When Hotel Guest “Preferences” Meet Reality: A Front Desk Fable
Ever worked a front desk and felt like you needed a crowbar to pry a sentence out of a guest? Or maybe you’ve encountered the opposite: someone who arrives with a wish list so long, you half-expect them to pull out a magic lamp and start rubbing. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when hotel “preferences” meet cold, hard “circumstances,” buckle up for this tale of Mr. Wish—a guest whose requests were as lofty as his desired floor.
Welcome to the wild world behind the check-in counter, where hospitality is an art, patience is a virtue, and every guest is a mystery box waiting to be unwrapped.
Meet Mr. Wish: The Guest With a Thousand Expectations
On a typical evening, the front desk agent (let’s call them OP) gives a cheery “Good evening, welcome! How can I help?” Enter Mr. Wish, who skips niceties and launches right in: “Yeah, hi. Is Pine here?” Pine, a beloved staffer, isn’t on duty. Why does Mr. Wish need Pine? The seasoned agent knows the type—guests who’ve gotten a little too comfy with a particular staff member, expecting personalized service and a side of special favors.
When told Pine isn’t available, Mr. Wish doesn’t miss a beat. He rattles off his demands: high floor, no adjoining door, and, oh, why not the same room as last time—5353, please! But hotels aren’t wish-granting factories. OP does a quick scan of the room inventory. Only one room fits the specs—on the second floor.
Cue the dramatic gasp: “Wait, wait. That’s it? That can’t be it!” Mr. Wish tries to wrangle a better option, invoking the sacred check-in time—“Isn’t check-in at three?”—as if the universe should have prepared his perfect room by magic. OP calmly explains: not every room is ready right at three, and no, there’s no secret tracker for room readiness.
When pressed about the “view,” OP can only offer honesty. You’re either facing the highway or the parking lot—no Eiffel Tower in sight. Mr. Wish’s face says it all, but after a final, half-hearted protest, he takes the key and shuffles off. He does return—but only for a luggage cart. Perhaps, in the end, even a second-floor room can be “good enough” for one night.
Community Wisdom: What’s With the High Floor Obsession?
The story struck a chord with the r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk community, sparking a lively debate on hotel room “preferences”—some rational, some…not so much.
u/DaneAlaskaCruz wonders why so many guests fixate on high floors when the “view” is nothing but buildings or rooftops. For them, priorities are simple: away from elevators, away from ice machines, and—thanks to a recent noisy neighbor—no adjoining rooms. As they put it, “the doors between [adjoining rooms] are not that great and sounds travel from the other room and can be quite loud.”
Others, like u/basilfawltywasright, reveal a practical reason for the high-floor craze: “Top floor so there is no one above them (heavy footed walkers, jumping children…).” The idea is less about the scenery and more about silence—anything to avoid the thump of late-night acrobatics overhead.
And then there’s the humor. When u/cynrtst joked, “The bedbugs don’t crawl higher than two floors,” the sarcasm was clear—but the comment points to the wild rumors and superstitions that sometimes drive guest requests.
Security is another motivator, according to u/primorusdomus, who’s required to book upper floors for safety when traveling. Meanwhile, u/lmamakos offers a veteran traveler’s perspective: “For me, the high floor is about noise from the street.” After years of business trips to the ever-bustling NYC, they know that “being on the 18th floor is a big difference from the 3rd floor.”
No Adjoining Rooms, Please!
If there’s a modern gold standard for hotel requests, it’s “no connecting doors.” The reason? As u/Joaquin_Portland hilariously shared, you never know when your neighbor will be filming a “movie” next door. More commonly, it’s just about noise—no one wants to hear midnight karaoke or a business call at dawn.
Even OP, the original storyteller, admits to making the same request on a recent trip: “I was just at a hotel on a quick trip and that was the only request I had, but I stressed ‘IF you can do it.’” Perspective, it seems, is everything.
Preferences Are Requests, Not Guarantees
What the Mr. Wishes of the world sometimes forget is that “preferences” are just that—requests, not ironclad guarantees. Hotels do their best, but room assignments depend on availability, cleaning schedules, and the whims of previous guests. As OP notes, “That is what they always are, even if some guests seem to ‘conveniently’ forget that very important detail.”
One wise commenter, u/RoyallyOakie, distilled the front desk philosophy perfectly: “You can have this room or you can hit the road. What’s your pleasure?”
The Takeaway: Goldilocks, Check Yourself
So next time you’re checking into a hotel, remember: it’s okay to have preferences, but don’t let them turn you into a real-life Goldilocks. Sometimes, you just have to “make do” with the second floor and a parking lot view for a night. After all, it’s not the room that makes the stay—it’s the stories you collect along the way.
Have your own hotel check-in wish list gone wrong? Or maybe you’re a front desk pro with a tale to tell? Drop your thoughts and stories in the comments—we’d love to hear them. Just don’t ask for Pine. He’s off tonight.
Original Reddit Post: Preferences, meet Circumstances