Almost all hotels these days have a strict no smoking policy, but guests will still try to smoke in the room and then deny it when they get charged the extra cleaning fee.

That is what happened in this story, and when the guest demanded to talk to the manager, she was told that she had to come back the next day as they were out of the office.

When she finally left, the front desk worker had to use air freshener because she smelled so strongly of smoke.

The manager will be happy to talk with you tomorrow

A little while ago I got a phone call from someone asking why they hadn’t gotten their deposit back.

Well, that would explain it.

I pulled up the reservation and was immediately greeted by a note that said “DNR- smoked weed in the room.”

I apologized to the man on the phone and informed him that the deposit had not been refunded because “there was evidence of smoking in the room.”

Keep it vague.

I’m always very careful with my words on this because I’ve been doing this for awhile. I’m not accusing them specifically of smoking, and I’m not specifying what was smoked.

The less information you give them, the less they have to argue against. That doesn’t stop them from trying, but it does take the wind right out of their sails.

He knows that he broke the rules.

The guy seemed dejected and said thank you and hung up. He didn’t deny anything, in fact he didn’t sound surprised at all. I thought the matter was done. For about fifteen minutes.

A woman I recognized as having been an occupant of that room came storming in. I suddenly remembered the reservation as I saw her.

They should have known this group would be trouble.

One of her friends paid the deposit, and as he was getting ready to do so, his friend told him to make sure that there was only enough on his card for the deposit. Right in front of me, not suspicious at all. And indeed we’d been unable to charge the full smoking fee to the card.

“Do you remember me?” She asked angrily. (Obviously the conversation is recalled to the best of my ability, but it’s more or less the gist with no embellishments)

“Uh, you seem familiar,” I responded pleasantly. “Can I help you?”

It is always obvious when someone smokes inside.

“They told my friend we’re not getting the deposit back because we smoked in the room and that’s a lie. We smoked outside! The maid saw us go outside to smoke! So I need my money back.”

“I just told him what it said in the reservation’s notes, if you’d like to dispute that you’d have to speak with the manager. She’ll be back in tomorrow.”

She needs to come back tomorrow.

She continued to try to build her case at me while I politely pretended to listen and waited for her to stop talking.

Once she did, I responded, “Okay, I understand. This is something you’ll have to discuss with the manager tomorrow.”

“Is this hotel corporately owned?”

Being a small hotel can make it easier to deal with upset customers.

“No, ma’am, we’re independently owned.”

“Well what’s the owner’s number?”

Just come back in the morning.

“The owner doesn’t handle this sort of thing, ma’am,” I told her apologetically, “But the manager will be happy to talk to you tomorrow.”

“But you’re a chain, there’s no kind of corporate I can call?”

“You’re certainly welcome to contact Breezy Pig, but as we’re independently owned they’ll just send the matter to the manager.”

“Can you call her?”

Just let it go.

“No ma’am, she’s not here. She’ll be back in tomorrow.”

“I understand she’s not here, can you call her?”

“She’s only on call for emergencies ma’am, sorry.”

She’s not getting her money back.

After that she finally seemed to understand there was no way around talking to the manager tomorrow if she wanted a shot at getting her money back.

She declared she’d be back tomorrow and I wished her good night. As soon as she was gone I texted the manager to warn her of the coming interaction then grabbed a bottle of Febreze and spritzed the little lobby because holy mother of Snoop Dogg did she stink like weed.

People who smoke often don’t realize just how bad it smells, which definitely seems to be the case here.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer complaint that led to them losing their VIP status.

Let’s take a look at what some of the top commenters had to say about this.

Yeah, why would they call the manager?

It is very strong.

Here is a good way to handle upset customers.

This was pretty funny.

Why would this be an emergency?

The manager is not available to deal with stupidity.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a hotel worker who doesn’t want to let guests reserve handicapped parking spots in advance.