Hotel Employee Records Man Trying to "Bully" Her Into Giving Him Another Customer’s Room, Posts It Online

Hotel worker @localtumbleweed went viral on TikTok after posting a video of her dealing with an irate customer who simply wouldn't take no for an answer as he tried to finesse an upgraded room out of her in a fully booked hotel. Other commenters on the platform applauded her for the impressive composure she displayed in a high-stress situation.

"We have two kids, two adults, and the reservation on our phone is clear what we reserved," he says in a video of the surreptitiously captured encounter. "What do you expect us to do?"

She replies, "Well, with that one we could get you checked in as a king suite reservation, so it has a bed and a sofa pull out cou-"

At this point the customer cuts the employee off. "I understand, but what do you expect us to do? We have two kids and us, we can't all sleep on a king bed that's ridiculous."

She agrees with the man that the situation is less than ideal and attempts to explain that the reservation, which was booked through a third-party site, specifically indicated a king suite room, and she is unable to provide him with other accommodations.

"Yeah, yeah I understand it's just the way that Booking.com sends us the reservation, so all we that we have is that, and we're sold out for tonight."

The man continues, "OK, I get that... so what do you expect us to do? That's my question."

"Well, that's what I'm saying, we could either check you into the room or we could cancel the reservation. That's the only two options," she replies calmly.

"And then sleep in our car?" the man asks.

"No I'm not-"

"I mean where else are we gonna go? Are there any other Holiday Inn Express hotels that you can check us into?"

She responds, "I don't have the power to do that, but there are Holiday Inn Expresses in Bloomington."

This answer didn't satisfy the man: "So you're not even gonna help us, you're gonna say take the room as it is or you're on your own?"

"What I can do to help you guys is get you guys checked into the room that has the king bed and sofa pull-out couch, but apart from that we don't have any other rooms to check you guys into." she says. "If it's regarding what you guys reserved, you would have to call Booking.com so that they could assist you with something that happened on their end. But this is just the information that we've received from Booking.com."

At this point in the conversation a text overlay reads that the man is giving her an intimidating scare while she begins to regret her career choice.

"Who hasn't checked in and what is available with two beds?"

She repeats to the man again that they don't have any more rooms available.

He doubles down, "Who hasn't checked in yet?"

She tells him that the rooms are reserved and that she cannot "take them from somebody who's already reserved a room."

However the man insists the hotel gave another customer his room, so he can't see why she couldn't do that to another customer and give him the room he wanted.

"No cuz we held the room that we had the information for, which is the king suite. That's what Booking.com sent over to us. So we kept that room for you guys," she calmly explains.

The man pauses before continuing the argument, "How did you think that four people would fit in that room?"

"I mean, when you see that come in, don't you think that hmm, this doesn't make sense?" he asked about the reservation he made.

"No cuz Booking.com sends us the information so that's the reservation and we hold it as it is."

The man is silent again, but it's clear that he wants to continue arguing with the employee, "So you think four of us can sleep in that room? That's your suggestion?"

She does her best to maintain her composure and says, "I'm not too sure how you guys were going to...do the set-up in there, we just have the reservation as it was sent to us."

"And you have no other alternative to solve it?" the man asks.

She repeats, "We're completely sold out for tonight."

In the background, someone can be heard clearing their throat, and they interject into the conversation, "I'm just stepping in, like, you have a king bed and a pull-out, right? You have two beds and four [people.]"

The Dad Karen responds, "Two kids and us. It's none of your business, either. What are you doing jumping into this?" the dad fires back, finding someone else on whom to vent his frustration.

The hotel worker tries to quell the situation but the two men begin arguing, with the Dad Karen repeating that the other customer should just mind his own business.

"I'm just saying there's two beds."

Yeah shut it or I'm gonna-"

The hotel worker then says the man isn't being "respectful" and she's going to "go ahead and cancel [his] reservation," at this point in the conversation.

"Then what are we gonna do?" the Dad Karen asks.

"You know what, I'm not too sure but there are a lot of hotels in the area," she tells the man.

"Why don't you just sit tight for a second," the man asks.

She tells him she'll be there until 11.

In a follow-up TikTok, she reveals that the customer initially had a reservation for a room with two queen beds and pull out couch, but he canceled it because it was "too expensive," then booked a king suite through Booking.com for a cheaper price. He then tried to finesse his way into getting the room he originally reserved.

He must not have counted on the hotel selling out. Ultimately, the clerk posted a second part of the video where the customer comes back and asks to cancel the room as long as there's "no penalty," which she helps him with.

He asks again if there's no penalty, and she assures him there isn't, but he should contact Booking.com to let them know of the situation as she's going to cancel it on her end. He then spits on the floor and tells the employee he doesn't believe her.

"OK, call Booking.com," she says as he continues to spit on the floor. He then asks what Booking.com's cancelation policies are, to which she tells him she isn't privy to the other company's cancellation policies.

"I'm not paying for two rooms, so hold it until we call Booking.com and cancel it," the man says. She says she will and the man thanks her and walks off.

TikTokers applauded the TikToker's composure in the situation, with many others sharing stories of the difficult customers they've worked with in the hospitality industry.

Have you ever dealt with a customer who simply wouldn't accept an answer you were trying to give them?