Last month, just before the Chicago Seminars, I took one of my last 250 SkyMiles award sale runs for MQMs from YYZ. Since I had to get to YYZ and flights from Chicago were really cheap and on top of that I was working on my IHG Accelerate stays I got a cheap room at a Holiday Inn Express near the airport for my dark-30 flight the next day.
I do not read newspapers anymore as they just get your fingers dirty and I like my info digitally anyway. So, I just picked up the paper outside my door and tossed it into the trash can in the room. But on my way out I noticed what you see in the photo above.
Yikes – 3 days of papers?
The mind begins to run wild with questions of just what is going on in that room and why the hotel staff would just keep piling up papers without checking that all is AOK with the guest.
So that brings up my topic for today that I thought would be fun to discuss in the comments section below on the blog, that is, what are the weirdest things you have seen at a hotel or that has made you go “hummmm”. I will start with a few (other than the one above).
I am always shocked why folks do not flip the safety catch on the door when they enter a room. I have at least 10 times walked right into a room and someone was already in the room and using it. Always a creepy feeling and interesting to watch the front desk attendants reaction to you coming back down.
Room not cleaned. This has only happened a few times that I recall and once was at a Hampton Inn, but it just feels so dirty to walk into a room that has not been taken care of yet. I even feel like I want another room (I know just silly) but something about it just creeps me out. I know, I need to get over this one.
Getting the wrong bill. Maybe this one is not weird but when so much personal info is on your bill I find it creepy that maybe Mr. Weirdo next door got all my info. This has actually happened twice but I don’t recall what hotels they were.
Police at the door across from me. Ever look out the peep hole and see the “boys in blue” knocking on the door. Yes, it is also kinda creepy to be glued to the door of your hotel room but also hard to pull away until the event was over (no, they did not go to jail that night). And this last one was at an Intercontinental hotel no less!
So those are my kinda weird and strange events. I am sure you have many others. Please tell us what happened and if you can what hotel chain you were at! – René
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I was staying at a Hyatt where there was a domestic abuse incident. Angry drunk guy had thrown his girlfriend about the room and eventually took this out into the hall (abused girl was down on the ground sobbing, he was telling her to shut up because she was worthless). I wanted to interfere but didn’t know if he had a gun on him. I called down to the front desk to report it (literally whispering in fear the guy would hear me), and the night-desk girl responded with “okay I’ll go check it out.” It was 2 am and I told the front desk girl that this did not seem like a safe situation for her to just “check out.” I get the desire to want to double check someone’s claim before calling the cops, but she could hear the noise through the phone. Cops never did show up, probably because the abused girl had been shut up by then and the front desk girl said she didn’t hear anything when she went up to the room. The next night I was staying at a Hilton Garden Inn and asked the front staff what their policy was if someone reported domestic abuse. They looked at me and went “well, we call the cops right away, obviously.” I asked if they first go up to check it out. Both of the people at the front desk shook their heads and said “not worth our safety, we don’t go to the floor without cops or security, cause what if we find ourselves in a bad situation?!” Needless to say, I haven’t been back to Hyatt.
A few years ago at a Mumbai hotel – wild monkeys running through the lobby!
Several times I have received printouts (e.g. copies of my bill, boarding passes printed from the lobby printer) from Marriott properties which were printed on the blank side of previously used paper. That’s generally fine, per se, but in all cases, this previously used paper was the hotel’s census report. This contains name, room number, Marriott rewards number and ranking, rate paid, company affiliation, check in/check out dates and such. In other words, a LOT of information which should be PRIVATE.
I’d complain but would get nowhere… “oh, do you want a clean copy?”, “yes, we try to save paper”… totally clueless.
near del mar race track??hilton.. drunk women came to my door saying “let me in” starting kicking and beating on door, thought she would break it down!! called front desk a few times…she finally went to a door across the hall and someone let her in ..then loud there!!
We were in a hotel that served complimentary breakfast, and a family
(children and adults) all came to breakfast in their pajamas and bedroom slippers.
Was at a casino in northern Minnesota, and decided not to go home for the night. So about 1:30 am I went to check and see if there were any rooms available. The front desk attendant checked and said there were rooms available. She gave me the key to a room and I went off to bed. I opened the door and walked in. Tossed my bag on the bed and heard a grunt. I looked and there was a couple that was sleeping in the bed. I grabbed my bag apologized to a weary couple and went back down to the lobby. Went back to the front desk. When I got there there was another couple checking in. The front desk attendant was selling them the same room I just came from.
