Walked in on... Naked
 

Was in my room this evening, a couple walks in... The Marriott I am staying in accidentally gave other guests my room.

What to do?

A. I don't appreciate being seen by strangers while I don't have clothes on
B. If I wasn't in my room at the time, they would have had full access to all of my belongings

I am lifetime plat... Never had this one happen. Any suggestions?

Opposite happened to me. Front desk gave me the key to a room which was occupied. Nobody in there, but if I wasn't honest I could have made off with their belongings.

Amazon sells door stops $12.00 for 2 of them,

Happened to me once on 50 years...

Operyland Nashville, had the chain in the door...

This is why I always knock a few times upon entering my hotel room.

I also get in the habit of using the chain or the security bar on my door at night for this very reason.

So this is a common occurance?

RE: chain and doorstop. While I am only 29, I always think about "what would happen if I had a heart attack or ______ (fill in the blank with many medical conditions). I prefer to keep it accessible while I am by myself.

Should I ask the Marriott for anything?

This honestly happens way too often. I've personally entered occupied rooms twice last year myself and have had someone trying to get in my room once all within one year. I make sure I always use the lock and chain when I'm in my room but doesn't help in the event I'm not there and they walk off with my stuff.

I've notice this happens when I tend to check in early and my guess is they pre assign the room (perhaps through mobile check in or something) and end up giving me the pre assigned room.

I wouldn't "ask them for anything" but I would let them know what happened and voice your displeasure and I would imagine they will provide a goodwill gesture in return. I find it more effective though when you don't demand compensation.

Sheraton Toronto, I check in and when I enter the room, two hotel employees are at it in bed.

Radisson Ottawa (now a Marriott), I check in but the room is already occupied by a woman who believes I'm trying to break in.

True stories.

It happened to me at a different chain that I had status for that I'll not mention here.

I had a family of four walk in on me. Their children were horrified when they ran in. 10 minutes later the front desk agent came walking in because she probably didn't believe the family. 10 minutes later the super did the same exact thing. I was more or less furious cause they could've atleast called before.

I now deadbolt and chain my doors when I'm in my room.

I did get 40k points and calls from HQ and the property apologizing.

It happens a lot more than gets reported here. I always set the locks when I am in the room, alone or not. Should there be an event demanding access, the property can bypass all the locks and chains if needed. Just better for keeping the unwanted intrusions down. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do if you are not in the room. Best not to leave temptation out just in case. :(

Do let the FDC/FDM know it happened. Don't go demanding anything. You might be surprised what they may offer.

While not ideal, rooms can get assigned to guests that are already occupied. Over many years of travel I've had it happen a few times on both sides (my entering or them entering). On the former I head back down to the front desk, explain the room is occupied, they're usually mortified they gave me a room they thought was empty, and re-assign me another one. On the latter sometimes I've been clothed; sometimes I've been naked. I've learned to just throw the deadbolt when I'm in the room. That also keeps housekeeping out if they do a brief knock & start to enter right away.

I've never asked for compensation.

Agree.

Agree. Any hotel can get into a room if they need to, whether it be a master override or taking the door off. Whether it be another guest, minibar or engineer folk, I always have the deadbolt on when I'm in the room. I also make sure to use the hotel safe for valuables or laptop/tablet, etc, if I'm not going to be in the room.

Don't demand compensation. You may get it; you may not. Chalk it up to a learning experience to bolt your door. Presumably at 29 you won't be in danger of a heart attack, etc.

Cheers.

Happened once in 50 years, not bad, also seen a lock not working...

I still use the chain....but hope for a cute maid...

We found our assigned room occupied at the LAX Marriott years ago. The front desk was surprised and apologetic. They upgraded us to a suite. Fortunately no nakedness was involved.

A few months ago I got the keys to an occupied room - at 1:00 AM check-in. Woke the guy up, we were both pissed, we both got 15,000 points for the screw-up.

Why didn't you have your door bolted / chained? They couldn't have walked in accidentally with a normal key had you done that? (But emergency services, perhaps assisted by the front desk, still could have.)

