Hotels often host large groups. Conventions, comiccons, corporate meetings, etc. Some groups are great, some groups are....not. There are the NOT great groups and what makes them so bad.
Demand Everything Be Free Too
“Travel agents are by far the most obscene. They get so drunk and so violent. Apart from all the vomit. Some would pass out in chairs and literally s— themselves they were so drunk. One lady in a skirt did it while standing up. No undies either. The hotel had to throw out all these chairs and carpets. Ridiculous” Source
“Litter Boxes”
Furries. As someone who lives in Pittsburgh these motherf’ers come strolling through every year and every year i hear more and more about there illicit behaviors. From requesting litter boxes into their hotel rooms (and using them) to the awkward orgies they throw together. It’s kinda disturbing, don’t get me wrong though the effort put into those costumes is ridiculous, just the people are a little disturbed and the majority are less than hygienic Source
It’s Not A “Healthy Glow”?
“Not fan conventions.. but Bodybuilder conventions are pretty.. messy. Everything is orange from spray tans. Bed sheets, towels, bath tubs, bath mats, floors.. pretty much everything is ruined” Source
Ugh, Stage Moms
“Dance and cheerleading conventions/competitions. Holy s— the parents are horrible. You can tell how hard they are on their children based on the way they treat the staff. Very demanding, rude, and entitled. The kids are awesome, usually very spirited and fun to joke around with, but holy f— the parents (usually mothers, dads were just busy getting drunk in the bar) are s—ty. On top of that, you see all these 4 year old girls dolled up like they’re 25, and that’s just f’ing sad to see. And imagine how you would feel if 900 girls who just put on way too much perfume roamed your place of business for 3 straight days. That s— gives you a headache” Source
Clowns
“Juggalos are the worst. They spray Faygo everywhere, act like complete assholes, break everything, and just do completely douchey things. Because of this, ICP has been banned from EVERY VENUE they’ve held a GOTJ at.
I went to the one in Peoria in 2003, and they were breaking toilets, spray painting s—, and at one point, some Security guys got a bit scared and started pelting everyone with tear gas” Source
Take A Shower!
“Nothing against the fanbase in general, but we had an anime convention at the hotel I worked at and they were absolutely horrendous. I heard tons of stories about sinks and bathtubs with obscene amounts of piss/vomit in them, ridiculous amounts of property damage, and people getting wasted and passing out in hallways (and then swinging at the people who awoke them). Some of the cosplay was cool, but they refused to play by our rules and we had to keep chasing dudes in monster masks with fake AKs out of the water park in the hotel.
I did get to see a furry in the wild for the first time that weekend, which was pretty nifty. I had never actually seen anything like that in real life, though I definitely knew they existed.
The whole thing was a shame, too. I really wanted to enjoy that weekend because It seemed like something I could enjoy as well. But the people that stayed at our hotel really gave that whole lot a bad rep” Source
Violent Little Buggers
“Hockey Teams. Yes, specifically hockey. My hotel had a s—load of sports teams come through, but hockey was exceptionally bad. First, the equipment. I played hockey, so I know how it is. The equipment smells horrible, and the smell travels and lingers through the entire hotel. Second, the kids. They are loud as hell, are running and pushing each other the entire f’ing time, and they seem to think playing floor hockey in the halls at 1am is a generous thing to do. They damage the property, disrupt other guests, and generally wouldn’t give a s— about anyone else. And Third, the parents. F— the parents can’t seem to control the kids, and when you tell their kids what to do, they would get defensive as f—” Source
Snobs
“Not a fan convention, but an industry one: People in the hospitality industry. We hosted a huge convention of travel agents, hoteliers, people from Expedia and the like. It was 4 days of “well, at myyyy hotel_“. No fun” Source
They Are Cults
“Multi-level Marketing Companies. Not only do you have to deal with a s— load of people with delusions of grandeur that tip like s—, but then while trying to do your job, you’re having 300 people try and sell you on their bulls—. No, I do not want to buy into your stupid traveling business s—, I have enough going on in my life” Source
Nerds!
“There’s a hotel near me that hosts a great deal of Cons. Everyone I talk to say that the Anime convention is the worst, despite the fact that most of the people who attend are attending other cons as well. Someone punched a hole into a wall near a pool and put up a notebook paper sign that said something cringey like, “We’ve altered the pool; pray we do not alter it further.” They are disrespectful to hotel staff (especially the poor cleaning staff), much louder and more disrespectful to other guests or non-attendees they see outside or at restaurants, more likely to stay ‘in character’ with their costumes (which is completely fine until you’re playing someone crazy or violent and make threats to non-attendees) and worst of all, their hygiene is much worse than other conventions.
Like… so bad that every year at opening ceremony and Saturday perfomances they give a short PSA about, “Make sure you bathe, even though it’s only for two days.” They have to take time out of regularly scheduled entertainment to remind people to freaking bathe because the stench is so bad.
There are many reasons I don’t go to anime conventions anymore, and none of those reasons are a lack of interest in the genre” Source
Union Guys Rule
“I worked at a resort for a few years, and the worst group we ever had was the CEO’s daughter’s wedding. They figured they owned the place, so they drank like fish, walked out on half their bar tabs, and generally trashed the place.
