Guests whom have already paid for or made provision to pay for the guestroom are entitled to a certain degree of privacy as a condition of their peaceful occupancy by hotel law, at least until the check out time of the indicated date of departure.

This means that Do-Not-Disturb (DND) signs should be honored to the extent that it is feasible to do so. However, once the checkout time lapses on the departure date, the guest’s right of privacy ceases and hotel personnel may enter the room.

Regardless, without specific knowledge of any violations of the stay or other “just cause”, a hotelier is generally precluded from entering a DND room without the permission or invitation of the registered guest, unless the hotel has published and uniformly enacted a house policy permitting them to do so. To avoid claims of unfairness or non-applicability, house rules should be conspicuously posted and/or distributed to all guests at check-in and applicable to and enforced uniformly among all guests.