Has this ever happened to you? You check into your hotel and after the front desk hands you the key, you head up to your room. You use the key to open the door and suddenly you catch your breath. There’s someone in your room! You stop in your tracks, look around and see that suitcases are open and empty, their clothing and other items are all over the place.
Then it hits you. You’re in their room!
This happened to us. We had checked into a hotel here in Ohio and Dave went out to move the car and get the luggage. Kora, Logan, and I grabbed our key and went on to our room. I slid the key in the lock, opened the door, and started to walk in.
That’s when I noticed there was a man in our room. He was standing in the middle of the room looking at the tv with the remote in his hand. He had obviously unpacked and had been there awhile. At first I was shocked that someone was in our room. Then I realized that we were in his room!
We backed out quietly and shut the door. I don’t think he ever knew. I texted Dave and the kids and I went down to the front desk to let them know of the mistake. They casually apologized and gave us a new room and key. I was surprised at their lack of reaction. They didn’t seem bothered by the mistake at all.
I was upset because I realized that if no one had been in that room and we were very different people, that man may have found he was missing some things when he returned. I realized that this could happen to us. The hotel could give our room key out accidentally and anyone could walk into our room at any time.
This didn’t make me very happy and I was upset with how they handled it. I did make a mention of it again to the manager and hope that it helped solve the problem. The rest of the trip turned out fine and we ended up having a nice family getaway. But it really made me more aware about hotel room safety.
In fact, on a press trip at a completely different hotel in another state, one of the writers attending told us an eye-opening story about something similar happening to him at the very resort we were staying at. He had checked into his room, unpacked, set up his laptop etc. so he could work, and then left to grab a bite to eat and explore the grounds. When he returned there was a woman in his room who had moved in. She had her clothing tossed all over the room, she was laying in his bed watching tv, and when he walked in she refused to leave.
He explained it was his room and she needed to leave. He showed her all his things that had been there when she arrived in the room. She adamantly refused to leave. She said the hotel gave her a key and she was staying. He went down to the front desk hoping nothing would happen to his things while he was gone and the front desk admitted their mistake in giving her his key. They sent security up to remove her from the room. Even with security there she continued to be obstinate and insist it was her room. They did get her out but it was so strange. The hotel was very apologetic at least.
Once I started telling these stories to people, you’d be amazed to hear how many times this has happened. It’s quite surprising and definitely makes me more aware of my surroundings and where my things are when staying in hotels!
What about you? Have you ever been given the wrong hotel room key? Or has another guest been given your hotel room key?
Talk about thought provoking makes me wonder what happens if you go out & about all day, who is responsible for all your things. This is terrible. I understand mistakes happen, but now I’ve got to be aware.
I’ve never been given the wrong key (that I remember), but since I worked front desk and concierge for 7 years, I’ve definitely handed out the wrong one before, especially at the small hotel where we still had actual metal keys!
My husband had gone to Vegas for a bachelor party. One of his friends had to much to drink so he went back to his room to sleep it off. He was sharing a room with his brother so when he felt someone lay down on the bed next to him he didn’t think anything of it. When he woke up in the morning there was a strange man sleeping with him in his bed. The stranger had also had to much to drink and had gotten into the room through an unlocked suite door. The man was mortified and went back to his own room.
Ha ha! That’s kind of funny! I forgot about about that story.
This happened to us. it was a suite. We entered through the living space and and couldn’t get into the bedroom so we went out into the hallway to enter the bedroom that way and there were people sleeping in the bed. We backed out quietly and went back into the living room.we left and came back a couple hours later and the bedroom was vacant and made up for us.
Oh wow! That had to be so surprising! Glad they didn’t wake up. Doesn’t it make you wonder if you’ve ever been asleep in a hotel room and it’s happened to you? So creepy!
You are talking about hotels – but remember when you move into a new place, to change the locks. My parents had recently sold their home and moved to a townhome. I came down from Massachusetts and probably had a few too many at the bar. I was staying at my friends house so it wasn’t a big deal – I was walking. So, at closing time, I walked up the hill and my old habit (I happened to still have the front door key on my ring) – I unlocked the front door of MY old home (and not to disturb my folks – haha) – didn’t turn on the lights – walked (staggered) up the stairs. On came the lights and then I saw everything different, remembered the sale of the home and panicked. LOL Luckily I look enough like my parents that they knew who I was – they insisted I sleep it off on their couch so gave me a pillow and blankets – lol – as soon as they left – I took the key off my ring – left it on the table and snuck out the back door and back down to my friends’ house – totally mortified!
