There is nothing more annoying than having a long tiring flight, then finally landed and chilling at your hotel room eagerly waiting for your favorite massage therapist and then she gets turned away by the hotel’s front desk. It has happened in the past with a few hotels in Nairobi, and it is terrible.
Now the good news is that it hasn’t happened nearly as often as you would think.
First of all, let us see why certain hotels reject clients who try to bring a massage therapist up to their room.
Causes of Refused entry
Loss of business – Almost every hotel now has either a spa or sauna. That being the case, it wouldn’t go very well if they learn that their guest is booking a massage from an external source yet they can provide the service. However their spa policies are very strict as compared to massage therapists ordered from outside who can someway get flexible and much more discreet.
Moralism – basically it’s the receptionists being a sane beings who think that ordering a massage is a cover up for promiscuity. Often these people are very religious and stick to their religious scripts. However, in a big hotel, this will most likely never be the cause, as they have strict policies and guidelines that the receptionists have to follow. Their personal values in such hotels are not relevant.
Small family hotels in small towns might cause you some issues. Beware of these hotels, especially if you’re in a religious country. In such, Parents might not appreciate their children seeing visitors in and out in the wee hours of the night. Nor would they want to hear you enjoying massage in the next room alongside soothing massage music. In that scenario especially if its service from the opposite gender, it would seem weird. Such hotels usually have crazy swimming pools with crazy water slides, bouncing castles, and entertainment for children. They often cost a lot too. Avoid such hotels.
Esc**rt Girls/Prostitu**on – Another reason is because of esc**rt girls. Hotels do not like having esc**rts in their rooms. There have been cases of esc**rts stealing from hotels. But what can also happen is that pimps might appear in the lobby because of customers failing to pay or other forms of drama taking place. A certain case in Romania, a John had an argument with an esc**rt and threw her out of the room nak**d. Yes, she was n**ked in the corridor. Ask yourself how such drama might affect a hotel’s reputation. Also, in some countries prostitut**on is illegal and hotels can get serious fees or other forms of sanctions if they’re busted with having prostitut**s in their establishment. It is understandable that hotels do not want them in their rooms. But your massage therapist is not a prostitut*? Well how could they know? They just simply might not want to take any risks. If an extra guest gives away “red flags” the hotel might not let the person into the rooms. Sadly, in most cases, those “red flags” are based on looks: how they dress… and their vibe: how they behave.
But keep in mind however that business hotels usually accept esc**rt girls into their establishment. If they can accept esc**rts, they surely would accept you bringing over your masseuse. The issue is that business hotels tend to be expensive.
Cheaper options are hotels without 24 hour receptions. This way you avoid any trouble at all. The staff is used to having guests bringing people to their rooms.
Good news is that in Nairobi, hotels do not usually reject visitors. Mostly what they’d do is impose guest/cover charge on the person that checked in with them, but very few hotels and after specific hours (i.e from 6pm onwards)
Choosing the Right Hotel
Before booking a hotel, you can contact them and discuss with them beforehand on additional guest policy, that way you will avoid booking a hotel that has restrictions against guests.
Bringing Over your therapist
First, let’s discuss things you can do before even going out to prevent possible future blocks.
Book double rooms:
Many times the receptionist might turn out to be a cool guy and will let you bring your therapist right in. However, sometimes they might charge you some extra for it (depends on the hotel and the timing – ranges between 20-100$ and only occurs in the evenings from 6pm)
However, in many hotels, this option is only possible if you have booked a double room for yourself (with a double bed), which according to my experience isn’t much more expensive than booking a single room with a single bed – so totally worth it (don’t you sleep better in a double bed?).
If you don’t book a double room, chances are that they won’t let you bring anyone from outside the hotel into your room, not even for a fee. If you book a double room alone, they will often let you bring an extra person in with no questions asked, and if not, they will do so for a small fee.
Befriending the receptionists:
It is obvious that having a good vibe with the receptionists will make it much easier to bring your preferred massage therapist over. So be polite and friendly when interacting with them. Have a small chat if you have time to kill (and if there aren’t too many guests in the lobby). Try to pay attention to who works the night shift – the night shift is the receptionist you should give the most attention obviously to. Also, avoid giving unnecessary complaints about the room if your room is okay, it will just cause grief.
Further, try to come across as a “decent” and “serious” guy. Don’t come across as a party dude who might come home drunk every night, create noise, wreck the room, and take drugs… Instead, come across as calm, reasonable, and mature – you need to create trust. Be calm, serious, and willing to cooperate.
