zariex

A WHILE ago, in san francisco.

It was halloween night, a couple of years ago. I was a night manager at a 5 star property.

This guy comes in the door at like 3am, no reservation. Swear to god, the guy is dressed like Neo from the Matrix. Black shades, trenchcoat, everything.

He drops the black amex on the table and says give me the best suite you have in the hotel, and it has to have a jacuzzi.

In my head I'm tired and I'm like, dude I don't have time for this.. But I look at the name on the Amex -- 'Elon Musk', I'm like who the heck is this guy.

I check him into the suite, its like $11k a night or something, to have it til noon.

Like 20 minutes later, the valet calls me and they can't figure out how to start this guys car. So I say okay, I'll call the guest. So I call him, and he answers and I ask how to start his car. (One of the teslas, before they were stock). He literally said "Just sit on the seat" and hung up.

It worked. Funniest thing I'd ever seen.

Really good question.

There's a lot of differences between that 4th and 5th star. Simply, that 5th star is consistency. Having that emotional connection, and deep service committment to each and every guest, 100% of the time.

We do not offer free breakfast, except to Platinum guests, who stay over 50 nights a year at our properties.

We charge crazy amounts for breakfast! $30 for an omelet! (a really good omelet!)

EDIT:

I also should add that Forbes audits 5 star properties. Think secret shopper. They book usually 2-3 nights, go to every single outlet, and interact with every guest facing staff member. They're checking consistency, and guest skills. The morning of their departure, they email the GM and ask for a meeting, to which the GM will make himself/herself available. They are very hard to spot, they're good at what they do.

Extra edit for clarity:

Hotel stars are achieved based on amenities provided. E.g.. 24-room service, concierge services, etc.

One of my other properties.

This guy booked the penthouse for like 4 or 5 nights. Something like $25k a night.

He wanted us to turn the entire suite into a discotec, so we did. He paid for everything. The floor, the lights, the DJ, the authentic disco ball. His bill broke $250k at the end of his stay.

I also had a sultan stay with us. He could not(did not) bathe in 'regular' water. He had to bathe in Evian water. So we would bring up cases of evian water, and fill his bathtub with evian water, like twice a day.

We charged him $600 a case. They probably cost us like $30.

There was no key slot, or push to start. And when the car starts, it's electric so it makes no noise. They couldn't even tell when the engine was on, because it was silent.

They just weren't used to it.

Worst?

There was the last of a wedding party hanging out in the lobby bar and the lounge area. You know, the folks still awake at like 2am, not wanting to leave.

They shattered a $4k glass table by one of the girls drunkenly falling on it. She then proceeded to throw up all over it.

Her husband came up and asked for a manager, I was nearby so I approached. He discreetly slipped me a $100 bill, and confidently let me know that he was a Platinum member, and it would be great if we could 'forget' this happened.

I politely returned the bill to him, and had to inform him he would be receiving an invoice.

We only charged him $2k.