We're pretty sure hotel staff could write books about encounters they've had with hotel guests — including the weird requests they've received from time to time.
From meat slicers to cognac instead of coffee, it's all in a day's work for Brynn Rorich, guest services manager at the Peninsula All Suite Hotel in Cape Town and Melani van der Westhuizen, assistant general manager at Finfoot Lake Reserve.
They shared with HuffPost a few of the weird and wonderful requests they have received from guests.
- Linen memorabilia
Melani van der Westhuizen describes one instance when a guest who was due to check out of the establishment asked to buy the bed linen. "When I asked why, they merely responded with: 'because it's beautiful'.
"As we buy new linen every few months, I agreed to let them take a set, and asked the housekeeping to bring it to reception. When housekeeping arrived with clean linen, they adamantly requested the dirty linen from their bed, as they wanted to treasure the memories. I kept a straight face and did as they requested."
- General manager must meet me at the airport
"We had a high-end guest who wanted the general manager to meet him at the airport on arrival, where he would then be transported to the hotel with his bodyguards and luggage," said Brynn Rorich.
- No goldfish, no sleep
A general manager from one of the top hotels in Cape Town had to go out to a mall at 8pm searching for a goldfish — for a guest who insisted she'd never get to sleep unless she could watch swimming fish.
- Curry sandwiches at 2am
"A guest once ordered 12 curry sandwiches via room service at 2am. The order was taken to the room, but there was no answer. Once we managed to contact the guest, we were told that they were not in their hotel room, but visiting friends in another hotel — of course, the order was then taken to the other property," said Rorich.
- I will not eat this fruit unless you cut it up for me
"Our VIP gifting includes a fresh fruit bowl, but one of our regular VIPs will only eat the fruit if it's been cut up for him," said Rorich.
"We have had one guest request a smoothie machine in their room, as well as freshly cut flowers on arrival."
- No to coffee, yes to Cognac
Guests have been known to prefer bottles of Cognac instead of coffee and tea in the room on arrival, while some guests only want Milo.
- Meat slicer
Rorich recalls a time when a specific brand of meat slicer had to be bought — a celebrity requested one in his room for private use.
- Non-guest requests — picnic basket
"We once had timeshare guests call the hotel asking us to deliver a prepared picnic basket to Clifton Beach. The only problem was, that this guest wasn't staying with us over this time, and just so happened to be in Cape Town. That was a bit of a sneaky one..." said Rorich.
"No not every hotel can accommodate such unusual requests, but our property teams have been able to pull off some really interesting ones so far, said Sharmila Ragunanan, group marketing manager at Dream Hotels & Resorts.
She stressed the importance of guest personalisation in the hospitality industry, despite what may seem as outrageous requests by outsiders.
"Guest personalisation is more important than ever. It's about fostering a relationship with guests, not only to build customer loyalty, but also to strengthen your brand and increase the value-adds you provide," she said.