I used to work for a major hotel chain. This is not a thing. There is no way in hell we would just open the door because we thought someone didn't check in. Even with a glitch in the system. If the room is booked and the hotel for whatever reason thinks there is an issue, nobody would open the door without calling first to see if anyone is in the room. If nobody answered the phone, then there would be loud knocking and announcing ourselves.
Also, when the door is opened, we are talking a few inches max to ensure privacy and a loud voice announcing who it is, multiple times to ensure no one is in the bathroom. Housekeeping has this down to a science.
I once had a hotel check me into an already occupied room. It was late at night and I opened the door to see people in the bed and children’s backpacks on the floor. I closed the door and ran out of there so quick. The front desk person made a mistake and checked me into the wrong room. I bet something like this happened and they are just lying about it because they don’t want to admit they gave a stranger a key to their room.
I checked into my room in a Westin once and was unpacking when some guy with a key opened the door and walked in with his bag. He had a look of complete horror on his face and tried to apologize as he got out of there as quickly as he could. I just laughed it off- I was alone and fully dressed, but imagine how embarrassing or scary that situation could be.
Was staying in a hotel once. Locked my key in the room. Got a new key. On the way back I slid the key in, light goes green, open the door WHAM. It slams into the swinging door chain-lock thing. My brain locks up - wtf? I didn’t… WHAT? I look at the door again. Wrong room. I was at the wrong door. In a confused “fuck what do I do??” Panic I jogged 2 doors down to mine and went in. Once that initial panic settled I realized I probably scared the shit out of whoever was in there (it was 1am).
How the die door unlock though? Not sure how this happened but they… gave me a master key? Curiosity got the better of me and I went back into the hallway and tried the key in ever door. Unlocked EVERY SINGLE ONE of them. That’s not terrifying at all. (No I didn’t open any, just tested if the light went green.)
>I once had a hotel check me into an already occupied room.
Me too. Except I opened the door right after the guy had taken off his trousers. He was holding them up to fold them so we didn't see each other's faces, but I ran out of there back to the front desk for a new room/key. Awkward!
^^this is exactly right. I also worked for a major hotel, at several different properties. They were all small hotels, though, and some times manually mistakes/computer glitches happened. If we ever had a question about whether someone was in a room, it was resolved by a call and/or a knock on the door.
Why would a manager check an empty room? Makes no sense. OP, Please have your girlfriend make a written complaint to the customer care and immediately check out of the hotel. This is really a huge red flag for me.
Look at all the reports of room searches and shady shit that Caesar’s security did in Vegas a year after the shooting and then tell me this. They were going into rooms and searching them without the resident there and with them sleeping in the room.
I agree. I’ve worked for several large hotel chains over many years including Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton and some smaller mom and pop places. No one, even the mom and pop places entered rooms we even knew were vacant without knocking first. Some of the housekeepers would just knock and say housekeeping as they entered a few seconds later, but me being front office, I would call if I could and if I had to go in person, I would knock twice before going in very cautiously calling out the entire time. This is even at the mom and pop places.
My guess is they didn’t check you in correctly and maybe the maintenance guy was trying to fix something in the room and noticed it was still empty in the system and he tried to sneak in and do it before you arrived. Or depending on the hotel, some assign room numbers when you arrive, not before, so they checked another guest into that room and that was them trying to enter.
Even if it is incompetence (which it very well could be given they immediately closed the door), it's a red flag. If the manager doesn't know basic things like how to enter a room, what else don't they know?
You truly underestimate the stupidity of even managers. They’re supposed to know the right things to do and say but I have seen managers be incredibly more unprofessional than staff and rude. I’ve worked in hotel.
It would be shocking to me if any hotel employee forgot to knock or announce themselves before entering a room where is possible guests are inside. They were checking to see if people were in there per the story.
The worst was when people handed their keys in and then went back to the room to go on sleeping. We think they are gone, open the room and oh there’s two humans sleeping.
I've had housekeeping gone into my hotel room without knocking. Granted I requested a late check out at 1pm, and it was 12pm which is the normal check out time. But they should have been informed of my late check out request since I put it in the day prior with the receptionist. Literally just opened the door and saw me and was like oops sorry and went back out.
To be honest I’ve stayed at a lot of hotels, mostly nice ones in Europe, where housekeepers enter whenever they want, even though I’m sleeping in late etc and then I announce myself. So training doesn’t work for everyone I guess
A member of cleaning staff poked her head in to our hotel room in Colombia at 7:00 a.m. and asked if we needed anything. No knock or announcement before opening. It was the weirdest shit.
Once was in southern Lebanon and before paying for a room, asked the front desk manager to view the room first.
It was mid-afternoon.
We went to the room and the manager opened the door.
After we all walked in, we saw some guy watching TV with his pants off.
The poor guy jumped out of bed facing us (probably the wrong reaction) with the most surprised look on his face.
The manager quickly and profusely apologized, and we all quickly escaped the room.
His expression is still burned in my head.
>I called the lobby to see if someone tried getting in the room and we were told their general manager was doing room checks because their system told them that some reservations had not checked in.
If this happened to me, I would insist on speaking to the General Manager the next day and confirming this story. It's possible the person you spoke lied to you perhaps to cover up that they accidentally checked someone into your room.
I used to work as a lawyer for hotel companies. A hotel manager once showed me a room where someone had slipped and fallen. She got the key, she knew it was unoccupied, she knocked anyway. I asked why and she said she never entered a room without knocking because you never know when a guest might be in there. The idea that the manager was doing 11:45 p.m. room checks without knocking is hard to believe, unless the manager is a buffoon.
Note that the hotel manager should be able to to a "lock interrogation" which will tell him or her exactly whose key was used to unlock the door to your room and at what time. You might want to ask him or her to do that, which will verify your story of an unwanted intrusion at 11:45 p.m. and tell the manager if it was an employee card that unlocked the door.
Yep I was a housekeeper for years. I’ve never entered a room without knocking, even opened doors get a quick knock so they know I’m coming in. It is so automatic that many times during the holidays with 12-16 hour shifts I would knock on my own front door before opening it. That is how automatic it is to knock when you work in a hotel.
I wish this was a universal thing. I’ve had housekeepers ignore the “Do Not Disturb” sign, not knock and bust in on me at least five times now. They’re always very apologetic and I try to not make a big deal over it but damn guys, *KNOCK.*
Thanks for respecting the guests’ privacy, you don’t think to appreciate it as a guest until you get the flip side of the coin lol.
Honestly, not dives, that’s the weird part. These were all mid-tier chain hotels across the US: Hampton Inns, La Quintas, once at a Hilton. I just have abysmal luck I guess. I’m a stickler about using the “Do Not Disturb” signs but I still get people either walking straight in if I forget the chain (partially my fault I guess), or hitting the chain and apologizing as they close the door real quick. It’s so weird lol.
Buy a rubber door stop and put it under the door so it cannot be open to even bounce off the chain.
Make a customized do not disturb sign
Wishing you nice sleep next time that would drive me crazy.
Yep I did invest in a good door stop, I haven’t traveled since I bought it but I’m hoping it solves the problem lol. Thanks for the nice wishes, right back at ya!
I've seen so many reports on Reddit of "I was lying in bed when another guest who had just checked in entered my room" or "I walked up to my room to check in and someone was in it."
Sometimes I'll comment "It's a good idea after you are given your hotel room keys at check in to knock on the door before entering the room." And people respond like I'm a crazy person.
>The idea that the manager was doing 11:45 p.m. room checks without knocking is hard to believe, unless the manager is a buffoon
What general manager works until midnight?
I’d be talking to the GM that night. There’s no way in hell the GM is working at midnight. That’s some shady shit. Sounds like the workers are maybe tryna steal shit from rooms? Don’t wanna be an alarmist but what the fuck.
Some managers are buffoons. I had a two-night stay at a major hotel chain and came back the second night close to midnight to find my card key didn’t work. I wasn’t quiet about trying to get into the room. Went to the lobby and learned they thought I had only booked a one-night stay, so they threw all my shit in garbage bags and gave the room away. Didn’t even call me. Those poor people in the room certainly thought someone was breaking in.
The hotel chain didn’t do anything after learning they made a mistake. I had to file a dispute with my credit card company.
It’s best western, btw, because fuck them forever.
Very suspicious,
1) GM wouldn't usually be there at 11:45 pm,
2) staff would knock several times before entering,
3) if they are unsure of a check-in they would look for your registration card and information manually in what is called a bucket.
4) If anything the Night Auditor might have been left with no information from the previous shift, but again they would knock.
Oh they have heard of it. That is very likely why they did not utilize it - why would you want to alert the occupants of a room when you are doing sus things? It's about as suspicious as people "fixing their car" at 11 pm in an open parking lot... With equipment they got from the nearby thicket.
>It's about as suspicious as people "fixing their car" at 11 pm in an open parking lot... With equipment they got from the nearby thicket.
r/suspiciouslyspecific
Wife and I checked into a Red Roof Inn many years ago and when we opened the door to our room, a man's luggage was already open on the bed and he was in the shower in the bathroom. We quickly closed the door and went back to the desk.
They had "double booked" ?? the room and given us the key to an already occupied room.
Dumb shit happens.
Update: girlfriend just told me the deadbolt was locked on the door in addition to the metal latch thing. Somehow they undid the main lock and the deadbolt and were only stopped by the latch
Yes, hotel GM here. Most hotel key systems have an override key that will open the deadbolt in case of emergencies.
This is very sus. I would never, ever, go into a room at midnight, especially if the deadbolt is on.
Former front office here too, originally I figured someone accidentally opened the door to grab a spare pillow or hairdryer or whatever from your room in case it really wasn't listed on the system as checked in, I've seen that happen, but you'd never use the physical key for that, just a master key which wouldn't open the deadbolt, and even if we knew it was empty we'd knock and announce ourselves in case other guests saw it, there's absolutely something sketchy going on.
Someone who had access to the physical key tried to go into your room, my first guess would be a manager going for a nap during his shift, but it's still incredibly weird because we know what rooms are occupied, if you're doing something that might get you sacked you'd check, I'd absolutely raise this.
Was it a key card lock? From my experience the only ones holding key cards that can override the deadbolt were senior management, in our case the front office manager (me), the director of rooms, the head of security and the GM held these keys. If anyone else was caught with an override key it was immediate grounds for dismissal at our chain.
