Grand Hyatt DC - strangers in my room at 4:15am
 

Would love advice on a new low any stay anywhere for me! Insane! This is my new worst experience at a hotel!
As far as I can tell, the hotel gave my key to another party. Apparently, they were guests of the DC Regency Hyatt in the same number room, but the front desk didn't check ID when giving them a duplicate key to my Grand Hyatt DC Suite.
I was just awakened at 4:15am by several (20+) rings on the doorbell of my suite to find a drunk lady (drunk #1) and security guard at my door. When I open the door, the lady goes ballistic, screaming about her room with a security guard next to her. I ask what the hell is going on, ask why they are ringing the bell with the privacy sign on the door and that there are small children sleeping in the bedroom. The woman security guard, who begins to say, "I have this" isn't letting me know what the situation is. She doesn't say she is with Hyatt security, but rather tells me she is an officer, showing me her badge and handcuffs. I ask her what her name is several times - which she doesn't give me. I close the door and call down to the operator. I can hear the drunk woman yelling "you give my room to someone else!" She is soon escorted down the hall, now screaming about the "United States of Syria" and is clearly being escorted out.
While I'm on the phone with the operator - asking what the hell is going on - drunk lady #2 uses a key and bursts into the room. the operator is now screaming for security to get up there and that she will stay on the line with me. I run and bolt the door (which admittedly, I forgot to do after the first disturbance.)
After a few minutes, I make sure there is a do not disturb placed on my phone so the kids can sleep and I won't be receiving calls all morning since they thankfully slept through this entire ordeal - very nice large suite with a door between the bedroom and large living/dining room - give my cell number to the operator and let her know I'd like a call for someone by 10am the next morning letting me know what is going on, ask her to let security or whoever else is on their way not to ring the bell, but knock lightly and thank her.
Honestly, at that point, the adrenaline subsided and I had a little cry that my family was safe.
Luckily, I had enough time to make myself presentable after the cry since after 15 more minutes, I called down to ask if security or a manager was coming. After half an hour, the very young manager on duty shows up with the original security guard and not very much to say - not even an apology.(btw this means they never sent security up to my room after the operator heard a stranger break into my room!) Knowking this is going nowhere, I tell him I expect a call from the head of security and GM at 10am. The security guard is more concerned with defending herself than anything I have to say and I say goodnight to both of them after telling them how disappointed I am in the situation and their handling of it.
As I'm writing up this account, I realize that I should have the front desk change all my keys, so I'm now waiting for someone to deliver those.
Does anyone here have advice on how I should handle this, what I should expect the hotel to do?

Unbelievable.... I would expect a very substantial apology and some compensation, like a free night/stay.
But I would also stick to the facts, being at the door is not exactly the same as being in your room.

the second person used a key and entered my room.
edited to add - used a key the front desk apparently gave her without checking her ID to open my locked door and enter my room after her friend had been at my door screaming, ringing the doorbell and escorted down by security.

edited again to add - sorry if I wasn't clear in the initial post - was very tired and upset - there were 2 drunk women, 1 was with a security guard when I opened the door - which is why I opened the door - the security guard later told me she had come across the woman ringing the bell and cursing while doing her rounds. The second woman showed up 5 minutes after the security guard had escorted the first one off the floor, was completely alone and had been apparently issued a key from someone at my hotel who did not ask for ID - used it to enter my room. Even though I was on the phone with the hotel operator when the second woman came in, it took 25-30 minutes and a couple requests for anyone to show up.
Bottom line - the front desk at some point issued her my key, which she used to get into my room.

Mods, please lock thread or change the title, which is obviously wrong....

What do you expect the hotel to do?

Nobody gave a stranger a key to your room and the drunk person was escorted by a security officer working for the hotel, who rang the door bell twenty times, probably over several minutes...

The Grand DC is used to way more important persons, who really need added levels of security, so aside from waking you up, because a drunk person confused two hotels, there is hardly anything the hotel could have done differently...

Sh*t happens...

The initial story seems to have been incomplete... It seems a key was issued to someone who had no right to it.

If there had only been someone at the door accompanied by security in the midle of the night (I however cannot imagine why there would have been..) that would have required some explaining and a big apology. Issuing keys to someone not registered should require even more.

But that's why it's also good to include all the facts and leave out speculation when asking for advice.

From the drunk person or from Hyatt?

Any idea what a hotel should do in such cases?

A security officer employed by the hotel, who showed his badge opened the door after nobody answered the door for minutes and after a drunk person claimed it is her room. If the person claimed that she is the only one occupying the room, the phone is not an option as well...

Standard procedure calls for somebody coming with you to the room to get any kind of ID proving your claim that you 'belong' to the room...

Something like this happens on Miami Beach probably 100 times every weekend night, because key cards are lost, minds are lost and therefore people are lost...

The Grand DC ( again, quite used to high profile guests....) applied SOP and woke up a guest, who overreacted, which is somehow easy to understand after a lot of violent killings in 2012 in the US.

