NY woman enters hotel steam room with daughter. Then a male staff pours mystery oil across the floor and asks them to breathe: ‘Highly concerned’

A woman who posts on TikTok as Mercades (@mercades2005) said she and her daughter were using a hotel spa steam room when a man began pouring liquid across the tiled floor and told the girls to come inside and inhale it. She said the encounter left them uneasy enough to go to staff right away.

On-screen text in her TikTok video stated, “My daughter & I went to a hotel spa a guy pouring oil all over tiles in steam room Saying (come in girls) it’s good for health etc come inhale this !!!! We were highly concerned informed staff Listen to male member of staff what he replied !!!!!!!” The clip had gained 55,800 views.

Mercades described the liquid as oil from a bottle that looked like a medicine bottle. She said the man told them he had put some oil in the steam room and asked them to try it, adding that it was good for anxiety.

Staff member said the man had already been warned about the oil

In the video, Mercades told a male staff member that people were still in the steam room and that it was probably best to alert management quickly and get everyone out. She said no one could be sure what the substance was.

The staff member appeared to recognize the person she described. He said, “Oh yeah, I know who it is. It will, it is just oil. I know him well.” Mercades replied that knowing him was not the point. He then said, “Yeah, he shouldn’t be doing it. We’ve told him a few times now, but I appreciate you letting us know.” Mercades answered that the man might not realize some people could be allergic to the oil, and that responsibility sat with the venue.

She also said they had a video of the bottle. She added that a real essential oil would usually come in a bottle with a medicine-style cap. She remarked that his shorts were red and that she could find him on her phone.

The staff member asked her to show the little bottle. Mercades kept pressing that guests already inside the steam room would not know what they were breathing. The clip ended with her saying, “Hello.”

Viewers who watched the TikTok focused on the staff member’s remark that the man had already been told more than once not to pour the oil. Several said the venue should have stopped him sooner. For hotel guests, concerns about staff conduct can extend beyond a single incident, as a woman was left speechless after a $90,000 watch disappeared from a Miami hotel. 

One commenter asked why the man was still allowed in after prior warnings, writing, “they’ve told him not to a few times,why he still there?” Another said he should be barred because he had not listened and because someone could be allergic. They wrote, “Yeah..they should bar him. He has already been told and hasn’t listened..and yes..someone could be allergic!”

A different commenter said they belonged to a gym attached to a health spa in an affluent part of Warwickshire, where an elderly man puts eucalyptus oil in the steam room each morning. They described that practice as well-known and harmless among members there, while adding they were not dismissing Mercades’ account and could see how it might look strange to a hotel guest.

Someone else said the liquid sounded a lot like eucalyptus, but that no one can be trusted these days. Another listed three reasons they thought the report should be taken seriously: certain essential oils can be harmful to pregnant women, the guests did not know what the substance was, and the employee had already been told not to do it.

One commenter urged her to take the matter to the head office or whatever gym or spa it was, writing, “You need to report this to the head office or whatever gym it is! People like that often progress to more serious things if no one intervene.” A separate viewer asked why she always has an issue. Unsettling hotel encounters can range from the unusual to the alarming, as a Washington man once found when a hand reached out from under his bed.