On the other hand, we also hosted a Teamsters convention, and all stereotypes aside, they were the most polite and respectful group we ever hosted. 10/10 would invite those guys to a house party” Source
Sounds Like A Actual Nightmare
“I am the banquet captain of a hotel, so I have to host all dining aspects of these conventions. Upon reading this question, I instantly, without a doubt, knew the answer: The National Button Society. It consists of extremely elderly shirt button collectors and enthusiasts from all over the country (mostly Midwesterners). They demand we don’t clean the tables or vacuum the floors until a week after they leave in case some old a– leaves behind a $5,000 dollar button or something like that. They didn’t f— around when it came to button auctioneering. These old people demanded things from the hotel restaurant when they were closed, and then come to the banquet hall angrily looking for a free hot meal. They very rarely tip above 10% to the restaurant servers too I’ve heard. They’re just the dumbest, most inconsiderate, least self-aware motherf’ers on the planet” Source
Seriously, WTF
“As someone who worked and even for a couple years con chaired one of the larger anime conventions out there over the course of a decade, I can corroborate this. The problem is that the anime convention attendee base has gotten younger over the course of a few years and with that comes the irresponsibility of youth plus the fact that in many cases the attendees are away from parents/authority figures/other people who would normally rein in the behavior.
I’ve had to personally handle and deal with pools being ruined, some drunk dude who thought it’d be cool to punch a bathroom mirror and then claimed he “fell into it”, someone who was putting fake blood on the elevator walls, people trying to backflip off of hotel sculptures and faking seizures because “it was funny to”, and all manner of drunkenness, sexual harassment, and generally a–holish behavior.
Stricter enforcement of policy (responsibly done of course), more staff, and communication about proper behavior does help, but it’s always a battle and the convention typically has to foot the bill for any incidentals (the responsible ones create a slush fund in the budget for that purpose knowing some damage might be done during the weekend). So guys and gals, if you’re an anime convention attendee, please think about how harmful re-enacting some fight scene from Naruto in the middle of a hallway at 3am with real Shuriken might be.
On behalf of someone who has had to deal with the irresponsibility of anime con attendees and bear a portion of having to address what they’ve done, I’m sorry you had to experience that. Much of the fanbase is actually friendly, responsible, and harmless aside from social awkwardness. But it’s not unheard of for quite a few of them to be awful to the hotel” Source
Not Your Babysitter!
“No matter the hotel, whenever a youth sports tournament occurs the hotel will be filled with hordes of unsupervised children running, screaming, and pretty much destroying everything they have access too. The parents usually group together, ignore the kids completely and start drinking (I don’t blame them, it was probably a long day for them too). However, they usually become louder and more obnoxious than the kids. Since they’re tired and drunk, they become rude, demanding, develop a real attitude about everything. What makes it worse is that these attitudes happen in group of people and you’ll be harassed all at once. Any other guests are the hotel become furious because dozens and dozens of people are outside their doors running and yelling. We are usually helpless to control them or kick them out, like we’d do with a single loud room” Source
Make Ya Rich!
“Just about any MLM/Amway/etc… group… They all make $1 million per year and will tell you about it all day long in an attempt to recruit you, but when it comes time to tip for something, they’ve misplaced their wallet” Source
The Religious Types…
I work in a hotel restaurant right across the street from a convention center, so I see a lot of different convention crowds.
My favorites so far have been the magicians convention and Comic-Con. The magicians are just super laid back and happy people.
The worse crowd has been for the Joyce Meyer convention. Rude, entitled, and bad tippers. I’m sure they’re not all like this but it was a bad experience. There are also several pyramid scheme type conventions that come through and those are just weird. No, I don’t want to buy your magic lotion, I’m just here to wait on you. And please don’t leave samples of your product instead of a tip Source
Seriously What’s With The Smell?
“The anime crowd, in my experience is the f’ing Worst. First off – you had the smell. Of course there is a kind of standard nerd/fan convention BO stink, but these kids f’ing STUNK! It was beyond just BO. Their gross funk lingered for days in some of the rooms. Truly Awful – the stench is burned into my memory.
But the biggest thing was that as a group they were entitled and lacking in common decency/manners in a way that I had never encountered. In my supervisors words (paraphrasing here) – “It’s like every single one of them are only children who hads—ty parents that totally phoned in raising them. Like they’d just give em anything they wanted just to get em to shut the f— up and go away – for the kids whole lives.’ I couldn’t have agreed with him more” Source
Again, The Parents!!
“Hey, hotel employee for 3 years now and I’m going to say sports people and athletes, in particular junior athletes.
We have had a plethora of swimmers, athletics, sports groups etc over the last few months, particularly thanks to the recent Commonwealth Games. Over the two or three months before the games began we had a number of groups from different teams, mostly consisting of juniors aged 14-16 and they were a nightmare.
