Heads in Beds

Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality by Jacob Tomsky, Anchor (Doubleday), 2012. 

The author gained entry into the hospitality industry via being a parking valet at a Luxury Downtown Hotel in New Orleans. At hotels the main division among the staff is between the front desk and the back, which is housekeeping. The front desk is higher status. At one point he moved from New Orleans to New York City. The book contains many stories of patrons who are rude, spoiled an entitled. Some patrons lie about how much they took from the mini bar. Hotels like you more if you book with them directly rather that through a discount booking service., Frequent stayers and long stayers get better treatment. The bigger the tip, the better the service. Hotels overbook on purpose in anticipation of cancellations and no-shows. Walking a patron due to overbooking: it is sometimes necessary to move some patrons with reservations to nearby hotels, so that hotels, so that more important guests can be accommodated.