The weird requests by guests

Asking if a motel could courier the placenta a guest left behind in the freezer and querying whether a miniature horse can stay are just a few of the strange questions fielded by moteliers.

Travel website Wotif surveyed 83 Kiwi motel owners to find out some of their more interesting experiences with guests.

Among those encounters was when a guest asked if staff could get up on a roof in the middle of the night to check out a noise. It turned out to be the wind whistling.

Others asked if they could drive up to their chalet, which was on the third floor and another wanted all the furniture in their room moved because the layout disturbed them.

One customer complained that the front-loading washing machine was "useless" and it was flooding. The appliance they had used was actually the dryer. They'd loaded the lint filter with washing powder and filled the dryer with water from a bucket.

"Although most motelier-respondents said interacting with their guests was the best part of owning a motel, guests were also the cause of some of the more humorous moments," Wotif's New Zealand product manager Renee Piggott said.

"Unusual sleeping habits were also high on the list, with one motelier being asked if the couple could have a softer mattress to create 'roll together'. Often the moteliers are asked to do the impossible, with one guest requesting the shower rose be placed higher on the wall."