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Original poster

Hotel staff removed my belongings whilst I wasn't there

161 replies

Tothemoonandbackx · 31/01/2022 17:17

I didn't really know where to put this, so property seemed like the only place that seemed sort of, relevant. My partner has been working away and he's been stopping in Hotels. He's stopped in this certain hotel before and never had a problem. The other night, he had a disagreement with a staff member, nothing audacious. Just a bit of a mix up with the manager telling my partner he could do one thing, and the staff member saying he couldn't. So he goes to work the following morning and everything seems OK, he comes back to find the staff have gone into his room and packed all his belongings into his travel bag and suitcase and removed them from the room. Is this legal??????? And if it is or isn't, is there any specific law or site I can get this information from???? I've googled a thousand things and nothings really coming up on the legality of it all.

OP posts:
Calennig · 01/02/2022 12:17

In small towns, hotel bars and restaurants are often what all the local residents use as well and guest houses do at least have a breakfast room that could be used for evening meals as well.

Town we used to lived in B&B were like that IL stopped there a few times went across round to associated restaurant that was open to public- similar set up with a hotel DH and I stayed at in this city food was in restaurant pub/restraunt.

However guest houses in this city and where my family are - they weren't not open to the public - and the set up was as I descibed.

It does seem to vary between areas what's avaliable and how they are set up.

Gwenhwyfar · 01/02/2022 12:25

"We arent so dirty and inept that we need a maid to clean every day, it's bizarre to me that hotels even offer that but it is just that an offer which you can opt out of."

Yes, but I can understand that if someone is staying for a while they will want to check that everything is OK, knowing that some people can make a terrible mess.

HealthAnxietyWorry · 01/02/2022 12:26

I’ve worked in hotels and guest houses for a number of years and whilst I believe that your husband may have had a slight disagreement with reception/managers, it is hard to believe they would completely cancel his stay and remove his belongings for a small argument regarding a takeaway.

The only times we were to remove guest belongings were if the stay had ended and the guest had left belongings in the room and had not answered the phone or if there was a serious issue regarding any illegal activity, violence, drunk or dangerous behaviour or if the room had been damaged and in some special circumstances if there was an issue with the bedroom for example flooding, structural issues, gas/electrical issues.

Is your husband 100000% sure that he had booked for that night and has the confirmation of this? I would definitely be pushing the managers of the hotel/guest house to provide a written explanation as to why he was being removed and for what reason. Any time we had to remove guests from bedrooms, we had to provide a written explanation for this (and I worked in small independent hotels and guest houses) and where possible the guest was to sign as well.

Jux · 01/02/2022 12:37

Does he eat very smelly taje-aways which other guests complain about? Do other guests reel back in horror when they enter the bar area the next evening muttering "good grief, it REEKS in here!".

KedgeIsland · 01/02/2022 12:37

@Gwenhwyfar

"We arent so dirty and inept that we need a maid to clean every day, it's bizarre to me that hotels even offer that but it is just that an offer which you can opt out of."

Yes, but I can understand that if someone is staying for a while they will want to check that everything is OK, knowing that some people can make a terrible mess.

As someone who worked as a hotel cleaner (in a big chain hotel in the US), yes, absolutely.

There's no legal requirement to observe a DND sign, and in practice there are all kinds of perfectly valid reasons why hotel staff enter rooms with a DND up -- I can't remember the exact timeline, but our hotel had a practice that if a DND sign was up for a straight 48 hours (it might have been less, I can't remember), housekeeping staff could knock and check the guest wasn't ill, incapacitated or dead. Ditto if loud noises were coming from the room to check it wasn't being trashed/if a crime was occurring, if the emergency services had been called from the room, if an overflowing bath/sink/broken pipe was leaking into the room below etc. Lots of reasons.

But probably most often when guests left at the end of their stay without taking the DND down, which means a cleaner on a very tight turnaround needs to get in there to clean because that room has a new guest in that day -- checkout time was 11 am, and check-in was at 3 pm, and I would usually have 10 or 11 rooms to clean, which didn't leave much wiggle room.

Or the other category of guest who left the DND on when they went out for the day, and then complained when they came back at 6 pm that their room hadn't been cleaned.

There was also the time when a well-known band were staying, and their dealers were in and out of their rooms all the time.

