To stay in a hotel without booking?

[ps1991]

My husband is away with work in Manchester from yesterday to Thursday, I had planned on travelling tomorrow to stay with him and then come home together on Thursday.

I’m really worried about staying in the hotel he’s at with our baby as the hotel is only booked for him. Will the hotel say anything? I have looked for other hotels locally and can’t find anything that we can afford, especially once we say we have a baby with us 🙄.

Am I right to be worried or will the hotel staff not care?

The reason why most employers will care (or should care) is because your OH staying in a room is a legit travel expense, whereas you joining him turns the whole thing into a jolly, and thus a taxable benefit that needs to get declared and extra tax paid on. Income tax by your OH, employer's national insurance by his employer.

If no one at work knows, the extra tax will not be paid, your OH will be evading tax, and the company itself may be liable to penalties, especially if it is found that their policies weren't clear enough to prevent your OH from trying to screw the tax man and dragging them down with him.

If your OH worked for me and I found out, yeah, I'd turn this into a disciplinary. It's the sneaking around and making us party to tax evasion that I wouldn't forgive. If he isn't smart enough to realise there are tax implications, he's at least smart enough to realise the whole thing smells bad, otherwise why would he be planning to say quiet?

Some employers may have policies where partners joining on travel is OK, but in those instances it will only be OK because they know, they can code the cost correctly and because they're generous enough to be willing to pay the additional national insurance. Not telling is never OK.

What line of work is your OH in/what does his company do? If it's something regulated like law or accountancy, chances are, it will be taken very seriously!

I work nights in a hotel. We have a guest and staff register and in the event of an emergency after the fire service arrive it's my job to check everyone off the register and tell the fire service if anyone is unaccounted for. Guests with babies, young children and disabled guests are my first priority to evacuate between the alarm sounding and fire service attendance. If you're not on the register then you won't be looked for - if your DH and you are separated or he can't tell anyone you're there for some reason then it could become an issue.
We would charge extra as it's price pp not per room but we'd let you just pay the extra separately and keep it off your husband's bill if asked. And we've black listed guests who've snuck others in without paying or informing more than once, so bear that in mind if you're caught. Price per room shouldn't incur a charge though. Just get your husband to ask at reception about it.

I've never got this Mumsnet reply of "What if there's a fire"?

Hotel receptionists don't keep tabs on their gets going in and out.
People can't get past the door to the hotel part of the building without a swipe card that also opens their room where I work. And we ask on check in that the keys are left at reception if they go out.

So at no point would they know how many people are in the building anyway, surely?
Maybe not, it's a well known and much thought about issue in hotels where fire safety is concerned, but most places take precautions to cut the risk as you'd expect, so we ask keys are turned in at reception if they go out so we know if they're in or out (we mark the register) and no not everyone remembers obviously, but in the event of a fire at night, when the risk is higher all round, I have as up to date list of the number of people in the building as possible. Say room 40 has their key, if they don't get signed off my register I tell the fire service that the two occupants of room 40 are unaccounted for (and they are guided by the building plans we hold on reception that I chuck out the door along with the staff and guest registers before I go and investigate) obviously time is of the essence and the more information I can give them about people who may be trapped or haven't evacuated then the more chance they have. Of course the fire service will do a systematic check of each area because as pp say they don't rely totally on my info being 100% accurate, but I can guide them in the right direction and tell them the whereabouts and number of people expected according to my register.

Or am I missing something? Genuine question btw.

It's a time thing, obviously the longer someone is exposed to fire and smoke, the more as risk they are and if there's a chance they can be reached before a systematic search does because they're unaccounted for, then that's better for them.

No doubt someone will be along saying it's rubbish, but it's how it works for our place, and the night fire plan had been put together with the help of the fire service. I have been on duty when fire alarms have gone off - the variable people always forget is other people and their actions. Smoking in rooms, even now is a big problem, chargers brought by guests that may not be safe. I've put a bin fire out with an extinguisher because the smoking set off the fire alarm and they panicked and put it in the bin without putting it out first and then evacuated. Luckily I found it and got it out but people sometimes do silly things!

Grumpymug that’s interesting to hear from someone who actually knows what they’re talking about from the hotel perspective.

Now awaiting the usual ‘I used to smuggle multiple ONS into my room while on business trips (gosh, aren’t I just wild?!) there’ll be no problem at all, hotel won’t mind, just do it blah blah’

I posted ‘what if medical treatment/incident occurred’ was rather boringly legal (lawyer) - for occupiers liability/insurance (their own) and h & s reasons, hotels do have record keeping duties ( and other duties) re medical/accidents etc re guests. I was thinking getting away with ‘sneaking in’ would fall away in these circs.

