Some hotel guests take their loyalty rewards very seriously. Apparently, for one particularly demanding customer, the difference between a pleasant stay and a full-blown confrontation came down to a bottle of water.

One front desk employee is sharing an exhausting encounter with two brothers who arrived separately for a weekend reservation.

The first brother, Sam, was perfectly pleasant, although he offered a rather ominous warning about his sibling’s personality.

A few hours later, Dean arrived and immediately demonstrated what his brother had been talking about.

After arguing over which credit card should cover the incidental hold, Dean eventually made his way upstairs.

But the drama was far from over.

When Sam later asked where he could find bottled water, the employee directed him to the vending machine and complimentary water cooler.

That apparently wasn’t good enough for Dean.

And despite repeated explanations about the hotel’s loyalty program, he seemed determined to get his hands on a free bottle.

give me a free water bottle!!!!

So it’s two brothers, who we’ll call Sam and Dean, have a reservation for the weekend. Sam arrived first, and said Dean let him know he’ll have to put a card down for the incidental hold when he got here.

I collect the incidental hold from Sam and the room rent stays on Dean’s card. Sam makes a comment about his brother “being a lot” and “you’ll understand what I mean when he gets here,” then asks me to hold on to the second room key for Dean to pick up as he might not be at the hotel when he gets here. No problem, we do it all the time for people who are staying together but traveling separately.

A few hours later Dean arrives, and he’s a f*****g d**k.

Oh boy.

He argues with me about the hold on Sam’s card and demands I remove it now because “why would you put it on his card when I’m the one who’s paying for the room!?” Uh, cause you told him he had to cover the incidental???

Sam quite literally said “my brother told me you guys were going to put a hold on my card when I got here” Whatever, I release the hold on Sam’s card and put it on Dean’s card, give him his key and direct him to his room.

Couple of hours go by and Sam comes down and asks where he can get water bottles, so I let him know where the vending machine is and where the water cooler is. He says thank you and walks away.

At least we know who the nice brother is.

Roughly twenty minutes later Dean comes down and starts asking why I didn’t give his brother free water bottles. I explain that we only hand out the complimentary waters at check in to our elite members, and he’s not quite at that status yet.

“When I made this reservation they told me I had enough points for a free night but you won’t even give me a damn water bottle!?” Yup.

“Look at how many points I have give me a water bottle!”

Wow.

I explain that while yes he does have a lot of points, but due to policy and his status with us I simply can’t, and thank him for being a member with us and that we have a water cooler accessible 24 hours to all guests.

Now, usually the water bottle status thing isn’t a hill I’m willing to die on, but if you’re a dick, and he was a d**k, you won’t be getting sh*t for free from me.

“I’m spending all this money and I have all these points and you won’t give me water! Give me a water bottle now!”

Holy wow.

Nope.

I explain again, direct him to the water cooler once again, and tell him to have a good rest of his night. He huffs and storms off.

He tries it again in the morning, but gets the manager who takes absolutely no sh*t and she quickly put him in his place because I’d left notes about how he’d acted the night before.

The front desk employee had every reason to enforce the hotel’s policy, particularly after explaining that complimentary bottled water was reserved for guests with a specific loyalty status.

Having a large number of points doesn’t necessarily entitle someone to every benefit a hotel offers, and Dean’s repeated demands weren’t going to change his membership level.

His initial argument over the incidental hold was also unnecessary, especially considering his brother had apparently followed instructions Dean himself provided.

That said, the employee admits that complimentary water isn’t usually a rule they’d enforce quite so strictly. Their decision to hold firm was partly influenced by Dean’s attitude.

While that might not represent perfectly consistent customer service, it’s understandable why an employee would be less inclined to make exceptions for someone behaving disrespectfully.

The hotel also offered free drinking water through a cooler, so Dean wasn’t being denied access to water altogether.

Ultimately, his aggressive approach accomplished very little, especially once the manager backed up the employee the following morning.

Sometimes, a polite request goes considerably further than a demand.

This person would never.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who changed their minds about donated items, only to return to the shop to find them all sold.

This person says people just LOVE to make everything about themselves.

This person can relate. 

Dean had plenty of loyalty points, but apparently not enough manners to earn himself a free bottle of water.