How common is it for hotels to mix up rooms?

[BeatleBattleInABottle]

Just reading another thread about a lone woman in a hotel room being walked in on.

I've had the same experience three times. Twice I was away with work and the hotel gave the wrong key to someone so they walked in on me. The third time I was travelling alone and we both happened to get to the room at the same time to try to get in.

For various reasons I didn't do anything about any of those times.

I now travel with a door wedge but I do worry about getting out (or someone getting in) in an emergency.

(ETA- by wrong key obviously I mean they set the key card with the wrong room number or whatever it is that they do).

I walked in on someone once. The hotel had had a computer system issue and it had happened to a colleague the night before. I entered what was meant to be my room and walked in on a bloke in bed watching TV. I backed out as fast as I could whilst apologising profusely. This was in a relatively smart hotel.

I’ve also walked into a clearly occupied room but with no one in it twice before - Hiltons both times.

As a result I always use the physical lock and or the chain so that people can’t do the same to me. Most of my hotel stays are alone on work travel - family trips tend to be to villas or apartments, which I much prefer!

I once took a cohort of Year 10 students to Berlin and a gaggle of pissed up squaddies were given the key to a room containing 4 teenage girls... that took a lot of explaining to parents!

Always travel with a door wedge

I’ve never had this happen but I have noticed over the 35+ years I’ve been booking hotels that receptionists seem to be getting less and less competent in all sorts of ways. When you consider how much more complex keycard systems are than having a physical key with a room number on, it’s perhaps not surprising it happens.