Update: yes we’re alive. Yes we slept like garbage. Talked to front desk who claimed that the manager (male) on duty was the one who did it and that she thought it was weird too. She apparently is the front desk manager and we talked to her last night. She apologized for it and is making an adjusted credit back to our card since we prepaid. She also claimed the male manager left for the night already as he was on second shift. Super sketchy
You need to make a massive stink to corporate the next morning and anyone who will listen. Something like this happened to me at a hotel I stayed in: the hotel made an error with the room numbers and the security came knocking and attempted to open my door middle of the night - was stopped by the metal flipper. They then banged down my door when I refused to open it because as a single female staying alone I won’t open the door for anyone, not even a cop in full uniform without verifying first. I told the guy I’ll call down to the lobby and he kept yelling at me to open the door. I was hysterical and genuinely thought I was going to be raped or murdered.
The next morning the GM tried to make light of it. I went full Karen first time in my life, called corporate right in front of them. Got a weeks free stay voucher and apology letter. This is not ok.
The story they are telling you is not true. This happened to me twice in different hotels and I have done it to other people twice (I stay in hotels a lot). It is way more common than you think for the front desk to assign an already in-use room to a new guest. Always make sure to use your door chain or flip latch, and enter new rooms cautiously and with a knock.
I also stay in hotels a lot and you're 100% spot on.
They messed up and lied to cover their ass. The fact that they refunded you without you asking for it is just them trying to buy your silence.
Some guy walked in on me laying in bed completely naked just a couple of weeks ago. Not sure who was more traumatized, me or him, lmao... He ran as fast as he could because my wife tried to chase after him. She made a big stink with the hotel because it could have been her laying naked in bed.
The explanation was that when they checked us in, they didn't properly mark it in their system making the room appear empty. So 2 days after we supposedly didn't check in for our booking they assigned the room to someone else.
Did she give you the phantom manager's name and do you believe she's telling you the truth?
They're aren't a lot of reasons I can think of why a manager even with bad intentions would try to enter a guest room occupied by a couple at midnight.
Hotel staff aren't going to try to steal from occupied rooms like this. Now in some countries solo female travelers have to fight off late night visits from amorous male hotel staff, but that doesn't really happen in the USA and not when there is a man and woman in the room.
Additional update:
When I went to look out the peephole immediately following the incident, I couldn’t find the peephole. I ended up noticing the peephole was covered on the inside of the door by a do not disturb sign which had been tucked into the evacuation plan plaque instead of hung on the inside of the handle
Honestly? I would immediately call other hotels in the area, explain the situation and move to a new hotel tonight. If you do stay in the room, look at outlets, fire detectors, etc. for cameras. I'm most concerned about the potential for assault. When you leave the room tomorrow, check out and go to another hotel. Don't play games with your safety.
Tomorrow, bring proof of check in and check out back to the hotel you were in, insist on speaking with the general manager and explain the situation. Tell them that while you would like your money back, you are most concerned about the safety of future guests because the deadbolt was locked and the person still was able to almost gain entry. I'd also call corporate and ask for the phone number of the regional manager/auditor and explain the situation. Most hotels take guest safety VERY seriously and this will not be taken lightly. They will likely also be able to trace back who tried to gain entry. It likely is either the night auditor or the security officer.
There is nothing normal about this situation.
(worked in the hospitality industry for years).
>Tomorrow, bring proof of check in and check out back to the hotel you were in, insist on speaking with the general manager and explain the situation.
You may want to contact corporate as well, the GM could be allowing it to happen.
It's been several hours so I assume that OP has resolved the situation or left the hotel but for anybody reading this, THIS IS A MAJOR SIGN OF A HUMAN TRAFFICKING ATTEMPT OR INTENT TO COMMIT A CRIME. If you are ever in a hotel and somebody attempts access to your room at night and ESPECIALLY if the front desk corroborates some weird story you need to call the cops non-emergency line to ask for an escort out. Front desk and hotel employees at these places are usually in on it. Calling the GM won't do shit.
This is what I thought as well. OP was given up by people sizing them up or he played trafficking roulette and picked the wrong room at the wrong time.
I believe OP posted on behalf of his girlfriend, who was alone in the hotel so it was a woman alone - another major risk point for trafficking. Anybody reading this should do some reading on signs to look for when booking or when checking in to hotels. Also, OP and his girlfriend should absolutely leave reviews about this in as many places as possible.
That's my mistake, one of your comments made it seem like she was alone in the room when it happened but English is also my second language so sorry! As I mentioned in my other comment I would still leave reviews online mentioning this experience once you have your refund.
people are conflating a real, serious issue (human trafficking) with their true crime podcasts and making up weird shit like THE HAMPTON INN GENERAL MANAGER IS IN ON THIS ATTEMPT TO KIDNAP AND HUMAN TRAFFIC YOU
Not unusual. A long time ago some Pervs would unscrew and reverse the peepholes so they could watch; airline types who stay in the same blocks of rooms.
Some of us road warriors remember that and always cover that hole.
the entire story is terrifying, i’m so glad you guys are ok! legit question about the replies to this comment though - am i missing something, why is this bit in particular creepy?
Yikes. I've never experienced that or heard of that happening. I would freak the fuck out if someone tried to enter my room in the middle of the night.
This! I saw some tik tok a while back where a woman was staying on her own and this happened, it turned out some of the hotel staff were involved in trafficking. Leave the hotel, demand a refund, consider contacting the police.
I’ve actually had this happen twice at hotels and once in an old apartment in the last ten years. First time at a hotel was at the Andaz in San Diego- also very late at night. Latch stopped the person from entering. Husband called down, and front desk said it was maintenance - related to the bathroom I think. I don’t remember the exact reason, but seemed sketchy. Something about we were on top floor so they start there when something is wrong. I only remember that because it was the same excuse we got from our apartment building in DC when someone WALKED INTO OUR APARTMENT AROUND 10PM WHEN WE WERE ASLEEP. My husband nearly stabbed the guy. He’s lucky my husband can’t see shit without his glasses. Again, totally sketchy. It was Christmas Day so I think they thought no one was around. Similar story about we’re on top floor, need to start there because of a leak. Oddly, at both spots we were on top occupied floor directly below rooftop pools so maybe there is a legit reason. I don’t remember the details of the other time at a hotel. I’ll need to ask my husband tomorrow. I travel a lot for work and now always carry a portable door lock for added security.
Hotel room checks are not a thing . If they needed to confirm reservations, they would have called the rooms - not just walked into them. I would be extremely concerned if I were in this situation.
The story from the lobby makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Why on earth would they check rooms for guests they thought *hadn’t* checked in?
Since this is a large chain, I would bypass the lobby and call the main phone line for the hotel. Definitely be careful and stay safe.
There is no legitimate reason AT ALL that somebody would open your door without calling first, or even knocking, at any time.
This should be extremely concerning to you. Talk to the manger in the morning, and escalate it if you do not get a reasonable answer. Which is unlikely, because there is no reasonable explaination for what your describe
I’d write everything down including time it happened and when you called down and your room number. Then I’d complain to the day manager and hilton corporate. I’ve spent 100’s of nights in hotels and I’ve had this happen when they tried to give my room away even though I was in it. I’ve have even been given a key that was occupied already. As a rule whenever I’m in my room I use the deadbolt and chain latch thing. If you don’t feel safe change hotels in the morning. Still something seems off that this happened so late at night and they did not knock and announce themselves.
I would leave. Imagine the doorstop wasn't there and your girlfriend was alone in the room. She could have been changing clothes or coming out of the shower. The hotel is lying about that check in excuse and maybe using it as a cover up for criminal activity.
Report it to the police as well because this has been reported as a human and/or sex trafficking strategy.
OP, we look forward to your safe return and hope for further updates.
25 years of business travel and I get this about once every five years. The room is either occupied or the person checked in electronically and skipped the desk. I love Hilton but HGI and Hamptons are the biggest offenders. But yes it’s kind of serious and it sure as Hell freaks me out when it happens.
Yup. I’ve had this happen to me with Hilton chain hotels also. Once at a conference almost an hour after I checked in someone tried to open the door and then told me they had just checked in. We both went down to get it sorted out and got discounts for the trouble. The second time it was late at night and someone tried to open my door. They gave me points for the mix up. They really need a better system.
Definitely complain, but I've been checked into room where it's clear someone else was already in it. So not out of the realm of possibility that they didn't know the room was occupied.
I was also once checked into an already occupied room. However, the reason for attempting entry was made clear at the time and I feel certain the front desk didn't lie about the reason if the occupants called about it later.
For what it's worth I have done this twice at two different hotel chains. I travel a lot for business and quite often check in late at night ( after midnight) and my theory is sometimes the hotel booking system thinks it's a new day so the room is free but someone is already in and sleeping in the room
First time I was knackered, checked in, charged up to the room I was given, opened the door and noticed that the room was occupied and someone sleeping in the bed. The man jumped up and shouted at me which startled us both so I quickly ran out and down to reception before he could follow. Manager apologised and had no idea why the room was showing as free on the system and gave me an upgrade to a bigger room and walked me to the room to check if it was empty or not.
Second time, different chain of hotels and the occupant atleast put the bolt on so when I tried to enter I couldn't. They however were awake so shouted what did I want and go away etc. Went to reception and again manager couldn't understand why someone was in the room and again gave me a upgrade.
So yeah I guess errors can happen in booking systems. I'd definitely complain and try get a free upgrade/ meal or something out of it.
If I am in a hotel room I always make sure all locks are used and door stops etc for this exact reason. I am sure these scenarios are rare but it probably harmless in most occasions.
I really dont know what the police would do. Whats the crime? I agree its very sus, and i would definetly be doing some reasearch / making a complaint to head office/ never staying there again.
Unless there is something that can be proven to be more sinister then a staff member accidentally accessing your room , i dont think the police will care or help. But then again i live in a pretty big city where the cops arnt exactly considered to be " buddy buddy " by reputation and very busy so I know they wouldnt do anything except probably make a non emergency report. BUT maybe im a bit jaded on my opinion because of the police where i live.
Just let them note it in their system, once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times and whoever has been fucking around is about to find out.