It is not a job I miss.

tcjotm · 01/02/2022 12:43

We arent so dirty and inept that we need a maid to clean every day, it's bizarre to me that hotels even offer that but it is just that an offer which you can opt out of.

You might not be dirty but a lot of hotel guests are disgusting pigs behaving in a way they’d never do at home. The hotels want to keep a regular eye on their property. Also dead bodies are better found sooner rather than later (hotels are popular with suicides. People don’t want to risk not being found. And hotels will be very discreet).

JugglingJanuary · 01/02/2022 12:49

[quote Tothemoonandbackx]@HeddaGarbled I'm not trying to catch anyone out Confused I'm just mad that they've removed his property from his room , especially without giving him prior warning and wondered if they could do that. I thought that was clear from my original post.[/quote]
It was clear!

If I was him I'd be furious! Absolutely livid,

I pack everything up before I go out as I hate other people messing with my stuff & I'd still be annoyed if they moved my bags out/to another room.

The bar guy sounds like a power hungry dickhead. I'd get in touch with the manager who said it was fine to use the dining room to eat takeaway when it was not serving meals.

What reason did they give for packing hus stuff up & removing it?

godmum56 · 01/02/2022 12:50

yes its minor but whose belongings got moved? You say "MY belongings" and then say they were your partner's?

KedgeIsland · 01/02/2022 12:53

@tcjotm

We arent so dirty and inept that we need a maid to clean every day, it's bizarre to me that hotels even offer that but it is just that an offer which you can opt out of.

You might not be dirty but a lot of hotel guests are disgusting pigs behaving in a way they’d never do at home. The hotels want to keep a regular eye on their property. Also dead bodies are better found sooner rather than later (hotels are popular with suicides. People don’t want to risk not being found. And hotels will be very discreet).

Yes, exactly. It's not just a service the hotel offers for the benefit of guests, it's also a way of the hotel keeping tabs on their property and their own reputation. And even leaving aside suicide, crime, or unexpected death, people can absolutely be disgusting pigs. And not always the ones you might think.

I had stag parties/frat boys who left the place spotless, and immensely respectable-looking 50 and 60something golfers who used the towels and sheets to clean off the filthy grass and mud-stained studs on their golf shoes when leaving, after trampling said grass and mud into the room's carpet. I've had people defecate in a bed. I've had people use towels as babywipes when changing dirty nappies, or so stained with fake tan they had to be thrown away, had people rip the curtains down, break the TV etc etc.

And don't get me started on the pool bar waiters 'servicing' female guests in their rooms.

And this was a large, four star hotel in a popular resort, not some kind of flophouse on Skid Row!

turbulenthearts · 01/02/2022 12:58

@Tothemoonandbackx based on what you have said, it might be that the staff member involved overreached his position, he was personally miffed and so decided on this course of action. It is worth you phoning and speaking to the manager yourself to chat it through.

Pythone · 01/02/2022 12:59

I can totally believe that they reacted like that in response to such a small issue. For some reason, the B&B/guesthouse/small hotel business seems to attract the kind of people who love being control freaks, having weird and restrictive "house rules", being intrusive and overly personal, would be described as "characters", etc. Always a red flag when the reviews say that the owners were really involved and insisted on giving the guests a personal tour. Give me a huge impersonal hotel, or a holiday let where you just collect the keys from a box, any day!

Toanewstart22 · 01/02/2022 13:03

* We arent so dirty and inept that we need a maid to clean every day, it's bizarre to me that hotels even offer that but it is just that an offer which you can opt out of.*

For me it’s about the luxury of someone making my bed for me!

Toanewstart22 · 01/02/2022 13:09

This is what the OP recently posted about her husband

* But today we were getting ready to go to his parents, and I asked if it would be ok if I drove up, no reason in particular, I just fancied getting behind the wheel, I do actually enjoy driving...I wish I would never have bothered asking now, as soon as the words left my mouth he snapped "No, I'm driving us up, I'm not having this", I asked what he meant by that, to which his reply was "I'm driving us up, I'm not arguing" confused I said "it's not an argument, I was only asking if I could drive up, what's the problem, you always drive up, why can't I just drive us up once for a change" he said "I'm sick of it, you're just going to argue and end up doing it anyway" confused this is probably the second time I've asked to drive us both anywhere for a long time, he stomped off to the car....stomped back up,*

Blatantly he behaved like an absolute twat at this hotel

Toanewstart22 · 01/02/2022 13:12

2019
So perhaps an ex??

boringaccountant · 01/02/2022 13:22

I started my accountancy training as a junior in the accounts dept of a hotel and I'll never forget some of the stories we heard. We had a gentlemen whose bags were packed up (under surveillance from the duty manager so no accusations of theft) and taken into our luggage room until he returned at the end of the day where we terminated his stay with us. He'd been caught on the CCTV taking a prostitute into his room. We also had a guy once who drank so much he spent part of the evening running up and down all the corridors knocking on people's room doors and shouting. He was offered the choice between packing and leaving or us calling the police for being nuisance while drunk.

