# Hotels and prostitutes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 19, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008 "2010-05-19T15:27:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/41 "2010-05-20T14:57:40Z")
When I was single and checking into three- and four-star hotels in Thailand alone, the guy carrying the bags more often than not asked if I needed a girl. And once in Loei, up in the Northeast, I had ordered some beer from room service, and the guy delivered it while the wife was in the bathroom, so he thought I was alone and offered to find me some company. Three years ago in Shanghai, the phone rang in our hotel room one evening. I answered it, and a Chinese lady on the other end went, in English: “YOU … WANT … MASSAGE???” I replied: “Uh, no, thank you. My wife is here, and she can massage me.” “OH. OKAY. HAHA.” Click. She must have made a mistake and thought I had checked in alone. I’ve been told some single guys in Chinese hotels finally have to leave the phone off the hook or something, because the girls or their pimps just won’t take no for an answer. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/42 "2010-05-20T15:03:36Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > What am I missing here? Why are you attributing to them a suspicion that he’s a hooker? What they said doesn’t seem to have anything to do with that… Russian shorthand, trust me on this. I explained that he wasn’t some random stranger, that he was my boyfriend of the past year, and the response was “well, sorry, but all kinds of things happen in hotel rooms, so we have to know who’s coming in and out.” He, I, and every person we’ve told the story to also interpreted the response that way. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/43 "2010-05-20T16:03:33Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Oh, yeah. Totally normal. I have a friend who’s a night auditor at a nice hotel and he directs people to the “escorts” section of the phone book when asked. Used to work the same position and that’s exactly what I did when asked. Or sent them over to the night bellman, who knew of a modelling agency or two that did outcalls. I figured it was none of my business and I wasn’t paid enough to procure prostitutes for guests. Really, unless the guest was bothering my other guests or destroying our stuff—(do you know how hard it is to get the smell of weed out of a room?) I couldn’t have cared less what they did in the room, provided they were doing it in the room. And not the lobby bathroom, or a conference room they’d unlocked, or the room service kitchen… I did refuse to buy baking soda and aluminum foil for one guest at 1 AM; figured that cooking crack would stink up the room as bad or worse than weed would’ve. Returning to sex, I did have to get involved with a guest disputing a charge on his bill for a legitimate massage. The masseuse performed the massage, he then exposed himself and demanded further services, she refused, left, and he wanted his money back. I invited him to discuss the situation with our corporate office later that day, refused to take it off his bill, and I never learned the final disposition. I imagine that corporate caved. Usual state of affairs on the graveyard shift. Oh, and to address **Markxxx** ’s point. When I worked at another resort, our locker room had two leftover sofas in it, that were often used by workers sleeping between double or split shifts. It certainly wasn’t anything that a guest would have access to. We didn’t have a separate break room, but probably would’ve converted a conference room if we really needed to provide housing for that many workers. ---
**Author:** ![TheoS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TheoS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheoS)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/44 "2010-05-20T16:25:40Z")
In the 80’s and 90’s I used to travel throughout the US on business, staying at OMNI’s, Hyatt’s etc… prostitutes were frequent. I traveled 40 weeks out of the year, I am no young stud but it is out there. I have been approached in the parking lot, in the lobby and at dinner. I have multiple stories for different cities- all domestic. I can honestly say- never accepted an offer but must admit, the girls were usually very attractive. I can’t imagine approaching a hotel employee about a “service”. If I were tired from my travel, I suppose I would park myself on one of the couches in a very far-off corner and catch some zzz’s. I have traveled with a cold and the medication sometimes made me sooo tired that I moved to a pool area and caught 30 minutes on one of the chase lounges. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/45 "2010-05-20T17:15:56Z")
When I was about 16 I went to NYC with a church group as student diplomats to the UN. In the lobby of our hotel there was a group of women who were just always standing aorund waiting for their husbands. And they always had on high heels, which was so weird for tourists, you know? :dubious: It was around day ten, when I saw a man walk up behind one, grab her tush and gesture toward the elevator, that it finally sank in. Forward ten years or so . . . I’m checking through a subcontractors invoice from a trip to Budapest. There is a charge on the first night of the hotel which translates to “Hot Tuna” and is for the equivalent of about $380.00. I asked on older co-worker what this could possibly be, and he said “That’s not a what, that’s a who!” I disallowed the charge and it was never mentioned. This particular sub was also infamous for the blacked out movie titles on his hotel receipts. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/46 "2010-05-20T18:01:42Z")
> [@simple\_homer](#): > > “Ma sa ji?” means “massage(e) ?” It certainly didn’t mean anything in Chinese (to my wife, at least). > [@simple homer](#): > > Many times when I have traveled in China, within 5 minutes of checking into a hotel the phone will ring and the only English word is “massagee ?” > It does not matter if I am alone or traveling with my girlfriend. > Does this also happen to the Chinese, or is it only because I am a foreigner ? > Would they also offer this to a Chinese man traveling with his wife or girlfriend ? > > I always say “no”, but I think I am correct in guessing that it is an offer of a prostitute. I think you’re right. Although in my case, the guy at the snack place may just have been hazarding an opinion as to why an attractive Chinese woman (my wife) would be hanging around with a doofy-looking foreigner (me). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/47 "2010-05-20T19:30:19Z")
