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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

78 replies

LastToBePicked · 29/10/2021 10:29

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!

OP posts:

MrsTulipTattsyrup · 29/10/2021 12:48

@JinglingHellsBells

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.'

That is my experience if DH and I are checking in together. When I travel as a lone female they do as I described above.

I am very sorry to hear that others have had horrible experiences at PI. I hope you all complained fully and pursued it. Maybe the management varies and I’ve just been lucky that the ones I use follow their policy.

Warblerinwinter · 29/10/2021 12:50

@Maskless

That'a actually terrifying.

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

He could go get a drink at the bar to kill an hour or two then ask for the other room key let himself if and rob/rape you!

Well not quite. There is an inner lock on most modern hotels across the world - where they are using card entry . This allows you to put an extra lock from inside while you are inside. Only the hotel master keys can open that lock I understand , the card just opens the latch I travelled a lot around the world on business. Part of our health and safety training was always lock the door from inside when inside. The other piece of training was when you get to the room read the safety card and then go out of the room immediately and identify the main safety exit route and a back up . Always.
In my extensive experience of locking my key card inside my room in error (🤦‍♀️) I was always asked for photo ID before issueing me one. Unless I was a regular guest and they knew me,

FAQs · 29/10/2021 12:54

I’ve stayed in a lot of premier inn for work and they tend to follow their policy www.premierinn.com/gb/en/faq/lone-travellers.html

We had an awful experience in a hotel recently and I posted about it at the time.

Hotels really need to up their security!

SofiaMichelle · 29/10/2021 12:57

Does anyone just arrive anywhere these days, or do they always 'rock up' now?

MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 29/10/2021 13:05

@Geriatric1234

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: ]]

Sorry to hear about your assault - how awful. I agree that the door jammer is brilliant - I've had loads of devices like this and it's the only one that really works. If I haven't got it, I always balance a chair or something against the door, so at least I will wake up if it's opened.

I recently stayed in a really posh boutique hotel that still uses non-electronic keys, and they gave me the key to someone else's room, and seemed totally unbothered when I complained.

ancientgran · 29/10/2021 13:08

I'm always careful to lock hotel doors. I was once double booked into a room, opened the door, children with me and a couple were on the bed, he seemed to be in an animal suit, possibly a dog, not sure as I quickly shut the door.

Not sure who was more horrified/embarrassed.

MrsHookey · 29/10/2021 13:12

I stayed in a hotel one time and they sold the room later to a stranger who barged in at 1am. Thankfully my then partner was awake.

CovoidOfAllHumanity · 29/10/2021 13:17

My DH once came to join me after I'd already booked in to a hotel we were staying at. He asked for a key to the room that Mrs CovoidOAH is booked into but my real life name is rather common and he wound up letting himself into some other poor woman's room. Apparently they both screamed and he backed out very hurriedly.

ancientgran · 29/10/2021 13:21

@MrsHookey

I stayed in a hotel one time and they sold the room later to a stranger who barged in at 1am. Thankfully my then partner was awake.

He wasn't in a furry animal suit was he?

SpinachIsAGatewayDrug · 29/10/2021 13:30

It is both utterly normal (sadly) and utterly unacceptable.

Ditto annoucing your room number or asking you to annouce it to access facilities, such as a gym or breakfast.

SpeckledlyHen · 29/10/2021 13:33

@Maskless

That'a actually terrifying.

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

He could go get a drink at the bar to kill an hour or two then ask for the other room key let himself if and rob/rape you!

You are indeed spot on. A lot of hotels now have enforced a policy of not saying the room number out loud but I know in the past I have cringed as they have handed over the room key and loudly stating the number. I travelled extensively in my 20's and 30's and it used to be such an issue but they are definitely getting better in the larger hotels and chains not to loudly announce room numbers.

ElftonWednesday · 29/10/2021 14:00

You do have to announce them when you put something on the room at the bar though, or to gain entry into the restaurant.

FluffyBooBoo · 29/10/2021 14:02

He wasn't in a furry animal suit was he?

Who? Her partner or the stranger?

FluffyBooBoo · 29/10/2021 14:03

@FluffyBooBoo

He wasn't in a furry animal suit was he?

Who? Her partner or the stranger?