SomethingSuss · 01/02/2022 13:31

I used to own a guesthouse and know the value of long term guests who stay for work. The women who took over after we sold up however is something of a Basil Faulty. The reviews have gone from perfect to cringeworthy,

Even the NHS has pulled out and ambulance drivers no longer stay there. The construction crews now go elsewhere.

Apparently the new owner will kick a guest out for any small reason and think she were entitled to the unused room fees for compensation of having to put up with such behaviour from 'horrendous guests breaking her rules.'

SomethingSuss · 01/02/2022 13:32

@Tothemoonandbackx did your husband get to speak to the manager and find out what the hell happened?

Gwenhwyfar · 01/02/2022 13:50

@Toanewstart22

* We arent so dirty and inept that we need a maid to clean every day, it's bizarre to me that hotels even offer that but it is just that an offer which you can opt out of.*

For me it’s about the luxury of someone making my bed for me!

What is there to be done with a duvet though? You move it out of the way when you get up and you put it over yourself when you get back in (or earlier).
Gwenhwyfar · 01/02/2022 13:51

@Jux

Does he eat very smelly taje-aways which other guests complain about? Do other guests reel back in horror when they enter the bar area the next evening muttering "good grief, it REEKS in here!".
The place is a restaurant when open anyway. Doesn't make much sense.
Toanewstart22 · 01/02/2022 13:54

@Gwenhwyfar

I’m a single mum
No one makes the beds but me
So if someone is prepared to do it, fluff up the pillows and perhaps even leave a chocolate on my pillow
I’m going to gawd damn leverage it!!

SupremeDreamz · 01/02/2022 14:21

@SomethingSuss

I used to own a guesthouse and know the value of long term guests who stay for work. The women who took over after we sold up however is something of a Basil Faulty. The reviews have gone from perfect to cringeworthy,

Even the NHS has pulled out and ambulance drivers no longer stay there. The construction crews now go elsewhere.

Apparently the new owner will kick a guest out for any small reason and think she were entitled to the unused room fees for compensation of having to put up with such behaviour from 'horrendous guests breaking her rules.'

I once stayed at a guest house with a Basil Faulty woman in charge. There were lots and lots of rules. One morning the breakfast room was full of people and the food was all out and one young woman came down after some sort of cut off point. This woman screamed at her (in the middle of the breakfast room in front of everyone) until she cried and then made her sit alone in another room to eat as she wept. There are plenty of extreme people out there!
BoredZelda · 01/02/2022 15:01

it's bizarre to me that hotels even offer that but it is just that an offer which you can opt out of.

Because cleaning a room every day is much easier than cleaning it once a week.

BoredZelda · 01/02/2022 15:03

What is there to be done with a duvet though? You move it out of the way when you get up and you put it over yourself when you get back in (or earlier).

Do you really not know how (or why) to make a bed?

BoredZelda · 01/02/2022 15:07

But probably most often when guests left at the end of their stay without taking the DND down, which means a cleaner on a very tight turnaround needs to get in there to clean because that room has a new guest in that day -- checkout time was 11 am, and check-in was at 3 pm, and I would usually have 10 or 11 rooms to clean, which didn't leave much wiggle room

Every single hotel I worked in had a system where housekeeping staff were given a list of which rooms had (or were going to be) checked out on that day. If a DND was on the door past check out and the room was a turnover, you went in. But you didn’t, under any circumstances, knock in the door of a DND which was a stay.

Toanewstart22 · 01/02/2022 16:38

@BoredZelda

it's bizarre to me that hotels even offer that but it is just that an offer which you can opt out of.

Because cleaning a room every day is much easier than cleaning it once a week.

And most importantly

Allows hotel to keep an eye on state of room and any breakages or damage