Men coming into a family room at Youth Hostel!

[newdocket]

Weekend before last we (family of 5) booked a family room at a youth hostel for two nights. Room was noisy due to generator attached so on morning after the first night we asked if we could swap rooms. Looked at other room, same problem, so took the key back to reception and told the manager we'd stay put.

Cut to second night, we're all asleep (about half 10) when a man lets himself into the room and prepares to sit down on my bed and eat a plate of sausages! DH suggests he's in the wrong room. He grunts and leaves. DH goes to reception, explains what has happened and is assured that this mix up won't happen again, they are so sorry, etc.. But lo and behold, an hour later another man lets himself in! He is mortified. DH goes to reception and they apologise (although acknowledge that the key was given to this man after they knew about the first cock up). Youngest DS is still talking about it and scared of men coming into his room at night.

Is this just 'one of those things' or am I within my rights to ask for a refund?

[user1469914265]

Hotels are your friend.

[newdocket]

yes, i know that now!!

[Renaissance2017]

I think we would of laughed at it! However, maybe a letter of complaint if you feel it warrants it, but I wouldn't ask for a refund.

[ZilphasHatpin]

Leave your key in the lock and have it turned the whole way round.

[Orlantina]

Seems the problem is not with 'men coming in to a family room' - as that implies that men are randomly entering rooms - but with the hostel giving the wrong keys out - and the people not realising that they are in the wrong room. Which is bizarre in itself.

[Pinkheart5915]

No it's not ' one of this things' these men weren't bad men walking in to your room because they felt like it, the hostel had given them the key I mean how hard is it to keep a list of rooms with guests in them?

[BlowingThroughTheJasmineinMyMi]

How bizzare I want to know why the men didnt seem to realise they were in a family room, were they OK? drunk? surely anyone would notice immediately?

[PaulAnkaTheDog]

It was a mistake and not worthy of a refund imo. Happened to me at a hotel last year. They apologised and that was the end of it. We're human and we all make mistakes.

[APlaceOnTheCouch]

A woman came into our hotel room during the night because reception had mixed up the keys and the rooms. So, it doesn't only happen in youth hostels. She was embarrassed. We laughed and went down with her to reception to try to sort it out.

[JustAnotherPoster00]

Would it have bothered you less had a woman walked into your room?

[SolidGoldBrass]

Agree that your OP implies these men were EVIL PENIS CREATURES posing a threat, which they weren't.
That doesn't mean it's acceptable for the hostel to give random visitors the key to an already-booked room - a woman who was not part of your family just walking in would have been just as startling to you. But I wonder about the terms of your booking. Had you booked the entire room for your family, or was it a dormitory-type with more beds than you needed. Hostels might well allocate space in a way that means they fill up each dormitory before opening up the next one, and technically you had not paid to have the whole room just for your family. In which case, if they were busy, they had every right to send in other guests who were strangers to you.

[Orlantina]

A family room can just have bunkbeds in - but be ONLY for a family. So it looks like a normal dorm but it's reserved for a family?

So someone turns up, is given a key to a room, it's dark and it's late, so they sneak in quietly to find a bed and then find that a family is there. Which would surprise them as well.

[HalfShellHero]

Like a pp said , it's odd he didn't immediately think hmm there's a family in here ..maybe drunk etc, hostels aren't the most secure, i dont even like my single dad using them

[newdocket]

Well, the room had three bunkbeds so in that regard probably looked like a single sex dorm. It was dark when they walked in, so it would only have been when they turned the lights on and walked into the main room that they would have noticed. And I suppose expecting the room to be a single sex dorm would mean that they might have taken longer to realise that it was a family room. Am not blaming the men at all, certainly wasn't their fault. We have laughed about it a lot since, particularly the bit about the man being poised to sit on my bed with the sausages. At the end of the day it's not a massive deal. If it had happened only once then I wouldn't be cross at all. Twice is a bit crap though.

[Orlantina]

Whenever I've stayed in a hostel, you are given the key to a room. IF it's late, then people are often asleep in the dorms so you wouldn't burst in and turn the lights on.

So it seems these people might have arrived late and then entered the room in the dark to find a bed using the key they had been given.

[Orlantina]

it's odd he didn't immediately think hmm there's a family in here

Because it was dark? 3 bunkbeds? You don't turn the lights on if people are sleeping?

[newdocket]

Solidgold, not my intention to suggest men evil. Agree it would have been just as disconcerting had they been women. Room was definitely booked as a family room.

[Orlantina]

Am not blaming the men at all, certainly wasn't their fault

So your op should have read - hostel staff give out keys to our room to other people as well who then came into our room?

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

It's obviously an unacceptable mistake on their part and you are owed an apology, but I would rather have this happen in a hostel with my family than on my own in a hotel

[FeedTheSharkAndItWIllBite]

I personally love youth hostels (don't ask me why... But I like the option of having a room to cook etc. And nowadays I don't sleep in the 20+ people rooms anymore...).

DH is still a bit... because of it.

Anyhow. Yes, this is pretty bad and it has never happened to us. It seems like the hostel has given them the key to your room and these men (being super considerate) didn't want to wake anybody up and therefore just quietly went to the free bed (good hostel etiquette, btw!).
That's really on the hostel and not on the people simply doing what one is usually supposed to do (using the key to the room one was given).

[FeedTheSharkAndItWIllBite]

A family room can just have bunkbeds in - but be ONLY for a family. So it looks like a normal dorm but it's reserved for a family?

So someone turns up, is given a key to a room, it's dark and it's late, so they sneak in quietly to find a bed and then find that a family is there. Which would surprise them as well.

This.

Seriously. I've arrived where late to a shared hostel room on occasion. Unless you're a total twit (they exist) you do your best to quietly creep in and deposit your stuff on the next best free bed you see.

This is really on the hostel and not on the people walking inside your room...

[Orlantina]

Good hostel etiquette is going in quietly and not turning on the lights.

But eating sausages in the bedroom at night time

[user1491572121]

I wouldn't take my family into hostels at all OP. They're not what they used to be. Once they were full of rosy cheeked hikers. Now they're often used by people with housing issues and sometimes drug problems.

[Orlantina]

Now they're often used by people with housing issues and sometimes drug problems

Really? Youth Hostels...

[halcyondays]

It wasn't the men's fault, if you're given a key you will assume you're in the right room, seems a bit careless for the hostel to give out the wrong keys twice.

If it's a YHA hostel, you can only book a family room when staying with children of under 11, i think, so they couldn't really book other people into your room to fill up spaces.