King bed. High floor. A room as far away from the elevator as one can possibly get. On any given day, a hotel receives a number of special requests from soon-to-be guests. Some of them, like a chilled bottle of Champagne waiting in the room, are pretty standard. Others, like a framed photo of Grandma Winslow from Family Matters, well, not so much. Here are 10 hilarious and bizarre hotel guest requests that fall squarely into the latter category — and were granted.
1. Some Framed Photos of Jeff Goldblum
In late-September, Portland, Oregon resident Seth Freedland and his girlfriend Amy Marsh spent a couple of nights at the Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica, California to attend a wedding. While making the reservation, he decided to have a little fun with the special requests section when he asked that the hotel staff fill the couple’s room with photos of Jeff Goldblum. Upon arrival, they discovered that Freedland’s request had indeed been met — with framed photos of The Fly star on the desk, in the bathroom and a shirtless pic on their bedside table. “Jeff Goldblum is my girlfriend’s celebrity crush,” Freedland told The Huffington Post. “Specifically, she’s a big fan of Independence Day-era ‘heroic Goldblum.’ I’m more a Big Chill Goldblum man myself, but you really can’t go wrong.”
2. A Photo of Nicolas Cage from Con Air
Jeff Goldblum isn’t the only Hollywood A-lister hotel guests want to see by their bedside. In 2015, a visitor to San Antonio, Texas posted some images of a funny exchange with the property’s concierge. “I got this text when I checked into the Hotel Indigo San Antonio Riverwalk basically letting me know if I needed anything, I just needed to ask,” she posted. “For sh*ts and giggles during my boring work conference, I asked for a framed picture of Nic Cage in “Con Air.” When I got an affirmative response, I thought it was auto generated and went about my day.” When she returned to her room, a framed picture of Cage — in all his mulleted, “Con Air” glory — was waiting on her bed with a message: “Sweet dreams.”
3. A Pillow Fort
Denver-based businessman Sean Fitzsimons, who has spent the past four years traveling to Salt Lake City every other week, has made an art out of odd requests. “I got bored doing the routine checking-in and checking-out, so I thought, why not try a random request?” he told ABC News. Among some of his most creative requests: three pictures of Donald Trump looking confused, a photo of Grandma Winslow from Family Matters and a pillow fort. His one big fail? When he asked the staff to draw a picture of what they thought he looked like. “When I checked in, the lady at the front desk looked at me so weird, and it got so awkward,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I weirded her out. So, I was like, ‘I can’t ever come back here again.’”
Fitzsimons isn’t the only traveler to want to see a pillow fort. In 2012, Gord Relph asked the same of The Fairmont Winnipeg; the hotel staff had some fun of their own when they left him a DIY fort kit. “I consider myself a man of action, so when I saw the tools before me, I knew I had to make it happen,” Relph told the Winnipeg Sun.
4. A Towel Folded Into the Shape of an Elephant
In 2013, a guest at the W Seattle requested yet another pillow fort (we’re all for the comforts of home), but with a slight twist: “We would also appreciate a towel folded into the shape of an elephant,” wrote the guest. “If possible, we would enjoy a sexy picture of some fruit on the night table.” The staff, of course, delivered.
5. Help Moving a Tiger from Miami to London
A man spending some time at The Setai in Miami Beach was getting ready to relocate to London and wanted his girlfriend to move with him. There was just one problem: She had a pet tiger and would only agree to the transatlantic move if her beloved big cat could come, too. So he did what any smart guy who needed to fly a tiger halfway across the world would: he asked the hotel’s longtime concierge, Maite Foriasky, for assistance. She figured it out — apparently Orlando International Airport (MCO) is the only airport in Florida that handles that kind of cargo — and, at last report, the couple and their tiger were still living happily ever after.
6. A Pair of Camels
A guest visiting the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Arizona needed help with some camels: specifically, where to find two to purchase. Concierge Victoria Cote did the legwork and actually located a place where the guest could purchase a pair of camels, just about a half-hour from the resort. Unfortunately, the transaction never happened — reportedly due to “a missing hump” — but it wasn’t for lack of trying on Cote’s part.
7. A Bathtub Full of Wild Goat’s Milk
Some requests come at a pretty steep cost to the customer. Case in point: the guest who asked Sean Davoren, head butler at The Savoy, London, for a bathtub full of wild goat’s milk — yes, to bathe in. Though the milk itself only cost around $75, it had to be sourced from Wales, then transported via taxi to the tune of about $800. It then took 30 bottles of heated Evian water to clean the pricey beverage off the customer.
8. A Dinosaur
The oddest thing about a hotel guest requesting a dinosaur isn’t necessarily the request itself — it’s how often it comes up. Guests at the Novotel Wolverhampton made it easy when they asked for a picture of a T-Rex. (The staff happily obliged.) In 2011, a guest of the Monte Carlo Inn in Ontario asked specifically for a baby stegosaurus — though he promised that, “I will bring the food and water, and I will take care of him,” a miniature plastic version (with a note apologizing) was the best they could do.
9. A Daily Helping of Kobe Beef… For a Dog
Fancy food requests, on their own, aren’t particularly strange… except if that request is for a daily serving of Kobe beef for a dog. Yet the pros at London’s St. Ermin’s Hotel didn’t miss a beat. They catered to the cushy canine, having a nearby restaurant prepare the meal fresh each day.
10. 20 Pounds of Ice (for a Guest’s Penguins)
In 2015, Lauri Howe, director of communications for Boston’s Seaport Hotel, shared one of the strangest requests her hotel had ever received. “The most memorable request for us is the guest who asked for 20 pounds of ice for his penguins,” she told IndependentTraveler.com. “The penguins visited a year or two ago as part of one of the exhibits at the Boston Globe Travel Show. They stayed in the bathtub when they weren’t on display at the show, which was held onsite in the Seaport World Trade Center. Twenty pounds of ice actually isn’t too much, and we have multiple ice machines at Seaport, so we filled up four bags for them. We hope the ice helped to keep them comfortable during their stay!”
The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai in Hawaii had yet another penguin-related request: some penguins waiting in the guest’s room, with Morgan Freeman narrating their interaction. Sadly, the hotel wasn’t able to make it happen.
Featured image courtesy of Seth Freedland’s Facebook page.
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