Hotel Front Desk

“Hi. We are looking for a brown ladies swimsuit and a pair of blue boxers with orange – uh, roosters on them. Orange roosters.”

I will continue that story later. We’ve all been next to the person at the hotel check-in counter who is asking for something very odd or out of the ordinary. I was staying at a Best Western in San Francisco once and the guy next to me was trying to insist that his room be cleaned again immediately because he “sensed something present in the room that needed to be banished…not evil, just unclean.” No joke.

What strange hotel requests have you made or heard recently? I’ve pulled a couple of good ones off the Internet from a site called HotelClub:

“My car dimensions are 4850mm x 4810mm x 1875mm and I would like to know the dimensions of the hotel’s car parking spaces to ensure that my car will fit and not get damaged.”

“I would like a fish tank in my room that is sized approximately 30cm and fully stocked before confirming this booking. ”

Fish tank in a hotel - Maybe the guest wanted something like this?

And then comes the story from my fiance, who was in another hotel in San Francisco about seven years ago (what is it about that city?). He was only in the city for 2 nights, so he had ONE pair of pants with him. Well, he had a big Friday night, and the cleaning lady decided to clean around him while he slept. When he woke up, his pants were gone. So, he called the front desk and said “Your cleaning lady came in, cleaned the room and took my pants. I’d like to have them back so I can go outside.” Turns out he was at fault, but I’m sure the poor room service people were flustered.

And lastly…during our stay at the Inn at Key West in Key West, Florida in August, my fiance and I went for a swim. He, of course, did not have swim trunks with him, so he put on a CLEAN pair of boxers and jumped in. We got back, showered and left, but we hadn’t realized that we had accidentally wrapped up his boxers and my swimsuit in a wet towel and left it on the floor. Needless to say, they were picked up by room service and laundered. Imagine calling the front desk and saying: “Hi. We are looking for a brown ladies swimsuit and a pair of blue boxers with orange – uh, roosters on them. Orange roosters.”

All items were returned to us safe and sound…with an amused smile.

Photo Credits: Alan Light, kamikarin

Holiday Inn Express

Some of you might remember my post about the Twenty Dollar Trick, which can be used to get upgrades at hotels all across the country. Well, after reading through (almost) all of the comments, and after receiving an upgrade at a hotel recently *without* using the Twenty Dollar Trick, I decided that it was time for another entry about this topic.

I’m in the process of planning a wedding, and upon arriving at the Inn at Key West in Key West, Florida, we were initially assigned a standard room (at an outstanding price, I might add, which we found online.) But, we had a friend with us who works in sales, and she was able to get us a nicely upgraded room for the same price. How? She basically told the hotel, “Look. We are deciding between your hotel and one other hotel for a room block for over 50 people for next May. Let us stay in one of your bigger, nicer rooms. It’s summer and slow season, I’m sure you have bigger rooms available?”

And, guess what? We got what we wanted.

So, here’s the deal to getting a hotel room upgrade – with no money exchanging hands at all

1. Just Ask!

Sounds simple, buy many people are afraid to ask for what they want. What’s the worst that can happen? The hotel will say no. Or…they could say yes.

2. Frequent Flier Credits

This isn’t the best way to get a hotel room upgrade, because there are better ways to use your frequent flier miles, but it’s worth looking into if you have a bizillion of them.

3. Join those “Frequent Visitor” programs

They work! I’ve gotten upgrades through these programs a number of times.

4. Stay in the same hotel chain

I love Holiday Inn Expresses because they’re usually a good value and have large rooms. If you always stay with Holiday Inns, it’s more likely that the hotel will give you an upgrade upon check-in – they can check their computers for how many times you’ve stayed with them easily.

5. Don’t be afraid to complain if something is really wrong

Let’s say you get to your room and the bathroom has not been cleaned well, or there’s food on the carpets. Talk to the front desk – politely- and explain that you want another room, and an upgrade is possible. This often works, especially on non-busy weekends or weeks.

Photo: Eddie~S

Duval Street in Key West

Looking for an amazing value for a hotel in Key West, Florida? Check out The Inn at Key West! I was researching hotels for my wedding next year and came across this one. I happened to get an amazing deal of $109/night due to a pricing mistake on the website, but I also just booked a room for $89/night for a scouting trip next week (stay tuned for updates about how the hotel actually is). Here’s what I know so far, which is why I’m so excited about this hotel:

It’s cheap!

Good-quality, cheaper hotels are pretty tough to find during high season in Key West, and this hotel starts out with rooms for about $130/night in high season. That’s very reasonable. If you book during summer, you can snag rooms for as low as $89/night like I did. And, many rooms come with two Queen beds, so you can accommodate two couples easily.

Away From Duval Street Craziness

The Inn at Key West is about 3 miles away from downtown Key West, which can actually be a good thing. Duval Street can be nuts, so if you’re looking for a quieter retreat, you’ve found it.

Largest Freshwater Pool in Key West!

Yep – check out the pics on the website, the pool looks amazing.

Great Food and Drinks Poolside

You can grab breakfast and lunch poolside. Rumor has it that the pina coladas are must-haves.
So there you have it! I’ll report back next week after my stay to see if this hotel lives up to the hype.

Photo Credit: Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar