jphripjah

I for one, appreciate the OP's rant even though I don't share the sentiment. There are travel things that drive me nuts that others aren't driven nuts by. Like welcome drinks. I hate welcome drinks. Just give me the f*cking key, don't make me force down some pomegranate juice to be polite.

Loren Pechtel

And the plate number question is probably going to cause you to go out to the car anyway--it's probably a rental so you're unlikely to know the plate. I certainly have never known when asked.

Qwkynuf

Having a security guy checking plates from a list is an immeasurably small difference in effort from having that same security guy checking each car for a parking pass. And since many of these passes have handwritten "good through" dates, reading plates is probably less effort than shining a flashlight into every windshield and verifying that the pass is still valid.

Ultimately, they can do what they want. I just think it's a poorly thought out "solution" that inconveniences their customers for very little actual benefit. I choose to take my business elsewhere - which is probably more effective in helping their parking problem.

OskiBear

I usually do this. I presume this is at a garden-style hotel (Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, etc.) where it's a surface lot surrounding the building. It's actually worth the effort to first park at the front and then check-in. It's possible that the room is rather far from the front desk and is better served by a different entrance. I usually ask the front desk where they recommend I park for best access (stairs/elevator/room proximity) and they'll happily point it out on the property map.

zkzkz

I don't think I've ever seen this situation -- just use public transit. And if I had I probably wouldn't really care. But..... I can agree with the more general principle here. I do kind of hate it when I find myself being told that it's now my problem and I have to something to make somebody else's job easier. Back in the day LHR was always the worst at this -- How many miles have I had to walk in rope mazes back and forth with *nobody* in it, just so that they wouldn't have to keep adjusting the maze to match the actual number of people... The general attitude was always "how can we make our problem the customers' problem?"

Gertjaars

OP could have easily called the hotel/inquired about their parking poilicy before he booked it. And if he didnt agree with their policy, then dont book it.

instead everything written in here as OP is reactive instead of proactive.

TL;DR your car needs to get towed OP.

xooz

The main difference in the OPs experience and mine is that I never check in on the app. I always figure I should stop at the desk anyway, and apparently the OP did this as well, where he learned of the parking permit.

In the end, I can appreciate a level of frustration but for me this would not be something that causes me to avoid the hotel if I otherwise find it convenient. Different strokes......

mecabq

I kind of agree with the OP (though probably not enough to cut a stay short over it). It's a subset of a fair class of pet peeves: putting the burden on the customer instead of on the provider to solve a relatively small problem (or non-problem, I bet, in the vast majority of locations).

A modest hotel should be taking small steps to convenience customers, not to inconvenience them. There are countless examples. (One of mine is when you can't charge to the room at an on-site restaurant because "we're independent of the hotel." I find this annoying and very customer-unfriendly. And it is probably short-sighted: in an effort to avoid building a simple business process to allow cross-charging and/or to save on a few loyalty points, or out of sheer laziness, they deter patronage. I have walked out of many restaurants and bars (before ordering) upon being told I couldn't charge to the room.)

The parking scenario could create another problem: if one were so inclined, could one keep the hanging tag/paper and use it for lifetime free parking at the location after check-out? OP, you could get even with them by doing that.

COSPILOT

Just so I’m clear OP, it’s such a pain to put a piece of paper on the dash, but it’s no big deal to spend time booking a new hotel, repacking the car, then unloading it at the new hotel?

gaobest

Usually these tags have a handwritten expiration date.

when we went camping last weekend, we also had a dashboard paper with handwritten date. The park had so much parking plus it was free! Just getting to the State Park from the nearby town was a 3 mile journey and the nearest house was about 2 miles away. So I can’t understand who exactly is driving all the way to the campground just to park and walk away.

gaobest

good to have priorities. Now I’ll show you, gigantic hotel corporations who aren’t going to really care about cancelled rooms because they booked blocks of hotel rooms & the conference rooms & catering out to giant corporate meetings.

Qwkynuf

I guess it just makes sense to me to *not* support businesses who have policies that I disagree with. It's all about choices. They make theirs, I make mine.

COSPILOT

Just keep in mind their policy is ensuring you have a parking spot when you return. I’ve been to plenty of hotels with open parking but no enforcement. That sucks when I return at midnight and the lot is full.

Just last week at hotel I frequent they made this change. I’ve been staying there for decades. I did notice the lot was no longer full of tourists looking for free parking, or what I think is possibly homeless people looking to park for the night. Small inconvenience, but we’ll worth it the inconvenience to avoid a parking lot full of people that don’t belong.

Super Mario

Looking at the title, I expected the usual ridiculous peeve. My expectations were surpassed. Let me guess, you would also be unhappy if the parking lot was full. You probably expect full, accessible, parking, and it all must be done without the absolute slightest inconvenience to you. Hotels can't staff as it is, having to staff a "license plate security guard" at all times is not an option. If I was in charge a hotel, and this caused a guest to leave, I would be so glad to see you go. I can only imagine what else sets you off of the handle.

Qwkynuf

Well if they can't check license plates, how the heck can they check parking passes?????