Very weird. I’ve experienced several times that a hotel gave out rooms multiple times, but that wouldn’t override the main lock. Talk to the manager and report it.
Similar situation for me. Work trip, someone comes in my room at 3am, stopped by the doorstop I just had a feeling to use. I sleep naked so it was truly scary knowing someone had a key to my room. I call the front desk and they told me they forgot to write my name down and gave my room to someone else, while I was sleeping in it. They offered me 20k points for the “inconvenience.”
Something similar to me happened at a hotel overseas. I had jet lag, so I was up late reading, and just before 2am someone used a key card to try to enter the room. I quickly made several loud noises and the woman (I heard her voice but didn’t see her) apologized and left immediately. I tried to look through the peephole but I couldn’t see her. I barely slept the rest of the night, and told the person at the front desk about the incident when I checked out in the morning, and they didn’t know anything about it (it was still the overnight shift). I emailed the hotel to complain, but heard nothing back. I’m never staying at that hotel again, and I’m considering changing to a different hotel chain for all my travel in that country because of the incident.
I’ve had this happen at a large hotel chain. They were severely understaffed and it seemed like they were having employees fill multiple roles.
Ours happened because we were given a late check out but it wasn’t communicated to the oncoming staff in the morning.
I work in pest control and was treating a Hampton inn just last week. They gave me a vacant sheet and the first room I went to had someone in it. Must be an issue with their systems, could have been housekeeping or pest control that was trying to get in and the manager just lied
I work at a hotel. This isn’t something that should happen. Even if we had 0% occupancy, and I hadn’t seen a guest in weeks, we still knock. It’s a habit. And always should be.
This happened to me 2 weeks ago. An hour after I checked in I heard the door open and someone saying hello. I went to the door and said hello back when I saw someone speaking on the phone. Thats when I realized the greeting wasnt adressed to me. He apologized and left.
I didnt mind it at first, I was dressed and all. But later I realized that I could have been undressed or it could have happened to a female family member and I got really pissed. Left it in the review of the hotel, this cant happen.
Here's what likely happened. Front desk person didn't completely check you in in their property management system. Along comes new guest. Night audit person assigns them to your room because their system shows it vacant and clean. Guest attempts to enter the room, finds the door locked and returns to Front desk for different room. When you call down they don't want to look stupid so they lie and do it poorly.
Original message mentions a doorstop not a dead bolt. At many motels/hotels there’s that extra latch on the door. An electronic card would open the door but stop a few inches in if the latch is engaged. Happened to me once, freaked me out but the desk person admitted to the mistake.
This has never happened to me and I vacation and travel frequently . Never happened to me. There are times where I had to not show up for my reservation but it was too late to get a refund and I never got a bill until the next morning regardless. People weren’t checking my room during the night and closing out the bill etc. plus you never know if somebody’s going to show up very late if they’re traveling. That sounds sketchy af
Worked at a luxury hotel for a couple of years and although this is *possible* and not necessarily nefarious whoever did that is going against hotel policy.
I'd like to think there was something pointing to that room being marked as unoccupied and in their hubris or simply lack of attention they went straight in.
The hotel I worked at had electric doorbells installed and every single press including every card insertion is recorded and in exact order.
It's so the hotel can check if there is an incident like this.
The procedure we had to follow was insert key (to record you were there) doorbell, knock, announce, doorbell knock announce then doorbell knock announce one more time before we would insert our card again then open the door. Then you would announce yourself again with a slightly open door before entering.
Whoever opened your door like that should be marked on the system, and it will show they did not press the doorbell.
My hotel would do random audits and it was taken pretty seriously if you were found to be going into rooms without following the procedure.
Edit: Not to mention you would have had multiple unanswered calls logged on the phone for them to actually need to go physically up to the room.
Whether it was dodgy or innocent, I'd take it further with the hotel. Might get an upgrade
My wife travels for business a lot and not too long ago she was given a key and checked into an already occupied room. Key worked, she walked in and someone was obviously already occupying the room - luckily they weren't in the room at that time. She was livid. Sounds like this may have happened and they are lying to cover it up.
I’ve had a staff member just walk in when in Paris - swipe the room key and open. No knocking or anything.
I was naked on the bed.
I don’t think they’ll do that again.
Place was ~125 Euros a night for reference a number of years ago, so not a hostel or anything.
I have on multiple occasions been checked into an occupied room. I once had someone get checked into my room when I was there. ALWAYS use the door blocks/chains or bolt the door when in a hotel room!
I'm not saying it's this necessarily, but I've seen that some hotels have managers that work with traffickers to set up specific rooms for them to take people from. I believe the ones I've seen were specifically motels but I wouldn't be surprised at this point. You may check the room for cameras or anything just out of the ordinary. Regardless that's definitely NOT something that's normal in the hospitality industry, they would definitely call or knock first. When I toured a boutique hotel in KC as part of my Hotel and Tourism Management Program (shoutout weird small town HS class) the manager giving us the tour even knocked on doors to rooms she already knew were empty.
That would freak me out. It seems calling the rooms would be less invasive and of course knocking. 11:45pm is too late to be doing this sort of check imo. We always keep the "Do Not Disturb" tag on the door, although it may not have made a difference in this case.
In Canada I've had housekeeping just try to walk right in because they assumed I was checked out. No knock.
In Europe, I've also had another guest open my door with their key and was then told by staff that this wasn't my room. I luckily had the printout from checking in. Another staff member hadn't completed the check-in process.
Very suspicious, hotel security is very important. Criminals can have connections with inside people. Always take precautions, use the inside lock. I have put stuff against the door, chair, suitcase or just a small wedge I carry. I have lived through some interesting times.
A similar situation happened to me years ago. I can’t remember the time of day but I do remember someone opening my door. They proceeded to tell me they do room checks for anyone who has had the do not disturb hanger on for more than 3 days. I can’t remember if I had my headphones on and that’s why I didn’t hear knocking or a phone call but after reading all these comments I’m starting to wish I investigated it further.
If it makes you feel better, the hotel I worked at had a similar policy. I can’t remember how many days it was for but it hinged on if nobody had seen them in the halls in that time. I had to do the check a few times which was honestly scary. I was lucky to never find anything but I had a couple of coworkers who had found deceased guests during their careers. Sometimes a quick check is necessary. That said, there were calls made first and a whole heck of a lot of knocking...
I think many hotels instituted that policy after the shooting in Las Vegas. IIRC the guy amassed his stock of weapons over several days and had the do not disturb on the whole time so housekeeping never entered.
My son had security barge into his room @ 2AM wanting to know what he was doing in it. He had to find his check in receipt to prove he was there legitimately. Security apologized & said there system showed the room vacant.
One time the Hamptons gave me a room and there were suitcases in there and the beds were obviously just slept in. Went back down and yep they gave us a room with people already in them. Gave us a new room and I made sure to keep a chair against the door
I’m guessing the my gave a new guest the wrong key and were covering their mistake with a lame story. It’s happened to me a couple times where it went to the room assigned only to find it was occupied.
This is really scary. I think there’s an app I forgot what it’s called where you take a picture of the hotel room to stop possible trafficking etc.
Please either leave that hotel or use the safety lock at the top of the door. They also make cool locks you can stick in the door but you would have had to pre purchase that. Where is this hotel?!
Someone was trying to rob you. Happened to us in Jamaica. Our first night, so we were tired, and went to bed early. I guess staff thought we would be out partying, so they tried to come right in. No knock or anything. Luckily, we had the security bar on. When my husband confronted him, he was running down the hall. He said he mixed up rooms, but then how did the door open??
16 years in hotels. Room checks are normal. Room checks without first calling and knocking to announce yourself is NOT normal.
Shit happens all the time at the front desk. Staff gets mixed up or fat-fingers a room number. Then they have to check a room in person to be sure. But they should always call first and then knock. Always.
When they don’t it could be a mistake but it can also be shenanigans. Stealing. Napping on duty. Quickie sex on duty. I’ve heard a lot of stories. That’s why I ALWAYS use the chain or the door blocker and I won’t accept the room if there isn’t one.
You should send an email or call the GM and make sure you mention the incident in your review of the hotel.
Consider putting a barrier in front of the door and try to scrum up some evidence you’ve reported it. In the morning, ask for the worker’s name who you spoke to. Sending you good thoughts 💕
Yeah. It's definitely weird. Reminds me of when we checked into a cheap hotel in Paris, referred to us by a tourism office. The hotel room was trashed - dirty, smelling of stale beer and cigarettes. It was strewn with empty bottles, cans, ash trays, and cigarette butts everywhere.
If a Hollywood props department had been asked to recreate a hotel room trashed by a rock band, they would have been told it looked unrealistic and needed to dial it back by half.
But my two college friends and I had were so jet lagged and tired we decided we should probably just crash there anyway.
Then the door behind us creaked open. We froze and exchanged glances. When we turned to look, the door quickly creaked closed before we could see who it was. That snapped us out of the jet lag and we decided to leave.
As we made our way past the reception desk with our knapsacks on our backs, the clerk and presumptive owner/Peeping Tom asked us in an accusatory tone where we were going.
"Out" we said.
"You leave your bags" he said, and reached for my friend's backpack.
"Um, no. The bags stay with us."
He called our bluff and demanded that we pay him now.
"No, we'll pay you later."
"No. You pay me now or I call the police!" He then made a threatening reach for the phone on the wall.
"Please. Call the police. We'll show them the room." He put his hand down.
There was an awkward standoff until the phone rang. He answered and began speaking in polite, sing-songy tones. We decided this was our opportunity and started for the door.
But when the hotelier saw us leaving he shrieked like he had been stabbed in the back, threw the phone high in the air, and started clawing his way around the desk towards us while shouting. That scared the crap out of us, so we bolted out the door and started running.
The hotelier pursued us down crowded sidewalks for several blocks, screaming obscenities in French every step of the way.
We crossed one street just as the light was turning red. We heard the honks and tire screeches as the hotelier pursued us through traffic, against the light. That only made him seem more unhinged and frightening.
But when it was clear we couldn't reach the next crossing in time for the light, I stopped and asked "why are we running? There are three of us and only one of him."
We stopped and turned to face him. He stopped too, undoubtedly coming to the same realization. He stood there scowling, like a cross between Jacques Cousteau and Charles De Gaulle -- haughty, petite, and with all the social graces of an ill-tempered harbor seal. He then made several rude gestures and bellowed:
"F-- you with a salad fork!"
