What is r/askhotels for?
Its public description says it is a place to ask questions about hotels. The old public sidebar says hotel employees participate to answer those questions.
Subreddit guides
r/askhotels rules, stats, and what to post
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/askhotels: all 15 public rules, sidebar requirements, community context, and promotion limits before you publish.
By Anthony Riera, founder and operator of Rankhog.
Subreddit guides combine public Reddit source URLs, captured rules, visible verification dates, and Rankhog's account-safety workflow.
Current public stats
- Members
- 35,514
- Verified
- August 18, 2026
- Category
- Hotel operations and hospitality communities
Rules can change, so Rankhog keeps verification dates and the original public Reddit sources visible.
Rule summary
- Don't be a dick: Do not behave abusively or act deliberately disruptive. The rule includes bigotry against protected classes and generalizations about people of particular races.
- No asking for or offering unethical or illegal advice: Do not ask for or offer unethical or illegal advice, including instructions for cheating a hotel, bypassing hotel rules, or obtaining employee, friend, or family discounts.
- Bots and novelty accounts allowable only at mod discretion: Bots and novelty accounts are allowed only at moderator discretion. The published rule gives no broader exception.
- No advertising: Advertising is prohibited. The formal rule does not describe an exception.
- No looking for investors: Do not use the community to look for investors.
- No Bad Advice: Bad advice may be removed at moderator discretion.
- No market/product research, asking how to improve your app/PMSwhatever or how to sell your product: Do not conduct market or product research, ask members to improve an app or property-management system, or ask how to sell a product. The rule says violations receive a ban without warning because the community is for hotel questions, not free labor.
- Posts must be in English: Posts that are not in English are removed. The rule recommends using another subreddit when posting in English is not possible.
- No homework: Homework, surveys, and similar requests are prohibited.
- No asking for specific hotel recommendations: Do not ask the community to recommend a specific hotel.
- If the answer to your question is some variation of “call the hotel” your post will be removed: A post is removed when its question can be answered with some variation of calling the hotel.
- No AI: The published rule is titled “No AI” and provides no additional explanation or exception.
- No questions from the FAQ: Do not submit questions already covered by the community FAQ.
- No asking/trading to be added to employee hotel discount programs.: Do not ask or trade for access to hotel employee discount programs. The rule specifically rejects requests for employees to add strangers to their discounts.
- No complaining about third parties or how you got screwed over by a third party.: Do not create complaint or venting posts about third-party booking services. The rule permits genuine questions about exiting a third-party booking or requesting a refund, but not posts whose message is simply to avoid a named third party.
Works well
- Source-backed fit: ask a genuine question about hotels that hotel employees can help answer.
- Source-backed fit: a focused operational, policy, reservation, amenities, or hotel-work question can match the community's stated question-and-answer purpose when it is not already in the FAQ and cannot be resolved by simply calling the hotel.
- Source-backed exception: rule 15 allows questions about getting out of a third-party booking or asking for a refund, even though third-party complaint and venting posts are prohibited.
- Sidebar instruction: hotel employees are asked to add user flair with their hotel type, title, and years in the industry; guest flair is optional.
- Rankhog recommendation: state the relevant hotel context and end with one answerable question instead of using the post to vent or solicit free commercial research.
Avoid
- Formal rules: no advertising, investor searches, market or product research, app or property-management-system feedback, or questions about how to sell a product.
- Formal rules: do not ask for or offer unethical or illegal advice, instructions for bypassing hotel rules, or access to employee discount programs.
- Formal rules: avoid homework, surveys, specific hotel recommendation requests, FAQ questions, questions whose answer is simply to call the hotel, and anything covered by the published “No AI” rule, whose card gives no additional detail.
- Formal rule: do not complain or vent about third-party booking services; only the narrower questions about exiting a booking or requesting a refund are expressly allowed.
- Formal rules: avoid bad advice, prohibited bot or novelty-account activity, uncivil behavior, bigotry, and non-English posts.
What r/askhotels Is For
Reddit's public description calls r/askhotels “A place to ask any questions you might have about hotels.” The current community title describes it as questions and answers about the hotel industry, while the old public sidebar welcomes questions for participating hotel employees to answer.
The sidebar asks hotel employees to add user flair containing their hotel type, job title, and years in the industry. Guest flair is optional. These are sidebar instructions, not extra reportable rule cards.
Rules That Matter Before Posting
r/askhotels displays 15 ordered formal rules. They cover conduct, unethical or illegal advice, bots and novelty accounts, advertising, investor searches, bad advice, commercial research, language, homework and surveys, hotel recommendations, questions better directed to the hotel, AI, FAQ duplication, employee discount programs, and third-party booking complaints.
The commercial boundary is especially explicit. Advertising is prohibited, and a separate rule bans market or product research, requests to improve an app or property-management system, and questions about how to sell a product. That rule says violations receive a ban without warning. The old sidebar independently says the community is not a place for market research or advertising and warns that posts will be removed and users banned.
What To Post
Source-backed fits and requirements include:
- Ask a genuine question about hotels that participating hotel employees can help answer.
- Use English and check the community FAQ before creating the post.
- Ask something that needs community expertise instead of a hotel-specific answer obtainable by calling that hotel.
- When discussing a third-party booking, ask a focused question about exiting the booking or requesting a refund rather than publishing a complaint.
- If you are a hotel employee, follow the sidebar instruction to identify your hotel type, title, and industry experience in user flair.
As a Rankhog recommendation, state the relevant operational or guest context and end with one answerable question. This keeps the post aligned with the community's question-and-answer purpose without turning members into a research panel.
What To Avoid
Do not advertise, seek investors, run market or product research, solicit app or property-management-system feedback, or ask how to sell a product. Homework and surveys are separately prohibited.
Avoid unethical or illegal advice, attempts to bypass hotel rules, discount-program requests, specific hotel recommendations, FAQ duplicates, and questions whose practical answer is simply to call the hotel. Comply with the published “No AI” rule without assuming a narrower definition or an exception that the rule card does not state. Do not use a post to complain about a third-party booking service; rule 15 permits the narrower refund and exit questions, not general venting.
Rankhog Notes
r/askhotels publishes no self-promotion exception. Its advertising and research restrictions are reinforced by both the formal rules and the old public sidebar, so a useful-question framing does not make a commercial research request acceptable.
For hotel cleaning and room-turnover discussions, compare the scope and live rules of r/housekeeping before posting. Recheck r/askhotels' FAQ and current rules immediately before publishing because questions already answered by the FAQ are prohibited.
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Common questions about r/askhotels
Can I advertise hotel software in r/askhotels?
No. Separate formal rules prohibit advertising and market or product research, including requests to improve an app or property-management system and questions about how to sell a product.
Can I survey hotel employees in r/askhotels?
No. The no-homework rule expressly includes surveys and similar requests, while the market-research rule separately rejects free commercial research.
Can I ask r/askhotels to recommend a hotel?
No. One formal rule directly prohibits asking for specific hotel recommendations.
Can I ask about a refund from a third-party booking service?
Yes, within rule 15's stated exception: you may ask how to exit a third-party booking or how to request a refund. Do not turn the post into a complaint or a general warning against a named third party.
What does r/askhotels' “No AI” rule say?
The published rule card is simply titled “No AI” and gives no qualifying explanation. Do not infer either a narrower definition or an exception from the lack of detail.