Had to share this, maybe others have had weirder. In bed last night and the phone rings in my hotel room

"Is this Mr. __?"

Me, yes.

"Sir, my colleagues are arriving tomorrow and want to meet with you. What is your availability?"

Me, "what the heck are you talking about?"

Him, becoming exasperated: "Sir, they have flown all this way to meet with you! What is your availability?"

After more back and forth it turned out that I had nearly the same name as someone else. The caller had gotten the hotel switchboard and I guess they assumed it was me. I was almost ready to meet with them.

More a mistake than a coincidence.
Well, anyway, depends what meeting is for .

Many years ago I was in bed in my hotel room and heard someone at the door. At first, I thought it was some drunk who had mistaken the room number. Not the first time someone did that right.

But then I heard the door OPENING and that alarmed me. Turned out it was my wife. She had also been travelling and due to bad weather had ended up having to land in the same city as I was in. She knew where I would be and so took a taxi from the airport to my hotel. That's the coincidence.

Here's the bad part. At the front desk she identified herself and asked what room her husband was in. They TOLD her and gave her a key. That is of course a very big no no. I don't know if it was a newbie on the desk or if she somehow sweet talked them into it. I didn't ask her.

But the look on my associate's face when he came down to breakfast and saw us both sitting there was priceless though. He had not gone up to his room alone if you get my drift. If it had been his wife, there might have been an ambulance called. LOL

I have one of the common Chinese surname along with a very common given name.

I have been mistaken for other "aliases" during my travel and hotel stays. I have managed to turn some into social or business relations.

The best one was at a conference where I was presenting and given a room. Someone else from my area that I carpooled with had the same name as another registered attendee with a hotel booking. He showed up and ask if there was any room in the sold out conference hotel and was given the room booked for the other gentleman.

Flew out of DCA about a year and a half ago with my wife, on separate reservations. Got BPs from the Delta ticket counter and was about to enter the security line when I noticed my wife's seat assignment had changed. And so had her record locator and fare class. Turns out there was someone on the flight with the same name, first and last, and the TA checked in the wrong one. Barely had time to go back to the counter and get it straightened out.

One of my co-workers is named "John Smith", and his boss is "John Smith". Real pain when you call their office. Why would parents do something like that?

A few years ago I flew three consecutive flights - IIRC, two international (in J) and one domestic (in F) next to the same guy. Now, being on the same flights was not so unusual, I guess. But sitting next to each other all the way was out of the ordinary.

Nice guy (good thing!), but under the circumstances unlucky to be sitting next to me. I started coming down with a cold just as I started traveling, so I did my best not to talk to or even face him in order to try avoiding spreading the germs. I'm by no means sure that my strategy worked.

Too bad it wasn't a love connection. That would have made for a lifetime of retelling

Sometimes it is pain in the ..., when me and my wife arrive at different times at the same place and have notified front desk not to call, but give room key to the other. Usually they not only will verify ID, but also will call the room and ask whether to give room key or no...

Did your wife know your colleague? Word could filter back .....

I had the phone ring just yesterday and someone asked for "X" which is my real first name - although I never use it.

I paused but said yes, but it turned out she had misdialed.

Made for a confusing 30 second conversation though.

If you do give us a follow up post!

Perhaps, but my wife would not have liked that story.

Relangford, don't they have a middle initial? John D. Smith for example.

Mandolino, no she didn't know his wife or even him until that morning and he gave no clue, so there would have been nothing to filter back in any case. But it certainly gave him pause for thought.

3 separate flights on DL over a 2 month period DCA to JFK and each time sat next to same gal, but the 3rd trip there was the 'hey don't I know you from somewhere look' since we had struck up conversation in past trips it was like catching up on old conversations...funny and weird all the same, never happened again.