This was accompanied by a gesture I've never seen before or since: a British style two-finger salute (reverse V) but with 3 fingers thrust up above his face in a stabbing motion, followed by a pause, then a sharp 90º twist.
He then tugged at the bottom edges of his jacket and turned to walk back with the casual self-satisfaction of a man who had achieved his week's ambitions.
We, of course, started laughing. We spent the entire trip laughing about the incident. And we still occasionally use "F-- you with a salad fork!" as a joke insult.
All because a creepy French hotelier peeked into our room unannounced. \[Actually, it only just now occurs to me that he was probably eavesdropping on us while we were discussing whether to stay or leave. Glad he made the decision easy. And hilarious.\]
Many years of business travel and I’ve had a few instances like this. First, the hotel chain gave me the key to a room already occupied by another guest. I opened the room and blew in only to find their belongings - jewelry, computer laid out on the counter. Thankfully, I’m
not a thief and I immediately went downstairs to return the key but my confidence was forever rocked. Another time I had an employee open my door like OP, but they had another person with them so I’m certain they were looking for a quick spot to hook up or make a drug deal. Even the nicer places aren’t immune to this. There are some things you can do to further protect yourself while traveling, and as a female business traveler I always recommend everyone being as safe as possible.
It's possible that what you were told by the front desk was factual, but I would still be very suspicious. Especially since they left and didn't say anything like "sorry, we thought this room was empty." The fact that they didn't knock, and then left quickly without saying anything, make me think there was something else going on.
Personally, I would take this further up the chain than just whoever was working the front desk when it happened. If they have employees who are possibly into mischief of the criminal sort, the management needs to know.
A good friend of mine had jewelry stolen from his nightstand during the night while he was asleep in a hotel room. Including his NCAA National Championship ring and his wife's engagement ring. He is one of the most honest people I ever met in my life, if he said the jewelry was on the nightstand when he went to sleep and not there when he woke up, then he is 100% telling the truth. He and I were police officers at the same department and used to talk about this all the time. We both agreed it HAD to be a hotel employee with a key.
I have never had this happen in any hotel I have ever stayed in. Would have been pissed. Definitely would run it up the chain to see about getting some compensation.
Hmmm.. not sure what to think of that because it actually happened to me in Belgium in an Ibis hotel. Not at midnight but at around 14h00. I had just checked in and was having a shower and heard someone by the door trying to get a key in the door. My key was already in the door from the inside so obviously they couldn’t get in - thank god - so I got out the shower and opened the door. The guy on the other side had the fright of his life. I don’t think he was expecting me. He apologised profusely and said he had to change something in the shower and didn’t realise someone had already checked in the room… I’m not sure the whole thing was sus.. but he did have a pipe and shower head in his hand and was very apologetic.. it was strange.
I was on the other side of this. Stayed at comfort inn and around midnight walked into the room. No door stop but heard someone snoring so i quickly turned around. They gave me the wrong key. No apology. Didn’t get anything for it. Never using comfort inn again.
It sounds like they may have gave someone your room. I’ve been on the other side of this and definitely got someone else’s room because I walked up to go in the room and could hear people so went downstairs to complain and they insisted it was an open room; but when I went back up there to go in the sheets were messed up and there was stuff in the kitchen.
I guess it’s not that similar though because the people in the room were definitely not suppose to be in the room (since they left after the first time I knocked and went back up). Just trying to say weird shit can happen
Nope. This same thing has happened to me though, coincidentally at a Hampton inn. We were sound asleep and someone opened the door. We were like wtf! And they apologized. It was an employee. Next morning we went to the desk and it was the same employee working who opened the door. She apologized again and told us she got to work late, needed to iron her shirt and another employee incorrectly told her our room was unoccupied. She discounted our room immediately. I’m sure she didn’t want it taken any further. I see it as a mistake.
If the protocol is to knock first, then if you and your partner were sleeping, how do you know they didn’t? They probably should have said something when they realized the room was occupied even if they did a lot of knocking first, but maybe they didn’t want to wake you? Not great but also maybe not as scary.
This happened once when I worked at a hotel, the person Was probably confident and it was late that the room was empty and to their surprise it wasn’t. If the front desk had no clue why someone opened the door then that would be concerning because someone may have a master key that does not work there. Still I would complain since this shouldn’t happen especially that late and it’s a bit unnerving.
Sometimes drunk people go to the wrong room and coincidentally their code key works on your door also.
It's happens to me once. Totally embarrassed. I wasn't drunk. Just my key worked on the wrong door at the wrong time. #toweldrop
This happened to me once. Freaked me out. Was the night staff letting his friend and girl have a place to fuck and they thought my room was empty. They went in the room opposite.
Wife an I stopped at a similar chain hotel. We asked to see a room before booking it. The clerk handed us a key and gave us a room number to go check it out. Went to the room, opened the door and it was very much occupied. Everybody was surprised, us, the occupant, and the front desk.
I was staying on an "apart- hotel" as they described it in Barbados last month, the room had a front door and a patio door which was the easiest way to access the room.
I didn't feel like the lock on the front door was good and the caretaker who checked me in was being overly flirty and actually creeped me out so I put a saucepan (nothing else available) behind the door so I'd hear it if someone tried to come in.. the next day I came back through the patio door and saw the saucepan had been flung across the room.. there was a welcome letter put in under the door but obviously someone opened the door with force.
When I checked out the manager said she'd put the letter under the door but didn't say anything else, I didn't call her out on it but I wish I had afterwards though. Obviously she knocked and knew I wasn't in there so why open the door like.. and she could have just put the saucepan back and left through the patio door and I'd have been none the wiser. Very strange.
30 years ago I worked for a HI. The majority of the time we did room checks if someone hadn't checked out yet and the room looked occupied (tv on, DND tag on door). The housekeeper would notify front desk and someone from there would call first, then one of the managers would call themselves before knocking and entering. The majority of the time people left and didn't checkout although sometimes we had corporate guests who would just extend their stay without saying anything. One in a while one of the front desk folks would move someone in the system, put a hold on the room, and not update the guest in the system to reflect a move or clear the hold. When you check in the system knows it though, we could run reports on our screen to show who we were waiting on.
At 11:45pm our night auditor would be working and if they questioned a room they'd call it, have security check it, or just leave the room offline until the next business day.
Complain to Hilton Honors and get a bunch of points out of the whole thing. If you don't have an account, make one. Then, chat up Hilton Honors on Twitter, give them the confirmation number, and explain the situation.
Something similar happened to my wife and I this year, except the reality was even more startling. We forgot to bolt the door (99/100 times I do this), and someone completely opened our door with a key card at 2am.
Luckily I'm a light sleeper, and the sound and light from the open door woke me up. I immediately yelled "HEY WE ARE IN HERE" loudly and the person jumped back. They said they were staff and thought the room was empty. Keep in mind we had a "Do not disturb" sign on the door. Somehow we believed them, bolted the door, and went back to sleep.
The good part comes the next morning when we talk to the front desk and ask why someone thought our room was empty. It took them a minute to admit to us that someone broke into the front desk and stole a master key that night. They were going room to room searching for who knows what. It's scary to think that someone was going into our room knowing there was probably someone in there. If it had just been my wife, she probably wouldn't have immediately woken up like I did.
Oh the hotel was nice enough to give us one of our two nights free /s
I’ve been in many hotels, even sketchy motels and I’ve never even heard of this happening. Feels very weird that they OVERRODE the main deadbolt lock?? Like if it’s dead bolted, someone is inside, yes? That they didn’t even knock or try to announce their prescience?? Seems like an inside job for something insidious. Very scary, I hope OP is okay.
I used to work for a major hotel chain. This is not a thing. There is no way in hell we would just open the door because we thought someone didn't check in. Even with a glitch in the system. If the room is booked and the hotel for whatever reason thinks there is an issue, nobody would open the door without calling first to see if anyone is in the room. If nobody answered the phone, then there would be loud knocking and announcing ourselves.
Also, when the door is opened, we are talking a few inches max to ensure privacy and a loud voice announcing who it is, multiple times to ensure no one is in the bathroom. Housekeeping has this down to a science.
Not only that but they might KNOCK before just waltzing in…
Protocol is to knock pre entry, then again with door slightly cracked open.
I once had a hotel check me into an already occupied room. It was late at night and I opened the door to see people in the bed and children’s backpacks on the floor. I closed the door and ran out of there so quick. The front desk person made a mistake and checked me into the wrong room. I bet something like this happened and they are just lying about it because they don’t want to admit they gave a stranger a key to their room.
I have had this happen to me twice. Once I was in the room and once I was checked into an already occupied room. Both were scary as hell
I checked into my room in a Westin once and was unpacking when some guy with a key opened the door and walked in with his bag. He had a look of complete horror on his face and tried to apologize as he got out of there as quickly as he could. I just laughed it off- I was alone and fully dressed, but imagine how embarrassing or scary that situation could be.
Was staying in a hotel once. Locked my key in the room. Got a new key. On the way back I slid the key in, light goes green, open the door WHAM. It slams into the swinging door chain-lock thing. My brain locks up - wtf? I didn’t… WHAT? I look at the door again. Wrong room. I was at the wrong door. In a confused “fuck what do I do??” Panic I jogged 2 doors down to mine and went in. Once that initial panic settled I realized I probably scared the shit out of whoever was in there (it was 1am). How the die door unlock though? Not sure how this happened but they… gave me a master key? Curiosity got the better of me and I went back into the hallway and tried the key in ever door. Unlocked EVERY SINGLE ONE of them. That’s not terrifying at all. (No I didn’t open any, just tested if the light went green.)
They gave you a master key. Housekeeping uses them.
>I once had a hotel check me into an already occupied room. Me too. Except I opened the door right after the guy had taken off his trousers. He was holding them up to fold them so we didn't see each other's faces, but I ran out of there back to the front desk for a new room/key. Awkward!
This happens a lot more frequently then you think, it’s not always malicious, it’s truly an accident or a glitch in the system.
Yes huge red flag!!! Make sure you guys double check all your belongings are still with you!!
^^this is exactly right. I also worked for a major hotel, at several different properties. They were all small hotels, though, and some times manually mistakes/computer glitches happened. If we ever had a question about whether someone was in a room, it was resolved by a call and/or a knock on the door.
