I stayed at the Sheraton JFK Airport (now the Gate Hotel JFK) last night (I know, I’ve had two straight nights of airport Sheratons #GlamLife), and I think I witnessed the trashiest club lounge behavior I’ve ever seen.
Like, I’ve seen some pretty trashy club lounge behavior in my day. I’ve seen people show up in bathrobes. I’ve seen people show up barefoot. I’ve even seen someone in a club lounge wearing nothing but boxers. And I’ve also seen people literally put food from club lounges into Ziploc and doggy bags.
But I think this one takes the cake.
I was at the Sheraton JFK club lounge at 6:30AM and trying to get the Starbucks machine to dispense me a cup of brown goodness (that involved more button-pushing than my pre-coffee brain could handle).
The lounge attendant approached me and said “excuse me, do you know what happened to the cushion?”
Huh?
“I wasn’t working last night, and the cushion is gone.”
She pointed to the (sole) couch in the club lounge, and it was indeed missing.
Literally 30 seconds later a lady frantically came running to the club lounge with a big cushion and said “sorry, we needed it last night. If you had three people in your room you’d understand, dude.”
Goodness gracious…
Lucky, why do you stop responding to (or completely ignore) critical comments? I generally enjoy your blog, but for instance this new click bait style is unnecessary and rather disappointing from you (and guest bloggers).
HA! I wish I could be a fly on the wall to see how you catch them in the act! I love how you get these candid photos of these "suspects." Well played, Lucky. :)
You can hardly call that a "lounge" anyway--it is just the elevator lobby area with a coffee machine...
@ qasr -- Hah, touche!
Ah Kyle you come across as someone who suffers from "tall poppy syndrome" as we say in Australia. If you don't know of it I'd suggest you goggle it lol
And Al, time for another facelift
@Charles (CMK10): Your comment actually made this whole post worthwhile for me. Pure greatness!
On the merits, I don't think there's really any true clickbait here, and I'm on the rabid end of anti-clickbait. Stealing a whole sofa cushion is about as trashy as it gets -- or darn close, anyway.
Did you clutch your pearls and faint?
I booked a room in the Abu Dhabi St Regis, and among the information they provided me was a dress code for the public areas of the hotel. Not religion-based and not gender specific, just basic rules that you'd think people would know already, especially people staying at an elegant hotel. It makes me wonder what kinds of egregious offenders they had dealt with to cause them to issue such a policy.
@Kyle The great thing about blogs is that if they are going down hill you can stop reading them.
@DJ Are foreign travelers the only ones with nasty behaviors?
@Stannis-Thank you. Add my +1 to your post.
The peanut gallery is cracking me up. This isn't The Economist and Lucky is not out to win a Pulitzer. I think his stream-of-consciousness writing style fits this medium perfectly, even if it produces the occasionall dud. If you don't like it, you're free to go read The Points Guy LLP for all the corporate outsourced content you can handle.
Bizar story. But maybe our own to blame? We as bloggers are making lounge acces and elite status so simple to get that also the weirdest people will be elite.
Uhh, It might have been trashy if the lady showed up in her untied bathrobe with half a boob and gut hanging out. then pointing to a seat with people occupying it and saying. "I need three more of these cushions and can you put them in a plastic bag, dude".
"If you had three people people"
As opposed to, what, animal people?
:)
@ Steven L. -- Whoops, fixed!
Charles (CMK10) says: "I’d actually Googled “anti-climax” and was redirected here."
Touche. After all the negative feedback from Travis' trumped up click bait post you'd think Lucky might be extra cautious. Instead he ignores the response and employs the same tactics on his own.
Unfortunate.
I have to admit, I didn't find the story that outrageous (except for the use of the word, 'dude'). To me, outrageous behavior is defined by how someone treats or communicates with another with little respect. Taking a cushion for the night, though arguably tacky, isn't very outrageous. It's not like these lounges are that exclusive anymore.
What's on the easel in the picture? If it has to do with renovations, its details far outweigh the lightweight blog post above.
@ Dom -- Yep, the hotel is being renovated, so it's an explanation of the new plans.
@Charles (CMK10) - couldn't agree more. More bait clicking.
It's actually shocking that they returned it and at that hour as well. On the bright side, there's two sides to every cushion ;)
I hate this hotel
It's a sub par property that doesn't even rate as a Sheraton 4 points
The club lounge is crap with limited hours
The walls are so thin you hear other guests and worse highway traffic
I wont stay at the property even free of charge
Damaging to the Sheraton brand
It's a limited service property dressed up with lipstick on a pig
They have...
I hate this hotel
It's a sub par property that doesn't even rate as a Sheraton 4 points
The club lounge is crap with limited hours
The walls are so thin you hear other guests and worse highway traffic
I wont stay at the property even free of charge
Damaging to the Sheraton brand
It's a limited service property dressed up with lipstick on a pig
They have made sure it's difficult to redeem on cash and points
No longer wanting to return this is no longer a problem for me
Good idea, thanks for the great tip!
actually i dont think its so bad. she returned it at 6:30, how many people would need that cushion in the couch at night anyway. In that isolated case I can totally tolerate what she did.
come on, we have tolerated much more nastier behaviors by foreign travelers.
I recommend a staff person be in every lounge while it is open...and I would recommend a description of appropriate behavior and dress code be posted and enforced...I would not be offended...
Funniest. Post.Ever.
That video is cracking me up! We usually sleep 5 to a room and have never 'borrowed' hotel/lounge cushions.Strange......
I was in the United club lounge at Orlando in March last. A Brazilian family were also there. The mother changed the babies diaper on the table in front of everyone. DUH .. !!!!
Interesting, I'd actually Googled "anti-climax" and was redirected here.
Ha, good post. Another example of why I mostly don't care about airport and hotel lounges anymore, except perhaps on the high end. In your line of work, I suppose it is more useful, but I must admit i have grown to Wandering Aramean's way of thinking regarding this.
I visited there back in August before a flight on the Emirates A380. It wasn't terribly impressive, but it was nothing like you saw... That said - even in the more optimal circumstances I saw, it was nothing to write home about.
Even worse than going to the airport lounge in your pyjamas! ;)
lol at least she has the decency to bring it back rather than just leaving it in the room.