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Andrea smooths down the front of her collared shirt and checks her reflection one last time in the locker room mirror. A slicked back ponytail, name tag straight and not a wrinkle in sight.
8 years of working up and down the Strip had taught her that presentation mattered. From laundry to housekeeping and now the overnight shift. Every step up came with more responsibility, and if she had any say in it, management wasn’t too far off.
She takes a steadying breath before heading out, this shift isn’t necessarily glamourous, but it suits her. Quiet some nights, predictable in ways. At least as predictable as you can get for Las Vegas. The overnight shift from 11p to 7a was really all about discretion, you never know what you might hear or see when people thought no one was watching.
Andrea had seen enough to know better than to ask questions. Late-night check-ins where he wore a wedding ring and she didn’t. High-rolling gamblers riding the high of a win. A singer who’d just performed, only answering questions by writing on a notepad.
After this long in the industry, she’d built the kind of connections that could make almost anything happen for the guests. The best moments of every shift were when she could make something impossible turn into a yes, when someone’s night became just a little more memorable because of her.
Tonight wasn’t unfamiliar, the Stratosphere was hosting another big event so a lot of attractive people in gorgeous dresses and well-fitting tuxedos were making their way in and out of the lobby at a pretty steady rate. It was for some sort of after party, she wasn’t sure what for, but events like this happen a couple times a month at least. Anything from Silicon Valley big tech events to MLM yearly conferences, the NFL draft to album release parties, of course at first, she wasn’t fazed by everyone being dressed so nicely.
She’d politely smile and, quietly to herself make up what it was they were there for. It wasn’t until a sharply dressed guest walked up to the front desk to ask for directions that she was slightly taken aback by size and fitness of him, in her opinion he had to be a professional athlete of some sort just by the sheer mass of a human he was, maybe the after party was for an awards show or an end of year banquet she thought to herself.
The party was in full swing and it was easy to get distracted by all of the beautiful people so, she told herself - keep your head down, try not to stare and get your stuff done.
There is a mental and physical check list that Andrea has to do every night.
Are there any check ins left?
Is housekeeping still working on any rooms?
Special requests?
Wake up calls?
Credit cards to run?
Airport shuttles to arrange?
In that aspect tonight is more of the same. Andrea knew how to handle herself.
Hi welcome to the Stratosphere are you checking in?
What is the last name on the reservation?
Perfect I have it right here, you’re in a (insert room type) room for (x) nights checking out on (date and day of the week) is that correct?
Great, I’ll take a credit card and ID from you and if I can get two initials and a signature at the bottom of this form, please. The first initial is acknowledging that we authorize your card for your full amount of your stay plus an extra 20% for incidentals and the second initial is that you understand that you are in a non-smoking room and if evidence is found otherwise a cleaning fee of up to $1,000 will be charged to your card on file.
Excellent, you are going to be in room (room number) the best way to get there will be through the (pick a direction) elevator bank.
She can recite it in her sleep.
When it came to crowds like the one filtering in and out of the party, this kind of personnel was handled a little different at times, sometimes the name they gave for the reservation didn’t match the name on the ID and she had done training for these sorts of situations – an assistant would make the reservation under her name instead of the guests to provide a little more discretion but they made sure there was always a note on the reservation for staff only eyes saying who was actually staying in the room.
The training required that for security reasons they can only give out room keys to people listed on the reservation. Sometimes a big music artist, reality star or some other type of celebrity would be staying with them and crazed fans would find that out and try to get their room numbers just to see if they could get closer to them. She thought it was creepy that people would go that far just to be in the vicinity of someone they admired, just let them live their life! It became standard practice that if someone asked who was staying in a specific room or for a duplicate key, she would require them to show photo a ID before giving out any information. You can never be too careful when it comes to things like this.
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11:43PM
Shane’s phone goes off in his pocket, glancing across the room he watches Ilya slip his phone back into his jacket at the same time.
Lily: Penthouse 1
They couldn’t be so brazen to walk out together so, a few minutes later when out of the corner of his eye Shane saw Ilya clap the back of the player he was talking to and tell him he was calling it a night, he knew he had to wait it out for a few more minutes before he could do the same as to not draw any extra attention to their sudden departures. Approximately 3 minutes later, Shane excused himself by finishing up the conversation he was barely paying attention to and made his way to the elevator and pressing the up arrow
A ball of excitement and nerves filled his chest, after their conversation in the bathroom backstage and with Ilya winning MVP, there was no telling what he was going to be walking into tonight. When the lift finally arrived, Shane got in and pressed P for the penthouse floor, but the button didn’t stay lit... he pressed it again, nothing. In that moment he realized he needed to insert a key card to gain access to that floor. Since Shane wasn’t staying in a penthouse, he wouldn’t be able to get up there with his own key card. Stepping out and taking a deep breath, he weighed his options but there were really only two.
