The Emmy Party - Lives of the Rich and Famous?
Guest Stories Vol. 4
One of my jobs at the hotel was to answer calls to our hotel reservation line. Our 1-800 number was always forwarded to my phone, so it wasn’t unusual that I was in Chicago when I got a call from a man who wanted to book a trip.
He was interested in booking a trip with friends to celebrate an Emmy nomination for one of them.
Ooh, I thought, I wonder who it is? Maybe we’ll have someone famous at the hotel!
After talking about our hotel’s room types, and the prices for their group of 6, he asked me for the option with the lowest price.
Our hotel was a luxury hotel, and as such, our prices reflected that – even for a trip during the rainy season when rates tended to be a bit lower.
Interesting, I thought, booking a luxury hotel on a budget. Probably not making much money as an actor yet, despite the Emmy nomination.
After a few email exchanges, he booked our 3-bedoom villa.
I only had the name of the guy who booked, who I’ll call Maxwell – not the other guests. But dang sure, I googled him. I found out he was a poet, in the music industry and had been a social activist. Maybe the Emmy nomination was for him, but I didn’t ask.
The group arrived for a week’s stay in late August 2019. They were an eclectic group – not like our typical guests. Maxwell and his stunningly beautiful partner, who I’ll call Asia, and 2 other couples. They had all been friends for a long time, and they were all in their mid-20s.
We took them to their villa to settle in. When they returned to the dining room for dinner, they kept to themselves, but the whole staff was trying to figure out who was the “famous” one.
The next morning, the group came to the restaurant for breakfast. When Mark and I were at the hotel, we liked to welcome and meet all our guests, so Mark went to their table to introduce himself. They chatted for a few minutes, and Mark learned all their names.
As he stood by Asia, she looked up at him and seductively asked, “Do I have something that you want?”
“Excuse me?”, Mark said.
With a sly grin and the bat of an eye, she said, “Oh, I meant him…” as she pointed to a little bee buzzing behind her. The rest of the group laughed as Mark awkwardly wrapped up the conversation and walked away.
After breakfast, the group settled themselves by the pool, set out a giant speaker and started blasting music. At the time, there were a few other guests at the hotel having breakfast and setting up their activities for the day.
As a small hotel, we were always conscious and considerate of everyone’s experience, so AJ went over to the group to ask them to please lower the volume of their music. Maxwell and Asia were in the hot tub, while the others sat nearby. As AJ walked over to the group, he approached Maxwell and Asia in the hot tub. Asia stood up in the hot tub and to AJ’s surprise, she was topless! (That was a hotel first!)
Now, not only did AJ have to ask them to turn the music down, but he had to tell them that nudity was not allowed. Eek. AJ walked back to the dining room with a very shocked look on his face.
Now that we knew the guests’ names, our team started searching them on Instagram and other social sites. They found out that Asia was a model and actor. She had a huge Instagram following and was posting pictures from the hotel!
Great, I thought, except she wasn’t tagging us in any of her posts! Ugh. That would’ve been great exposure, as I was always trying to get our name out there, but I also understand people’s privacy.
And I guess privacy is what they wanted, as we only knew their 1st names! After a little more digging, we found out that they were celebrating Asia for the Emmy nomination. A show she was on was nominated for Best Outstanding Drama Series that year. We didn’t have TVs at the hotel, so we had never heard of the show.
And…to the shocking surprise of all of us, we also learned that Asia was a transgender, non-binary person. Just months before their trip, they had been featured on the cover of a major magazine. To say that Asia is incredibly beautiful is not an understatement. And AJ, who had seen them topless, couldn’t believe it!
The group started becoming more comfortable around our staff during their stay. One of the couples spoke Spanish, and they cornered a maintenance guy and a housekeeper to ask where they could buy some weed. Our staff told them that they didn’t know where to get any.
After taking a taxi to town, they decided that renting a car for a few days would be a less expensive way to move around. So, we arranged a rental car to be delivered to the hotel for them.
They took the car down to the beach, got gas and came back to the hotel. The next time they tried to start the car, it was dead. Our maintenance team tried to start it, jump it - nothing worked. We called the rental agency who brought a new car for them.
The next day, the rental place called to tell us that the guests filled the car with unleaded gas, not its required diesel! Oops, that’s why the car was dead! We were surprised that the rental agency was willing to deliver a replacement car for them for their error!
After a few days traveling to town, the group apparently hadn’t found any weed. So, they asked AJ where they could get some. Marijuana is illegal in CR, and he didn’t want to do anything that would risk the hotel, so he felt that we needed to know. He asked us what he should do.
That day, Mark and I were having some friends over for lunch and we were joking about this guest request. Serving our guests was always important to us - we’d do (almost) anything for a guest, but this was asking A LOT!
Our friends, who thought this whole thing was funny, said they heard of a lifeguard at a local beach that was known to have weed. So, Mark left the table to tell AJ to pass this information along quietly to our guests. As I sat through lunch, my fear of going to Costa Rican jail made my blood pressure soar! I was so nervous that we’d done something wrong.
Mark returned to the table and said that the group had already left to find the lifeguard. Soon after our friends left, the group called on their way back to the hotel to say that they ran their new rental car off the road. (I guess they found the weed!) The car was stuck and had a flat tire and other damage. Oh geez! I’m glad we highly suggested they ‘pay up’ for the full coverage insurance after their 1st debacle!
Unbelievably, the rental car agency delivered a THIRD car for this group. Somehow, they managed to drive this one without destroying it.
Mark and I were on our way back to the U.S. for a quick trip before returning to the hotel for our annual 2 week maintenance shutdown.
The group would be staying a few more days after Mark and I left, and they were going to be the only guests then at the hotel. Uh oh, what could possibly go wrong? I was nervous leaving with them there, but we needed to go. We decided our staff could ‘keep a closer eye on them’ if we ‘upgraded’ their rooms to ones closer to the main part of the hotel. They were so excited!
And to make their stay more memorable, AJ had the brilliant idea to throw them an Emmy Party! Before we left, he asked if he could spend some money for decorations and we said yes.
AJ and our concierge went all out! They got a red carpet; they got roses and petals and decorated the whole dining room with flowers.
When the group came to dinner, they presented Asia with a bouquet of flowers. They had a wonderful dinner and were very thankful to AJ and our concierge for their special party!
Who knows if after Mark and I left, there wasn’t more music-blaring, naked-swimming, and weed-smoking. If there was, I wasn’t there to see it. But again, we had guests who had a wonderful time!
I’d call that a successful guest experience. Really, they were just a nice group having a good time celebrating their friend.
A few weeks later, we watched the Emmy’s. Sadly, Asia’s show didn’t win, but we were happy that we could give the group a special Emmy experience of their own.
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Super cute story! What a patient and accommodating staff!!
What a story! It sounded like an adventure but glad it worked out for everyone. I used to work at a hotel in Montana and once in a while a celebrity would eat there. They'd be so discreet you wouldn't know until later it was someone famous.