phone rang and I answered and quoted the caller the rate for Friday which is a bonkers rate because of an event in town.
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  • 07
    After I hung up the guy in the lobby laughed and said he was glad he wasn't here on Friday because he doesn't have that much for a room and he doesn't have a credit card for a deposit.
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  • 08
    I realized he must not have been paying attention when I had quoted him the very same deposit earlier, and clarified that the deposit would be required of him when he checked in. He laughed and
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  • 09
    pointed at his phone and reminded me that he was booking online. I told him that regardless of how he booked, he'd still have to pay the same deposit using a credit card or a
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  • 10
    major bank debit card. He just chuckled and waved me off dismissively so I shrugged and let him make his own dumb choices.
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  • 11
    A few minutes later he complained to me that he was having trouble booking online because it kept changing the dates on him. I suggested that maybe the rate he wanted was only for a specific date? Or
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  • 12
    didn't exist, but I didn't say that out loud. A few minutes of me awkwardly sitting at the desk passed as he did the boomer stare at his phone over his glasses while standing at the desk directly in front of me.
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  • 13
    Eventually he said he'd booked it and I saw a new reservation pop up a moment later and confirmed his name. I asked for his ID and his card for the deposit and his face fell.
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  • 14
    Guy- I told you, I don't have my credit card here. Bran, as politely as I could manage- And I told you I would need it to check you in. It also says it on Ricewine.
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  • 15
    He argued that it didn't, and I invited him to hand me his phone so I scrolled on our page on Ricewine to show him exactly where it did in fact say that. He sighed and said fine, I have my credit card... number. And
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  • 16
    showed me a credit card number written out on a scrap of paper. He did this while standing directly next to a sign that states we don't take tap to pay, pictures of credit cards, or
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    any card that is not physically present at the hotel. I've had guests laugh that we have the sign, and they always look horrified when I inform them we have the sign because of how often I've had to tell people
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    no, I can't accept this picture of your credit card. He then went through the various prepaid cards in his wallet asking me if we took any of them, even as I repeatedly
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  • 19
    told him we don't take debit cards that have not been issued by a bank. Eventually he accepted defeat and then had to go through the rigamarole of calling Ricewine to get his money back.
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  • 20
    I don't like turning folks away, it's awkward and uncomfortable for everyone involved. I don't know what this guy expected to happen.
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  • 21
    Jay_Gomez44. 8 hr. ago As a Boomer myself, I am always surprised that someone who has lived that long is so lacking in basic life skills.
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  • 22
    mstarrbrannigan OP · 8 hr. ago It's funny seeing who adapts to what and who doesn't. My folks are boomers and my dad is not particularly tech literate but he loves getting new "toys" lol. Hol even 15 years ago he
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  • 23
    joined facebook before I did, though I was one of those people who was clinging to MySpace for dear life. But yeah, ipads, apple watches, smart phones, etc. He's always so excited when he gets a new one.
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  • 24
    My mom on the other hand doesn't know about technology and also cannot function without it. Growing. up we had a cable box that in order to use it you had to turn it on separately from the TV. It was all programed from the
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  • 25
    same remote, you just had to hit Cable>Power>TV>Power. Me, my little sister and my dad all had no trouble with it. Mom on the other hand would have to call us from the other end of the house to come turn the TV on for her. Meanwhile at
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  • 26
    like 11 I'd figured out how to run my N64 through the stereo to the TV because it was easier to get at the inputs on the stereo than the ones on the back of the TV.
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  • 27
    Austin BennettWriter 8 hr. ago He expected things to happen the way he wanted them to happen. You following policy was not what he expected.
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  • 28
    Honestly, I wouldn't have bothered with a refund. He booked the prepaid, non refundable reservation and accepted all terms and conditions. Not my problem that he's a idiot.
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  • 29
    mstarrbrannigan OP · 8 hr. ago I'm always so tempted to not let people get refunds when it's their own mistake, but then I'd probably have to keep dealing with them. Approving the refund feels like the fastest way to make them someone else's problem.
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  • 30
    WhiteWolf0815 - 8 hr. ago The fact that that guy listened to you tell him he needed a deposit and then argued with you about it is bonkers to me. How these people have the audacity to do this kind of thing...
    via u/WhiteWolf0815

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guests clerk hotel front desk work customers demanding tales from the front desk reddit story policy workplace entitled Reddit entitled people
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