TravelingNomads

OP, we've noticed that things operate differently in different parts of the world. For example, here in Poland, we had a woman & her daughter gain entrance into our hotel suite that we had booked for an entire month. My teenage daughter was pretty freaked out tbh and the staff apologized for the mistake which appears to have been a translation issue. We've also previously had maid service walk right in without even knocking. Thankfully neither of these situations are common per se, but mistakes do happen. I'd be frustrated also so you do have my empathy, but at the same time no actual harm occurred. I think you have to pick your battles. In this situation let them give you a free room or whatever, but you've gotta just chalk it up to international travel and move on.

Prospero

What a terrible and alarming experience. All I can really add is to say it’s a reasonable expection that the room door latches secure whenever the occupant closes it. There are technical reasons for this

• Security (obviously)
• Fire and smoke separation
• Acoustic separation

If the lock mechanism fails to latch and secure the door, all of the criteria above will be compromised.

Adam1222

Given that is OPs first post, and that I, myself, have made the mistake of not shutting the door completely, I won't make the same assumption as you- particularly when the language of the post suggests otherwise.

ujean

For the last 7 years I stayed on average 50% of the nights in hotels. I work in consulting.

Again, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that everyone posting here would also assume that the door is shut, because

1. it closes with a lot of force and a loud BAM sound
2. The hotel is brand new
3. They have the newest iteration of locks that also work with digital key via Hilton App

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ujean

i joined to share this story. Had no need to talk about miles and points before.

christianj

I think the property should be mentioned here if even just to warn other travelers reading the post that the hotel might have issues with it's doors latching correctly without being forced shut. I typically check my doors but I'm sure we've all rushed into a room either to rush to the bathroom to relieve ourselves or to answer a phone or something like that and in haste just let the door close on it's own. It happens! I'm going to assume the property is in Germany based on some comments above.

Norri

That would be a pretty unsettling experience but in my experience it's not really uncommon for a hotel door to need a firm push to close properly.
I try and make sure to flip the security latch when I shut the door.
Compensation? I'd expect the night to be comped per the 100% guarantee.

EuropeanPete

Oh, so have I. I stay in hotels 250+ nights a year and I've definitely been in some rooms where I go through the normal process of opening and closing a door and find that even though a door may appear to be closed I haven't given it some extra push or handle twist and so the door is actually still open. I don't particularly blame myself for that...

Often1

99% of this is best dealt with this on the spot.

Stranger in one's room without permission in the middle of the night = Call 911 immediately. Then the front desk and whatever else you want done. If it wasn't important enough to involve law enforcement, it wasn't a big deal.

Lesson for the broader FT community? Safety & security matters. Check the door and windows / balcony as well as lights on arrival. If anything is sub par, either switch rooms or know that the defect is there.

bchandler02

Been in plenty of hotels where you had to push/pull the door a little to get it to latch - just letting it slam didn't do the trick.
Two very simple lessons here:
1) when exiting the room, check to make sure your door locked from the outside.
2) when entering your room, use the deadbolt and security latch.

Two very simple items here that could have prevented this.

I do agree hotel should refund the night per 100% satisfaction guarantee

hugolover

I don't see the property name mentioned. Can you kindly furnish us with the name and location?

mrcool1122

The OP is not a crybaby. This was an outrageous failure by the hotel, and it led to a troubling invasion which left the sleeping OP open to assault or other crime. What do you all think a hotel guest is buying when they stay at a hotel? A room, for one's exclusive use, with a locking door. It's the most fundamental, basic expectation of any consumer outside of a youth hostel. The fact that OP might have been able to investigate the door and discover the faulty latch before going to sleep does not change the fact that the hotel ultimately failed in its most basic obligation. The OP essentially got nothing for what the OP spent on that night's stay. The door did not operate as any reasonable consumer would expect: you let the door self close, it fully latches, and requires a key to open from the outside. Should have, would have, could haves are just noise. Zero fault on the OP here.

strickerj

strickerj

dave1013

I think there is an error on the part of the hotel, made during final inspection with the construction contractor (it was stated that this is a new hotel). Usually, the final inspection is conducted with, among others, hotel management in attendance. All doors should have been checked for proper operation at that time. Any irregularities should have been repaired before the contractor's work was accepted as satisfactorily completed and final payment made. My two assumptions are (1) that the construction contract required that all rooms and associated components functioned as expected following construction, and (2) that if the door failed during OP's stay, it would have failed during a final inspection. "Functioning as expected" means that a door should close and lock by itself without application of external force. If the design provided for a different type of operation, then perhaps the hotel should be required to advise all guests that room doors do not close by themselves and require action by guests to ensure they are locked.

Per the OP's edit: I feel like I should stress the fact that this is a newly constructed hotel and that the hotel employees accepted that the door is malfunctioning and they assured me that they called maintenance to have all doors checked. If true, this is a major fail on the hotel's part and might well constitute an act of negligence. "Yeah, we knew that door wasn't working like it should but we opened for business anyway, without fixing it."

The statement that the hotel had their maintenance people check all doors suggests that this was done after they opened for business, i.e., the contractor was long gone by then.

All that said, one learning point for the OP for next time is to ensure that s/he affirmatively checks the door for proper locking from both outside and inside the room, every time.