Oh wow!! That is crazy!! I can see how it would happen but that is quite a story! I can’t imagine what they thought at first or how you must have felt when you realized it. Glad it worked out ok and they were nice! I would have left too, it would have been too weird to wake up on their couch.
this didn’t exactly happen to me but I can say I know the feeling … but it was totally my own mistake. I was chaperoning a school field trip to DC and my other teacher roomie and I left OUR room to go check that all the tweens were safely in their hotel rooms. Then we headed back to our room, where we found the door ajar, and I got prickles on the back of my neck but pushed the door open farther to see a man standing on a ladder in our room. I screamed and jumped back into my teacher friend, I was like “there’s someone in our room!”
To which she calmly pointed out that our room was the NEXT one and this room was being worked on by maintenance.
Hahaha. But for a SECOND there… when I truly believed it was our room… I was TERRIFIED! ;)
That is funny! It sounds like something I would do. Dave always walks slow down hotel room hallways to see if I know which room is ours. He always laughs when I turn toward the wrong room. I’ve never put the key in tough and if the door was open and I thought it was our room I’d be on guard too.
My sister and I were staying at a hotel, were already in our beds for the night. A family with little kids came down the hall. The kids tried to open our door & it worked! Thankfully we had the top lock locked. Turns out our door had not been locked all day with all of our stuff in there. We tried the door ourselves after they took off down the hall.
The management says that happens sometimes with the key card locks.
Very frustrating & could turn into a safety issue. We now try all of the locks.
Yep, I can top your story. A number of years ago, I had to fly another air carrier because the one I which I was ticketed went on strike. So, of course, the airports were crazy, flights were overbooked and delayed so by the time I got to my second connecting city, the last flight to my destination was way gone.
But the airline had booked a room for me, provided me with an overnight kit (they used to do that, a kit with toothbrush, toothpaste, a razor, etc) and sent me on the airport shuttle to my hotel
The room clerk handed me my key, pointed me on my way and i went gaily along to my room, with only my purse and my kit, not having packed a carry-on bag.
Typical hotel room, bath to the immediate right inside the door, big windows on the far side letting in enough light that I didn’t even turn on the overhead light.
I stepped into the bathroom, washed my face, brushed my teeth, stripped down to my undies (remember, no overnight bag) and went into the room and crawled into the bed.
Whereupon the guy in the bed sat up and screamed and then I sat up and screamed, a lot!!!
After much screaming, we calmed down enough to figure out, yes, they had overbooked the room. He said I could have the room but as he was buck naked, I did not want to sleep in the bed he’d been sleeping in (ick!)
So we decided to both get up, he turned his back as I wrapped the sheet around me and ran to the bathroom to get dressed and then we went down to the desk together to vent at the poor room clerk. No more rooms were available so they offered to comp us at the bar. They left it open all night, we drank and talked and waited for our flight times in the am…
Told ya I could top your story:) (Oh, his name was Ike by the way, he was a pipeliner in Alaska originally from Wisconsin, on his way back to Fairbanks.)
Oh wow! Your story definitely beats mine. That had to be so frightening! I can’t even imagine how scared and then angry you were! What a story you have. I just can’t even imagine. It almost sounds like the plot to a romantic comedy! Isn’t it crazy what can happen at hotels?
wow thats just crazy! I dont leave important belongings in hotel rooms for this very reason you just never know.
I agree. It’s quite frightening. I really wish hotel room safes were bigger. Most of them can fit a pad of paper and that’s it. With everyone traveling with so many electronics today it’d be nice to be able to store them safely.
This has never happened to me in a hotel. But one time we rented a 3 bedroom condo that was on the 3rd floor. One night I ran out to the car and came back. Well I thought I was on the 3rd floor but really I was on the 2nd and the key to our condo opened someone elses! I didn’t notice until I walked in and noticed it was dark and the layout was different. I hurried up shut the door and ran to the correct floor. lol Thank goodness noone was staying in that one!
That is crazy! I can’t believe it opened another door. I can see how you would be confused about the floors but can’t believe the key opened the door to the room. After telling my story I am amazed at the number of people this has happened to.