That's one hotel. An unusual one at that. Hotels don't normal ask you to leave your key at reception when you go out. Totally not standard for hotels.

Obvs not if just a call to 111 or a discreet taxi to emergency room etc. But I can think of lots of scenarios (partic with baby) where hotel would be aware.

I've done this before when I was away for work. My husband stayed with me for 2 nights and I just ordered room service breakfast and shared it with him. It was a room only rate and I didn't tell the hotel. Was a big chain and I doubt they would have cared.

I haven’t had to leave my room key or card at reception in decades!! And as for swiping to enter the building; fine , but you swipe once and two of you could walk in. It’s not a turnstile!

I agree. The idea that any of these procedures give the fire service information that they actually use is ridiculous.

OP's baby is hardly going to be using his swipe card even if the hotel do know about her.

Grumpymug I have stayed at many big chain hotels and at no point whatsoever has anyone asked me to leave keys or a swipe card at reception when I go in and out. In fact in most cases, there's a 'drop box' for people checking out when the receptionist isn't there.

There's no way the fire brigade are going to be bothered about any kind of extremely unreliable list. Nor would they trust you when you tell them how many people are supposedly in the building.

They'll check the whole building for occupants, just as they would if it were a block of flats.

I've stayed very recently in big hotel chains such as Travelodge, Premier and IBIS and this has been the case for all of them.

The OP and her child staying in this building without the hotel's knowledge will not make a single difference to the fire brigade's safety and rescue procedures.

Imagine - heaven forbid - you or your baby needed medical help during the night ! What then?

Honestly how do some people get through life?! You'd access it as you would anywhere. This thread is utterly bizarre

In the last three months I've stayed at a Marriott, Doyle Collection, Hilton, Intercontinental, Four Seasons, Conrad & a Hoxton. None of those hotels have had the faintest idea who was in my room.

Of course the fire service will do a systematic check of each area because as pp say they don't rely totally on my info being 100% accurate, but I can guide them in the right direction and tell them the whereabouts and number of people expected according to my register.

That makes no sense at all because even if your list was correct, they're going to check the entire building as quickly as possible. Just as they would if it was a block of flats, an office block or a shopping centre.

The only additional information that may change their order of procedure slightly, would be if you had a large party of wheelchair users or elderly/infirm guests.

Otherwise your list and information on how many people might be where, is totally useless to them.

This is bizarre. DH and I must have stayed at hundreds of hotels, separately, together and/or with DCs. If it's one or two of us we book a double, if we need a family room we book one.

Apart from ensuring there are at least as many beds as we need, we don't specify how many people are staying. Sometimes we're given a family room for one person. If we check in together we usually get given two keys.

We've often arrived separately so one of us checks in and asks for two keys. I've never noticed the booking being amended - just another physical key produced or another keycard printed.

The issue for the hotel would be in regards to a fire or emergency event, they do need to know who’s in the building so they can account for guests. Also your husband might be paying a single guest rate so you’d effectively be cheating the establishment out of the correct amount

Of course the fire service will do a systematic check of each area because as pp say they don't rely totally on my info being 100% accurate, but I can guide them in the right direction and tell them the whereabouts and number of people expected according to my register

Have you actually ever done this?! I'm dying at the idea of an emergency situation where the fire brigade are consulting a woman with a list

The issue for the hotel would be in regards to a fire or emergency event, they do need to know who’s in the building so they can account for guests.

How do they do it? Short of having a person on the door marking them in and out? Because when people check into hotels they often then go out and come back and, shock horror, they may even go out again.

The idea that hotel staff ever have an accurate list of who is in and who is out is hilarious.

I understand that it seems like I’m being unreasonable and wanting to get around paying for something, however *I don’t want to pay for something that I can’t see why there would be an extra cost.
*

Oh great - so now those billing you for something you've chosen to use are obliged to explain why they're doing it? Suddenly the "don't want work to find out" is coming into sharper focus (and the insistence you'll "obviously" pay for your own meals perhaps more questionable)

For pity's sake why can't folk just be straightforward and ask if there's uncertainty about things like this?

Also love how some people think a wet Tuesday night in Coventry Travelodge is a 'family getaway'. You aren't excitedly picnicking on cliff tops or cavorting through woodlands.

