What do these guests allow themselves? Revelations of a 5-star hotel maid

Not everyone can afford to stay in luxury hotels with a 5-star rating, so little is known about the mysterious world of the highest category of hotel business. And even less about what happens inside the luxurious rooms. But this is a fixable thing.

The reporter of the Business Insider news portal Britannie Kriegstein talked to the maid of one of the 5-star hotels and found out what guests of luxury hotels should not do, and what it would not hurt to learn.

Of course, you can't forbid living beautifully, and if you have become a guest of a 5-star hotel — be a person, listen to these tips.

Perhaps you shouldn't: meet the maid undressed. Delivering breakfast to half—naked people is not something I would like to start the day with. Apparently, most of the guests are too hungry in the morning to observe the simplest rules of decency. Please put on at least a bathrobe before opening the door to the maids serving you in the rooms.

Great idea: have a few words with us when we deliver your food. Although we have to follow certain instructions when we appear in your room for one reason or another, most of us would not mind exchanging at least a few words with you. Talk about the weather, ask about how our day went, tell us where you are from. In addition, a few non-binding phrases will help us understand how satisfied you are with the service.

Perhaps it's not worth it: take something from the mini-bar without special need. Although my managers probably think otherwise, I still really don't like it when guests use the contents of mini-bars. There are more than 20 different types of food and drinks in the mini-bar in each room, and we are responsible for restocking. This means that I have to check the list for the availability of goods in 144 rooms every day to see if everything is in place. Then I need to take a terribly inconvenient cart and deliver the missing drinks and groceries to all the rooms. This process can take up to several hours! In general, we would be delighted if guests used the mini-bars in the rooms as little as possible.

Great idea: tell us what we could improve. Some guests are too critical of the service, but there are also those who are afraid to even say a word if they are suddenly not satisfied with something. But if you speak to us politely, we will be very happy to hear your comments and suggestions on how we can make your stay at the hotel more pleasant. Tell us about it when we come to your room, leave a note or pass the information to the employee at the reception — these are great ways to correct shortcomings.

Perhaps it's not worth it: to demand something absolutely out of the ordinary from us. We, the staff of a 5-star hotel, are ready to fulfill almost any of your requests. We are ready to organize a performance of musicians at your wedding, deliver champagne to the beach and help you arrange a luxurious surprise party. All this is quite feasible, but, for example, booking a charter flight to Guam for tomorrow morning is too much.

Great idea: greet us in the corridors. Yes, it may sound corny, but the hotel staff are also people. Apart from our uniforms, we are no different from the guests. Some of us even stay in rooms sometimes (they give us good discounts). So please just treat us with respect — it makes the working environment much more pleasant.

Perhaps you shouldn't: get mad at us if we come into your room. We have strict instructions that we must follow: you need to visit the rooms several times a day to clean and update the mini-bar. If you don't want the maid to come into your room, use the "Do not disturb" sign. We are not allowed to go inside and even knock if there is a similar warning on the door.

Great idea: leave room service orders as early as possible. It's hard to think of something more unpleasant in the work of maids than to get an urgent order and rush around the hotel in search of the things you need. One day one of the guests ordered us the most hearty breakfast at 12:05, 5 minutes after we had already finished taking orders. Of course, we solved this problem, but it cost a lot of curses from disgruntled chefs and unnecessary stress for hotel employees.

Perhaps you shouldn't: ask us about celebrities in the hotel. No, you don't need to ask us if any of the celebrities are staying at this hotel, what room they are staying in, whether they are staying at the hotel now, and so on. Due to the rather strict confidentiality requirements, we may not even know this. And we certainly can't tell you.

Great idea: tell us a little about yourself. We work in a 5-star hotel in many ways also because we like to delight guests in the most unusual and funny ways. If you tell us a little about yourself, we will be able to understand what you like and what you don't, and we will make your stay at the hotel even more enjoyable.