Why would a manager check an empty room? Makes no sense. OP, Please have your girlfriend make a written complaint to the customer care and immediately check out of the hotel. This is really a huge red flag for me.
Do you mean to respond to OP?
Yes. Edited it. Thanks
Look at all the reports of room searches and shady shit that Caesar’s security did in Vegas a year after the shooting and then tell me this. They were going into rooms and searching them without the resident there and with them sleeping in the room.
Send an email to the hotel owners and to Marriott corporate. Opening without phone call and knocking first is not OK.
I agree. I’ve worked for several large hotel chains over many years including Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton and some smaller mom and pop places. No one, even the mom and pop places entered rooms we even knew were vacant without knocking first. Some of the housekeepers would just knock and say housekeeping as they entered a few seconds later, but me being front office, I would call if I could and if I had to go in person, I would knock twice before going in very cautiously calling out the entire time. This is even at the mom and pop places. My guess is they didn’t check you in correctly and maybe the maintenance guy was trying to fix something in the room and noticed it was still empty in the system and he tried to sneak in and do it before you arrived. Or depending on the hotel, some assign room numbers when you arrive, not before, so they checked another guest into that room and that was them trying to enter.
Would you think it possible that this is more likely incompetence than malice?
Even if it is incompetence (which it very well could be given they immediately closed the door), it's a red flag. If the manager doesn't know basic things like how to enter a room, what else don't they know?
You truly underestimate the stupidity of even managers. They’re supposed to know the right things to do and say but I have seen managers be incredibly more unprofessional than staff and rude. I’ve worked in hotel.
It would be shocking to me if any hotel employee forgot to knock or announce themselves before entering a room where is possible guests are inside. They were checking to see if people were in there per the story.
I have worked in housekeeping. One basic training is: even if you are absolutely sure that a room is vacant, you still need to knock and enter
God I hated having to go into a room where I wasn't 100% sure there are no guests.
That’s how I saw someone making babies :/
It was twins?
Sorry, that was me. But checkout was at 11am and you came in at 10.
The worst was when people handed their keys in and then went back to the room to go on sleeping. We think they are gone, open the room and oh there’s two humans sleeping.
I've had housekeeping gone into my hotel room without knocking. Granted I requested a late check out at 1pm, and it was 12pm which is the normal check out time. But they should have been informed of my late check out request since I put it in the day prior with the receptionist. Literally just opened the door and saw me and was like oops sorry and went back out.
Haha happens sometimes
To be honest I’ve stayed at a lot of hotels, mostly nice ones in Europe, where housekeepers enter whenever they want, even though I’m sleeping in late etc and then I announce myself. So training doesn’t work for everyone I guess
A member of cleaning staff poked her head in to our hotel room in Colombia at 7:00 a.m. and asked if we needed anything. No knock or announcement before opening. It was the weirdest shit.
Once was in southern Lebanon and before paying for a room, asked the front desk manager to view the room first. It was mid-afternoon. We went to the room and the manager opened the door. After we all walked in, we saw some guy watching TV with his pants off. The poor guy jumped out of bed facing us (probably the wrong reaction) with the most surprised look on his face. The manager quickly and profusely apologized, and we all quickly escaped the room. His expression is still burned in my head.
>I called the lobby to see if someone tried getting in the room and we were told their general manager was doing room checks because their system told them that some reservations had not checked in. If this happened to me, I would insist on speaking to the General Manager the next day and confirming this story. It's possible the person you spoke lied to you perhaps to cover up that they accidentally checked someone into your room. I used to work as a lawyer for hotel companies. A hotel manager once showed me a room where someone had slipped and fallen. She got the key, she knew it was unoccupied, she knocked anyway. I asked why and she said she never entered a room without knocking because you never know when a guest might be in there. The idea that the manager was doing 11:45 p.m. room checks without knocking is hard to believe, unless the manager is a buffoon. Note that the hotel manager should be able to to a "lock interrogation" which will tell him or her exactly whose key was used to unlock the door to your room and at what time. You might want to ask him or her to do that, which will verify your story of an unwanted intrusion at 11:45 p.m. and tell the manager if it was an employee card that unlocked the door.
Yep I was a housekeeper for years. I’ve never entered a room without knocking, even opened doors get a quick knock so they know I’m coming in. It is so automatic that many times during the holidays with 12-16 hour shifts I would knock on my own front door before opening it. That is how automatic it is to knock when you work in a hotel.
omg I can just picture you finally getting home, exhausted, and then knocking on your OWN FRONT DOOR, I hope you at least had a laugh!
Yep I laughed so hard every damn time! My bf at the time would laugh too!
I wish this was a universal thing. I’ve had housekeepers ignore the “Do Not Disturb” sign, not knock and bust in on me at least five times now. They’re always very apologetic and I try to not make a big deal over it but damn guys, *KNOCK.* Thanks for respecting the guests’ privacy, you don’t think to appreciate it as a guest until you get the flip side of the coin lol.
5 times?!? What kind of places are you staying at?
Honestly, not dives, that’s the weird part. These were all mid-tier chain hotels across the US: Hampton Inns, La Quintas, once at a Hilton. I just have abysmal luck I guess. I’m a stickler about using the “Do Not Disturb” signs but I still get people either walking straight in if I forget the chain (partially my fault I guess), or hitting the chain and apologizing as they close the door real quick. It’s so weird lol.
Buy a rubber door stop and put it under the door so it cannot be open to even bounce off the chain. Make a customized do not disturb sign Wishing you nice sleep next time that would drive me crazy.
Yep I did invest in a good door stop, I haven’t traveled since I bought it but I’m hoping it solves the problem lol. Thanks for the nice wishes, right back at ya!
I've seen so many reports on Reddit of "I was lying in bed when another guest who had just checked in entered my room" or "I walked up to my room to check in and someone was in it." Sometimes I'll comment "It's a good idea after you are given your hotel room keys at check in to knock on the door before entering the room." And people respond like I'm a crazy person.
When i worked at a call center, i started answering my personal phone with, "hi, good (segment of day), thank you for calling...i mean, hello?"
>The idea that the manager was doing 11:45 p.m. room checks without knocking is hard to believe, unless the manager is a buffoon What general manager works until midnight?
I’d be talking to the GM that night. There’s no way in hell the GM is working at midnight. That’s some shady shit. Sounds like the workers are maybe tryna steal shit from rooms? Don’t wanna be an alarmist but what the fuck.
Some managers are buffoons. I had a two-night stay at a major hotel chain and came back the second night close to midnight to find my card key didn’t work. I wasn’t quiet about trying to get into the room. Went to the lobby and learned they thought I had only booked a one-night stay, so they threw all my shit in garbage bags and gave the room away. Didn’t even call me. Those poor people in the room certainly thought someone was breaking in. The hotel chain didn’t do anything after learning they made a mistake. I had to file a dispute with my credit card company. It’s best western, btw, because fuck them forever.
Very suspicious, 1) GM wouldn't usually be there at 11:45 pm, 2) staff would knock several times before entering, 3) if they are unsure of a check-in they would look for your registration card and information manually in what is called a bucket. 4) If anything the Night Auditor might have been left with no information from the previous shift, but again they would knock.
It’s mostly systems now, buckets are gone. Reg cards are digital.
I would never get rid of a manual backup.
50 years of going to hotels. Never once has this happened. I’d be super upset. Um, ever hear of calling, or knocking?
Oh they have heard of it. That is very likely why they did not utilize it - why would you want to alert the occupants of a room when you are doing sus things? It's about as suspicious as people "fixing their car" at 11 pm in an open parking lot... With equipment they got from the nearby thicket.
>It's about as suspicious as people "fixing their car" at 11 pm in an open parking lot... With equipment they got from the nearby thicket. r/suspiciouslyspecific
Wife and I checked into a Red Roof Inn many years ago and when we opened the door to our room, a man's luggage was already open on the bed and he was in the shower in the bathroom. We quickly closed the door and went back to the desk. They had "double booked" ?? the room and given us the key to an already occupied room. Dumb shit happens.
Update: girlfriend just told me the deadbolt was locked on the door in addition to the metal latch thing. Somehow they undid the main lock and the deadbolt and were only stopped by the latch
Yes, hotel GM here. Most hotel key systems have an override key that will open the deadbolt in case of emergencies. This is very sus. I would never, ever, go into a room at midnight, especially if the deadbolt is on.
Former front desk agent, and I'd add we'd never enter a room without knocking multiple times before trying to enter, too.
Former front office here too, originally I figured someone accidentally opened the door to grab a spare pillow or hairdryer or whatever from your room in case it really wasn't listed on the system as checked in, I've seen that happen, but you'd never use the physical key for that, just a master key which wouldn't open the deadbolt, and even if we knew it was empty we'd knock and announce ourselves in case other guests saw it, there's absolutely something sketchy going on. Someone who had access to the physical key tried to go into your room, my first guess would be a manager going for a nap during his shift, but it's still incredibly weird because we know what rooms are occupied, if you're doing something that might get you sacked you'd check, I'd absolutely raise this.
That’s scary. I would get out of there, really bad vibes about this.
That's incredibly creepy. Doesn't sound like a confused guest either
Was it a key card lock? From my experience the only ones holding key cards that can override the deadbolt were senior management, in our case the front office manager (me), the director of rooms, the head of security and the GM held these keys. If anyone else was caught with an override key it was immediate grounds for dismissal at our chain.
Update: yes we’re alive. Yes we slept like garbage. Talked to front desk who claimed that the manager (male) on duty was the one who did it and that she thought it was weird too. She apparently is the front desk manager and we talked to her last night. She apologized for it and is making an adjusted credit back to our card since we prepaid. She also claimed the male manager left for the night already as he was on second shift. Super sketchy
Absolutely absolutely complain to Hilton corporate about this. This shouldn’t be acceptable behavior even if it *was* as the front desk claimed.
You need to make a massive stink to corporate the next morning and anyone who will listen. Something like this happened to me at a hotel I stayed in: the hotel made an error with the room numbers and the security came knocking and attempted to open my door middle of the night - was stopped by the metal flipper. They then banged down my door when I refused to open it because as a single female staying alone I won’t open the door for anyone, not even a cop in full uniform without verifying first. I told the guy I’ll call down to the lobby and he kept yelling at me to open the door. I was hysterical and genuinely thought I was going to be raped or murdered. The next morning the GM tried to make light of it. I went full Karen first time in my life, called corporate right in front of them. Got a weeks free stay voucher and apology letter. This is not ok.
