Originally Posted by applecow

So I just finished up a stay at the Le Meridien Phuket in Thailand and went through a fairly interesting ordeal with them. Cliff noted as much as I could, but a lot went on in a short stay

tl;dr - hotel used cctv to monitor my room, held my bags hostage and would not deliver, same check-in person literally chased down couple hundred feet while i'm loading luggage into car to leave for airport, would not let me leave property until i looked at bill, they charged me for the other guests that i specifically told them not to link (saw purchases that possibly invaded their privacy)

Situation:
- three platinum guests (including me) booked three rooms across 4 days
- two checking in the day after me
- six total guests across three rooms
- me and my guest arrived on day of check-in
- two other guests who were due to arrive a day later arrived same day as me due to travel arrangements

Check-in
- left bags with bellmen
- checked-in per usual and provided two passports (my gf and I)
- was told room wasn't ready and had to wait (no issue here, I was a bit early)
- walked back to my group and we wanted a room asap because we just got off an early morning flight
- went back to check-in to get another room that was ready
- badgered with questions on how many people staying, I explained situation, and they would not let me leave check-in until I gave them names of the other people checking in tomorrow
- I refuse because one was on honeymoon, have arrangements made (suite upgrades), didn't need them to be in a connecting room, give them privacy etc
- eventually was forced told them four guests and the names of the others checking in tomorrow

Bags held hostage
- get a call 20 minutes after getting in room and was asked which of the bags were mine
- they refused to deliver any of the bags that weren't mine
- told me "your guests can pick them up when they leave...please let us know if you need help arranging transportation"
- I said that's stupid and to deliver everything
- go back and forth for a few minutes and they eventually deliver

CCTV monitoring
- get another call about an hour after getting in room
- friends go out and come back after buying food
- they said "we saw on CCTV that four guests have been coming in and out of your room...please come to front desk by 3 pm to clear this up. we can arrange transportation for them if they don't have a room or you can purchase another room"
- sounds like they are actively monitoring the outside of my door
- I go to get clarification and they are nonchalant about the whole monitoring (or spying) thing
- tells me "sir we looked up your account and you have over X points, you can just book another room"
- after talking to three people and fuming at this point, the director of rooms finally says that it is okay for one night
- tells me that I "misunderstood" their intent on using CCTV to watch my room

check-out
- asked hotel's transportation desk for a car
- car arrives and I'm loading luggage
- check-in guy comes running at me asking what room I'm in (he obviously knows); I confirm my room
- tells me I have unresolved charges (I didn't purchase anything or use minibar)
- I check and they tell me the charges were to the other room my friends were staying in
- I am furious because i'm an hour away from airport and two hours away from take-off and he just wasted about 5-10 minutes of my precious time for something I specifically said to not do at check-in (link our stays)
- saw purchases that I would've personally wanted to keep private

Sorry for the long post, but this felt like an egregious situation that I've never experienced in over 700 nights in hotels (500+ with Starwood). Security cameras are fine, but it was the targeted monitoring that scared me. I understand I'm subject to being on camera and if I destroyed hotel property, they can use the film against me, but I don't think this was a warranted case of proactive monitoring (are there ever?). I can't imagine this is the first time four people stayed in a room there and I wonder if those guests were all treated the same way.