In order to build rapport with the receptionist, talk about the country’s history with them (if you are visiting a new place) – they will totally light up and be pleased to tell you more. It can also be a very interesting experience.
Discussing “bringing extra guest over” beforehand:
According to our experience, it is a good idea to discuss with the receptionist before you head out about their policies for “bringing extra guests into the rooms”. He/she will be happy to lay down the policy for you. Usually they will ask to see an ID card of the extra guest before letting her in.
There are two reasons for that – the first one is to spot “red flags” (possible esc**rt girl) and the other is that they would like to know who and how many are in the hotel establishment in cases of emergency (like a fire, for example). Further, they might tell you that you will have to pay and give you the price, but interestingly enough they will be very kind and say something along the line of “usually you will have to pay [X-amount], but I will let it go for this time” (even if it is in most hotel policies to charge for extra guests, some of our clients have paid no single cent for that even though the hotel’s policy required guest charge to be paid).
It is important that you reassure the receptionist that you will not cause any noise, that your guests won’t stay long, and that, if there are any problems whatsoever, he can with ease call up to your room.
If you reassure them beforehand, you won’t face any issues when the time comes to bring masseuses over. Another tip is to tell them that you have a girlfriend that might come by the city for the night, as she is visiting her family in a nearby town/city (so if you are in Nairobi, you can tell her that your Kenyan girlfriend is visiting her family in Mombasa) and that she might come over for the night so that you can leave together the next morning. This also works very well.
Remember, the most important thing is to re-assure the receptionist. Keep in mind that it’s always better to make sure that the receptionist you talk to before heading out actually is the night shift. If they are not, it might not work as well, but in our experience, it’s still okay – if you face any issues, just tell the night shift that you talked to his/her colleague earlier on and you should be fine.
Handling Difficulties in the Lobby
If you have done what we have highlighted so far, this should not happen. But if it does, here is what you can do:
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- If the receptionist doesn’t let your therapist in, show your therapist’s ID without the receptionist requesting it – this helps and increases the chances of them letting you. The reason being that you remove a lot of the “red flag” indicators… as you have nothing to hide.
- Tell the reception that your guest won’t stay for long – maximum 2 hours.
- Tell them to charge the room. As you have a double room, it is fully possible to book in an extra person to the room. This is the case in 90% of the hotels and it is written in their policy. A good explanation should be provided if they do not accept an extra guest.
- In very rare scenarios, the receptionist might go beyond the hotel’s policy. He/she is not allowed to do that (if you book a double room with a double bed, you have the right to book another person in) and while remaining calm, tell him that you will to have a chat with his boss in the morning and that this incident will definitely appear in your tripadvisor review (where you can write “receptionist didn’t let my girlfriend/wife/guest in”). Now such incident happens rarely.
Keep in mind that it is key to remain calm and mature if you have to deal with lame receptionists.
Let us now recap this post!
Recap
We first of all pointed out the reasons for why hotels reject extra guests (the massage therapists you bring over):
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- The first one being moralism – The thought of bringing an extra guest especially of the opposite gender have them in their mind as prostit**n which most hotels don’t want. If you mention they are coming for a massage, that either wont go well with them as almost all standard hotels have spas and health clubs within them.
- Secondly, they care about their reputation and for this the hotel might not be fitted for party people looking to misbehave.
- They are also very afraid of having esc**rt girls over – for the sake of their reputation, but also because of the law in certain countries.
Business hotels usually accept you bringing extra guests of the opposite gender over (guess what, many business folks love booking external masseuses!). Same goes for hotels that are situated in party locations, which are used to have young people over, who usually came to the city to party. Hotels with family rooms usually do not like having “extra guests” over, same as small rural family-run hotels.
It is a good idea to book a double room when booking a hotel. This makes bringing your therapist over easier. befriend the receptionist and create some rapport with them.
Talk about bringing people over with the night shift before booking an mobile massage. It is important that you accept their policies (if they ask to charge or show IDs, you accept it) and remember that the most important thing is to re-assure the receptionist that you are a decent person who won’t cause any issues. It is important to come across as cooperating.
If you still get rejected, you first of all offer to pay the charges for the extra guest, and if this doesn’t work, threaten the receptionist with a “bad review” or a “little chat with the boss”.
Either way, very very few of our clients have been rejected masseuse entry at their hotels, and, as a massage service, believe us, we have had my fair share of our clients receive our massage therapists over to their rooms. Now you have our tricks in your pocket, so enjoy your next trip!
Until next time,
Nairobi Freelance Masseurs