Do Hotels Really Break Elevators for Fun? A Front Desk Tale of Lift-Related Woes
If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in a crowded hotel lobby, glaring impatiently at a non-moving elevator display, you may have wondered: “Do these hotel staffers secretly enjoy our pain?” After all, what’s more fun than a twenty-minute wait for a lift when you’re running late for a meeting, or worse, desperately in need of a bathroom after that third mimosa at brunch?
Well, according to a recent tale from Reddit’s r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk, some guests genuinely seem to think hotel employees purposely keep lifts out of order just for kicks. Let’s peel back the lobby carpet and take a look at the hilarious—and somewhat exasperating—truth behind the scenes.
The Great Elevator Conspiracy (Spoiler: It’s Not Real)
Picture this: You’re working at a bustling hotel that’s just hit maximum capacity for the weekend. Every room is booked, the conference center is buzzing, and the breakfast buffet has been raided. Suddenly, disaster strikes—a key elevator grinds to a halt and refuses to budge. Maintenance shakes their heads: this one’s going to need a part shipped from three states away and a technician with a PhD in Elevatorology.
Cue the chaos.
For two long weeks, guests are forced to wait, sometimes upwards of 20 minutes, simply to catch a ride to their floor. Frustration mounts. Tempers flare. The front desk glows red-hot with complaints, and the hotel’s complimentary cookie stash takes a serious hit as staff scramble to appease the masses.
Now, here’s the kicker: guests start leaving reviews that read like the script of a bad sitcom.
- “This is completely unacceptable. The hotel should have gotten it fixed.”
- “Don’t understand why the hotel would have a broken lift over a busy weekend.”
- “They really need to fix the lift. They shouldn’t be letting it be down for so long.”
As u/matthew_anthony (our front desk warrior) laments, do people really think hotel staff just shrug, laugh, and say, “Let’s make everyone do the stairmaster challenge this week—sounds fun!”?
What Actually Happens When an Elevator Breaks
Here’s the reality: No hotel on earth wants a broken elevator. Not the guests, not the housekeepers (imagine lugging carts up and down stairs all day), and certainly not the front desk staff, who become the human shields for every complaint, tantrum, and Yelp-fueled meltdown.
When a lift goes down, hotels typically:
- Call maintenance immediately (no, they don’t just wait for Mercury to exit retrograde).
- Order parts and schedule urgent repairs (if only Amazon Prime delivered elevator motors overnight).
- Offer apologies, upgrades, and the aforementioned cookies in a desperate bid to keep everyone from rioting.
But elevators are complex beasts. Sometimes a fix takes days—or weeks—regardless of how many angry reviews are written or how many times staff are asked, “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”
The Customer Service Squeeze
Let’s spare a thought for the frontline hotel heroes. For two weeks, the staff at this particular property had to endure a relentless parade of exasperated guests and their creative suggestions for fixing the elevator (“Have you tried WD-40?”). Meanwhile, management likely handed out more free snacks, drinks, and loyalty points than the annual Christmas party.
Was it fun? Not unless your idea of a good time is being yelled at for something you have negative control over.
Why Do Guests Think It’s On Purpose?
Maybe it’s the same impulse that makes us think the DMV is slow on purpose, or that airlines truly enjoy making us sprint between terminals. When we’re frustrated, it’s easy to assume the people in charge are just… enjoying the chaos.
But trust us: No one is cackling behind the front desk, plotting your next stairwell workout. If anything, they’re counting the days until the elevator is fixed—and hoping you don’t take out your rage on TripAdvisor.
The Real Fix: A Little Empathy Goes a Long Way
Next time you’re faced with a malfunctioning hotel lift, take a deep breath, grab a cookie (if offered), and remember: the staff are just as eager to get things moving as you are. And if you have to hoof it up a few flights, at least you’ll have an epic story to tell (and maybe work off that breakfast buffet).
Have you ever survived a hotel disaster? Share your wildest tales in the comments below—or your best elevator-repair suggestions! And remember: behind every broken lift is a front desk agent, quietly screaming inside.
Meta: Ever wondered if hotels secretly enjoy broken elevators? Spoiler: they don’t! Dive into a hilarious, behind-the-scenes look at front desk frustrations.
Original Reddit Post: In this hotel, we purposefully have our lifts broken because that’s what we think is fun