Anyway, I've been on the other end of this several times over the past decade (in different hotel programs, because it has nothing to do with any specific hotel program), where I've been issued keys to already-occupied rooms. That's with about 170 nights (and 100+ stays) in hotels each year.

Since I do bolt & secure the chain always (unless once in a whille I forget), I can't tell you how many times I might have been on the receiving end had I not done that. I've definitely at least once been on the almost-receiving end when someone was trying to get in my door but couldn't because of my deadbolt, and it turned out that they had been issued a key to the room I was already in. (I heard them trying to get in my door, and opened it to ask what was going on.)

Yes, it has also happened to me (both ways).

The big question (to me) is why does this continue to occur? Shouldn't there be technology in place to prevent this? Do we have to resort to the "squeaky wheel" method? Maybe everyone who experiences this should vow that we will report it - every time.

Having worked in the industry before, if there is a true emergency that requires immediate entrance to a locked room, certain managers on every property have a special master key encoded that can override the deadbolt lock. Also, a lot of hotels are getting rid of the chains for the magnetic L shape latch. While they are good to prevent you from accidentally keeping your room door unlocked and open to anyone, there is actually a way to undo those (we had those magically flip when the doors would close and the room was vacant).

Using a door stop like that, while may be a safety thing, isn't a smart idea in case of an emergency. Better to use that on connecting doors, but those are hard for someone to tamper with.

As long as you use your deadbolt properly, the only person who can override that deadbolt when activated is normally the GM of the property.

It happens occasionally. Humans make mistakes.

I had a room assigned a couple of days ago where the front desk initially told me 307, then, no, it's 304. Of course the key opened 307 not 304, so I called the desk, but also put a note on the door stating it was occupied as well as hanging the DND door sign.

And of course you lock the door.

I've walked in on and been walked in on once. Not great times for either occurrence.

I always flip the deadbolt and secondary lock when I enter a room for more than 5 minutes. I know there's ways to get the bars/chains/etc open, because it's happened to me on the other end when nobody was in the room. (check youtube, it's quite easy).

FCO Courtyard 2008. 10 PM Check-in after a long day of driving from northern Italy. Enter first room: Occupied. Back to front desk for new room assignment after saying YES to the question: "Are you sure it was occupied?" Enter second room: Occupied. Back to front desk to repeat the first conversation and to get another new room assignment. We insist that a manager check the third room before it's assigned to us. Third time was a charm.

From Marriott on site: Some "oops" statements but nothing more. We were glad finally to get a room ready for us and then headed to bar.

About two decades ago, arriving and checking in late, I opened the door to my room and walked in wearing a coat and tie on a heavy metal hair band hanging out. Obviously, front desk gave me the wrong key, so I apologized and left. I am sure I should have known who they were, but I didn't. I thought it was funny, but the band was pretty ticked off at the hotel.

I haven't worked in hotel operations in some time, so I'll defer to anyone with more recent working knowledge. In absence of that, here's my understanding of the issue.

Door locks are dumb. Each lock has a sequence of codes that will open the door. When a key is inserted (or sent via RFID), it looks to see if the key matches the current code and whether the "valid through" date/time has been reached. If both of those checks fail, the lock will look to see if the key matches one of the next codes in the sequence.

If guests never departed early, switched rooms, or lost keys, this problem would largely disappear, as the lock would simply fail to open until that "valid through" date/time was reached. As that's not reality, the only option is for the lock to open as long as the next code in the sequence is correct.

There are going to be times when someone makes a mistake. A Front Desk employee might a mistake. Or, perhaps a guest tells the Front Desk she is checking out a day early but decides to stay. If her keys still works, she might think that she doesn't need to tell anyone that she's staying. There are plenty of other scenarios.

The only way I know to completely stop the problem would be to connect every door lock to the key system. One option would be wi-fi. Obviously, that's a horrible idea because it's prone to hacking. The second option would be to hard-wire every door lock. For some hotels, doing that would require miles of wiring. It would be a very big expense to solve the problem.

Without question, report this every time it happens. It's possible that someone working at the hotel is skipping a step or hasn't been properly trained. But, sometimes hotels can do everything perfectly and the problem will still happen. Hotels know this is a problem...it's just not big enough to warrant spending large sums of cash to fix.