Business travel is a slog. It's bloody awful and depressing. It. Is. Not. A. Jolly. Early morning starts from your home. Start at 9 work through till late. My partner being there for dinner is frankly basic shit. A hotel room is not exciting. Its crap.

I imagine there are crap companies that sack their employees for imagined slights like taking up another side of a double bed in an already paid for room. I don't work for one of them thank goodness but I'm sure they exist. Every standard big corporate company I've worked where work travel is expected and regular this situation is not only fine but encouraged. It's up to OP to decide if this company is one of them. Either way there is nothing to lose by checking with the hotel.

And for the record I was recently in a fire evacuation in an airport hotel:

1. Double room booked under my name personally, no requirement to state how many people
2. DH also with me
3. The hotel didn't ask his name or if I had anyone with me
4. On evacuation at 3am we stood outside. No counting or checking off names.

This was an airport hotel in the terminal at Heathrow. FFS if there's anywhere that would need it for 'insurance' reasons it would be there but, they didn't.

It seems as if some Mumsnet users last 'hotel' use was a B&B in Bournemouth in 1978 and have based their pearl clutching responses on this only experience...

@Grumpymug in my 10 years of staying on hotels for work I have never, ever been asked to turn in my 'ke'y at reception. In fact ive never had a 'key'.

Additionally if I come back after hours then my one swipe card lets in the both of us in and past manned reception with only a 'goodnight'.

If I arrive alone I am asked if I want one or two key cards. If DH is arriving later I ask for two. If during daylight hours then he miraculously gets one from me and lets himself into the room.

I work in a small
B&B so slightly different to a big chain hotel, but we definitely have single vs double occupancy rate. We also have rules on how many people per room that are to do with fire regs and insurance, but a baby in a cot wouldn’t contravene those. If we had four adults in a double room, that would, but there’s usually about £10 difference between single and double occupancy. And we’d definitely notice!

I wouldn’t have thought twice about doing this.
I’ve booked hotel rooms in my name, without giving details of who else is staying. Unless it affects the price/breakfast it’s fine.

The only issue is with the employer and your dh needs to let them know. I did this a few times pre kids. My dh works for an amazing company with travel in the most luxurious hotels and as long as he let them know it was perfectly fine.

Well I must bow down to the greater knowledge displayed here, Oh aye, totally unbelievable that the fire service would ever ask the question is there anyone unaccounted for so they had more information to act upon, from the person in charge at the time.
Even more unbelievable that I'd take a check of guests that have evacuated and then relay the information of who isn't and their room location to them, I'll just shrug and say I don't know next time (if God forbid I'm in that situation again)
Because yes, I've been in that situation. Only once thankfully, but once was enough. Most alarms are false alarms and once I've checked that it's a fault, or that it's steam from the shower, or someone smoking in the room, I turn the alarm off and then go outside and inform any guests that have evacuated that it's safe to go back in, no checking needed because no one's at risk. That's happened 99% of the time. Once though there was a fire, and on checking I found it. Once the fire service arrived I told them what I knew, and then started checking guests off my useless little list and was then able to update them which rooms and how many people were unaccounted for at that point. Time is a massive factor in a fire, and if I were trapped in a hotel room while there was one, I think I'd rather that I were found sooner than later tbh, because of a woman and her list but 🤷 maybe I'll just relax about it now I've read this thread and not bother. No, they wouldn't rely on me in the event of a fire, of course not and they'd do a systematic search, but they do ask if anyone is known to be unaccounted for and use that information to check they're not trapped sooner than a systematic search may find them.
As for the keys, obviously you all know the policies where I work better than I do, from staying in different hotels with different policies. It's not fool proof, as I said people don't do it or forget, but they are asked. The knowledge in the event of a fire is a bonus, the main motivation was people kept losing their keys and then kicking off when they were asked to pay to replace them, so we now ask for guests to leave them with reception and point out that replacement keys will be charged for if they don't and lose theirs.
Tbh the biggest challenge is getting people to move at all if the fire alarm goes off, having been involved in one, thankfully small and dealt with easily and without anyone hurt, I take it seriously every time the alarm goes off. Most people don't and just ignore it, thinking anything from the staff will come and tell every single person in the hotel if it is actually a fire and they need to leave (because the loud ringing obviously isn't enough of a hint to get out) to it's a test (most places don't do fire tests at 3am - you'd think that'd be obvious) to insisting they finish their cup of tea or bath first. We're well aware of this, and one of the reasons we check to see if anyone is unaccounted for.