Somebody has just walked into our hotel room at 4am

[Batmam]

Me and DP were fast asleep in a (large, chain) hotel and a woman with a suitcase has just let herself in with a key - don’t know who was more shocked her or us! We didn’t have any clothes on but were under the sheets thank god. I was sleeping so deeply it took me a second to realise what was going on. Never had this happen before in my life, and after everything that happened with Premier Inn I thought hotels would be even more diligent about security.

Phoned reception and she was more concerned with getting our details than actually apologising. It wasn’t a mistake with the key, the woman was told that this was her room. I’ve never worked in a hotel, but how could this happen? We checked in in person last night and signed for the room. Already paid when booking unfortunately. Surely the system should have known this room was occupied?

We’ve bolted the door now and it obviously won’t happen again tonight, but I doubt I’ll be able to go back to sleep now...

• [Correction at OP's request - the security incident mentioned was at a Travelodge hotel, not a Premier Inn]

Are you going to tell us which hotel it was @Batmam ?

I'm guessing Travelodge?

Because this kind of thing has happened before with them.

As pps have said, you can lock the door properly on the inside so no-one can get in. So maybe do that next time ... (Sorry don't mean to victim blame, it's just a suggestion.)

I can't believe someone actually asked why is it scary? For goodness sake! A random person coming into your bedroom - in a hotel - whilst you are asleep in the middle of the night is just normal now is it?! Just when you think you've read it all on here!

!

There wasn't a sofa.
Only chairs and a table.
To be fair, it was a pretty shitty Travelodge on the A1.
Lesson learned, wouldn't stay there again!

Always bolt it- I always take a wedge with me- or use a chair, if no bolt.
No matter what sort of hotel it is lots of people will have keys, it's not sensible to ignore that simple fact.

What a silly comment. Of course it’s a big deal. And do you know how offensive it is to use the term Karen?

Thing is with bolts and wedges, your partner or offspring or friend might be sharing a room with you and have gone out somewhere, so you either lock them out while you have a shower, a poo, get changed, walk around in your undies or do anything else you wouldn't want people walking in on, or you leave the door potentially open to anyone walking in and getting given a key card.

It's the hotel's responsibility to restrict key card access only to the party in the room, and mistakes like this shouldn't happen so often.

WTF?

Actual wow.

in a (large, chain) hotel

Thing is, OP, nothing is going to change unless you name the hotel. I'm never quite sure why people don't name these big companies on MN.

Depends on the woman. Watch the Netflix thriller Who is Erin Carter…

100% of times you have stayed in a hotel?! Really?

And yet I have never had it happen to me, nor has it happened to anyone I know.

It does happen now and again though, as we have seen on the news (and it happened to the OP.) And I think we can guess it's probably The Travelodge because this same thing has happened a few times recently. They have been in the news a lot!

She didn't say it was Premier Inn.

Sorry that happened to you. The whole Travelodge debacle has made me a bit uneasy whenever I'm on my own in a budget hotel room. Thought it would amuse you to see last night's "safety blanket"! A rubber door stop would be easier I think 😂

I think they’ve moved to flip locks in some instances. But some hotel chains commit to basic safety standards such as double locks, safes in rooms.

In a genuine emergency the fire brigade would just break the door down to get to you. But yes, people also die in hotel rooms in their sleep all the time. It’s about mitigating the risk that’s most likely to occur (in my view).

I'd be making a formal complaint at reception this morning if that had happened to me. Make sure to request a proper apology and some form of compensation for the stress and lack of sleep that it caused. Be assertive OP and don't allow them to shrug it off.

It has happened to us twice over the years. When our children were teenagers we booked 2 rooms in a Barcelona hotel with a connecting door. We arrived at the hotel and my husband opened the door to our room to find a naked elderly German lady on the bed. She was fine about it. Apparently she had been moved in the middle of the night as she was next door to a screaming baby. The hotel sorted it out but we didn’t get connecting rooms. The teenagers were fine with this!!
Another time the two of us were staying in a Delhi hotel room. The hotel had lots of air crew staying there that left at odd hours. One night at about 2am it was obvious that the room next door was being cleaned and then the cleaner let himself into our room by mistake. My husband was so cross and after a complaint to the manager we were offered an upgrade. I said we were leaving the next day but we would take the upgrade, which we did, at the end of our trip, before the flight home. We got a suite on the top floor.

No I mean 100% I've had it happen at least once before. I've also probably stayed in about 40 or so hostels throughout my life so have seen/experienced far worse.

Edit: I should say I'm a big solo traveller who has been to 50+ countries over the years

And...?

Doesn't mean other people aren't allowed to be scared by what happened.

Incidents like these are usually due to reception errors. That is probably why the receptionists are often so unapologetic; they are keen to downplay/cover up their own errors and the seriousness of the consequences. But it is still the responsibility of the hotel to have systems in place that allow for human error and remove the risk of this happening.

I find the posters trying to blame the OP on here extremely odd. I understand why so many people take their own precautions (door wedges etc) though they shouldn't have to. I understand the concerns about being trapped in an emergency of fire/illness as a result of these. Frankly though, my life experience tells me that I am very unlikely to be directly at risk from fire or illness; but I am far too frequently put at risk by random men.

I’d be thinking of what it could have been…

I love that @Nougat30

Why are you blaming the victim?

OP meant that the situation was scary because it shouldn't have happened not the actual woman and her innocent suitcase.

You can be scared at the time but obsessing over for days afterwards is silly. It sounds like an honest mistake. Honestly if you travel a lot this is considered pretty minor.

This is a computer problem ... staff probably trying to compensate for a c**p computer system. The hotel management clearly can not get a grip with sorting their computers so it makes you wonder what happens with the data security of my name, address, phone, bank card etc