A Holiday Inn Express worker shared an interaction she had with a customer who insisted she give him a different room after he accidentally booked one too small for his family of four, asking her to check them into a room of a guest who hadn’t checked in yet.
In the video posted by TikToker @localtumbleweed on Monday, she records a customer berating her for refusing to check him into a different room at the sold-out Holiday Inn Express.
“We have two kids, two adults, and the reservation on our phone is clear what we reserved. What do you expect us to do?” the man says in the clip. “We can’t all sleep in a king bed, that’s ridiculous.”
She explains to the man that the reservation through Booking.com, an online reservation platform, shows that he reserved a room with a “king bed” and a pull-out sofa bed, explaining that she can help check him into the room or cancel the reservation.
“And then sleep in our car? I mean, where else are we going to go? Are there any Holiday Inn Express hotels you can check us into?” he asks. “So you’re not going to help us? You’re going to say ‘take the room as it is, or you’re on your own’?”
She then tells him they don’t have any additional rooms and that he would need to get in touch with Booking.com to find out why the reservation he expected didn’t come through to the hotel.
“Who hasn’t checked in? What else is available with more beds?” he asks.
She explains she “can’t take them from somebody who’s already reserved a room,” reiterating the hotel is sold out for the night.
A “bystander” then intervenes and tries to help the customer find a solution, pointing out that the room has a pull-out bed in addition to the king-sized bed. The male Karen then tells him to “shut it” and begins to threaten him.
“Yeah, that’s not really respectful. I think we can go ahead and just cancel your reservation,” she says as he begins to escalate.
@localtumbleweed WWJD #karen #karensgoingwild #karensoftiktok #hospitality #hotel #frontdesk #caught #travel #fyp #wwyd #customerservice #problemsolved #war ♬ original sound – 4 4 4
The video has reached over 22.2 million views as of Oct. 24, with commenters putting the customer on blast for acting “entitled.”
“There’s a pull out couch. Some people just want the world. Such entitlement,” one user wrote.
“When people cannot take responsibility for their own poor planning so they take it out on the receptionist,” another said.
In a follow-up video, she says the man originally booked a room with “two queen beds” but called and canceled the reservation because it was “too expensive.”
“Then he made another reservation through a third party for the king suite. But he was fighting to get the two queen-bed suite,” she says. “In terms of compensation, I can’t do anything because [the reservation] wasn’t made through the hotel.”
@localtumbleweed posted a part two video, showing the second half of the interaction. In the clip, the customer asks if they will be charged a penalty by Booking.com.
“You just gotta give a call to Booking.com and let them know that you want to cancel, and then there’s no penalty,” she explains.
The man then spits on the floor repeatedly and tells her he doesn’t “believe” her.
@localtumbleweed Replying to @wnhb_tinkerbell pt 3 #karensgoingwild #karen #hotel #hospitality #travel #fyp #problemsolved #storytime #trial #karensoftiktok #wwyd #war #customerservice #caught ♬ original sound – 4 4 4
In the comments section, users praised her for handling the situation respectfully, even when the customer began to escalate.
“As a General Manager you handled the situation perfectly and professionally. great job,” one said.
“I like the fact that you tried to be so nice up until the point he spit on the floor, your whole mood changed,” another wrote.
“Your level of professionalism is top tier. I would have lost my mind 3 seconds into part 1,” a third added.
The Daily Dot reached out to Holiday Inn and Booking.com via email as well as to @localtumbleweed via TikTok comment.
