wharvey

You are given options to notify housekeeping not to bother you and chose to not use them... and then get upset if they knock? They cannot win!

On weekends, they can be booked and have a need to get rooms cleaned as soon as possible; so I cannot fault the housekeeper for trying to get ahead of the game. Especially if the guest made no effort to indicate they do not want to be bothered.

Under no circumstances is it ok for housekeeping to enter at 8:15? Really? WOW!

What time is acceptable for you?

Again, your choosing to "accidently" forget to put out the DND sign or bolt the door might cause the HK staff to "accidently" knock and enter your room. Works both ways.

flyertalker00143

i put DND sign as soon as i go into my room in the first place after checking in, no worries about forgetting to put it...

even if i go in and out, the sign is always on

UKTraveller4Fun

Firstly I am sure I live in the real world and spend in excess of 15 nights a year in a hotel and can safely say I have always found time to put the DND sign out the night before and deadbolt or chain the door, it seems a sensible thing to do and takes maybe 3 seconds!

In regards housekeeping and 8:15 am I do not agree, many people at hotels are their for business and mabe outomlong before 8am for a business meeting. Thus housekeeping will go in to clean these rooms, it seems very reasonable of them to do this.

In regards your comment that you would be annoyed if woken up at 8:15 by a knock on the door, if you had put your DND sign out and this happened I would agree, if you had not and then got a knock on the door it is your own fault and not housekeepings!

MSPeconomist

I've had housekeeping knock loudly early on weekends despite my DND sign being on the door. I've also had DND signs disappear from my door overnight, presumably taken either by other guests who could not find their own DND signs or by drunks who think it's funny.

UKTraveller4Fun

In which case I would say complain as much as possible to the front desk as this is out of line!

Unfortunataly not the hotels fault and little they can do about it, that said the more hotels that switch to an electronic system for DND the better, that and DND signs that are a little harder to remove would help!

roubaolic

Oddly enough this has not happened to me even once.

clublounger

When is this thread going to start having anything to do with SPG?

Dr. HFH

Unfortunately, we live in a society in the U.S. in which we consistently refuse to take responsibility for our actions/inactions. For example, there was a fairly well known case a number of years ago in which someone drove a riding mower off the top of a retaining wall. He successfully sued the manufacturer of the mower for his injuries because there was no warning sticker which told him not to drive the mower off the edge of a cliff. Really.

The hotel has provided you with the means to prevent people from entering your room without your assent. Use the deadbolt. If you choose not to, you live with the consequences. Yes, it is your responsibility to remember to use the deadbolt, just as it's your responsibility to remember to use the brake when you want to stop your car.

Sorry, but no sympathy over here.

nittany987

We're not talking litigation here, we are talking service.

What is unreasonable about the following policy:

1. Housekeeping shall knock on the door three times and announce their presence. If guest responds, follow guest's request.
2. If no response, knock again three times more loudly (at a level sufficient to be heard throughout the room) and announce presence. If guest responds, follow guest's request.
3. If no response, crack door, announce presence one last time to ensure no unfortunate situation arises.
4. Proceed as usual.

I think this is pretty standard, and I've encountered it several times. It prevents any awkward situations for both housekeeping and guests. It seems like an easy way of avoiding problems. And it seems like good service.

Also, source your story please? I can't find anything and it strikes me as made-up.

convict

This thread has probably gone on longer than it should, but to close my position on this. I'm not suggesting that if this were to happen to me that I would request points or the like. I would just be annoyed. To compare that perspective to litigation or using brakes on a car isn't appropriate.

The door is locked without a deadbolt or a dnd sign out. So, its already preventing people from entering. Whats different here is a hotel employee entering, and I am of the opinion that 8:15 in the morning is too early for daily cleaning in a room that is occupied - regardless of deadbolting or dnd sign out.

Dr. HFH

No, I didn't fabricate it. It was, as I said, several years ago, and I don't specifically recall. I'm a litigator, so I would guess that it was in one of the industry publications at the time. There are numerous publications which list and describe cases and outcomes for other litigators to use as precedent. I recall specifically discussing it with my law partner at the time.


I see it slightly differently. Agreed, it's not about litigation, -- that wasn't the point of my post, and please don't be distracted by that. It is your responsibility to apply some common sense and use the tools with which you have been provided to avoid an eventuality which you wish to avoid. You've been given brakes on a car, which you must use to stop the car and avoid a collision. You've been given a deadbolt on your hotel door, which you must use to prevent unwanted visits when you wish not to be disturbed.

That's my complaint about American society, described perhaps inadequately above in my previous post. We spend a lot of time discussing who should have done what to avoid an undesirable outcome when we have the tools to accomplish that ourselves. Sure, perhaps the Housekeeping staffer handled it in a suboptimal manner. But by using the mechanism provided specifically to prevent that occurrence (the deadbolt), you could have avoided it completely, and it would have taken you a fraction of a second.

I'm much less interested in assessing blame/responsibility for something than I am in accomplishing the goal (being undisturbed) as effectively as possible. The deadbolt would have been 100% effective. Even if they knock an extra time or two, a guest in the shower still may not hear. Deadbolt prevents entry. It's specifically provided for that purpose. It's perhaps the only 100% effective solution. Why would you consider any other approach?

MSPeconomist

What happened to the social norm that it's common courtesy to knock before entering someone's room?

clublounger

The OP is from Japan.

wharvey

The OP could not confirm that the housekeeper did not knock on the door.

flyertalker00143

this thread is going nowhere...