Page 2 | If you were at a a hotel and asked for a room key…

LastToBePicked · 2021-10-29T09:29:39+00:00

What ID checks (if any) would you expect? We were staying at a hotel recently and DH arrived separately to me after I’d already checked in. I had told him our room number and sent him all the reservation details. When he turned up at reception he just asked for a key for the room number and they didn’t ask him for any confirmation details at all (not a name or anything). Is this unusual or not? It struck me he could have been anyone rocking up and asking for a room key. But maybe it’s fairly normal in hotels (particularly those where you hand your key in when you leave the building) to just ask for the key based on the room number? YABU - this is normal YANBU - no, the hotel should ask for more ID before handing over a room key!

RosaBaby2 · 29/10/2021 11:05

YANBU my OH went out on a night out last time we were in a hotel visiting family. He forgot his key and he couldn't get in the front door (Premier Inn) he had to beg for them to let him in as I wasn't answering my phone and he had no ID. They let him in but they wouldn't give him a key to get in to the room corridors. Luckily I woke up eventually ha ha.

Original poster

LastToBePicked · 29/10/2021 11:10

I have raised it, got a pretty standard “sorry we didn’t meet standards you expected, we have passed your feedback on” type email response so I wasn’t left very clear as to whether IWBU or not.

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ElftonWednesday · 29/10/2021 11:17

Generally rooms can be manually locked from inside though can’t they?
I always do that, and hope that is enough!

whynotwhatknot · 29/10/2021 11:18

i would have spoke to the manager there not an email to head office

itsgoodtobehome · 29/10/2021 11:24

I had something similar recently. I checked in and went up to the room with DC while DH parked the car and got the bags. When DH got to reception, he just said that his wife had already checked in and what room were we in. They told him, without any questions asked. I did think about, what if I was escaping an abusive husband and they had just given away my room number? I thought they should have been more thorough in their checks, so YANBU.

RacketeerRalph · 29/10/2021 11:30

I answered YABU because it's normal. But you are totally right that it shouldn't be!

Geriatric1234 · 29/10/2021 11:30

I travel a lot for work and twice I've had someone I didn't know enter my room. Once was a genuine mistake, once I was sexually assaulted. Both times hotel staff had given out a key.

It's extraordinary how unsafe hotel rooms are and how lax security is. There are loads of YouTube videos on how to break in including the worthless extra locks they put inside to make you feel more secure.

I now travel with this and I cannot recommend it enough: www.amazon.co.uk/DoorJammer-DJ3-Portable-Security-Protection/dp/B07HM7X6TT/ref=asc_df_B07HM7X6TT/?hvlocphy=1007065&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=309785471682&hvpone&hvlocint&hvpos&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-637032124213&hvrand=669215226515366742

Original poster

LastToBePicked · 29/10/2021 11:31

@whynotwhatknot

i would have spoke to the manager there not an email to head office

Didn’t get the chance otherwise I would have done (DH didn’t mention it until we were talking in bed, and we were in a mad rush the next morning)

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TheOrigRights · 29/10/2021 11:32

Premier Inn let my abusive then husband into my room.
Room booked in my name. He rocked up and said he was my husband and they gave him the key.

I shouldn't have to explicitly state to reception that only the person on the booking should be given a key.

Original poster

LastToBePicked · 29/10/2021 11:32

@Geriatric1234. I am so sorry that happened to you. That is terrifying.

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Original poster

LastToBePicked · 29/10/2021 11:34

Also I am sorry that happened to you @TheOrigRights - you be able to assume you have got at least a basic level of safety in a hotel

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DoraTheScottishExplorer · 29/10/2021 11:34

I stayed in a fancy hotel with a friend and she arrived before me, when I checked in they phoned the room to confirm she was expecting me.

Rosebel · 29/10/2021 11:46

Can't vote either way because yes the hotel should at least check ID at the very least but I also think it's normal that they don't bother.

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 29/10/2021 11:47

I agree in this situation some form of ID should be requested.
I don't hand my key in when I go out of a hotel anymore. (except when I'm checking out)

Some hotels have a rack of keys hanging up behind the reception desk and so you can see the 'unoccupied' room numbers.
I got stuck in a queue of people checking in when I only wanted my key.
I'm sure that there was something else but I can't think of it at the moment!

Newwifeatnumber10 · 29/10/2021 11:55

YANBU - I had a very frightening experience many years ago. I’d checked into a hotel for my brothers wedding with other family members in other rooms. My exceptionally abusive ex (who I’d only just got rid of but who knew details of the wedding) rocked up at 1am, drunk and reception gave him my room key! He tried to strangle me! He almost killed me - true story!

