What destination is on Santa's traveling list after Christmas?
Maybe a stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in the Northern California town of Redding, where an unidentified person paid the bills of everyone who was a guest on Sunday, CNBC reported.
About 50 of Hilton's 93 guest rooms were occupied on Sunday where rates for a regular room at the inn range from $109 to $119, according to the Redding Record Searchlight.
"He wanted to make it anonymous," front-desk supervisor Tony Ross told CNBC on Thursday.
Though Ross said he could not provide further details, he confirmed that the story in the local paper was accurate. According to CNBC, the hotel Santa is the latest of a number of do-gooders whose anonymous actions have come to light.
An anonymous person, using the Instagram handle @tipsforjesus, has left more than $80,000 in supersize restaurant tips-$2,000 to $3,000 a pop. Customers were encouraged to buy a coffee for another person through Starbucks "pay it forward" program. And a bunch of "Layaway Santas" paid off other people's Christmas gifts.
Even Beyonce (not so anonymously) paid $50 off the bills of 750 shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Tewksbury, Mass., just before Christmas, CNBC reported.
Referred to as a practice of "direct giving" by philanthropy experts, it lets donors have the satisfaction of seeing exactly where their money is going-without being funneled through a larger organization. And at least one of the beneficiaries in Redding has pledged to pay it forward, as well, according to CNBC.
Linda Overby, who stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn while returning from a trip to Oregon, told the Record Searchlight that her family intends to donate their room savings to a food bank near their home in Santa Clara, Calif.
"I don't know what other people planned to do, but hopefully people will continue to pass it forward," she said.
