People looking round our hotel room?

[Randomchat]

Staying in a lovely 5* hotel for 2 nights. Total treat, it's lovely.

Yesterday we went out for the day. Came back around 3pm and there were hotel staff in our room showing people around. They wanted to book the place for a wedding. They were right in the room, the woman was in the bathroom looking around. The man had opened the wardrobe.

I asked them immediately to leave and they did but they took their time about it, actually standing by the door commenting on how the room was a bit small. I nearly had to push them out and close the door.

We spoke to the reception staff later and they said it's common to let people look around occupied hotel rooms.

Really? Is this common? Right in the room opening wardrobes, not just putting their heads round the door for a quick look?

We got offered a free drink to compensate.

It's still bugging me this morning. I want to go to reception and make clear to them that no-one is to go in our room. Dh says I'm making a fuss. Cleaners go in there every day so this is no different.

I'm interested to hear if this is indeed normal and I'm over-reacting by being bothered by it?

I'll be wondering all day if someone is looking round our bedroom.

I think you deserve to have your money refunded. This is disgraceful. I don't think it is their standard practice, they've just quoted this out of thin air. Complain to CEO office; that usually gets best results. You've been very calm. I'd have gone ballistic.

Absurd. I'm intrigued to know how they'll compensate you for this.

If ever I stay in a hotel again, I'll be checking their 'policy'. Nothing is sacred these days.

It's not pathetic at all, you've obviously planned and paid more than usual for a special treat and its been spoilt by this to an extent. Well done for sticking to your guns; have a lovely day out! Update us later 😊

‘Minimal stuff’ could include confidential papers for an important business deal that if leaked could have implications costing millions of pounds (all it might take is a mention of a business the ‘visitor’ recognises). Or a bracelet the occupier has left whilst going for a swim getting pocketed. Or medication that not only reveals an illness you don’t want widely known but also has your name on the prescription label…

Though even if you had locked everything up in your suitcase and left the room pristine as you popped out for a walk you have still paid for private use of the room!

When we were on our honeymoon at a nice upmarket ecostyle resort, we came back to our room after the morning out and found about four mugs/water cups left dirty in the empty dishwasher. We hadn't used them, they clearly had been used for coffee/juice which we didn't drink. I rang reception and found out that the staff had had a mini meeting in our room while we were out! God knows why!

I was so cross, I complained and we got dinner comped but were specifically told that we were not to leave a review about it. Left such a bad taste

Need a rolleye emoji here.
Or "joke passing over head" one.

I've spoken to a different manager on my way up from breakfast who looked horrified that this has happened. Promised me it's not standard and has promised that he'll investigate and speak to us when we get back. Has assured us that no-one will be in our room today

I wonder if he truly was "horrified" or putting a good face on what he knows perfectly well they do in order to avoid you taking this further

A wedding at a 5* place will be very expensive, and the money's probably driving this. To put it bluntly you're spending on a few nights whereas they're paying ££££, so good luck with that

I'd be tempted to tell reception that your oh so expensive necklace that was on the side in your bathroom is missing.

Make this clear in your public reviews on google and trip advisor. I know it should not happen, but it did. And worse - rather than apologising, the hotel's fist response was to tell you that you are wrong and to just put up with it.

How on earth any staff member thoughtany of that was in any way acceptable is baffling.

I wouldn’t book a wedding somewhere that allows random people to view occupied rooms either…

I am relieved to hear that your concerns were eventually taken seriously. This is an unacceptable invasion of privacy. I would be raging. I hope they fully refund your stay and offer additional compensation. You deserve it.

"Told" not to leave a review about it?! I hope you did anyway!

Tempting though it might be, the people who were shown round were being crass but it is the hotel who were at fault and potentially getting the police involved over a false report could land them and you in trouble.

Exactly. Unless I signed an NDA...

....then That review is going up 🖕

Well I'm pretty laid back but this is totally out of order. What the fuck were they thinking? DP spends half his life in hotels on business, often five star holiday resort type ones due to the nature of his job and this has never happened to him.

I'd want the stay comped (or at least a night for free) and I'd want a face to face apology from the staff members who came in to your room with their managers in situ. But I'd also want clarification on what the reception staff said about this being commonplace - this is concerning if true and I'd be leaving reviews to warn people as I wouldn't want to stay there.

I would be very unhappy and would wonder if it was truly the reason they were in there. Opening the wardrobes is very odd, maybe you caught them in the middle of thievery?

YANBU. You could have had expensive items or sex toys not hidden away! I think that’s appalling and would be not shy about leaving a review

To put my own spin on this, we stayed in an expensive hotel in the Channel Islands last year (we're returning next week) we were there for a week, pretty average length stay for that location. We were ar dinner one evening with some more mature guests, and there was a very ritzy, very loud woman in the bar area adjacent making what she thought were funny comments about the older clientele, laughing etc. Our companions were obviously upset by it but didn't want to make a fuss. I did so on their behalf, getting up from our table and finding the manager who I spoke to in a private area. Long story short she was there to book an expensive function, she was plainly very well off. However- the hotel prides itself on the fact that guests come back many times and I wasn't the only one who witnessed this. The manager informed her and her male companion in public that, actually this obviously was not the venue for them and asked them to leave as they were upsetting other guests, and no they would not be hosting their function. He then provided drinks and desserts for our table and apologised to all.

Unless you were booked into a prestigious suite/room within the hotel, then I can't understand why the staff thought this was acceptable! The mind boggles! Even if you were in a prestigious suite, it would be polite to ask in advance if a prospective customer could view the suite.

The fact you were in a normal room, is even more mind boggling! There were no vacant rooms of a similar standard available in the entire hotel for this couple to view? Unless the hotel is very small, then I'd find this difficult to believe.

I viewed a hotel near to where I live as a prospective venue to have our wedding. The hotel is renowned for having beautiful bespoke suites, and we were shown several....they were all unoccupied! I appreciate this was in the UK, but we had to arrive after checkout time, so we could view them!

The only people who should be entering your room is the cleaning or maintenance staff, absolutely no one else. For a start it's a security risk, even if they're being accompanied. For all you know the couple could be bogus and are pretending to view hotels, in order to see if there's belongings in the rooms to steal, at a later time!

We stayed overnight at one of those value type motels and the guest in the next door had their tv blaring out making it impossible to sleep. No amount of knocking on the door led to occupant opening the door, so I went to reception and asked for a welfare check/turn TV off. They they eventually did. The guest had passed out drunk apparently. TV was turned off and we managed to get to sleep. Got a full refund next morning.

I’d get the Manager and demand compensation and an apology.
It’s appalling.

Years ago we went to a posh hotel in Morocco in a not particularly busy season. On arrival we were upgraded to what was probably a honeymoon/VIP suite, though we weren’t on honeymoon. Imagine our surprise when first thing next morning a couple of prospective guests were ushered in by the manager with a flourish… to find us in bed! They may have seen things they can’t unsee. Oh well.

This is not normal and surely must be a security risk, big difference between cleaners and the general public!

Genuinely very pleased to hear there's at least one prepared to take a better attitude, @LilyBunch25, but I'm still not convinced over the "horror" at OP's second attempt to address this

I had a not dissimilar thing on a Cunard cruise, where one of the waiters was mocking a hearing impaired lady lady behind her chair at dinner, apparently forgetting that the guests he was actually facing could see him just fine.
On being told about this the maitre d' also pretended "horror", but the same waiter was still there later - only on a different section

Typo