Another helping of hotel horror stories

[figgyx]

As previously stated I have worked at various hotels on the night audit shift for over 20 years and have amassed quite the collection of stories. Here are some more for your reading pleasure.

I worked at one hotel that was a good 45 minutes from the airport and we get a call one night from an airline that had stranded quite a few passengers. If they were calling us it meant that they were in serious trouble. Either they had already sent so many people to the hotels near the airport or there were no rooms available. We were now being sent over 40 people that were already angry about being stranded in Detroit. What is really sucky about the situation is that these people yell at us despite the fact we had nothing to do with what happened at the airport. I can understand being in a bad mood because the airline messed up but why are you yelling at people who are just trying to put you to bed for the night?

I am constantly amazed by the number of people who just expect us to make keys to rooms that are not in their name. We simply just can't do it. It would be a very serious breach of security if we just allowed someone access to a room that did not belong to them. We don't know who you are. We have to refuse even if your last name is the same. One father of the bride wanted us to just give him a key to his daughter's room and we had to refuse. He got so angry. He tells me that he is paying for the room so just give him a key. I tell him that if we go to dinner together and he is paying for my meal does that give him the right to eat my food? Same principle.

At this one hotel I worked at we would get an annual call from this woman looking for her husband who worked in our banquet department. She married him so he could get his green card and she would always call us and demand to speak to him even if he was not working. We used to put her on speaker phone and us two auditors and the security staff would gather around for her rantings. We would eventually have to hang up on her and she would call back. This would go on for an hour at least. We always knew it was her calling back because she had classical music on in the background and we would hear it first before she started in on us again.

[Merriweather]

I am constantly amazed by the number of people who just expect us to make keys to rooms that are not in their name. We simply just can't do it. One father of the bride wanted us to just give him a key to his daughter's room and we had to refuse. He got so angry. He tells me that he is paying for the room so just give him a key.

A very good policy, IMO. I actually read on another forum of a bride and groom who went to their room (honeymoon suite, no less) after the wedding, only to find the bride's parents there - her father had decided his room was too tiny, gone to the desk for a key, and swapped rooms with the newlyweds

[HotelMinion]

Giving a key AFTER checkin is very tricky, if the guest does not have thier ID with them. 99.9% if them in my exp do not. I get a LOT of those. "Oops I left my key in my room. No I do not have my ID. What do YOU MEAN I CANNOT HAVE ANOTHER ?!?!?!?!?!" Etc. 99.9% of the time I give it. Manager said I have to use my best judgement, and try to tell if the person is telling the truth. WTF? I'm not a lie detector nor am I a psychologist! I've never had a prob with it (knock on wood), except once this woman was drunk off her ass and had no ID and telling me that she locked herself out. For once I refused, cuz she was drunk. "Well I guess I'll just have to SLEEP in the HALLWAYS, then! Gimme a blanket and pillow!" She stormed around. I called my manager and asked what I do, he said go ahead and givei t to her. So it turned out she was telling the truth but how was I to know with no ID? Anyhoo, before people who don't work in a hotel say, OMG how could u give a key to someone who has no ID? that's what the deadbolts are for. Soooo many people don't bother with deadbolts. Sorry, I'm trained at the auditor, not security. Blame the GM for not hiring security not me. :P

[LillFilly]

Being security at a hotel I had to deal with a lot of people who locked themselves out of their rooms without ID. What the desk had me do was, verify the name on the room, let them in, let them get their wallet, then check the ID. Cause some locked themselves out in their underwear. Or less.

Ah, the classic 'give me a room key or else!' Yes, because we want a random person entering our guests' rooms. It's for THEIR protection, yet they bitch and moan. Reminds me of when I was accused of letting some random guy into a guest's room. Actually, I had noted the guest had propped his door open on my earlier rounds; not my fault someone wandered into the door you left open. When we recommended he not do that, I found it still propped open on my next round. What do you do, ehe?