People looking round our hotel room?

Hotels do wierd things for weddings. It’s obviously a huge amount of money so they keep the couple happy - I guess this couple demanded to see it so they took a punt that you’d not notice the 10 mins they came in. I’d let them know you plan to write a review that the room isn’t private. Obviously housekeeping is different - you can also stop them going in with a DND sign. Maintenance is different again, as it might be an emergency.

I once booked a hotel in the village my friend was getting married in. Regular booking online.
I didn’t know at the time her wedding party was also staying there (church and reception was elsewhere). We booked a specific room, not the nicest one. A few weeks before the wedding my friend texted me to say she wanted my room as it overlooks her church and she’d told the hotel to move me. Not strange that they moved us (guess that’s up to the hotel) but how did she know I booked it? Well she apparently went through the whole list of names with the manager and told him who was attending her wedding etc and who she wanted where…!

😂 this is so MN. What exactly do you think the OPs “insurer” is going to do, that’s if she is actually covered for a UK break.

Bad enough for you but if I was an employee I'd be furious - always the finger of suspicion pointed at them.

I’d be bloody cross too! I’d ask to speak to management and tell them how unhappy you are with it.

🤣🤣🤣

You're being far more chill than me! I'd be fuming and complaining (politely just to anticipate the MN whataboutery) until hopefully id get a refund of the entire stay or an extra night. The fact they tried to gaslight you by saying its normal makes it even worse. Honestly its a really dodgy thing to do. Id be referring to the recent travelodge case where a woman was sexually assaulted etc. How can you feel safe in your room when apparently the staff will give a key to whoever wants to wander around? What if something had been stolen?

I spent many years living in hotels 3 or 4 nights a week for work, including some very posh establishments. I've never encountered this sort of thing in my life, and I'd have been outraged if I had! Definitely time for a formal complaint and/or tweet...

I want name and location of hotel.

YANBU. That’s shit. They should ask you in advance bare minimum. Really awful service.

Definitely not acceptable. In fact i can remember going to visit a hotel we were thinking of booking for our wedding night. When I phoned they said someone has booked the bridal suite today but they aren't arriving until 3 so come quick and we'll show you around. When we got there they said so sorry, the guests turned up early so we can't allow access to the room and showed us some photos and one of the more standard rooms. A bit disappointing for me but EXACTLY what they should have done.

You make a formal complaint to the hotel general manager and their head office. I would expect an upgrade to a different room.

Which hotel is it OP? We all want to avoid it. It's not standard practice. I used to work in a hotel and policy was if a person wanted to view rooms they had to be shown room after a guest checked out and room cleaned but before next guest checked into room.

I'd inform your insurer about this hotel- they can't let people into your room and have your belongings open to theft- it's ridiculous.

That's bloody awful. I'd want my money back, never mind a poxy fucking glass of wine! Defo worth an official complaint!

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Out of order. Obviously. Your DH is an idiot (sorry). Of course it's different from cleaners going in the room ; you know the cleaner will be in, and you can put a sign on the door saying when/whether you want them to go in.
A free drink is an insult. I'd make clear that if they don't apologise and make it up to you properly (I'd want at least a night refunded) you will leave factual reviews all over the internet about exactly what happened.
I'd also be contacting any professional bodies that might be interested (The Institute of Hospitality is one), and/or the hotel group if it's part of one.

Kick up a stink with management.

This isn’t remotely reasonable as you’ve paid to hire that room and only the housekeeping staff should have access whilst it’s occupied.

What if any of your belongings had been pilfered? Easily done if someone has a mind to pocket something small.

Definitely write a review to warn future guests. I wouldn’t want to stay in this hotel.

When we viewed our wedding venue we wanted to look at the rooms but they made it very clear that we couldn’t until the guests had checked out. So we made an appointment at a time to accommodate that. Very rude of the venue to just waltz in without checking with you first.

Absolutely not common. Surely, there must be a vacant room somewhere. Someone has checked out this morning and is checking in this afternoon. Those rooms in the process of being cleaned can be shown. They’d be getting a very firmly worded review anywhere I could leave one.

thats bang out of order. 100% make a complaint. If the hotel is a member of any organisations for good hoteliers i’d complain to them too. Possibly even a consumer rights breach. Potentially GDPR breach too if you’d left personal identifying things like a passport lying out.

Completely unacceptable. If it was for a wedding or something then it would be by arrangement so they should have arranged in 2 days time once you’d left.

How dare they. You have a reasonable expectation of privacy in your room. You have paid for this. What if your pants were lying in the bathroom floor or something embarrassing. Raging for you. Damn cheek. I’d want half my money back not a free drink.

And i’d leave a review telling potential customers that all rooms, not just bridal, are available for ransoms viewing while guests are there. disgraceful.

I actually think you’re underreacting to this, I would hit the roof!! Absolutely not standard practice, a total violation of your privacy. I’d want at least a partial refund. If it doesn’t get resolved I’d blast them all over social media to warn other. It would certainly put me off booking!

Don’t just ask reception staff again ask to speak with a manager.
and if it is normal practice why offer you a drink to ‘compensate’?

You could leave a factual review advising people that the hotel state it is their standard policy to routinely show prospective guests around booked rooms, and to allow those prospective guests to look in wardrobes and bathroom cupboards where the current guests have stored belongings. If everything else was ok I might (before posting online review) email the management and show them your planned review - give them chance to apologise properly and confirm it isn’t policy!

They could have waited until the OP had checked out

I wouldn't be happy for reasons PPs have mentioned. Totally understand cleaners going in and I had a worker come in to do a random check in relation to the mattress, again that's fine

I don't think it is standard. I used to work in a corporate business travel department and often went to visit hotels that wanted to be on our programme. The rep would sometimes apologise that they couldn't show me a particular room type as they were all occupied on the day of my visit. Regardless, I wouldn't want to view an occupied room. Let's face it, few of us leave the room spic and span when we go out. This hotel is completely disrespecting your privacy and the security of your possessions.