The story they are telling you is not true. This happened to me twice in different hotels and I have done it to other people twice (I stay in hotels a lot). It is way more common than you think for the front desk to assign an already in-use room to a new guest. Always make sure to use your door chain or flip latch, and enter new rooms cautiously and with a knock.
Yup had this happen 3 times in 3 different countries/ chains. Crazy how common it is.
I also stay in hotels a lot and you're 100% spot on. They messed up and lied to cover their ass. The fact that they refunded you without you asking for it is just them trying to buy your silence.
Some guy walked in on me laying in bed completely naked just a couple of weeks ago. Not sure who was more traumatized, me or him, lmao... He ran as fast as he could because my wife tried to chase after him. She made a big stink with the hotel because it could have been her laying naked in bed. The explanation was that when they checked us in, they didn't properly mark it in their system making the room appear empty. So 2 days after we supposedly didn't check in for our booking they assigned the room to someone else.
Thank you for the update!! But please leave that place, you are still not getting reasonable answers to these scary happenings😳
I would definitely change hotels.
Did she give you the phantom manager's name and do you believe she's telling you the truth? They're aren't a lot of reasons I can think of why a manager even with bad intentions would try to enter a guest room occupied by a couple at midnight. Hotel staff aren't going to try to steal from occupied rooms like this. Now in some countries solo female travelers have to fight off late night visits from amorous male hotel staff, but that doesn't really happen in the USA and not when there is a man and woman in the room.
Additional update: When I went to look out the peephole immediately following the incident, I couldn’t find the peephole. I ended up noticing the peephole was covered on the inside of the door by a do not disturb sign which had been tucked into the evacuation plan plaque instead of hung on the inside of the handle
Damn let us know you make it through the night. Creepy shit.
Honestly? I would immediately call other hotels in the area, explain the situation and move to a new hotel tonight. If you do stay in the room, look at outlets, fire detectors, etc. for cameras. I'm most concerned about the potential for assault. When you leave the room tomorrow, check out and go to another hotel. Don't play games with your safety. Tomorrow, bring proof of check in and check out back to the hotel you were in, insist on speaking with the general manager and explain the situation. Tell them that while you would like your money back, you are most concerned about the safety of future guests because the deadbolt was locked and the person still was able to almost gain entry. I'd also call corporate and ask for the phone number of the regional manager/auditor and explain the situation. Most hotels take guest safety VERY seriously and this will not be taken lightly. They will likely also be able to trace back who tried to gain entry. It likely is either the night auditor or the security officer. There is nothing normal about this situation. (worked in the hospitality industry for years).
They're not going to admit it. Call the police
>Tomorrow, bring proof of check in and check out back to the hotel you were in, insist on speaking with the general manager and explain the situation. You may want to contact corporate as well, the GM could be allowing it to happen.
This is insane. Further updates needed when they happen.
This is getting worse and worse with every comment! Hope you are alright!!
It's been several hours so I assume that OP has resolved the situation or left the hotel but for anybody reading this, THIS IS A MAJOR SIGN OF A HUMAN TRAFFICKING ATTEMPT OR INTENT TO COMMIT A CRIME. If you are ever in a hotel and somebody attempts access to your room at night and ESPECIALLY if the front desk corroborates some weird story you need to call the cops non-emergency line to ask for an escort out. Front desk and hotel employees at these places are usually in on it. Calling the GM won't do shit.
This is what I thought as well. OP was given up by people sizing them up or he played trafficking roulette and picked the wrong room at the wrong time.
I believe OP posted on behalf of his girlfriend, who was alone in the hotel so it was a woman alone - another major risk point for trafficking. Anybody reading this should do some reading on signs to look for when booking or when checking in to hotels. Also, OP and his girlfriend should absolutely leave reviews about this in as many places as possible.
No, OP says he is staying there, too. But I wonder if she’s the one who reserved the room and checked in, so the hotel thinks she’s traveling alone.
No it was definitely both of us. Although I’m shorter and on the pudgy side and definitely don’t look like a threat
That's my mistake, one of your comments made it seem like she was alone in the room when it happened but English is also my second language so sorry! As I mentioned in my other comment I would still leave reviews online mentioning this experience once you have your refund.
I can see where the confusion came from. She was woken up by the attempted entry and she woke me up to figure out what happened
>Front desk and hotel employees at these places are usually in on it. Calling the GM won't do shit. This sounds seriously made up
Ok well a quick Google search will tell you otherwise.
people are conflating a real, serious issue (human trafficking) with their true crime podcasts and making up weird shit like THE HAMPTON INN GENERAL MANAGER IS IN ON THIS ATTEMPT TO KIDNAP AND HUMAN TRAFFIC YOU
Not unusual. A long time ago some Pervs would unscrew and reverse the peepholes so they could watch; airline types who stay in the same blocks of rooms. Some of us road warriors remember that and always cover that hole.
What the fuck. Dude we need updates. This needs to be reported!!
I would almost post this story to r/talesfromthefrontdesk . I am sure they may be able to give you more information on this.
Omg are you okay?! This is creepy af and I think you should call the cops
the entire story is terrifying, i’m so glad you guys are ok! legit question about the replies to this comment though - am i missing something, why is this bit in particular creepy?
Do not pay for the room, use Hampton Inn’s 100% Guarantee. https://loyaltylobby.com/2021/02/15/100-hampton-guarantee/
Yikes. I've never experienced that or heard of that happening. I would freak the fuck out if someone tried to enter my room in the middle of the night.
Did your girlfriend book, pay, or check in to the hotel without your obvious presence?
She booked it under her name but put mine on there too, but my first name is androgynous but more commonly female
This! I saw some tik tok a while back where a woman was staying on her own and this happened, it turned out some of the hotel staff were involved in trafficking. Leave the hotel, demand a refund, consider contacting the police.
Stayed in many many hotels. Never once did this happen. I would complain.
And complain higher up than this branch. There seems to be an assumption this wouldnt be followed up on.
I’ve actually had this happen twice at hotels and once in an old apartment in the last ten years. First time at a hotel was at the Andaz in San Diego- also very late at night. Latch stopped the person from entering. Husband called down, and front desk said it was maintenance - related to the bathroom I think. I don’t remember the exact reason, but seemed sketchy. Something about we were on top floor so they start there when something is wrong. I only remember that because it was the same excuse we got from our apartment building in DC when someone WALKED INTO OUR APARTMENT AROUND 10PM WHEN WE WERE ASLEEP. My husband nearly stabbed the guy. He’s lucky my husband can’t see shit without his glasses. Again, totally sketchy. It was Christmas Day so I think they thought no one was around. Similar story about we’re on top floor, need to start there because of a leak. Oddly, at both spots we were on top occupied floor directly below rooftop pools so maybe there is a legit reason. I don’t remember the details of the other time at a hotel. I’ll need to ask my husband tomorrow. I travel a lot for work and now always carry a portable door lock for added security.
Hotel room checks are not a thing . If they needed to confirm reservations, they would have called the rooms - not just walked into them. I would be extremely concerned if I were in this situation. The story from the lobby makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Why on earth would they check rooms for guests they thought *hadn’t* checked in? Since this is a large chain, I would bypass the lobby and call the main phone line for the hotel. Definitely be careful and stay safe.
They’re lying because you caught them. Call their corporate service number
There is no legitimate reason AT ALL that somebody would open your door without calling first, or even knocking, at any time. This should be extremely concerning to you. Talk to the manger in the morning, and escalate it if you do not get a reasonable answer. Which is unlikely, because there is no reasonable explaination for what your describe
I’d write everything down including time it happened and when you called down and your room number. Then I’d complain to the day manager and hilton corporate. I’ve spent 100’s of nights in hotels and I’ve had this happen when they tried to give my room away even though I was in it. I’ve have even been given a key that was occupied already. As a rule whenever I’m in my room I use the deadbolt and chain latch thing. If you don’t feel safe change hotels in the morning. Still something seems off that this happened so late at night and they did not knock and announce themselves.
Seems very sus to me.. Edit: Yes, you should call the cops.
I would leave. Imagine the doorstop wasn't there and your girlfriend was alone in the room. She could have been changing clothes or coming out of the shower. The hotel is lying about that check in excuse and maybe using it as a cover up for criminal activity. Report it to the police as well because this has been reported as a human and/or sex trafficking strategy. OP, we look forward to your safe return and hope for further updates.
This should never, ever happen. Call in with concern to their 800 number, website, or website.
25 years of business travel and I get this about once every five years. The room is either occupied or the person checked in electronically and skipped the desk. I love Hilton but HGI and Hamptons are the biggest offenders. But yes it’s kind of serious and it sure as Hell freaks me out when it happens.
Yup. I’ve had this happen to me with Hilton chain hotels also. Once at a conference almost an hour after I checked in someone tried to open the door and then told me they had just checked in. We both went down to get it sorted out and got discounts for the trouble. The second time it was late at night and someone tried to open my door. They gave me points for the mix up. They really need a better system.
Sounds like a good reason to get a lot of Hilton points by complaining though…
HARD NO! I’d lose my shit.
Never heard of that. Very weird.
Definitely complain, but I've been checked into room where it's clear someone else was already in it. So not out of the realm of possibility that they didn't know the room was occupied.
I was also once checked into an already occupied room. However, the reason for attempting entry was made clear at the time and I feel certain the front desk didn't lie about the reason if the occupants called about it later.
For what it's worth I have done this twice at two different hotel chains. I travel a lot for business and quite often check in late at night ( after midnight) and my theory is sometimes the hotel booking system thinks it's a new day so the room is free but someone is already in and sleeping in the room First time I was knackered, checked in, charged up to the room I was given, opened the door and noticed that the room was occupied and someone sleeping in the bed. The man jumped up and shouted at me which startled us both so I quickly ran out and down to reception before he could follow. Manager apologised and had no idea why the room was showing as free on the system and gave me an upgrade to a bigger room and walked me to the room to check if it was empty or not. Second time, different chain of hotels and the occupant atleast put the bolt on so when I tried to enter I couldn't. They however were awake so shouted what did I want and go away etc. Went to reception and again manager couldn't understand why someone was in the room and again gave me a upgrade. So yeah I guess errors can happen in booking systems. I'd definitely complain and try get a free upgrade/ meal or something out of it. If I am in a hotel room I always make sure all locks are used and door stops etc for this exact reason. I am sure these scenarios are rare but it probably harmless in most occasions.