1. Text Ilya to come back down to the lobby to get him… which was totally off the table – every who’s who in the hockey world is here tonight and they could easily be spotted and blasted on Barstool Sports Instagram page tomorrow morning with the caption METROS SHANE HOLENDER SPOTTED RIDING THE ELEVATOR HEADING TO THE TOP FLOOR WITH MVP ILYA ROZANOV... IS THAT THE ONLY THING HES RIDING???
Nope, totally out of the question. He had to get a key himself but how? He’s never done this before. Normally he just takes the elevator to the floor Ilya is staying on and knocks on his door but since the penthouse floor is key card access only which meant only one thing.
2. Ask the seemingly nice lady at the front desk for an extra key?
Shane knew Ilya liked to tease and play mind games with him sometimes, taking joy in watching him turn red and get flustered but Shane was determined to not give Ilya the satisfaction – he’d already won enough tonight! Shane turned on his heel and headed towards the front desk.
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*Ahem* someone cleared their throat on the other side of the counter. Andrea looks up from the computer to see a 6ft dark haired man with broad shoulders in a tuxedo with the bow tie undone hanging around his neck, a smattering of freckles and a timid look on his face.
“Good evening, how can I help you?” She says to the man.
Looking flustered, he says “Hi - yes, I need a key to Penthouse 1 please?"
"Of course, I just need a photo ID to verify the name on the room please” with her best customer service smile plastered across her face.
Looking anywhere but her eyes he sputters out – “well I’m not on the reservation or anything I’m just... I was going to visit… he slightly pauses… a friend to tell him congratulations... I was going to surprise him that’s why I don’t have a key. "
Nodding her head politely Andrea says “yes, I understand sir but I can’t grant you access to the penthouse level without either a photo ID that matches the reservation or verbal consent from the guest on the reservation.”
He nods slowly, coming to grips in his head that he’s basically out of options at this point.
Andrea offers to call the room to verify that he is a welcome visitor and if the occupant agrees she can give him an extra key.
The man in front of her who is clearly a ball of nerves nods his head in agreement and looks away from her trying to hide his embarrassment and the flush in his cheeks.
Sometimes a guest would call down to the front desk and let them know they are expecting someone, giving a name and letting them know they were ok to come up, but not always. Calling the room to verify a guests visitor isn’t anything new, she has done it for people that have stayed out too late gambling and lost their key or someone meeting up visiting from another hotel on the strip so this time shouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary… or so she thought.
She picks up the phone and dials the room. Two rings later a deep voice with what she thinks is an eastern European accent answers.
“Da?”
“Yes, hello Mr. Rozanov this is Andrea at the front desk we have a Mr”.…… she cuts her eyes to the gentleman across the desk from her mentally asking for his name – panic spreads across his face and he blushes all the way up to his ears, in a hushed voice he says “Jane”
Andrea takes a beat, not long enough for either the person on the phone or the one in front of her to notice and repeats back to the person on the phone. “A Mr. Jane is here at the front desk requesting a duplicate key to your room and with your permission I can make him a copy.”
“Da, is okay. Mr. Jane can have key. Please let him I am ready, he will know what this means” and quickly hangs up the phone.
Andrea – a little taken aback by Mr. Romanov’s abrupt hang up, she sets down the receiver and clears her throat taking just a second to settle herself.
Shane couldn’t hear anything on the other end of the call, for all he knows Ilya could be telling this nice lady that he doesn’t know anyone named Jane and to stop bothering him with boring phone calls.
She smiles at him “you have been approved to give a key card; Mr. Rozanov also told me to tell you he is ready and that you would know what he means by that.” His face scrunches and he turns his head in… embarrassment? Excitement? Shame? She wasn’t sure. Andrea turns away to make the duplicate card as he is doing this and thinks to herself – this is more than a friend wanting to tell someone congratulations. The way he is holding himself, the nervousness in his voice and posture, the way his face blushed when she mentioned that Mr. Rozonov is ready for him and the fact that the entire interaction on his part has been done without making direct eye contact makes her think maybe he doesn’t want to be seen by all of the other party goers, or anyone else for that matter… but then again she had to keep it professional it’s none of her business what goes on behind closed doors of their hotel rooms.
Turning back to hand the key card over to him he sheepishly smiles as he grabs it and turning around to head back to the elevator bank. Only making it a couple of paces before Andrea has a thought and stops him with a “sorry… sir?”
When he turns back around to face her, she quiets her voice and tells him, “Penthouse 1 is also accessible a bit more discreetly through a hall behind the desk as a way to offer more privacy to their VIP guests.”
He nods once with a grateful look on his face and follows her cue, they walk towards the private elevators and once they reach them, Andrea takes the room key from his hand and hits the penthouse floor, inserts the card and moves aside holding the elevator door open for him as he steps in. He turns around to face her and gives her a small smile, glancing down to her name tag and says “Thank you, Andrea” only then looking her in the eyes for the first time. She gives him a nod as the elevator doors close.
As “Mr. Jane” rides up to penthouse 1 Andrea walks back to the desk, she couldn’t help but smile to herself thinking she hopefully made him more comfortable by offering the private elevator and that she made his time with them just a little more memorable.