My advice: Always engage the deadbolt.

Ok, it has to be asked... Did the person walking in stick around for a show or turn around & run screaming from the room? :p :D

Cheers.

I ran!!! still not completely over it as I somtimes get these mental blocks............................................ .................................................. ..........................................what was i saying?

A couple of thoughts ... First as a Lifetime Platinum you have obviously stayed in allot of Hotels over a lot of years (even if you are only 29). It doesn't make it okay but this does happen !! I guess this is a learning experience that confirms the lock/latch really works and in this case would have prevented your unwanted visitor ...

No need. Marriott has keys that will by-pass deadbolts. Anyone's shoulder can bypass the chain.

Happened to me as well at a certain hotel owned by a US presidential candidate. Was on the reservation with my father who has the same name and had checked in before me. I come to check in and get my key. When I walked in the room, nobody was there, but there was luggage that didn't look my father's, and a laptop that definitely wasn't his. I walked down to the front desk and it turns out there is another guest with the same name as me and my father and I got a key to that person's room.

I've walked in at least 3 times or more on people in a room. One time was with a nice lady who had just gotten out of the shower. Needless to say she was not pleased. I've never had anyone walk in, but have had people hit the deadbolt. I routinely lock the deadbolt and chain the door just for this sort of thing.

I'm curious as to how you figured that out?:)

I wondered the same thing. Did they exchange numbers? Lol

Correct on all things but add in usually more than one override for the deadbolt. I was a front desk sup at a hotel when in college and I had an override key. Each manager had one and then we also had one behind the front desk in a "break in case of emergency" case which would send an alarm notice to the GM. That was in case no managers were on site and their was a major emergency like the place burning down or something.

As for the chain locks and magnetic locks, the hotels have a tool. I remember having to do this multiple times when little kids were left in the room and the parents returned to find they couldn't get in their rooms. Basically you open the door with just about 1-2cm and the tool slips in and can grab the lock and pull it back. Really easy to do.

Lastly the rooms with the slide cards or RFID cards are also designed to be override by a special Allen wrench tool in the event the batteries die in the door locks.

I would never worry about an emergency and them needing to get into the room as the hotel can quickly get the access needed even with a deadbolt and such on

The GM emailed me later in the day, after I checked out. We exchanged a few emails and he mentioned that the other guy got 15,000 points.

I walked in on someone at the Courtyard Pasadena a few months go. When I returned to the front desk clerk, he told me it was an issue with online check-in, and that "if she [the woman I walked in on] complains, we have no choice but to give her a full refund." The interesting part to me was that it required her to be proactive to receive compensation. The clerk handed me 4 breakfast vouchers.

You should have left her a note telling her.;)

Happened to me at a HGI in Houston. Had connecting rooms booked for the kids. We dumped our stuff in one of them and opened the connecting door wide in both rooms and left for dinner. When we returned there was a little old couple who had been checked into our connecting room. They were sitting on their beds and looked so surprised when my kids came bounding into the room. I still wonder what they thought about the open door to another room.

The hotel was beyond apologetic and gave me 60K(!!) points and this was three years ago. I was more than happy.

Interesting lesson. Not the first thread w/ this topic either.

Lesson is: Lock your door ... like you lock your front door at home.

Happened to me once at a Hilton, I was in bed at midnight and someone walked in, scared the hell out of me. I told the front desk and they offered me...500 points :rolleyes:

Now I make sure I'm using the chain/bolt.

Sorry that it happened - it can certainly be a shock. I had a housekeeper come in before 8, while I was in the shower, and start work on my room - evidently not noticing the shower was running. Doubly awkward, because you are naked and standing between her (in this case) and the exit.

All the consultants on the team laughed at me and said it was obviously my fault for not barricading the door.

In your case, I'd recommend telling management that only your future spouse is allowed to see you naked, and that your dowry will be negatively impacted by at least one goat. Then demand that they give you a goat. A full transcript of the conversation would be appreciated.

If someone walked in on me naked, I would demand compensation... for the other guy!