**Arnold Winkelried** said: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by Jet Jaguar > > I usually just directed them to the part of town where one may find such services. > > I’m not a law enforcement agent looking to arrest someone, but wouldn’t this be similar to aiding and abetting a crime? Did the management have a policy on this (saying “yes, help the customer” or “no, don’t do it”)? Not a law enforcement type, but I would say not. You just commented that hookers tend to hang out on 6th street, or whatever, not actually making arrangements (which could possibly get you pandering charges or something). ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/48 "2010-05-21T03:32:47Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > My ex-BF was a massage therapist (the legit, licensed kind), and for a while he had an on-call gig at a very high-end local hotel to do massages in guest rooms during hours when the health club (where the hotel normally provided legit massage services) wasn’t open. After the 3rd or 4th time he got propositioned by clients (all men), he figured out why the previous incumbent of his position had been fired. He got tired of explaining to the previous guy’s regular clients that he wasn’t in the business of providing happy endings, so he quit. > > Also, in 1995 I was in Moscow for a few days in grad school as part of a summer study program, and our whole group, maybe 40 undergrad and grad students, was staying in a hotel in a rather non-touristy part of town (presumably because it was cheap). My boyfriend from the previous year, a Russian Fulbright scholar and historian of a subunit of the Russian Federation Academy of Sciences, wanted to head down our way so we could hang out and chat a bit (to make a long story short, it was impossible to get rubles legally outside of Russia then, and we’d landed on the Saturday night of a long holiday weekend, so everything was closed and there was literally no way for me to get money legally so I could, say, get on a bus and go to his place). > > The hotel security wouldn’t let him upstairs unless he left his ID at the front desk. When I complained, their explanation was “well, what if something happens to you? We need to know where to find him.” Yeah, my historian boyfriend is a hooker…whatever. Well, that was less for fear that he was a prostitute and more of a fear that he was there to be a troublemaker. I know most hotels in those days were checking passports because they didn’t want the locals to come in to: change money illegally for tourists, try to sell stuff or anything else that they didn’t think was appropriate in a hotel lobby. I wasn’t in Moscow most of the time that I lived there, but when I was in town and met up with some friends, the need would arise to find a clean bathroom or pick up a newspaper which meant I had to stop in a hotel. So I would just tell them to speak really loudly in English as we entered. I would give my friend my passport to flash as we entered, and since I was so obviously not Russian, they didn’t ask me for one. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/49 "2010-05-21T04:11:35Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > An “obvious prostitute” is not a good prostitute. More obvious because of the situation (middle aged, mostly white) Europeans with girls just off the farm from NE Thailand. Some may not be prostitutes, at least by the strict definition, but it’s mostly pretty obvious which are more permanent and less permanent situations. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/50 "2010-05-21T05:02:45Z")
This is a true story from a guy 30 years ago in Atlantic City. I’ll call the guy Don, because that was his name. Casinos were not allowed to stay open for 24 hours (it would promote gambling?), so at 6 AM Don found himself on the street with no idea where to find a cheap hotel. A girl drove by with Pennsylvania plates: “Wanna blowjob? … Twenty dollars?? :mad: I drove all the way from Philly for $20? … Well, OK.” The girl took Don around the corner to a crummy hotel, while Don explained he just wanted a nap, though would give the girl her 20 and even let her show off her techniques. The hotel clerk wanted another $40 for one hour. The girl now explained to the clerk that Don wasn’t a per-hour customer, and actually wanted to sleep for several hours. The clerk then reduced the rate to $20 ! ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/51 "2010-05-21T06:30:31Z")
I should start going to hotels more… ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/52 "2010-05-21T12:33:05Z")
> [@simple\_homer](#): > > “Ma sa ji?” means “massage(e) ?” This happened a lot in Japan. After my self-induced crash course in Japanese (well, ok, a few months of podcasts --thank you, [JapanesePod101.com](http://JapanesePod101.com)), I was encountering people using the “wrong words” for common objects. _“Jappa **WHAAAHT**?”_ I wanted to ask. But I was pretty sure they didn’t speak Jive. Turns out they were just taking English words and making them their own. So I had a nice big glass of _“oranji juice-oo”_ and relaxed. Everyone seems to do it: France has “Le Weekend” and “Le Hot-Dog”(pronounced without the H, it’s _tres foo-neee_)… ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/53 "2010-05-22T04:57:26Z")
“If you need anything, anything at all, you dial zero on your personal in-room telephone and talk to me. My name is Chet. . . . Though we provide privacy for the residential guest, we are also a full service hotel including complimentary shoe shine. My name Chet.” CHET CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![deball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@deball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deball)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008/54 "2010-05-22T16:13:45Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Here in Panama, there is one hotel where the attached casino is a well-known hangout for hookers. The hotel itself, however, seems to vary from time to time whether it will allow the girls to accompany guests to their rooms. Mostly it seems to be OK, but sometimes they do a crackdown and make them go elsewhere. I’ve been there. Great patio bar down the block and a good diner across from the hotel. Anyways, I remember going out front to smoke and almost always escorting a gorgeous Colombian woman back inside so she could get into the casino. At the time the doormen wouldn’t allowed them in without a “date.” We’d drop them off to ply their trade and go about the rest of our day. I remember their prices being outrageous! But they were almost all extrememely attractive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-and-prostitutes/540008.md?page=2)