I stepped into their conversation and said, “I just came from that room and there is another couple already sleeping in it.” The attendant looked horrified. I ended up getting a suite out of the deal.
1.The one that comes to mind immediately is the time I walked into a room that was occupied. It was a budget hotel (I forgot the name) at IND when the terminal was still off I-465.
I arrived about 1 a.m. after driving from Cincinnati. I opened the door to the room and was just about to switch on the lights when I heard a noise and saw a form covered in a white sheet sit up on the bed. It really scared the blank out of me for a second. I can imagine how the occupant felt but I couldn’t see if it was a man or a woman. I went back to the front desk to get a new room and let the clerk know he’d made a horrible mistake.
That’s another great reason for always using the deadbolt.
2. There was also the time I recall when an escort came to my room at the Westin Cincinnati and insisted she had the right room.
3. At the Palacio del Inka Hotel in Cusco, Peru, I had a very nice stay recently. The suite had two balconies. Both were bricked in to a height of about six feet. The hotel realized the balconies were useless and didn’t bother to put any furniture on them. But Pisco Sour is now my favorite drink.
Those certainly qualify as creepy examples but I am confident you’ll agree that mine was the best. Twice in 2014, at different Hampton Inn hotels in different cities, the front desk gave away my room with me in it. The first time happened at about 7PM while I worked at the desk in my room. The second time happened while I slept.
It would be understandable for you (or me) to conclude that these were crimes in progress. However, the reaction on both occasions was one of contrite surprise by the other guests attempting to take possession of “their” lodgings.
In 2012, I will stay in Hilton and Marriott properties for a grand total in excess of 100 nights without incident. As you might imagine, though, the memories of realizing that “extra” keys for my room were issued remain fresh.
By the way, if you haven’t checked out moldreportak.org, you should. In 2013, I stayed at the Hampton Inn Austin North in Texas and the elevators were almost as bad. Despite the fact that the Lone Star State government does a decent job of regulating such things, it was clear to all that neither shaft had been serviced in years. As a result, neither was fit for human habitation. Sure enough, on my last day, both failed and I had to tote all of my luggage down the stairs from the fourth floor in order to reach my car. I vowed never to stay there again. The house maintenance department failed in other key ways as well. It was a dump!
Just two weeks ago I was in Las Vegas for SEMA & I was staying at the Paris. I had gone up to get something from my room & as soon as I was about to head back down the buildings power went out. The hallways are pretty when they have bright lights shinning down in them, but when you have just a few emergency lights showing you the way it’s more of a joke. I was on the 32nd floor when this happened. The outage happened around 11, & by 1 I still hadn’t heard anything (I decided to get some work done in my room on my hopspot). A korean couple down the hall had a flight to catch later that day & the front desk didn’t, couldn’t & wouldn’t send anyone up to help with their luggage (4 suitcases & carryons). I helped them get their stuff down the stairs but it was a hassle. The power wasn’t restored until the early morning (1-2 am) the next morning (& my flight was leaving at 7 am). One good thing came out of all this though, I was refunded my entire stay (including food since I only ate at the restaurants on the property) & I have a certificate for a 3 nights stay that’s valid until the end of 2017.
I was staying in a hotel in Columbus Ohio. We rented two adjoining rooms. Both rooms were rented to another person while we were in them. We were in the rooms with the deadbolt and chain on the doors when the other family tried to get into our rooms.
On one trip to Lithuania, my co-workers back in Chicago needed me to review a document and sign-off on it, so the plan was for them to fax it to me at the hotel, I would review, and sign and fax back.
Unfortunately, due to the time difference, my work-day in Lithuania was over, and I was taking a shower to wind-down.
While I was in the shower, the front desk clerk came into my room, came into the bathroom, holding the fax in his hand yelling “THIS IS URGENT! IT SAYS URGENT! YOU MUST SIGN! YOU MUST SIGN NOW! URGENT!” I am in the shower, one of those with a glass door. Not frosted glass, just regular transparent glass.
I managed to calm him down, while facing away from him, telling him to place it on the bathroom counter, and that I would review, sign, and return to him within the next 10 minutes, and re-assuring him that he was THE BEST, MOST ATTENTIVE, HOTEL MANAGER EVER, just to get him out of my room.
That very same night, I realized that the window to my room was open, and wouldn’t close. It was stuck in the open position. Oh, and the weather – It was snowing. I was afraid to go to the front desk and complain,and since the bathroom had in-floor radiant heating, I took my pillow and blanket into the bathroom and slept on the floor.