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'm back. A senior manager was there to speak to us, someone above this morning's guy. Very apologetic.

Their story is that a couple came in without an appointment to see about a wedding. One of the reception staff agreed to show them round the public areas. As they were walking along our corridor the cleaner was just finishing up in our room and they asked if they could have a quick look. They then walked right past the staff member showing them around and walked right into the room. She was shocked and wasn't very forceful in asking them to leave. Then just at that minute we came back.

All of that makes sense to us. The cleaner was indeed in the corridor. Our corridor was on the way to the wedding function space. The girl did look very young and totally our of her depth, the couple were entitled knobs.

The manager wasn't able to explain why we were told it was standard. He said it's absolutely not standard.

He said he has spoken to all the staff involved.

He has offered us one free night and no charge for breakfasts and has left a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates in our room.

All of the staff here seem very young. We actually commented on it when we checked in that the reception staff looked like they should still be in school and we must be getting old. This morning's manager looked about 25. This afternoon's one looked like a proper grown up.

Anyway, we're happy enough I guess. I don't think they're a crime syndicate or anything, just surprisingly young and inexperienced staff for such a nice hotel.

We're going to drink our champagne now. We've got an early dinner booked then a table in a pub to watch the football. Free breakfast in the morning then heading home.

Dh is now worried that the staff will all be sacked. But I'm not going to worry about that. I'm just going to enjoy my champagne.

We'll chew over what kind of public review we might leave. We'll certainly put something in writing to the hotel I think.

The thing that upset me the most actually was that we thought our room was great. Nicer than anything we've ever stayed in before. And that horrible man strolled out of it saying it felt a bit small and were all the rooms that size?

Hey ho. He might be rich but he's also horrible.

Is this in the UK? Its really disgusting customer service. What if you'd been in the bathroom naked when they came in and you'd not heard the door go so they walked in? What if your belongings got stolen by the potential bride and groom? Probably rare when someone from the hotel was presumably in the room with them, but these things cannot be discounted. Would the hotel accept liability?

Well well done you - sounds like you got a proper solid and plausible explanation. And free night free breakfasts free bubbly all good. Enjoy it!! Really impressed at you dealing with it and rising above it. With you that you should enjoy your champagne, with you that you needn’t worry about someone losing their job. They won’t, they’ll just get trained which is important. My husband’s a bit like yours; worst thing that can happen is someone makes a fuss. But sometimes things are wrong, they need dealing with, and things get better. Enjoy your free stuff, your beautiful room, your bubbles, and sod that boring old groom turning up his nose. What a sad sausage he sounds. Chin chin!!

Hmm.

OK but not totally satisfactory IMO.

Why hire people who are out of their depth? – or perhaps the better question is why was someone left in charge of potential guests despite clearly not having been trained/managed to NOT be out of their depth? I'd imagine a basic skill in hospitality is dealing with entitled knobs.

The manager wasn't able to explain why we were told it was standard. Even though he's spoken to all the staff involved? I think someone said that to desperately try to cover their arse and maybe their colleagues'. Perhaps they didn't want to admit such to the manager. Perhaps the manager suspects as much but is covering his staff's arses. Kind of understandable, but I hope he is going to make it clear (to everyone, not pick on one person) that this is absolutely not standard and they must never do it.

He has offered us one free night and no charge for breakfasts and has left a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates in our room. That's OK, I think.

All of the staff here seem very young… just surprisingly young and inexperienced staff for such a nice hotel.
Youth isn't a problem as such, obviously, but inexperience is. I'd write to whoever the top dog is and say that. If I ran a 5 star hotel/chain of them, I'd want staff with experience/training/nous enough to stand their ground when faced with entitled members of the public; that seems like a basic requirement to me.

Dh is now worried that the staff will all be sacked. Well, he also thought
you were just making a fuss and it was no different to cleaners going in your room <<shrug>>

Well done for complaining, it was terrible that this happened and it's certainly a training need.

My husband would be the same as yours and it's so irritating. He'd let people get away with murder if it meant not causing a fuss or upsetting anyone.

I hope you enjoy your freebies.

I'd be fuming. I left all my stuff, bag, phone, kindle etc.in our hotel room while we went down for dinner. Anyone could have taken something.

