People looking round our hotel room?

Sorry, what? Walked in without knocking and with strangers in tow? I hope you kicked up a massive stink. I’d want a fawning apology and compensation for that.

Yes, you absolutely should complain! What’s the point of them giving you a DND thing if they then disregard it?

Did you not read the OP's post where she said "He has offered us one free night and no charge for breakfasts and has left a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates in our room."?

Bit more than a complimentary drink to be fair!

Absolutely not acceptable. I’ve stayed in 5 star hotels and resorts literally all around the world for the last 30 years (mostly) for work but also pleasure and I have never, ever had this happen. They should show potential wedding clients round on change over day. Complete invasion of privacy and I would be telling them the complementary drink is an insult! I very rarely had to make a complaint about anything on my stays tbh but if I have then I’ve always been offered a free night to use at my discretion or an upgrade to a suite if I’m not already in one. A complementary drink is what you get on arrival and by no means adequate for showing random people around your room. I will say because of all the travel I am top tier of the different hotels membership programme but tbh that shouldn’t make any difference when it comes to customer satisfaction so I would definitely be speaking to the manager if I were you and if that doesn’t get you anywhere then email head office!

Not professional, if the room was occupied, they should have told the people this and then showed them a similar unoccupied room.

It was humour 🫣

A review warns other potential customers. If you decide to write one it should be honest - what happened and the compensation.

Just come back from our lovely holiday (4* hotel). We had a similar thing happen.
Was spending the day by the pool, but had put the 'do not disturb' on the door as we didn't need the room cleaning or new towels that day. I'd popped back to the room mid morning to use the bathroom and grab a couple of things. Just getting my things together and there is a quick knock at the door. Heading towards the door and someone has used a key and is coming in!
I was like, excuse me?!
The lady was the hotel manger followed by several people with clip boards.
I got lots of apologies and they left.
But, I was quite annoyed as I had put the sign on the door (which I pointed out to her) and what if I had been sat on the toilet, like I was a few minutes earlier?
I didn't complain though, as no harm was done. I was just annoyed. Maybe I should have though?

That is rank out of order and I would be furious! We're getting married in 2 weeks and we were being shown round our hotel and owner showed us round 2 of the rooms but mentioned a couple of others that could be used as a bridal suite but told us they were currently occupied & she can show us another time which I totally respected. That's dreadful! I would mention this if you do a review.

I think you could have interrupted some kind of scam or possible theft from your room.

Going back years. I remember this was one of the favourite ways thieves could get into rooms and take what they could.

They were in cahoots with some of the hotel staff. Who would given them a key or card to get in. They would keep an eye on guests on their comings and goings from the hotel.

Before CCTV was all over the place.

I would complaint vehemently to the hotel. And leave a really candid review on TripAdvisor.

That is appalling

Shocking! Write to the very top person you can find e.g. CEO of the company. If something had gone missing, you might have had hard time proving it and there is NO WAY anyone should have been allowed into your private space. Just awful. If I'm having a 2 or 3 night stay, I leave the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and just ask for clean towels and loo rolls 😉

It's definately not common to go into occupied hotel rooms, as the Senior Manager confirmed. I hope you put the incident behind you and enjoyed the rest of your stay. Despite the junior member initially trying to fob you off saying it's standard, I have to give credit to the Senior Manager for turning the incident around, taking accountability and offering you a complimentary night stay, including breakfast. This is a decent outcome. Don't worry, noone would get fired, but it highlighted to management that training is required and I'm sure they'll follow through with this. To be fair to the hotel, I wouldn't give a bad review or mention it on social media, as the Senior Manager dealt with the situation and apologised to you.

Nasty comment regarding cleaners.

Absolutely not normal

On my wedding morning, we were all in my room in our pajamas and robes getting hair and makeup done and into our dresses, it was in a stately home and we had booked the whole venue and the bedrooms. The wedding coordinator just walked in without knocking with another couple looking at the booking the venue. We all just stood looking at each other. So inappropriate. Then I went to get my photos done in one of the rear bedrooms overlooking the gardens, which was when my Dad was going to see me for the first time in my dress and when we went in the room, they had let two of our guests check into the room at 11am so they were in there with all their stuff. Absolutely no common sense.

Erm, you do know where Narnia is???

Totally not the point of the post but just wanted to say I can’t stand it when people get a more senior manager and call him a ‘proper grown up’ because he is a bit older than the younger staff. People have said similar to me and I’m in my 30s, married with a kid. I can assure you, I am a ‘proper grown up’ - it’s such a patronising way to describe adults working there as not proper adults
Also, hope the poor receptionist doesn’t lose her job!

I have stayed in a significant number of hotels over the years and I have never come across this before.

No, it's not at all common for this to happen. They select the rooms that are unoccupied to show!

Wtf. I would not accept that. Staff who've been vetted and are there under hotel insurances and responsibilities are far different to any Tom, Dick or Harry looking around. What if you'd left work stuff on display or valuables there?

Visits like this can be done before check in not after!

I would speak to the licensing authority if the hotel doesn't deal with it. It could be a safeguarding matter and most def is a security matter,

ANOTHER thief and liar! 🙄

To be honest, totally unacceptable in every way. Now that all hotels have EXTENSIVE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS of the entire hotel why the fuck do you want to inspect rooms? Get a fucking life, sad bastards.
Also, why can’t they pick empty rooms or when cleaners are in there?

if jewellery went missing, who’s to blame? Hotel would claim they knew nothing.

Well, if I were you I'd tell them that your gold bracelet has disappeared from the dressing table and your expensive bottle of perfume is missing from the bathroom! I'd be outraged if they let someone into the room I'm occupying. Its not the same as letting their cleaner in at all.

I think the hotel manager is rightly concerned but I would be happy with his response. I wouldn't feel the need to give them a bad review because all the staff are going to ensure this is never repeated. Glad you've enjoyed the champagne and chocolates. Hope dinner was good too (despite the football result). Don't feel that your assessment of the hotel was wrong because a very rude man said the room was small.