Problem at Bangkok hotel
 

Not sure where to put this. Seeking some advice on how to proceed with the following incident that occurred last night at a Bangkok hotel (full service hotel part of a worldwide chain).

I had two rooms booked for 2 nights, one for myself and the other for my colleague who was to be arriving at the hotel later in the evening. She's a local in this country but is based in Singapore like myself. I put her name on the reservation for her room, and told reception upon my own check-in that my colleague would be checking into the other room later in the evening and to prepare her room accordingly.

Around 11:30pm I am awoken (early meetings this morning) by the phone in my room, as the front desk is calling to ask if it's okay to let Miss [name of colleague] up to my room. I ask the front desk agent what he means, and he repeats the question. I tell him my colleague has a separate room booked ("2 separate rooms!"), upon which he asks me to hold the line, following by an apology. My colleague was quite offended by this given that the implication was that some guests 'bring prostitutes up to their rooms'. I also find it quite offensive and frankly downright unprofessional. I'm sure it is not uncommon for guests to bring prostitutes to their rooms here (even though it is a full service hotel), but that this would even enter the mind of the front desk agent is not OK.

I haven't spoken to the hotel about this, but overall I've had an amazing stay so I really have nothing to complain about except said incident. It was definitely a bit awkward though, between being woken up while sleeping and being asked if it's OK to let a girl (my colleague) up to me room.

Should I just let it go? Complain? Seek compensation?

I'd let it go, but that's just me. And I'm not a female. So...

Moved from luxury hotel forum.

RichardInSF, moderator, luxury hotels

I think you're over-reacting.

First, if a Thai girl comes to a hotel in Thailand in the middle of the night and asks to join an ex-pat man in his room and she is not on his reservation the hotel has to consider the reasons why she might be doing that. They may or may not have made assumptions about her.

But calling your room and asking if it's OK. ABSOLUTELY!!! That's a simple security check. Otherwise you'd have a line of scammers and thieves standing outside your hotel door.

My assumption is that when she arrived she knew that you had a room for her but no idea if the room was in your name or hers. So she used your name. Hotel thought she was joining you. Reasonable confusion.

You're making a big deal of nothing. Relax. Enjoy Bangkok.

Certainly I don't know what compensation you would seek.

Did your colleague try to check in using her name or did she mention your name? I think you were sensible in telling them to put her name on the other room. I wonder why it wasn't arranged that way well in advance? Sounds like some sort of miscommunication. I think I might mention it to management simply as a training thing in a non-accusatory way.

You're overreacting and so is your colleague. Sounds like an honest miscommunication. This can be avoided in the future by having your colleague book her own room.

Are you kidding? Let is go, dude. Mistakes happen and there is no reason to feel insulted. Most likely there was a language barrier and reception staff misunderstood the request of your colleague.

I'd say the 'full service hotels' you frequent must offer more complete services then the ones I've been in.

In Bangkok, Occam's Razor would lead you to the conclusion that the front desk seemed to reach.

I would hazard to guess that your, entirely innocent, explanation is something of a freak situation.

Sorry to hear that it was such an uncomfortable moment.

Greg

I"m honestly surprised that someone would be offended by this. Clearly they misunderstood something your colleague told them. She's a local to Thailand, you said - was she not effectively able to communicate about the second reservation?

I think it's great that the front desk called to ask your permission and didn't just give out your room number to anyone who asked. I guess your colleague might be offended that they thought she was a prostitute, but I'm sure there are all types.

If you think thats bad then think about this................

My Wife is Thai and guess how many problems we have had..............

Nothing to be offended about, just a miscommunication.
 

To add to ExpatSomchai, Mrs. Dirty and I have been in that situation before when they simply assume her profession and start talking to her in Russian... This is Bangkok after all and the most frequent answer will be the one first thought about by front desk staff (when you hear hooves...)

When I first came to BKK I had to live at JW. When I left for work at 0430 hrs I was the only individual leaving the hotel at that time not wearing a short black dress! :rolleyes:

Let's be honest, if that's the worse communication issue you have in Bangkok, you've got a humorous story to tell everyone back at the office. :p

Another vote for over-reacting and to let it go. Even the fussy high-end hotels have guests who know they have to pre-register any visitors (or Asian GFs/spouses, for that matter). In some cases it's truly BF/GF or husband/wife, whereas in others it's a more temporary type relationship.

The really difficult/insulting one would be if the woman wanted to go out by herself in the morning for, say, breakfast, and the hotel security stopped her at the door. Many hotels won't let women out who look like locals or who may have been temporary visitors because of problems with drugging/robberies (the "reverse Cosby"...guys are victims more often than perps), so they'll make the woman give the room number and call up to the guy and ask if it's OK to let the girl go. Which isn't exactly compatible with being registered to your own room (though if you "look" foreign they won't do this to you). Hotels would rather get the mistaken identity and insult complaints than the bad PR from guests being robbed/drugged (or even found dead) because of visitors. It can be a bad predicament.

Seems like I was overreacting on this one, though I won't blame my colleague for being offended for being assumed to be a hooker. ;)

Will take no further action. Thanks for the input!

Are you comfortable sharing the name of the hotel, or the general location?

It seems like your colleague, who I think is Thai?, should have been able to handle this situation.