I've had two different evacuations from hotels for fire alarms. One was in Maryland in the middle of December. That one was caused by a pest control treatment that got into the ventilation system and looked like smoke. It was also at 1 AM.

Tonight was a first for me. As I was getting ready for bed, a voice came over the speakers in each room and instructed us to evacuate the hotel, using only certain stairwells, opening onto certain streets. When we exited, there were police cars blocking each street around the hotel, and police directing us across the street. I waited for a few moments, but started to have thoughts of, "if you wanted to kill as many people as you could, you'd force the evacuation of a hotel and then either have a bomb at the meetup point or you'd roll up and start shooting."

Almost two hours later, I'm finally back in my room.

Who else has had an evacuation for something other than a fire alarm?

None. Two fire alarms that I can recall. Cleveland about 18 years ago. Faulty alarm. Four am. They had been working on the system the previous day. Maintenance was on call but didn�t respond for three hours. Daytona a couple years ago. High floor. Got to the bottom of the stairwell just as the alarm stopped. Alarm started again as soon as we reached the top. Said �screw it� and went back into the room.

The 4 am alarm was the more interesting. Dead of winter. Interesting fashion show ranging from heavy robes to overcoats covering pj�s to nothing but skivvies.

I was in Mexico City last year and felt strange movement after I finally fell asleep. Slowly realized it was an earthquake and sirens were going off. Evacuated down the stairs out to a safe area for a bit, didn�t know what was going on (no habla espanol).

We weren�t out for too long before being cleared to go back in. At least they gave us water. interesting experience.

It wasn't a hotel but the barracks I used to live in. It was brand new and the fire alarm would get triggered for no reason. This was in the middle of winter in upstate Maine with routinely negative temps at night. It happened so often that we would just stay in our room. NCOs began going room to room to ensure everyone was outside. We got smart and just hid in our wall lockers until we heard someone come through and check our rooms.

Too many people think of hotel evacuations as horrible inconveniences. Tell that to the 85 dead guests at the MGM Grand/Horseshoe from 1980.

Not an evacuation but I have found out that the tornado safety area at a Holiday Inn Express is the breakfast room.

I have had quite a few fire alarms and almost all of them are in the 4-6 AM range and involved the kitchen. Which basically means someone came into work half asleep, drunk, stoned and was likely making all the bacon that is consumed during a morning (or something similar)

False alarm in November around 5a. Just never fun.

Only one, a fire alarm that was triggered by the hotel losing power.

Several fire alarms over the years, but not for other reasons.

Fortunately, no biggie in any way: Fire alarm at a hotel (Holiday Inn?) in Leeds several years ago. I was interviewing someone for a research study over lunch. We had pretty much finished lunch, weren't asked to pay, went somewhere else to finish our talk. Then she drove me to the station and I took a train back to London.

Not that I spend a lot of nights in hotels, but I've never had to evacuate for any reason (knock on wood). My kids had their first evacuation (and early dismissal) at their high school two weeks ago due to a credible bomb threat.

Must have been scary.

What would you take with you when you evacuate?

Purse, phone and passport for me.

Pants. It was surprising how many did not.

Was evacuated due to a small fire at a hotel in London. Freezing out at 1am-ish but luckily not raining. Was able to get back in within an hour. I now keep a set of clothes and pocketbook/room key at an easy to grab place along with shoes.