I have never met a more demanding, self-absorbed, immature and disruptive bunch of people in all of my time working here. We couldn’t do anything to improve their stay – nothing was good enough – and they were incredibly loud and inconsiderate to others in the hotel. They were abusive to staff members and they made a point of treating their rooms like an absolute pigsty. There was nothing redeeming about these groups. Everybody seemed to make a point of treating the hotel like they owned the place and there seemed to be no way to reason with them. I banned at least two from ever using us in the future because of the chaos they caused.
The only exception were those who travelled with parents. The parents were somewhat demanding but they were kind and good natured. They tended to keep the kids under control and they were always grateful when we could go the extra mile” Source
God Loves A Terrier
“I used to work at a small hotel that was popular with the dog show circuit when the Kennel Club came to town during the summer.
Dog Show people are….weird. You know those people in movies who overly pamper their pets with bottle imported water, steaks, etc? Yea that stereotype has NOTHING on these people. But they were pleasant, didn’t cause a ruckus, and followed the rules at least.
I will say on their behalf that they were always good about cleaning up after their pets. Never had a problem with poop piles in the hotel grassy areas which was nice” Source
‘Murica!
“NASCAR races – these fans were both hilarious and incredibly inconsiderate. Most arrived acting politely and dressed professionally in business attire (traveling directly from work), or in nice everyday wear. By the end of the 5 day weekend, they were sunburnt, painted, and half their clothes were a distant, fondly remembered wish on the part of the staff of the hotel. Their politeness lasted only so long as check-in… once they were turned loose and left to their own devices, they hurled abuse at anyone and everyone who “crossed” them – parking attendants, housekeepers, pedestrians in the street, etc. They were furious that parking was free for one only vehicle per room (clearly stated at time of booking). They were furious that breakfast was only free to children under age 12 (also clearly stated). They were furious that fire code limited the number of people per room to 6. They were furious that they couldn’t tailgate in the parking lot. They packed huge coolers full of beer (but no non-alcoholic beverages) for their young children to carry into the racetrack, and were furious that their kids were cranky. They were furious that the cross street outside the hotel was no-left turn and they got tickets for disregarding the signage and demanded we reimburse them. They were furious that we would not refund pre-paid, discounted nights of their stay when they decided to leave early due to rain. They were just angry, hateful people and most of them completely trashed their rooms – NASCAR weekends were the only time ever during the year that our head housekeeper would actually cry due to the condition of the property” Source
Not So Pious
“Southern Baptist convention – the conventioneers staying at my hotel for this group were honestly a shame to most people who would consider themselves good Christians, and hopefully to most people who are members of that particular sect. They were dishonest, rude, and passive aggressive. They stole nearly everything that wasn’t nailed down (towels, alarm clocks, coffee makers, pillows, bed linens, cordless phones). They bragged about getting funding from the donations at church so they could attend this convention, then spent it on huge shopping sprees, beauty salon appointments, $1,000+ restaurant tabs, formalwear rentals, and limo services. They demanded extras of every “free” amenity we supplied… so many that we actually ran out (we’re talking cases of shampoos, soaps, razors, stitching kits, toothbrushes, and lotions, here, not just a few extra to accommodate the other people in the room), and then demanded that we supply them with different stuff for free to make up for it. They stiffed us on room charges (including those for long distance calls and pornography). Not only that, but many refused to provide ID so most of their rooms were under “Sister” this, or “Brother” that and we had no way to get in touch with them to request payment. One group of them had a screaming fit in our lobby because the hotel shuttle could only accommodate 7 adults plus the driver and their party of 15 wouldn’t make it to the restaurant all at one time, so they might miss part of dinner. Then they demanded that the General Manager pay for the “missed” meals that they couldn’t substantiate charges for. They were horrid to every non-convention guest in the hotel, calling in fake noise complaints constantly and harassing them in the hallways with literature and proselytizing. They treated the staff horribly – sending “Sister” Whoever to ask for something completely unreasonable (like complimentary room service for their whole party) nicely, then “Brother” Whoever to browbeat the staff person who refused, then “Sister” Whoever would come back later and tell someone else that the first staff person had promised it. We had to start logging every request they made and the response to avoid trouble. We were very glad to see them on their way” Source
“Drink Up!”
“”Drink up Shriner!” They are the hardest partying, wildest group I have ever seen. I don’t care if they’re all grey-hairs. They can drink a college fraternity under the table. They’ll respect each other and their hosts, but that’s where the sanity ends. Crazy things will happen that you’ve never seen before” Source
Yep, Sounds Right
F’ing Realtors… “RE/MAXholes” as they are affectionately referred to in the hotel I worked in. Noisy, cheap, super entitled, arrogant. Just a pain in the a– to deal with. I noticed a great difference between the nouveau riche realtors with the bad attitudes and the truly wealthy/powerful who could buy the hotel with pocket change and asked how your job was going and was there a decent place for fish and chips around” Source
Know-It-All
“My sister manages a country club restaurant. She can’t go 5 minutes at a bar/restaurant without commenting on something the staff is doing incorrectly (Behind their backs, of course). Gets pretty infuriating after about 15 minutes” Source