Five secrets hotels don’t want you to know

One or two night’s stay in a posh hotel offers a chance to relax and unwind, but like the saying goes, all that glitters is not gold. Hotels, regardless of their gorgeous façade, delicious cuisine and other luxurious trappings, are full of well kept secrets that the management does not want you to know.

This week, Room Service opens the door to some of them, so that before your next getaway, you will know what to believe, what to ask for and what not to bother yourself with.

1: Bargain guests get a bargain experience. Sure, you will find cheap hotel rates online, but that’s the end of the feel good effect. Hotels, in quest of maximising returns, allocate the least desirable rooms to those booking through third-party sites, since they make less money from these booking engines after discounts.

2: Hotels prefer someone with status because not only is this kind of guest better paying, but also, the hotel is sure to gain publicity from the VIP visit. Chances are that you may lose a room you had reserved and paid in advance for, since the hotel’s aim is to appease the high and mighty, hoping they would turn them into repeat guests.

3: Concierge recommendations are biased. True, the hotel concierge knows the city in out: good places to go shopping, dancing and sightseeing, but think twice when seeking such information from these ever-smiling fellows, because more often than not, they recommend places where they ‘get something small’ from the establishment owners in order to keep referring guests there.

4: Hotels spy on you before you check in. No need of lengthy introductions when you hit the registration desk, because the front office team has been busy poring over your social media platforms and they probably know more about you than you know yourself.

They have checked your name, company you work for, your position, marital status, birthday and other special occasions, as well as your likes and dislikes. And if there is little information about you on the socials, allow them a day and they will know everything they need to, from the contents of your room dustbin…

5: A guest could have died in the room you are spending your sweet night at. Death is a fact of life and like any other place, occasionally, hotels register guest deaths, either as a result of sickness, accidents or foul play. When death occurs, the hotel management will use all tricks to ensure the body is spirited off the hotel without attracting the attention of the rest of the guests, the public, media and even the hotel staff itself, apart from the most senior managers.

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