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The situation was sketchy from the get go and I wish I'd followed my gut instinct and canceled the reservation right off the start. Anyhoo...
A missus shows up at the hotel around 10:30 this morning asking about an early check-in and stating that she tried to call last night to make a reservation but nobody answered. Come to find out that she called after the front desk had closed for the night. So, this morning she ended up using a 3rd party website to make a reservation. But it wasn't under her name and it wasn't her credit card on file either - she had selected the option to pay us directly. No big. I told her that the earliest I could do a check-in for her was at noon AND that we required the photo ID belonging to the credit card holder, via email at the very least.
She leaves and comes about around 2pm. I reminded her that I'd told her we needed the ID for the credit card holder. She started causing a scene in the lobby. Now, my gut instincts had already told me during our first interaction that this missus was up to no good. I, trying to be nice, allowed her to set up her own reservation and as all she had on her was a debit card I charged a $250 deposit on top of the room charge - she wanted 2-3 nights but I advised her that at this time I was only authorizing one night...something was telling me that we'd need her gone sooner than she wanted.
Turns out I was right.
The debit card she'd used - tap, no less - for close to $500 wasn't even hers. I didn't find that out until about three hours later when the owner of the card came looking for her. She didn't count on our hotel name coming up clearly via the guy's banking app. He told me point blank that she was not authorized to use the card - I got him to write a statement showing he hadn't authorized it - and that she had stolen from him. I advised him that I could not reverse the charges without a police report but that I would be evicting her from the premises.
When I called the room to tell her that, she went off. According to her I couldn't kick her out after the room was paid for and that because she had nowhere else to go that if anything happened to her that she'd sue the hotel. When I explained very calmly that the card owner had shown up and signed a written document stating she didn't have authorization to use the card, she lost her shit. She was going to call the cops on me and get me charged personally. I told her to go for it and hung up, promptly calling the cops myself.
The cops arrived in less than ten minutes as they were in the area. I explained the situation to them, and they removed her and her 'friend' from the room. The missus clearly thought I was bluffing, and the cops had a good chuckle about that with me. I explained to them that 1) I don't bluff about things like that, and 2) I used to be a security guard with pretty good instincts. They agreed that my instincts were spot on tonight as the guy that was in the room with missus is a known felon and drug dealer. They stayed on site until missus and her 'friend' left in a taxi and while I took photos of the room for our own evidence. And work paid for a taxi for me to get home as I didn't feel safe walking home after the threats missus made against me earlier when I was telling her she had to leave. I literally live a five minute walk from work on a good day, so that's way too close for comfort.
I've written my report for work already - some habits and instincts don't die easily - in the event that missus tries anything. She didn't like being told that using somebody else's debit card without permission is, in fact, theft. She tried to claim that she had a bunch of text messages showing that the guy had given her approval, but I explained that I had to go with what he told me personally, and that she had previously tried to use somebody else's name and credit card that she was no longer allowed on the property.
"But I can pay for it all myself! You can't kick me out after I've already paid!"
"YOU didn't pay - the guy who actually owns the card paid, and he's signed documentation stating he hadn't authorized you to use it. And if you could've paid for it yourself, why didn't you?"
She had told me not to tell anybody she was staying there, which I assured her I wouldn't if somebody called and asked for her by name. But when the card owner showed up in person with the transaction showing on his bank app, knowing it was her and she was at the hotel somewhere I couldn't straight up deny she was there. I told him that I couldn't confirm she was actually staying there, nor could I provide any room information, but I could get in contact with her as he had a bag of her stuff he wanted to leave behind. She lost her shit on me, accusing me of telling him she was there and what room she was in...I explained the fact that our hotel name showed up on the transaction list on his bank app so it wasn't hard to figure out she'd at least been there, and that I had not told him one way or the other what room she was in or if she even had one, and that I could take the bag of her stuff and just keep it at the front desk for her when she was ready to pick it up. Nope. Wasn't good enough. She didn't want it.
When I let the guy know that - I hadn't let him into the lobby because my sketchy-radar was going off like mad - he said he'd already figured out what room she in because she and the guy she was with had been looking through the curtains of the room they were in (outside room), but that he was not going to stir up any trouble so he was going to go. He told me a sob story, and I felt bad for the guy but there was nothing I could do for him at that point, and advised him to file his own police report. It was after he left that missus said she was going to call the cops on me and have me charged.
