My boss is planning to fly from London to Houston on Friday for the weekend to surprise his wife who is work there for 2 weeks. She's staying at a Marriott and he lands at 2pm on Friday and thinks that the hotel will let him into her room to surprise her. I said I'd be very surprised if the hotel even acknowledges she is staying there!

I know there was an episode of Friends where Monica bursts in on Chandler when he is staying in a hotel, and my boss is a Friends fan, but I don't think this is likely to happen in real life!

Does anyone have any examples where they have tried anything similar?

Personally I think he should tell her the day before so she can arrange a key for him at least, otherwise he'll be sitting in the lobby for a few hours (or more if she goes out for the evening before coming back!! )

I'd be very surprised if the hotel allowed Mr. Boss to do something like that. Liability issues aside, the hotel would be setting itself up for some awful PR if it were to start letting strangers into its guests' rooms.

If he has access to her MR #, he can have a female call the MR elite line, punch in the wife's number, then ask to have him added to the reservation as another guest. Then he will be able to get a key from the front desk.

Make sure she is not watching Shark porn

Ooooo...I think this is one of those "Ask yourself if you really want to do this" things...

Just kidding, not making any judgement calls!

Are you all serious? While we all may like to think that our rooms are ultra-secure, I don't think hubby will have any difficulty getting a key to his wife's room. We've all locked ourselves out of our rooms before, and how tough was it to get another key? Heck, I'm alarmed at the number of times I'm able to get a second key without even showing ID. A simple "Mr. Meatloaf in 306; I locked my key in my room" and the front desk clerk is punching in a key code for a new card. With an ID with the same last name that is on the reservation, I don't see him having any trouble getting a room key.

You may want to tip off the wife regardless. You never know what might be going on while she's on the road, and it'd be a shame for hubby to walk into a situation tha would disappoint him... whether its as simple as an unkept room, or something more significant.

What you mean like watching shark porn?!

Thanks for the ideas (top marks, gardener, except she's not a MR member!). He's booked the day off work (but not the flight when I left) and still deciding whether to tell her or not. I think, like a few others here, prudence is wise and best he advise her of his arrival. However I think he wants to make the big romantic gesture with the surprise. He could do it however by calling from the plane on his way (she has her mobile with her thankfully) which I think is the safer bet time wise (ie on the plane when she wakes up and is still in the hotel and can make arrangements for a pass, not at the office).

More suggestions welcome and I'll post the outcome if it happens!

The bigger question as it pertains to this board is why the hell she isn't a MR member if she is staying somewhere for TWO WEEKS.

You got that right. It never entered my mind that she might not be a MR member! I phrased the question, "If he has access to her MR number". What a collossal waste of points!

The reason is they're stupid. Well my boss is and by default she must be if she married him! Despite working with me for the past few years they've failed to join any ff program despite actually paying for J class travel themselves now and then!

I told him to be the romantic and surprise her. Sure, the hotel will give him access to her room, just show you're passport and wedding band. They love that mushy stuff!!

Actually, I was hoping he'd be stuck in the lobby waiting for hours before she returned. We'd just had a major disagreement and this was going to be my revenge!

As luck would have it he's not going now as he called her and found she's going somewhere for the weekend that is a 6 hour drive away, and after 10 hours in the plane he didn't fancy that. Not with only 72 hours to play with!

Thanks for all your input. It's been amusing! ^ ^