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 also going to complain to reception as you leave? Just in case they agree to give you a refund quicker? I imagine there will be different staff there now.

I'm glad you no longer work in hotels, with that attitude. And it's not something that "simply happens", it's something that happens because a member of staff has made a careless mistake. Someone has posted a link above to how the stupidity of hotel workers led to a sex attacker being able to access a woman's room. I suppose that "just happens", too, and there should be no accountability.

I do (but in a different industry now) and I can assure you that I am excellent in my public facing roles. 😃

I don't need to explain myself to you but a lot of the time, the guests in the room wouldn't even mention it. If they did, it would be just to tell us what had happened. And they would receive an apology.

I worked from the age of 19 to 49 in hotels and this is the reality. Only on MN do you get all the ridiculous OTT hysterics.

I never worked in a Premier Inn or Travelodge etc.. Perhaps the guests there are a little less experienced with travel. Anyone who travels a lot is aware of the kinds of things that can happen including this, being 'walked' etc.. It's all par for the course if you travel a lot and are a sensible person!

What a stupid fucking comment.

It sounds like they haven't completed your check in on the system, so this lady has turned up and asked for a room, your room has shown as free and the system has booked her into it. The keyscard machine is seperate - you can cut a card for any room.

Whether you like it or not, it happens; mistakes happen.
Especially with new members of staff.

If you worked in a hotel you would understand and be much less hysterical about it. Attacks can happen anywhere.
Hospitality staff are far more at risk in hotels and bars etc. than the guests. I have dealt with many drunk people to know that.

A million miles away from the truth 😂

I always take with me one of those door wedges and block the hotel door!

I worked in a hotel and I had it happen a couple of times over the years for all the reasons already mentioned by others, rooms were allocated automatically by the system with 3rd party bookings and online but you'd then get a request on the booking for say a second floor room, and they'd been allocated first floor so you'd need to shuffle around, and it doesn't update properly, system glitches or user error or people move rooms and it's not updated and there's a shift change or the guest arrives late, or you make a simple mistake and give out the wrong key and then the actual guest for that room turns up and so you program another key.

And people complain about receptionists still 'messing about on the computer' when they're waiting to check in. So that's how it can be human error because, well, all humans make mistakes, especially under pressure and unfortunately even hotel receptionists are humans!

It helps when the booking system and the key programmer are linked, having used both linked and unlinked it flashed a warning when you tried to program a key for a room you'd already programmed one for, but you have to be able to do it because people ask for extra keys, they lose their keys so preventing it completely would cause more problems than it solves.

The couple of times it happened taught me a lesson though, I used to check and double check and walk guests to their rooms, opening the door myself so if there was someone there it was me and I'd recognise the error immediately and go into reverse!

But as a pp said we were strongly 'discouraged' from offering anything other than free meal or drinks for pretty much anything that went wrong, and the kicker was it was usually the result of crap systems or not enough staff for the workload to be manageable. That's why I left, cheap systems and understaffing causing problems for guests and I'd get yelled at twice, for not giving enough and then giving too much.

You are so very far from the truth, here.

fgs

Anyone who reads my posts on this thread can see for themselves that they were very calm, in fact.

"Bumping uglies"?

WTF 🤮

I've had this happen a handful of times. The use of electronic key cards rather than traditional keys increases the likelihood, because with physical keys the person assigning the room would almost certainly notice when they handed you the key that the main guest key was gone. With a key card, it's possible to program any number of interchangeable cards with the credentials for a specific room number and everyone's reliant on the computer system to determine if a room is occupied or free. The explanations I've received have all had to do with the room not being correctly marked as occupied on the computer system, whether that was because of human error or a systems flaw (e.g., the status is correctly changed to occupied but the system doesn't save the information on exit).

Of course there is (by definition) no reason to overreact, and I expect you would probably have responded very differently if the other guest had walked in during the day or early evening and you'd been fully awake, heard the key in the door, and been prepared to assess the situation. But whatever issue or error CAUSED the your room to be assigned to multiple groups of guest presents an unacceptable safety risk. I'd ask for a full explanation and a promise that the issue has been solved if you're staying any longer at that hotel; staff should be taking the problem very seriously.

I travel a lot with work and take sensible precautions and I assure you it is NOT par for the course nor something which you should expect to happen. Do better.

Just because you have very low standards and expectations yourself don't expect others to feel the same.

You've tried to tone it down by claiming OP was having a breakdown? Great job.

Also in what way is phoning reception overreacting anyway? The OP and are DH were not exactly screaming and running round like headless chickens. The reaction seems entirely proportionate.

You're just making up your own stories. The OP didn't call the police, they called reception to let them know what had happened. And this is wrong because...?

I’d demand a refund at the least

It does happen. I just hasn't happened to you - which is good!

It is par for the course when you work in hotels. One of those things that does occasionally happen.

By the way, it can also happen when housekeeping are going round the hotel cleaning the rooms. It can also happen when a member of staff is doing a show-round. It can happen when maintenance need to get into a room to repair something. I can happen when a guest has been given the wrong key and goes to the wrong room.

Insulting me personally doesn't alter the fact that I was extremely good at my job and I will continue to respond calmly and factually to all your insults!

You have missed my point here. I did write the this has come up a few times before on Mumsnet and often results in a few over the top comments (as it happening, see the insults coming my way!)