She certainly didn't have the last laugh in this situation.
A missus shows up at the hotel around 10:30 this morning asking about an early check-in and stating that she tried to call last night to make a reservation but nobody answered. Come to find out that she called after the front desk had closed for the night. So, this morning she ended up using a 3rd party website to make a reservation. But it wasn't under her name and it wasn't her credit card on file either - she had selected the option to pay us directly. No big. I told her that the earliest I could do a check-in for her was at noon AND that we required the photo ID belonging to the credit card holder, via email at the very least.
She leaves and comes about around 2pm. I reminded her that I'd told her we needed the ID for the credit card holder. She started causing a scene in the lobby. Now, my gut instincts had already told me during our first interaction that this missus was up to no good. I, trying to be nice, allowed her to set up her own reservation and as all she had on her was a debit card I charged a $250 deposit on top of the room charge - she wanted 2-3 nights but I advised her that at this time I was only authorizing one night...something was telling me that we'd need her gone sooner than she wanted.
Turns out I was right.
The debit card she'd used - tap, no less - for close to $500 wasn't even hers. I didn't find that out until about three hours later when the owner of the card came looking for her. She didn't count on our hotel name coming up clearly via the guy's banking app. He told me point blank that she was not authorized to use the card - I got him to write a statement showing he hadn't authorized it - and that she had stolen from him. I advised him that I could not reverse the charges without a police report but that I would be evicting her from the premises.
When I called the room to tell her that, she went off. According to her I couldn't kick her out after the room was paid for and that because she had nowhere else to go that if anything happened to her that she'd sue the hotel. When I explained very calmly that the card owner had shown up and signed a written document stating she didn't have authorization to use the card, she lost her shit. She was going to call the cops on me and get me charged personally. I told her to go for it and hung up, promptly calling the cops myself.
The cops arrived in less than ten minutes as they were in the area. I explained the situation to them, and they removed her and her 'friend' from the room. The missus clearly thought I was bluffing, and the cops had a good chuckle about that with me. I explained to them that 1) I don't bluff about things like that, and 2) I used to be a security guard with pretty good instincts. They agreed that my instincts were spot on tonight as the guy that was in the room with missus is a known felon and drug dealer. They stayed on site until missus and her 'friend' left in a taxi and while I took photos of the room for our own evidence. And work paid for a taxi for me to get home as I didn't feel safe walking home after the threats missus made against me earlier when I was telling her she had to leave. I literally live a five minute walk from work on a good day, so that's way too close for comfort.
I've written my report for work already - some habits and instincts don't die easily - in the event that missus tries anything. She didn't like being told that using somebody else's debit card without permission is, in fact, theft. She tried to claim that she had a bunch of text messages showing that the guy had given her approval, but I explained that I had to go with what he told me personally, and that she had previously tried to use somebody else's name and credit card that she was no longer allowed on the property.
"But I can pay for it all myself! You can't kick me out after I've already paid!"
"YOU didn't pay - the guy who actually owns the card paid, and he's signed documentation stating he hadn't authorized you to use it. And if you could've paid for it yourself, why didn't you?"
She had told me not to tell anybody she was staying there, which I assured her I wouldn't if somebody called and asked for her by name. But when the card owner showed up in person with the transaction showing on his bank app, knowing it was her and she was at the hotel somewhere I couldn't straight up deny she was there. I told him that I couldn't confirm she was actually staying there, nor could I provide any room information, but I could get in contact with her as he had a bag of her stuff he wanted to leave behind. She lost her shit on me, accusing me of telling him she was there and what room she was in...I explained the fact that our hotel name showed up on the transaction list on his bank app so it wasn't hard to figure out she'd at least been there, and that I had not told him one way or the other what room she was in or if she even had one, and that I could take the bag of her stuff and just keep it at the front desk for her when she was ready to pick it up. Nope. Wasn't good enough. She didn't want it.
When I let the guy know that - I hadn't let him into the lobby because my sketchy-radar was going off like mad - he said he'd already figured out what room she in because she and the guy she was with had been looking through the curtains of the room they were in (outside room), but that he was not going to stir up any trouble so he was going to go. He told me a sob story, and I felt bad for the guy but there was nothing I could do for him at that point, and advised him to file his own police report. It was after he left that missus said she was going to call the cops on me and have me charged.
She certainly didn't have the last laugh in this situation.
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