I would have been in a meno rage having to deal with the nosy groom. Maybe he has a wardrobe fetish? Regardless, my foot would have been up his arse.

Cleaner shouldn"t have been in your room though if you were not checking out and did not request a room clean? Put the Do Not Disturb sign up next time, maybe the cleaner thought you had vacated?

Cleaners are most likely to have sticky fingers because they get paid less and have less to lose if caught, an area manager potentially on the way up through the organisation is unlikely to get caught up in illegal activity or want to excuse dodgy activity?

Many years ago I stayed at a lovely spa hotel, prior to having major surgery. I really needed this break and to chill out. I’d been there several times and I was expecting it to be good.

On the first morning I was just getting out of the bath when two hotel staff barged in the room to have a look around (the hotel had recently been taken over), when I shouted from the bathroom they made no hurry to leave and carried on looking around. No apology, and then left!

I was furious. I complained to the spa reception who were mortified, but still tried to justify the manager entering my room. OK the staff were both female, but even so…

I later got a more sincere apology and I think a complementary treatment.

You’re definitely not overreacting and it’s not OK! But they do seem to have made proper amends from your latest update.

Most hotels I’ve stayed in service the rooms daily, unless you’ve left the DND sign on. In my experience it’s only the cheap ones (Travelodge etc) that don’t

I am glad you found someone who took it seriously and that feels like a more appropriate response. I doubt anyone will get sacked but they will be talked to and that is the correct outcome.
Enjoy thr champers !

I’d call them, complaining your ring is missing off the bedside table and let them know you’ll be making a police report.

WTF! If they’re going to let people explore booked rooms, then at the very least they should gain consent.

Not right at all.

This is really unusual. Like a few others I’ve had to visit hotels to see rooms before booking corporate events. They would never show an occupied room, most hotels were even reluctant to show a room where it had been vacated but not yet cleaned. I’d expect a significant refund, complain to head office as this is not standard hotel practice.

to be honest it doesn't really matter what the manager personally things about it being acceptable or not, it just matters what they do about it.

If he apologises and comps their stay or whatever then OP is never going to know if he gave his staff a bollocking or just told them 'be more careful next time.'

If he doesn't really do anything then OP has tried to resolve the situation informally and would be entitled to write negative reviews on any relevant forum as her next step - in which case as another poster pointed out your average wedding planner/organiser would also presumably find it quite concerning and might impact their decision to use the venue, so either way its within the hotel's best interests to resolve the situation regardless of how authentic their "horror" is.
It's not as if the manager can reply on google or whatever and say 'Don't worry, we only do this for people who spend £500 or less!'

I suspect the OP did not have the DND sign up? Sounds a bit random though that some entitled twat on a spur of the moment hotel tour would end up in the OP"s room, just as the cleaner was also there and the least assertive member of the staff team just happened to be accompanying them? Sounds like B.S to me, too many coincidences.

I was going to say similar. I think by default if you're not there, that's when they'll
come in to clean; if you don't want them to, you put the DND sign up.

Yes, then an hour or two later say it has turned up in the bottom of a bag or something.

Well done OP.
I think you handled it very well.
I would be very upset to find my room occupied by strangers.
A complete violation of the agreement to stay.
The compensation is the very very least they could do.

The hotel are responsible for training staff, not you or your husband.

Not finding strangers viewing your room is very bloody basic.

I didn't have the Do Not Disturb sign up because I wanted my room cleaned. That's part of the whole hotel thing instead of having to make my own bed.

I didn't expect total strangers in there

Wtf????

No not a chance would I let someone go in a room when I was staying in it. Kick up a massive fuss tell them they’ve violated your privacy and demand a free stay…

That really is out of order. Did they not have an unoccupied room they could have shown them around?! I would definitely complain.

I think that if you do leave a review it should overall be positive. It was a mistake and I think that - in the end - they’ve handled it well. All experienced staff were at one point inexperienced.

Sounds a bit random though that some entitled twat on a spur of the moment hotel tour would end up in the OP"s room, just as the cleaner was also there and the least assertive member of the staff team just happened to be accompanying them? Sounds like B.S to me, too many coincidences

I couldn't agree more, @keeppumping ... also with the PP who mentioned it's not much of a 5* place if this is the standard of their staff training

If OP's doing a review anyway then hopefully they can now name this place so the rest of us can be aware