If you see how people react in the US after a bang e.g. from a car in the streets and compare it with Europe, it is easy to understand the reaction, but again there is hardly anything a hotel can do differently aside from not letting drunk people into hotels anymore on weekend nights...

Does not really sound like a plan...

To bring the thread back on topic: Personally, I would ask for compensation in the form of GP points while on property. If you don't get a satisfactory resolution, then complain to Customer Care.

Glad that you and your family are safe. I imagine it may have been quite scary for your children to have a hysterical, drunk person at the door had they been awake.

And although I already had the impression from your other posts, this makes it official.... (Fill in the blanks).

A hotel is not just the room, it's also the expectancy for some peace and quite during the night. And when things happen, some common sense in dealing with it.

And yes, sometimes some form of compensation is in order. Nothing to do with the US and their sometimes stupid claim culture.

But it should start with an apology, which I'm sure it will.

Oh my!!!

OK, trying to make sense of the original post which is very unclear.

While I understand being woke up in the middle of the night by the disturbance at the door snd the door bell, it is unclear where the guest room was actually entered. This is the reason the hotel provides a dead bolt and often secondary bolt/lock. If utilized, virtually no one is getting in the room without firce.

I agree this was an inconvenience and traumatic to some travellers. The hotel will ptobably respond with a comp night and maybe some points. You deserve this for the inconvenience and presumed security lapse.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

EDITED TO ADD...

The repost makes things a little clearer.

While I agree that this is a disturbing experience, it's by no means the worst experience anyone has ever had in a hotel. The drunk who can't even remember her own room number (and therefore tried to get into the wrong room) meant you no harm. Yes, it's disturbing, but let's keep it in perspective: it was overall a mistake. Be glad that nobody is intentionally trying to ruin your day.

I have had similar experiences. They are VERY rare. I've probably spent 150 to 200 nights a year in hotels for at least 20 years, and I'd say that such experiences have happened maybe two or three times in all. So it's VERY rare.

Looking on the bright side, expect all kinds of compensation from the hotel. They normally do anything to make it right, after they goof up like this. Please at least give them a _chance_ to make it right. Someone came into my room years ago while I was, ahem, not exactly sleeping but let's just say I was enjoying quality time with a person of the opposite gender. :) That hotel apologized profusely, and I ended up staying there for free every time, for about the next four trips to that city (until the hotel changed ownership).

I know that if you had a choice between "the incident" or "compensation" you would prefer that the incident never happen. But you really no longer have that choice. Please at least give the hotel a chance to make things right. This incident is among the worst mistakes that a hotel can make, and the hotel is well aware of this. This isn't the first time something like this has happened and it won't be the last. The hotel will do their best to make things right. I think the hotel's reaction will actually exceed your expectations.

As the OP is fairly new to this forum, could we please at least attempt some courtesy in our responses?

monoflight - what happened was scary and startling, and it does not surprise me that your first post was somewhat unclear. I have had similar situations occur, and felt as you do.

The reality is that you have paid for a room, with the expectation of privacy from other guests. A hotel handing out keys to occupied rooms has a front desk issue that needs to be corrected at once. Unlike another poster, I beleive there is a great deal this hotel could have done differently!


These are my suggestions:
1) clarify what actually did happen, and put in in a logical order so that you can rationally discuss it. Make notes if you have to. If you truly beleive compensation is due you, think about what that might be. Points? $$$ off the bill?

2) Call the front desk, and ask to speak to the MOD or GM this AM. Be calm, but firmly articulate that you expect a call ASAP, and nothing less is acceptable.

3) When the Manager calls you, go over the situation, using your notes. Again, be calm, and discuss how the situation made you feel as a Hyatt guest. If you are planning to ask for compensation, now is the time - in a courteous way, of course. I would also acknowledge (as you did) that you should have deadbolted your door before the 2nd incident, but did not.

Were I you, I would not ask for compensation, but see what is offered, IMO, you will be offered compensation without having to ask.

I bet you no longer need it, but one reminder - ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS keep that deadbolt on!

If I understand you correctly, you used the bolt on the door, after drunk lady one tried to enter your room, but still drunk lady two was able to get into the room?

What did you do with drunk lady two?

Or did she use brute force to open the door?

They will not see who used it, but they will know who issued it. They will interogate the lock and show all key activity.

Wow, this thread sure went into the garbage fast. :rolleyes:

It's unbelievable what happened to the OP - even more that an apology was not issued immediately by the night manager. I hope the OP will keep us updated with any resolution. It's a huge breach of security to just arbitrarily issue keys and some of the hotel industry's worst incidents (and corresponding lawsuits/settlements) have arisen due to this practice, so every property manager should be very concerned about security in this regard.

If I had only known the mention of any compensation would have triggered some of these reactions.

But an apology without any other action only goes so far... most of them are without any substance and not even meant. Unprofessional behavior by a security guard is one thing, drunken persons at your door in the middle of the night that are not even guests and have gotten a key is quite another.

But the lack of any excuse the moment it happened is the most disturbing.