Etiquette on letting people into the lounge...
 

I am sure all of us have run into this, as we are about to enter the lounge you see people waiting outside either knocking on the lounge door or looking at you with relief hoping you will let them in.

What do you do?

Tell 'em my access level allows just me to enter. Suggest that they go downstairs to the front desk to get their own access ... and if their access level is greater than mine, they can guest me in next time.

Ignore them. That is absurd. You have access, you go in. You don't, you certainly don't try and beg your way in. You forgot key? Go get a new one. Less of an issue or discomfort for me that could not be.

Unless you are staff at the property, it's not your job to play doorman. There is a reason why the lounge has keyed access and if they had access, their key would permit them entry.

There have been multiple times my key has not worked because it was not coded properly at check in. I would generally assume the person at the door is in the same situation absent some statement to the contrary. At some hotels the club staff is able to remotely recode without the guest slogging back downstairs. Which if the guest was me I really would not want to do if the FDC had erred and I was arriving just before close.

Usually people follow me in though...I don't slam the door in their face....

"My reservation includes club access for one person. You'll have to get your own access from the front desk. Thanks."

Then slam the door in their face.

People who piggyback into a club are very well aware that they're doing something wrong.

Let them in. Its not my job to enforce lounge access and slamming a door into someones face is just not nice.
Comical to see how many ppl on ft fear that some one gets smth for free.;)

I close the door firmly behind me whenever I see someone lurking or tying to tailgate. If they're entitled to lounge access, their keycard will open the door. If not, and they're not willing to go back to the front desk to pay extra for lounge access, I have no desire to help some stranger commit theft.

When hotels' costs of operating lounges go up, either the hotel raises rates in general, they raise the delta for rooms with lounge access, they cut back on lounge offered get, they reduce the lounge's operating hours, or they totally close the lounge. All of these are bad for elites.

This post should be auto-posted in every thread where there is a rant about a lack of proper food & drink or any other poor condition in a lounge. No one extra stale muffin makes a difference any more than any other piece of petty thievery. But, lounges are designed for projected patronage. If one has access and facilitates the thievery, don't expect the lounge to be larger or better stocked next time.

It's why we can't have nice things.

I'm at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress now and piggybacking is a huge issue. I see both I see both sides of the argument. One side being that it's not our job to be the enforcers and the other side being that too many piggybackers will impact the quality of the lounge eventually. I would much rather the hotel enforce access, rather than rely on me as a guest to do it.

I would say I’m more diligent at a property like Grand Cypress for lurkers. The reason being because of the lack of an elite floor. Compared to Grand Hyatt Tampa where you can’t even access the floor without a keycard. I did notice that at Grand Cypress the lounge attendants are very mindful of making sure the door is shut between each guest.

I also will adjust my behavior depending on if the person clearly has a card that designates lounge acces (black card at GH TPA) and their card is just not working as opposed to someone just standing near the door.

This whole discussion is why I much prefer the entire club floors be secured/key carded from the elevator/stairwells themselves as well as the club itself key carded. I probably wouldn't be confrontational with anyone purposefully, but I would deny if asked and tell them to talk to the front desk, and I would require them to push their way in right behind me as I would actively close the door behind me if they are at least 20 feet behind (vs. holding it open) -- if they do follow close and confidently, I probably wouldn't close it on their face though as again I wouldn't want to be confrontational. If lounge access isn't controlled, I agree with those above that the issue is that all of us with access have lower quality lounges. If someone is banging on the door or actively lurking, I would ask them if they needed help and hear their story. If anything sounds like they don't belong, I wouldn't likely let them in, being as nice as possible. I don't have the authority to let people in, the way I see it.

When I stayed at the Grand Cypress in January, I had a room directly next to the club and didn't ever see lurkers. There was a dance competition in the convention rooms downstairs though and what I DID see was large groups of people going in together all the time (usually, 6 dance moms with 12 children in tow). I really doubt everyone in these groups had legitimate access based on their grouping together and how many people were in the lounge, and I was glad to see them gone the last few days of my stay. They made the otherwise terrific club rather terrible to be in (waaaaaaay loud and crowded, and it wasn't the kids at all, but the dance parents that were loud. Many of them were downright disrepectful and rude to the staff too. I even got into an cursed argument with a dance mom in the elevator who blamed me for the reason the elevator didn't stop at her floor - as though somehow I can reset the elevator to spite her - overall what a miserable group of people they were).