That would freak me out!! What if you and your children had walked in on something that you would not want to have to explain to them what was going on?? As it is, I HATE staying in hotels!! I am such a germophobe!! I get totally creeped out by all the germs. Everywhere.
Oh my gosh. I never even thought of that! That would be awful and so embarrassing for everyone! It’s unbelievable how many stories I’ve heard from others about getting someone else’s room key. It seems to happen quite often which is frightening. I can see why it would make you wary of staying in hotels. I really love to stay in hotels this just makes me more aware of how important it is to keep the door bolted and to use the hotel safe.
Wow! That’s nuts! I haven’t heard of this happening, but I did have a situation a number of years ago that was weird. The hotel put me in one room, but the bathroom wasn’t wheelchair accessible (I had requested accessibility). So they told me I could use the room next door since it was empty. The two rooms were joined by an internal door, and they basically said I could use both, which I did for the first day. But I was by myself so I didn’t need much space, so I mostly stayed on one side. However, on the second morning I was there I opened the door to the other room, wanting to use the coffee packets I knew were there. Imagine my surprise to see and hear a person snoring in the bed in the adjoining room! I was so thankful that he or she didn’t seem to hear me, and I simply closed the door quietly and freaked out in silence. Yikes!
Can I offer my opinion, though, on the situation you describe? If this happened to both your family AND your friend at the VERY SAME HOTEL (!!!!), I think you should reveal the name. Maybe if they had shown concern over this very serious issue I’d feel differently, but their casual attitude is really troubling! I certainly don’t want to stay there, and it seems to me this is a story that should get some serious coverage and investigation.
That would have surprised me too! Glad nothing came of it. I’m so surprised they didn’t tell you they put someone in the room next door. They must not have noted in their computer.
Actually the two stories I told took place in two different hotels in completely different states. I’ll update the post to make this more clear.
This hasn’t happened to us, but we had an experience with our room being completely flooded up to 12″ in Puerto Vallarta! They then upgraded us to a VIP section well surprisingly when we uncovered a bed to take a nap there was a dead rat in it! We went to front desk and demanded a new clean, sterile room. We were time share owners back then. I don’t think we will ever go back to that hotel.
Oh my gosh!!!! That is crazy and so creepy! The flood would have been something and quite a story to tell. I cannot believe there was dead rat in the bed! Ugh! When you moved to a new room and insisted it was clean and sterile did you still feel uncomfortable sleeping there? I wouldn’t be back to that hotel either.
No, we were sent to their other hotel location next to the beach and upgraded our time share but that was our last trip there. We’ve been to many hotels lately and most of them American chains in Latin America that also need to check the condition of their hotel rooms. One in particular I took pictures and have not had the courage to share… when I complained at this last one in June the staff simply said that they couldn’t do anything about it as I wasn’t a club member {I was but from the U.S.} so they could care less..
Oh my. That’s not the response you’d want to hear. I can’t believe they wouldn’t help you when you are a paying customer. That is crazy.
Share them on trip advisor or a site like that. I would want to know about something like that before booking a trip!
That is really scary to think about. Really going to have to consider thinking differently when traveling.
i would have been mad too, gosh what if he was naked or something, that’s crazy
Oh my gosh..this would freak me out to open my room door and have someone in it!
Nope it asnt happened to us. All the hotels we have been in could be added on 2 hands in 20 years! It would be darn scary though I thought room keys were electronic now?
That’s the thing. They room keys were electronic in both instances at both hotels. I have no idea how it got by the computers. I’d think they’d be set to ding or something when the clerk tried to book a room that people had already checked into. Obviously a glitch but one that happens far more than you’d think based on the stories I’ve heard whenever I talk to others about these instances.
This is BEYOND SCARY!! I really wish that you could tell us what hotel this was. I can’t believe that it happened to your friend at the same hotel this needs to be on the news and all over the Internet. Oh and the front desk was all casual about it that is so scary made me mad just reading this story. I heard about women getting raped on cruise ships because of this happening.
I thought it was quite frightening too. Dave is pretty low key and he didn’t think it was a big deal but whenever I share the stories people are either shocked or tell me a story about something similar happening to them.
Actually this was two different hotels in two different states. I’ve updated the post to make it more clear.
how awful!! i dont think i would be staying in that hotel again!