1StRanger

Recently, a manager of a Radisson hotel said that "he cannot legally kick out a paying customer if he decides to stay in his room beyond his original reservation". This happened at in Addison, TX.
So, I wonder if there are any legal provisions (in Texas or in the US in general) to back that statement.

This occurred a few months ago, when I was downgraded by Radisson in Addison,TX from a suite, purposely reserved well in advance, to a regular room, because "the previous guest decided to stay longer". The manager called us in the morning on the arrival day, and said that "a guest decided to continue his stay beyond his original reservation" he "can not legally have the guest moving out" from the room reserved for us.

There were many other things that went wrong during our stay at this hotel. And the manager did the "damage control" below the "good" mark. But all that is a separate subject. So, let's limit this discussion just to the question stated at the top.

PS. While this happened at a Radisson hotel, the situation is not limited to this chain. But I didn't find any forum for "general hotel discussions".

rtpflyer

IANAL, but I believe this is very jurisdiction dependent. In some places there is a law that does not allow hotels to evict guests who overstay their reservations without actual eviction proceedings as long as they continue paying their hotel bill (the hotel CAN usually raise the daily rate to their RACK RATE which usually encourages those guests to leave). In others, hotels have more flexibility.

Fanjet

I worked in the hotel industry fro about 15 years. We could not throw out a compliant and paying guest. However, if someone was over-staying their booked reservation (and we needed the room because of full occupancy), we would inform the guest that their rate would default to the rack rate. As the rate on their reservation was only legally valid for the duration of the booked reservation. That would usually persuade them to begin packing up their belongings.

On the other hand, if they still remained and we had to "walk" a new guest because of it, we at least would capture a high amount from their rack room rate to cover the cost of the walk.

writerguyfl

The answer to the question does depend on location. In the hotels in which I worked, we could evict a guest without involving a third party (like the police or court system).

That said, in the 11 years I was in hotel operations, we never evicted a guest who overstayed their reservation. The potential problems involved outweighed the benefits of getting the room back. We did, however, change the rate to rack as other folks noted.

1StRanger

Yes, I understand that the laws can be different in different jurisdictions. (That's why I mentioned the location). And yes, the switch to the rack rate is what I'd expect hotels doing if they want to push out the overstaying customer during full occupancy.

That raises some logical questions/conclusions in my mind:
1. Did that manager switch to the rack rate? The hotel was not full. It's just they had no suites left.
I suspect the guest not leaving would indicate they probably that was not done. But probably my rate was lower than that guest's.

2. A few years ago, for the weekend of Formula-1 in Austin, TX, all hotels within 1 hour drive were booked solid 5 months ahead. And at that point, the few (2-3) hotels that still had a few rooms available were asking the rack rate (even though it seemed it could've been way over that). I remember something like Super-8 or RedRoof Inn asking way over $200 close to $300 for a simple room. At some point close to the event people were happy to pay even the rack rate.
So, the scheme to get that would be to arrive 1-2 days before the event, while the rooms are still available, and overstay. I wonder what would the hotel do in that case.
(Austin seems to have insufficient hotel capacity during such big events, so, I suspect that a similar situation happens annually during SXSW.)

Often1

Even if a property may legally toss a customer, it's a mess to do so. Far easier to jack the rate to the rack rate (which can be 10x what most of us think of us as the "standard" non-discounted rate) and walk the guest who is stuck in the lobby.

writerguyfl

I suppose stranger things have happened, but the chances that a FT member knows the hotel eviction laws of Addison, TX are pretty low. No clue if it's in there, but you could check Addison's city ordinances:

https://www.municode.com/library/tx/..._of_ordinances

I can't imagine any hotel manager is going to tell you any information that would answer that question. I certainly wouldn't have discussed that back when I worked in hotels.

Thankfully, most people in our society aren't complete jerks. So, it's not really a situation that happens frequently. I think it might have happened twice in the 11 years I was in hotel operations.

craigthemif

Assuming that the electronic key card is programmed until the end of the reservation, wouldn't it be rather inconvenient to leave the room thereafter? The front desk would have to reissue a key?

And one could easily have checked in using a low limit credit card so, unless the hotel processes a charge each day to confirm the guest is still "paying", it would be rather easy to run up a large bill that never gets paid, before absconding in the middle of the night or something...

Luckily most of our society prefer dreaming up such schemes on the internet rather than actually doing it!

Fanjet

Yes. Their key should not work. However, that is when the guest is notified of the change in terms-- when they go to get their key renewed.Every night (after the audit run), the hotel runs an over-the-limit credit report for all of the guests. And an additional credit authorization will be made to cover the cost of the anticipated final bill. Moreover, no hotel (which follows procedure) would extend the stay of a guest-- particularly on over-stay-- without getting an additional credit authorization.