Toddlerteaplease · 29/10/2021 11:56

I don't know if it's what all French hotels do, but when I go to Lourdes the room keys are all hung on a board and you put yours on it when you go out. I don't. It stays in my bag!

JinglingHellsBells · 29/10/2021 11:58

We've stayed in PI a lot.
In almost all cases, I'm pretty sure, they do say the number of the room when giving you the key. I could be wrong, but you've made me think now.

As in 'Room 34, top floor along to the right past the lift.'

SaltedCaramelHC · 29/10/2021 12:03

I've been in a lot of older hotels with keys on big wooden tags etc rather than key cards, and they are so big that you couldn't really carry them with you. I've often just said the number to get it back (especially in another language) when I return, but you're right, that isn't a very safe practice. I guess I"m sort of assuming that the reception desk vaguely remembers people but it's really not a guarantee.

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 29/10/2021 12:07

@SaltedCaramelHC

I've been in a lot of older hotels with keys on big wooden tags etc rather than key cards, and they are so big that you couldn't really carry them with you. I've often just said the number to get it back (especially in another language) when I return, but you're right, that isn't a very safe practice. I guess I"m sort of assuming that the reception desk vaguely remembers people but it's really not a guarantee.

I take those big heavy key rings off! Just make sure you remember your room number. Although with the card-key systems the room number is not shown on the card.

Original poster

LastToBePicked · 29/10/2021 12:23

@SaltedCaramelHC

I've been in a lot of older hotels with keys on big wooden tags etc rather than key cards, and they are so big that you couldn't really carry them with you. I've often just said the number to get it back (especially in another language) when I return, but you're right, that isn't a very safe practice. I guess I"m sort of assuming that the reception desk vaguely remembers people but it's really not a guarantee.

Yes it was that kind of thing I was thinking when I thought ‘actually it’s pretty common to just ask for the room number isn’t it?’. But if you were to just swan in confidently and ask for a room key, unless it’s a very small B&B type place where they’re likely actually know their guests and have the same staff day-in-day-out, it must be tremendously open to abuse.

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Original poster

LastToBePicked · 29/10/2021 12:24

@Newwifeatnumber10

YANBU - I had a very frightening experience many years ago. I’d checked into a hotel for my brothers wedding with other family members in other rooms. My exceptionally abusive ex (who I’d only just got rid of but who knew details of the wedding) rocked up at 1am, drunk and reception gave him my room key! He tried to strangle me! He almost killed me - true story!

Good grief. Hope you never had to deal with him after that.

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EmbarrassingHadrosaurus · 29/10/2021 12:26

@FluffyBooBoo

Say a predator was sitting near reception desk pretending to read a paper and heard you being told the room number

Any time I've been in a hotel in the last five years, they are very careful not to say the room number. I think it's policy for most chains.

Pre-Covid, one of the problems used to be that although reception staff were appropriately cautious about this, so many city centre hotels have problems with people trying to shelter in the lobbies and unseen areas that they lock the front doors and employ security to screen you and ensure you're a guest after a set time (say, 18:00).

Security has a clipboard with your name and room number and they demand that you tell them who you are and your room number. In an open space, next to an open stair case and near the lifts just so the acoustics are especially clear.

SirensofTitan · 29/10/2021 12:28

@Shoxfordian

Did you book for two people? It’s probably a fair assumption to make that he’s the second person

But i could literally be anyone I don't think receptionists should be making assumptions like that

It's not something I've considered before but you have a good point OP, that's not a secure thing to be doing.

Nocaloriesinchocolate · 29/10/2021 12:30

I too think the hotel was out of order. I remember over 30 years ago checking into a hotel with DS aged about 3. DH was due to join us later. He arrived about midnight and was accompanied to the room by the receptionist/night manager who asked me to confirm it was DH. Most impressed.

Snowisfallinghere · 29/10/2021 12:36

I had a friend who had a drunk man get into her hotel room when she was not in the room. Before that, she had already encountered the same man trying to get into her room and asking her for sex. When he was in the room he stripped off, went through her possessions, and then refused to leave the room even when the police eventually arrived... The hotel claimed the door lock must have been "broken" but they had no reason to believe so. We think the hotel reception probably gave the man the key to her room without checking his identity.

I do think hotels should take more responsibility to protect guests' security.