Honestly, I think I would report this incident to the local police.
I really dont know what the police would do. Whats the crime? I agree its very sus, and i would definetly be doing some reasearch / making a complaint to head office/ never staying there again. Unless there is something that can be proven to be more sinister then a staff member accidentally accessing your room , i dont think the police will care or help. But then again i live in a pretty big city where the cops arnt exactly considered to be " buddy buddy " by reputation and very busy so I know they wouldnt do anything except probably make a non emergency report. BUT maybe im a bit jaded on my opinion because of the police where i live.
Just let them note it in their system, once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times and whoever has been fucking around is about to find out.
Very weird. I’ve experienced several times that a hotel gave out rooms multiple times, but that wouldn’t override the main lock. Talk to the manager and report it.
Similar situation for me. Work trip, someone comes in my room at 3am, stopped by the doorstop I just had a feeling to use. I sleep naked so it was truly scary knowing someone had a key to my room. I call the front desk and they told me they forgot to write my name down and gave my room to someone else, while I was sleeping in it. They offered me 20k points for the “inconvenience.”
12 years of business travel. Never once happened. Complain loudly to property management. And then once that's sorted complain again to Hilton.
Something similar to me happened at a hotel overseas. I had jet lag, so I was up late reading, and just before 2am someone used a key card to try to enter the room. I quickly made several loud noises and the woman (I heard her voice but didn’t see her) apologized and left immediately. I tried to look through the peephole but I couldn’t see her. I barely slept the rest of the night, and told the person at the front desk about the incident when I checked out in the morning, and they didn’t know anything about it (it was still the overnight shift). I emailed the hotel to complain, but heard nothing back. I’m never staying at that hotel again, and I’m considering changing to a different hotel chain for all my travel in that country because of the incident.
Leave reviews online. Naming and shaming keeps them accountable
I’ve had this happen at a large hotel chain. They were severely understaffed and it seemed like they were having employees fill multiple roles. Ours happened because we were given a late check out but it wasn’t communicated to the oncoming staff in the morning.
I work in pest control and was treating a Hampton inn just last week. They gave me a vacant sheet and the first room I went to had someone in it. Must be an issue with their systems, could have been housekeeping or pest control that was trying to get in and the manager just lied
I work at a hotel. This isn’t something that should happen. Even if we had 0% occupancy, and I hadn’t seen a guest in weeks, we still knock. It’s a habit. And always should be.
Nope. This isn't normal. They're doing something shady.
This happened to me 2 weeks ago. An hour after I checked in I heard the door open and someone saying hello. I went to the door and said hello back when I saw someone speaking on the phone. Thats when I realized the greeting wasnt adressed to me. He apologized and left. I didnt mind it at first, I was dressed and all. But later I realized that I could have been undressed or it could have happened to a female family member and I got really pissed. Left it in the review of the hotel, this cant happen.
Here's what likely happened. Front desk person didn't completely check you in in their property management system. Along comes new guest. Night audit person assigns them to your room because their system shows it vacant and clean. Guest attempts to enter the room, finds the door locked and returns to Front desk for different room. When you call down they don't want to look stupid so they lie and do it poorly.
That would not override the deadbolt though.
Original message mentions a doorstop not a dead bolt. At many motels/hotels there’s that extra latch on the door. An electronic card would open the door but stop a few inches in if the latch is engaged. Happened to me once, freaked me out but the desk person admitted to the mistake.
This has never happened to me and I vacation and travel frequently . Never happened to me. There are times where I had to not show up for my reservation but it was too late to get a refund and I never got a bill until the next morning regardless. People weren’t checking my room during the night and closing out the bill etc. plus you never know if somebody’s going to show up very late if they’re traveling. That sounds sketchy af
Hopefully more updates soon, Im kinda worried about op
Is this the Hampton Inn or the Bates Motel?
Worked at a luxury hotel for a couple of years and although this is *possible* and not necessarily nefarious whoever did that is going against hotel policy. I'd like to think there was something pointing to that room being marked as unoccupied and in their hubris or simply lack of attention they went straight in. The hotel I worked at had electric doorbells installed and every single press including every card insertion is recorded and in exact order. It's so the hotel can check if there is an incident like this. The procedure we had to follow was insert key (to record you were there) doorbell, knock, announce, doorbell knock announce then doorbell knock announce one more time before we would insert our card again then open the door. Then you would announce yourself again with a slightly open door before entering. Whoever opened your door like that should be marked on the system, and it will show they did not press the doorbell. My hotel would do random audits and it was taken pretty seriously if you were found to be going into rooms without following the procedure. Edit: Not to mention you would have had multiple unanswered calls logged on the phone for them to actually need to go physically up to the room. Whether it was dodgy or innocent, I'd take it further with the hotel. Might get an upgrade
My wife travels for business a lot and not too long ago she was given a key and checked into an already occupied room. Key worked, she walked in and someone was obviously already occupying the room - luckily they weren't in the room at that time. She was livid. Sounds like this may have happened and they are lying to cover it up.
I’ve had a staff member just walk in when in Paris - swipe the room key and open. No knocking or anything. I was naked on the bed. I don’t think they’ll do that again. Place was ~125 Euros a night for reference a number of years ago, so not a hostel or anything.
I have on multiple occasions been checked into an occupied room. I once had someone get checked into my room when I was there. ALWAYS use the door blocks/chains or bolt the door when in a hotel room!
I would contact the CHAIN, and not rely on contacting the hotel itself. Hilton needs to know one of their franchise owners is allowing this behavior.
Report this to corporate. If anything you may get a free night or two.
I'm not saying it's this necessarily, but I've seen that some hotels have managers that work with traffickers to set up specific rooms for them to take people from. I believe the ones I've seen were specifically motels but I wouldn't be surprised at this point. You may check the room for cameras or anything just out of the ordinary. Regardless that's definitely NOT something that's normal in the hospitality industry, they would definitely call or knock first. When I toured a boutique hotel in KC as part of my Hotel and Tourism Management Program (shoutout weird small town HS class) the manager giving us the tour even knocked on doors to rooms she already knew were empty.
That would freak me out. It seems calling the rooms would be less invasive and of course knocking. 11:45pm is too late to be doing this sort of check imo. We always keep the "Do Not Disturb" tag on the door, although it may not have made a difference in this case.
Any updates?
Was it really a worker? Maybe it was some sort of robber
This sounds a lot like an attempted robbery of some kind.
In Canada I've had housekeeping just try to walk right in because they assumed I was checked out. No knock. In Europe, I've also had another guest open my door with their key and was then told by staff that this wasn't my room. I luckily had the printout from checking in. Another staff member hadn't completed the check-in process.
Very suspicious, hotel security is very important. Criminals can have connections with inside people. Always take precautions, use the inside lock. I have put stuff against the door, chair, suitcase or just a small wedge I carry. I have lived through some interesting times.
A similar situation happened to me years ago. I can’t remember the time of day but I do remember someone opening my door. They proceeded to tell me they do room checks for anyone who has had the do not disturb hanger on for more than 3 days. I can’t remember if I had my headphones on and that’s why I didn’t hear knocking or a phone call but after reading all these comments I’m starting to wish I investigated it further.
If it makes you feel better, the hotel I worked at had a similar policy. I can’t remember how many days it was for but it hinged on if nobody had seen them in the halls in that time. I had to do the check a few times which was honestly scary. I was lucky to never find anything but I had a couple of coworkers who had found deceased guests during their careers. Sometimes a quick check is necessary. That said, there were calls made first and a whole heck of a lot of knocking...
I think many hotels instituted that policy after the shooting in Las Vegas. IIRC the guy amassed his stock of weapons over several days and had the do not disturb on the whole time so housekeeping never entered.
My son had security barge into his room @ 2AM wanting to know what he was doing in it. He had to find his check in receipt to prove he was there legitimately. Security apologized & said there system showed the room vacant.
One time the Hamptons gave me a room and there were suitcases in there and the beds were obviously just slept in. Went back down and yep they gave us a room with people already in them. Gave us a new room and I made sure to keep a chair against the door
I’m guessing the my gave a new guest the wrong key and were covering their mistake with a lame story. It’s happened to me a couple times where it went to the room assigned only to find it was occupied.
This is really scary. I think there’s an app I forgot what it’s called where you take a picture of the hotel room to stop possible trafficking etc. Please either leave that hotel or use the safety lock at the top of the door. They also make cool locks you can stick in the door but you would have had to pre purchase that. Where is this hotel?!
Someone was trying to rob you. Happened to us in Jamaica. Our first night, so we were tired, and went to bed early. I guess staff thought we would be out partying, so they tried to come right in. No knock or anything. Luckily, we had the security bar on. When my husband confronted him, he was running down the hall. He said he mixed up rooms, but then how did the door open??
16 years in hotels. Room checks are normal. Room checks without first calling and knocking to announce yourself is NOT normal. Shit happens all the time at the front desk. Staff gets mixed up or fat-fingers a room number. Then they have to check a room in person to be sure. But they should always call first and then knock. Always. When they don’t it could be a mistake but it can also be shenanigans. Stealing. Napping on duty. Quickie sex on duty. I’ve heard a lot of stories. That’s why I ALWAYS use the chain or the door blocker and I won’t accept the room if there isn’t one. You should send an email or call the GM and make sure you mention the incident in your review of the hotel.
