EXCLUSIVE I'm a luxury hotel manager - this is the one thing guests do that annoys staff and how to get a free room upgrade

Daily Mail​

06-05-2025

Ever wondered what it's like behind the scenes at a luxury hotel?
Or dreamed of scoring an upgrade to a suite?
Here to lift the lid on hotel secrets and reveal if it's ever really possible to get a free upgrade is Christopher Pitt, the 56-year-old guest services manager at the Royal Westmoreland, a luxury resort in Barbados.
Having worked at the 750-acre resort for 19 years, Christopher has dealt with his fair share of holidaymaker requests.
As guest services manager, Christopher explains to MailOnline Travel that there's no such thing as a standard day at work for him with his schedule tending to change 'day by day'.
However the most important part of his day is making sure his staff 'are ready to face the guests with a smile and do an outstanding job'.
But while Christopher explains that he 'loves his job', he admits that his least favourite task is 'dealing with disgruntled guests'.
The guest services manager reveals that his biggest guest 'bugbear' is 'when you spend an hour or two trying to get a booking [for them] and calling all your contacts and then the guest cancels'.
Another cheeky guest behaviour, according to Christopher, is when holidaymakers try to depart their villa after the scheduled check-out time and 'pretend that it's normal around the world'.
And the manager also warns that there's one key mistake guests can make in Barbados that's unlikely to impress their hotel staff.
'Barbadians are usually very mannerly people,' explains Christopher. 'So when a guest enters an area and doesn't say "good morning/good afternoon/good evening", it sometimes comes over as unmannerly.'
When it comes to upgrades, Christopher reveals that he has to had turn down requests in the past.
However, he says that guests who 'complain about a maintenance issue or construction' are those most likely to score an elusive room upgrade.
Despite the bugbears, Christopher says he would never want to 'trade' his job for anything else.
He says: '[I love] meeting new people and creating special experiences for guests. No two days are the same and I love chatting with people.'