danielflyer

You should have called the police and filed a report. It’s not too late to do so. This does not mean you are pressing charges— just documenting what happened.

hotturnip

She already did this. She said that they've sent the person an email, with no response.

I sympathize with your concern, but I hope you realize that long-term consequences, while not impossible, are very unlikely. The person who barged into your room probably realizes--now that the hotel has emailed him--that his identity is known, and that if a video surfaces, he can be found. If the video has not already been deleted, it will probably just sit there with this one person. Icky, but harmless. Your current anxiety is understandable, but I hope you'll be able to relax as time goes on.

Moyerclan

Just because he was holding his phone that doesn't mean he was filming you. Some hotels use your phones as the key to the room. I'd be holding my phone looking at the keysite too, I imagine?

I question you leaving the room multiple times and for long periods yet fearing someone would be rifling thru your baggage. Perhaps staying there and LOCKING the door would have reassured you that no one came back to the room.

PUCCI GALORE

I find bits of this story utterly baffling. Someone opens your room door and you say « I am fully naked »? I’d have had that towel on and smacked that phone into the middle of next week. How did he start filming you unless he came prepared to do so. The whole thing sounds staged and frankly what do you care what he uploads as he will incriminate himself the minute that it happens.

Personally, I’d have called the police. Whether you are American or not, 911 is known universally. Why didn’t you? Frankly I’d name and shame the hotel in question for putting your personal safety at danger. Mistakes happen but 99 .9 of people would go straight back out babbling apologies and return straight to the front desk. I’d also shame them for not providing more towels with which to protect your modesty.

Unimatrix One

Wait, when you talked to the hotel people, they LAUGHED about your experience? You described an appalling, serious violation of privacy and likely sexual harassment given the length of time he filmed you and narrated the scene into his phone. And they LAUGHED?? I would be filing complaints with the hotel and posting bad reviews on TripAdvisor and elsewhere. And I wouldn't hesitate to name and shame the hotel here on Flyertalk. After filing a police report, of course.

Unimatrix One

OP explained that the towel was far away and she would have had to walk toward the guy in order to get it.

My guess is that he was a travel vlogger or YouTuber. There are countless videos online of people documenting their travel experiences in great detail. It's conceivable that he was planning to make a grand entrance into "his" room and narrate it while filming. When he saw the OP standing there, he was surprised and then annoyed that she "spoiled" his video, which might explain his behavior as described by the OP. Which doesn't make his behavior any less reprehensible, of course.

awesomeness2

This is the correct advice.

Also, call the police department in which the hotel is located and speak with the sex crimes unit (or whatever the call it now). They will understand your actions after the incident.

PUCCI GALORE

So there was nothing else to hand to cover oneself? That, of course we do not know as it was neither you nor I in that room. Nevertheless, it is one more surprising thing about the events of that night.

awesomeness2

This individual is looking for help and describing trauma. Empathy, not blame, is the humane response.

largeeyes

What did the police say when you called them?

ords

I would file a police report. The hotel knows who this person is, so it's not like this was some random off the street person.

northinsouth

Without going too much onto a tangent, I will say that some people simply freeze when they are scared--which I'm inferring (perhaps incorrectly) from the story. In an ideal world, a person would scream and fight back, but different people have different responses in a vulnerable moment.

To the OP: if you can stomach it, file a report with the police, if possible, just in case any unpleasantness comes from the interaction, though I do think the odds are slim. Sorry this happened to you.

MSPeconomist

True, but he was narrating the encounter and continued to do so. I suspect it was some awful vblogger. Normal people don't talk into their phone and explain what they're doing and seeing if they're simply using the phone as a substitute for a key card. Also, most normal people would immediately stop filming, instinctively recognizing it as something that could have legal repercussions for them. BTW, if we knew the name of the hotel, someone here would probably know whether that hotel uses the phone keycards. The hotel front desk could also clarify this and, in fact, they should have records of which guests have opted for the phone keycard.

The laughter from hotel staff is rude, insensitive, inappropriate, and inexcusable. As soon as the guest reported the filming, front desk staff should have called the GM (or at least the assistant manager on duty) and the police. IMO the person doing the filming should have been booted from the hotel at the very least, after verifying that everything was deleted and nothing was uploaded, including to a cloud storage account.

This makes me wonder: Is there any chance that this was a set-up, perhaps arranged by a local colleague? Did the other guest convince one or more hotel staff members that this would be a good joke? Was there any interaction on this or a previous stay that might possibly have given some employee(s) an incentive to arrange what happened?

The hotel won't reveal the other guests name to the OP, but IMO the OP should find a way (lawyer or is there a cheaper way?) to have some trusted person who knows the guest's identity look at that person's blogs, vblogs, twitter, instagram, personal and professional websites, TikTok videos, etc. to check that nothing was posted. This might need the services of a forensic IT person who really knows how to search for images and videos on the internet. I'm disturbed that the guest initially tried to "ghost" the GM and only said that everything was deleted several days later. I think the guest should be able to obtain the GM's email and the person's response with th guest's name, email, etc. redacted.

Since this was a work trip and the OP was arguably the victim of a crime at a hotel chosen by the employer (or did OP pick the hotel?), is there a confidential way to have the employer pay for a lawyer, forensic tech person, private investigator without telling anyone at the company the story of what happened? OP might also want to check whether there's anything in company policy that would require reporting the incident? For example, if an unwanted stranger enters your hotel room (whether you're present or not) and you have confidential documents in the room, I would assume that this would normally require a report to the employer. Similarly, if you're the victim of violent crime on a business trip, I would guess that most policies would require a report, just as you would report being the victim of a crime on the premises of your assigned work facility. [If the violent crime were a sexual assault, the employer should have a procedure for handling this in a confidential way.]

It's too bad the OP didn't record the interaction with guest and hotel staff. It would be good to have the other guest's photo (to identify him and facilitate searching for stuff) and AFAIK there's no expectation of privacy in a hotel lobby, although since the hotel is private property, hotel staff could tell the OP to stop filming and ask her to delete the video. At that point, she could have demanded that the other guest delete everything.

BTW if some stranger unexpectedly enters my hotel room, I scream first and ask questions later. If it's not totally innocuous (and this wasn't due to the camera being used and the failure to immediately exit as soon as it was apparent that the room was occupied), call the police.

chleonard

Agreed, I cannot believe the amount of victim-blaming going on here. No blame for the idiot walking in and STANDING THERE?? The correct response would've been a very quick embarrassed "sorry!", close the damn door, and take it up with the front desk - what kind of pervert just stands there and stares?

OP, I'm sorry to hear about this experience, I would be horrified in your shoes. I am not a lawyer, but personally I'd consider filing a police report - particularly if the hotel isn't being helpful. In the future, I'd recommend deadbolting and using every lock on the door, don't leave it to those electronic door locks.

Ghoulish

The laughter by staff is outrageous.

If this were my S/O that laughter, though I doubt they'd even dare were it not an unaccompanied woman, would have been brought to a quick end.