No matter how much of a traveler you might be, no one can disagree with the power of getting settled into your hotel room at the end of a long journey.
The last thing any of us wants to hear is that the room isn’t ready, agreed the folks in the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITAH) subReddit, or worse, that we’ve been checked into the wrong room.
Redditor Maya3376 was simply over it when they were checked in not once, not twice, but three times into a different hotel room they agreed to during their registration.
But when a friend criticized them for how they handled the situation, the Original Poster (OP) looked back and wondered if they should have given the hotel staff the benefit of the doubt.
They asked the sub:
“AITAH for snapping at a hotel receptionist after being given the wrong room three times?”
The OP was looking forward to settling into their hotel room while traveling.
“I was on a trip recently and booked a room at a fairly nice hotel.”
“I specifically paid extra for a room with a king bed and a city view because it was supposed to be a relaxing getaway.”
“When I checked in, they gave me a room with two twin beds and a view of the parking lot.”
“I went back to the front desk, politely explained the issue, and they apologized, saying there was a mix-up.”
But the front desk’s attempt to fix the problem wasn’t a fix at all.
“They gave me another room key, but when I got to that room, it still wasn’t right. This time, it was a queen bed with no view at all.”
“I was annoyed but kept my cool and went back to the desk again.”
“They apologized again and assured me the next room would be correct.”
“Spoiler: it wasn’t. The third room wasn’t even cleaned yet. There were towels on the floor and an unmade bed.”
Three mistaken rooms later, the OP was over it.
“At that point, I was exhausted and frustrated. I went back to the front desk and snapped at the receptionist.”
“I didn’t yell or swear, but I raised my voice and told them it was ridiculous that I couldn’t get the room I paid for after three tries.”
“The receptionist looked flustered and said they were doing their best, but I wasn’t really in the mood to hear it.”
A friend made the OP second-guess how they reacted to the mix-up.
“They eventually upgraded me to a suite, but when I told a friend about the situation, they said I overreacted and that it wasn’t the receptionist’s fault because they don’t control room assignments.”
“I didn’t insult or belittle the receptionist, but my tone was definitely harsh, and I could see they were stressed out. Still, after the third room mistake, it felt like I had every right to express my frustration. My friend says I should have stayed calm no matter what, but I don’t think that’s fair.”
“I feel like I was justified in being upset, but now I’m wondering if I crossed a line.”
“AITAH?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in:
- NTA: Not the A**hole
- YTA: You’re the A**hole
- ESH: Everybody Sucks Here
- NAH: No A**holes Here
Some reassured the OP that they had every right to be upset about this experience.
“As a former hotel receptionist, they’re literally the only ones who control the room assignments. You have every right to be upset. Three times is absurd.” – hannahrlindsay
“They’re the ones who mess up, and instead of owning it, they act like they’re doing OP a favor by giving them a suite. They fumbled three times and tried to brush it off like it was no big deal.”
“If I were OP, I’d be furious, too! NTA.” – aswergomu
“Asking for a manager doesn’t make you a Karen. When I was waitressing, if I made a noteworthy mistake I’d always check in with a manager to see if they happened to have a moment to swing by the table. If the table requested the manager, it just made that step a little less awkward.”
“Karens bully the staff to feel superior; respectfully requesting a manager is just acknowledging that the person you’re talking to probably doesn’t have the power (or in this case, intelligence) to properly address your concerns.” – SuzeCB
“I booked a room at a hotel and when I arrived at the room the key card didn’t work. I went back to the front desk, and they told me the new guy made a mistake, and they reprogrammed the key. Still didn’t work.”
“The third time I got to my room, the manager met me at the door to make sure it worked. It didn’t. He let me in and told me he’d deliver a working key card in a few minutes. He did, along with profuse apologies.”
“This manager understood the frustration of trying to get into your room multiple times and made sure I didn’t have to try again.”
“So no, NTA.” – choconamiel
“NTA.”
“I’d booked a business class room at the fancy hotel next to the music festival that I was going to be at.”
“Guess what classroom all the talent at the festival booked? The receptionist apologized profusely that they were overbooked and gave me the ambassador suite while letting me wait in the VIP lounge as they got it ready. I had a better room than the top artists at the festival because they were on tight budgets, lol (laughing out loud).”
“That’s how you do customer service.” – lesgeddon
“After the second mistake, I would have made a hotel employee go and make sure the room was what I paid for and cleaned. No way I’m going up a third time without knowing for absolutely sure my room is what I paid for.”
“Asking to speak to a manager doesn’t automatically make you a Karen. Sometimes, there has been a screwup or three, and you need to talk to someone higher on the food chain to get what you paid for.” – CommunicationGlad299
Others were concerned by the safety issues that might arise from this.
“I am not disabled, but somewhat slight and a hotel I frequently stayed at had a courtyard-style layout and very fierce fire doors every twenty rooms or so which I struggled to get through with a suitcase, laptop bag, and handbag, so I had standing instructions for rooms close to the lift.”
“Once I got there late and tired they gave me a different room. I struggled through three fire doors before giving up, phoning reception and saying very firmly that the room I hadn’t even made it to was just too far and unsuitable; that I was currently sitting outside room xxx, and that someone should come and find me with a new room key that was, per instructions, closer to the lift. They did.” – noddyneddy
“I have a disability, but avoid using my cane or walker unless I’m going for a long walk or in an especially bad flare (so the receptionist wouldn’t know).”
“Reading this had me so frustrated just thinking about how much of a toll all that dragging of luggage back and forth would have worn me out when it could be so easily avoided.” – littlefiddle05
“NTA.”
“The receptionist may not control room assignments, but rooms are coded by their features (e.g. king size city view, king-size parking lot view, etc.). Those codes (for example, K101 and K102) are assigned to each room number, so when you book a king with a city view, they know they’re supposed to give you a K101 room.”
“They don’t know which K101 room you’re going to get, necessarily, but it sounds like they were giving you rooms with entirely different room type codes.”
“After the second f**k-up, I would have asked to speak to the hotel manager.” – STUNTSTUNT
“The sad thing is that the situation didn’t resolve until OP raised his voice. Until then, they were quite content to let him traipse up and down the hotel corridors while they fumbled about.”
“Another possibility is that they deliberately gave him a non-premium room despite his booking and paying for a premium room, hoping he would be so exhausted with his travel that he’d take it. They could re-sell that premium room to someone else.” – Gracelandrocks
“NTA. Seriously. Nothing annoys me more in life than people bringing me a problem without even trying to offer a solution!”
“Particularly when it is not my job to give a single solitary f**k about what went wrong for why I’m not receiving the service they already took my money to provide.”
“I have no idea when it became acceptable for anyone providing a service to give a whole entire sob story to explain why they’ve failed to try to elicit sympathy for a whole entire service they have already been paid for!”
“It’s weird, and unprofessional and often has the complete opposite effect of making people angry.”
“P.S. Don’t treat service workers like sh*t, that is not the lesson to be learned. Do stop dumping the struggles of your job on your customers, especially when errors have occurred. Apologise and offer a solution. That. Is. It.” – llamadramalover
The subReddit could not stop shaking its head over how the OP was treated and how simple it would have been for the front desk to take accountability and solve this after one mistake instead of three. Not taking responsibility only elongates problems; it doesn’t solve them.