Ignore me, I get it now!

WTF475878237NC · 29/10/2021 14:10

I'd expect them to ask his name, check the name that was on the booking and if his name wasn't on there, to not give him a key until they had checked with you first.

Agree with this. As you say there's the theft potential too.

Kite22 · 29/10/2021 14:12

It does just seem like a massive security risk though, if anyone can just ask for a key to any room without question.

It is very rare for me to stay in a hotel, but I would assume you would have to prove who you are before being given a key.

SuperSange · 29/10/2021 14:25

A friend of mine travels with a door wedge for security in her room. Does that work as well as that door jam thing up thread? I've worked hotel reception before and always, always checked details. It's just basic, isn't it?

CorvusPurpureus · 29/10/2021 14:35

I have a dickhead xh, & dc & I live abroad.

Because I'd rather not deal with the dickhead, when he comes to visit the kids I either a) book myself into a fancy hotel as a treat, so he can collect the dc from the lobby & then take them to his hotel, or b) I pay a driver to drop them wherever he wants them.

A couple of years ago, he was due to meet the kids in a hotel lobby. Dc & I had arrived earlier, I'd checked myself in (explaining that it was just me staying as obviously reception queried me rocking up with 3 hulking teenagers & one room booked!). Then I'd dropped my bag in the room & taken the dc for a burger at the pool bar on a high floor - only accessible with a room key to work the lift.

Was waiting for a text to say xh had arrived, when I looked up to see him standing over me, smirking.

Turned out he'd told reception he was my dh, & they'd basically said 'oh yes, Mrs Purpureus is in 1234, here's a key.'

So he'd wandered up to my room, let himself in, had a mooch about, then correctly surmised that since the dc & I weren't in it, we'd be grabbing something to eat, so came to 'surprise' us in the restaurant.

Now xh is just a knob who will have got a nasty little thrill out of demonstrating that I can't avoid him if he doesn't want to be avoided. He's pulled several similar stunts over the years. But I'm not scared of him...he's just bloody irritating & a prize twat.

But ffs. He could have been Jack the Ripper for all they knew!

MrsHookey · 29/10/2021 15:25

@ancientgran no animal suits that I'm aware of.

WTF475878237NC · 29/10/2021 18:14

CorvusPurpureus stunts like that are all the more reason for hotels to be hotter on security. I'm glad he's your ex!

MereDintofPandiculation · 29/10/2021 18:18

Handing a random person a room key because they've said "can I have a key to room 123" isn't OK. It was normal practice in the days when you were expected to leave your key at reception every time you went out.

And I'm now going to make sure my hotel room doors are locked when I'm in then forevermore.... That's good practice. But if your key was in reception, then it'd be because you weren't in the room.And if you were in the room, your key wouldn't be down at reception for someone to ask for, it'd be in the room with you.

ladygracie · 29/10/2021 18:20

I met a friend in a hotel yesterday - his booking not mine. I was unable to answer any of their security questions including his car registration - the only thing I could confirm was his phone number. They still let me in. I have arrived after him in the past and occasionally they’ve asked for his name if I knew the room number. It is definitely open to abuse though.

Biancadelrioisback · 29/10/2021 18:23

We wouldnt ask for ID but we would ask for them to confirm details on the booking. If they couldnt or we were suspicious we would call the room

TheOrigRights · 29/10/2021 19:06

@SofiaMichelle

Does anyone just arrive anywhere these days, or do they always 'rock up' now?

I went back and checked what I wrote, and I did say 'rock up'. On thinking about it, to me it implies a cock sure approach. I have a vision of my ex purposefully walking up to reception, all charm and smiles, and explaining very nicely that he was Orig's husband and therefore entitled to a room key.

ColinTheKoala · 29/10/2021 19:20

A couple of years ago I booked a room for my mum and me when we were attending a funeral. She was going to arrive before me, so I emailed the hotel and asked them to let her in.

She messaged me to say she was in safely and gave me the room number so I just went straight up when I arrived. In a Premier Inn you couldn't do that because the corridors are locked. They actually have the best security I've seen, in most hotels you can wander up and down the corridors where the bedrooms are.

I generally dislike the practice of demanding your room number at breakfast but hadn't thought it was also a security risk. Good point.

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