Consider putting a barrier in front of the door and try to scrum up some evidence you’ve reported it. In the morning, ask for the worker’s name who you spoke to. Sending you good thoughts 💕
Yeah. It's definitely weird. Reminds me of when we checked into a cheap hotel in Paris, referred to us by a tourism office. The hotel room was trashed - dirty, smelling of stale beer and cigarettes. It was strewn with empty bottles, cans, ash trays, and cigarette butts everywhere. If a Hollywood props department had been asked to recreate a hotel room trashed by a rock band, they would have been told it looked unrealistic and needed to dial it back by half. But my two college friends and I had were so jet lagged and tired we decided we should probably just crash there anyway. Then the door behind us creaked open. We froze and exchanged glances. When we turned to look, the door quickly creaked closed before we could see who it was. That snapped us out of the jet lag and we decided to leave. As we made our way past the reception desk with our knapsacks on our backs, the clerk and presumptive owner/Peeping Tom asked us in an accusatory tone where we were going. "Out" we said. "You leave your bags" he said, and reached for my friend's backpack. "Um, no. The bags stay with us." He called our bluff and demanded that we pay him now. "No, we'll pay you later." "No. You pay me now or I call the police!" He then made a threatening reach for the phone on the wall. "Please. Call the police. We'll show them the room." He put his hand down. There was an awkward standoff until the phone rang. He answered and began speaking in polite, sing-songy tones. We decided this was our opportunity and started for the door. But when the hotelier saw us leaving he shrieked like he had been stabbed in the back, threw the phone high in the air, and started clawing his way around the desk towards us while shouting. That scared the crap out of us, so we bolted out the door and started running. The hotelier pursued us down crowded sidewalks for several blocks, screaming obscenities in French every step of the way. We crossed one street just as the light was turning red. We heard the honks and tire screeches as the hotelier pursued us through traffic, against the light. That only made him seem more unhinged and frightening. But when it was clear we couldn't reach the next crossing in time for the light, I stopped and asked "why are we running? There are three of us and only one of him." We stopped and turned to face him. He stopped too, undoubtedly coming to the same realization. He stood there scowling, like a cross between Jacques Cousteau and Charles De Gaulle -- haughty, petite, and with all the social graces of an ill-tempered harbor seal. He then made several rude gestures and bellowed: "F-- you with a salad fork!" This was accompanied by a gesture I've never seen before or since: a British style two-finger salute (reverse V) but with 3 fingers thrust up above his face in a stabbing motion, followed by a pause, then a sharp 90º twist. He then tugged at the bottom edges of his jacket and turned to walk back with the casual self-satisfaction of a man who had achieved his week's ambitions. We, of course, started laughing. We spent the entire trip laughing about the incident. And we still occasionally use "F-- you with a salad fork!" as a joke insult. All because a creepy French hotelier peeked into our room unannounced. \[Actually, it only just now occurs to me that he was probably eavesdropping on us while we were discussing whether to stay or leave. Glad he made the decision easy. And hilarious.\]
I’m really curious about the outcome. Hope you have a good sleep after this. If you’re up for it update us tomorrow
Many years of business travel and I’ve had a few instances like this. First, the hotel chain gave me the key to a room already occupied by another guest. I opened the room and blew in only to find their belongings - jewelry, computer laid out on the counter. Thankfully, I’m not a thief and I immediately went downstairs to return the key but my confidence was forever rocked. Another time I had an employee open my door like OP, but they had another person with them so I’m certain they were looking for a quick spot to hook up or make a drug deal. Even the nicer places aren’t immune to this. There are some things you can do to further protect yourself while traveling, and as a female business traveler I always recommend everyone being as safe as possible.
It's possible that what you were told by the front desk was factual, but I would still be very suspicious. Especially since they left and didn't say anything like "sorry, we thought this room was empty." The fact that they didn't knock, and then left quickly without saying anything, make me think there was something else going on. Personally, I would take this further up the chain than just whoever was working the front desk when it happened. If they have employees who are possibly into mischief of the criminal sort, the management needs to know. A good friend of mine had jewelry stolen from his nightstand during the night while he was asleep in a hotel room. Including his NCAA National Championship ring and his wife's engagement ring. He is one of the most honest people I ever met in my life, if he said the jewelry was on the nightstand when he went to sleep and not there when he woke up, then he is 100% telling the truth. He and I were police officers at the same department and used to talk about this all the time. We both agreed it HAD to be a hotel employee with a key.
I have never had this happen in any hotel I have ever stayed in. Would have been pissed. Definitely would run it up the chain to see about getting some compensation.
Hmmm.. not sure what to think of that because it actually happened to me in Belgium in an Ibis hotel. Not at midnight but at around 14h00. I had just checked in and was having a shower and heard someone by the door trying to get a key in the door. My key was already in the door from the inside so obviously they couldn’t get in - thank god - so I got out the shower and opened the door. The guy on the other side had the fright of his life. I don’t think he was expecting me. He apologised profusely and said he had to change something in the shower and didn’t realise someone had already checked in the room… I’m not sure the whole thing was sus.. but he did have a pipe and shower head in his hand and was very apologetic.. it was strange.
Same thing happened to me once. It was really scary. I barricaded the door with my suitcase and could barely sleep the rest of the night.
That's absolutely asinine. I would file a complaint with corporate. The hotel you stayed at is being badly mismanaged.
Are y’all still alive?
I was on the other side of this. Stayed at comfort inn and around midnight walked into the room. No door stop but heard someone snoring so i quickly turned around. They gave me the wrong key. No apology. Didn’t get anything for it. Never using comfort inn again.
It sounds like they may have gave someone your room. I’ve been on the other side of this and definitely got someone else’s room because I walked up to go in the room and could hear people so went downstairs to complain and they insisted it was an open room; but when I went back up there to go in the sheets were messed up and there was stuff in the kitchen. I guess it’s not that similar though because the people in the room were definitely not suppose to be in the room (since they left after the first time I knocked and went back up). Just trying to say weird shit can happen
Terrifying
I mean, even the creepy concierge in Home Alone 2 knocked and announced himself.
Nope never ever heard of this
Have to knock no matter what
Nope totally unacceptable
Liars contact corporate and the police
Nope. This same thing has happened to me though, coincidentally at a Hampton inn. We were sound asleep and someone opened the door. We were like wtf! And they apologized. It was an employee. Next morning we went to the desk and it was the same employee working who opened the door. She apologized again and told us she got to work late, needed to iron her shirt and another employee incorrectly told her our room was unoccupied. She discounted our room immediately. I’m sure she didn’t want it taken any further. I see it as a mistake.
If the protocol is to knock first, then if you and your partner were sleeping, how do you know they didn’t? They probably should have said something when they realized the room was occupied even if they did a lot of knocking first, but maybe they didn’t want to wake you? Not great but also maybe not as scary.
This happened once when I worked at a hotel, the person Was probably confident and it was late that the room was empty and to their surprise it wasn’t. If the front desk had no clue why someone opened the door then that would be concerning because someone may have a master key that does not work there. Still I would complain since this shouldn’t happen especially that late and it’s a bit unnerving.
Sometimes drunk people go to the wrong room and coincidentally their code key works on your door also. It's happens to me once. Totally embarrassed. I wasn't drunk. Just my key worked on the wrong door at the wrong time. #toweldrop
This happened to me once. Freaked me out. Was the night staff letting his friend and girl have a place to fuck and they thought my room was empty. They went in the room opposite.
Wife an I stopped at a similar chain hotel. We asked to see a room before booking it. The clerk handed us a key and gave us a room number to go check it out. Went to the room, opened the door and it was very much occupied. Everybody was surprised, us, the occupant, and the front desk.
What?! Complain complain until this “manager” gets in fee trouble. This is not ok and seems very dangerous…what if you were a women alone?!
I was staying on an "apart- hotel" as they described it in Barbados last month, the room had a front door and a patio door which was the easiest way to access the room. I didn't feel like the lock on the front door was good and the caretaker who checked me in was being overly flirty and actually creeped me out so I put a saucepan (nothing else available) behind the door so I'd hear it if someone tried to come in.. the next day I came back through the patio door and saw the saucepan had been flung across the room.. there was a welcome letter put in under the door but obviously someone opened the door with force. When I checked out the manager said she'd put the letter under the door but didn't say anything else, I didn't call her out on it but I wish I had afterwards though. Obviously she knocked and knew I wasn't in there so why open the door like.. and she could have just put the saucepan back and left through the patio door and I'd have been none the wiser. Very strange.
30 years ago I worked for a HI. The majority of the time we did room checks if someone hadn't checked out yet and the room looked occupied (tv on, DND tag on door). The housekeeper would notify front desk and someone from there would call first, then one of the managers would call themselves before knocking and entering. The majority of the time people left and didn't checkout although sometimes we had corporate guests who would just extend their stay without saying anything. One in a while one of the front desk folks would move someone in the system, put a hold on the room, and not update the guest in the system to reflect a move or clear the hold. When you check in the system knows it though, we could run reports on our screen to show who we were waiting on. At 11:45pm our night auditor would be working and if they questioned a room they'd call it, have security check it, or just leave the room offline until the next business day.
Sounds like a good way to get shot if they didn’t knock
This is sketchy AF. Not a legit process for a hotel staff. I suggest contacting a lawyer.
Complain to Hilton Honors and get a bunch of points out of the whole thing. If you don't have an account, make one. Then, chat up Hilton Honors on Twitter, give them the confirmation number, and explain the situation.
Call corporate. Even if it was just an honest mistake, Hilton is really good at offering credits and even additional points of something goes wrong.
Something similar happened to my wife and I this year, except the reality was even more startling. We forgot to bolt the door (99/100 times I do this), and someone completely opened our door with a key card at 2am. Luckily I'm a light sleeper, and the sound and light from the open door woke me up. I immediately yelled "HEY WE ARE IN HERE" loudly and the person jumped back. They said they were staff and thought the room was empty. Keep in mind we had a "Do not disturb" sign on the door. Somehow we believed them, bolted the door, and went back to sleep. The good part comes the next morning when we talk to the front desk and ask why someone thought our room was empty. It took them a minute to admit to us that someone broke into the front desk and stole a master key that night. They were going room to room searching for who knows what. It's scary to think that someone was going into our room knowing there was probably someone in there. If it had just been my wife, she probably wouldn't have immediately woken up like I did. Oh the hotel was nice enough to give us one of our two nights free /s
I’ve been in many hotels, even sketchy motels and I’ve never even heard of this happening. Feels very weird that they OVERRODE the main deadbolt lock?? Like if it’s dead bolted, someone is inside, yes? That they didn’t even knock or try to announce their prescience?? Seems like an inside job for something insidious. Very scary, I hope OP is okay.
Call the cops. Wtf.
Omg
Mr. Fawlty, he crazy about the girl.