My mom visited me last week from out of town and stayed with me most of her trip. She was taking a train back home and it left the station at 3am, so she decided to get a hotel room near the station (an hour from my house...she didn't want me driving at 3am with my kids).
She made it home and called me crying. I don't know all the details but some guy somehow got into her hotel room. I think they had adjoining rooms and maybe she forgot to lock the door on her side. So this guy, who had just gotten married and was very drunk, started yelling at my mom, calling her really bad names and accused her of being in his room. I guess at some point he threatened to hit her. The man's bride was standing there horrified (Yeah, great start to a marriage). Eventually he left but my mom could hear the guy say over and over to people who visited him stuff about that f****** b**** next door.
My mom tried to call the front desk and the woman there didn't do anything to help. Once she got home she tried to call the city's police department but they said they couldn't do anything.
I personally want to find this guy and rip his head off. Who gets so trashed on his wedding night that he then feels the need to pick on a 60-year old woman traveling by herself and minding her own business?
So what would you do in this situation? I think my mom is trying to get a hold of the manager of the hotel and is writing a letter to the editor of the city's paper, but I want to do something too especially since I live a lot closer to this hotel. This whole thing makes me kinda sick.
If at some point any stranger threatened to assault my mother, I'd be on the phone with the police.
Then I'd call the hotel until I got in touch with the manager. I may even go in during business hours in order to catch the manager in person. Then I'd write a letter to the hotel's headquarters. (Assuming it was a chain.)
I guess my question here would be ... what resolution do you want from this?
First of all I'll say that what happened to your mom is awful and must have been really scary. I am so sorry that she had to deal with such a jerk.
The thing is, that if your mom didn't call the front desk until after the guy had left, there's nothing the front desk could do. If your mom called them then and there, and said "there's a guy in my room threatening me" they could have sent security up to remove him. But once he's come and gone and is safely in his room, there's nothing really they can do. At the most, they could have offered to move her to another room, if she felt unsafe staying in the one she has.
Calling the police after the fact also doesn't do much good. Unless she had picked up the phone and called at the time, they can't really do anything based on an after the fact report. In fact, the police aren't even allowed to ask the hotel who was registered in that room w/out a warrant or unless they are investigating a proven crime. So there's nothing they can do except say "sorry that happened".
I know it sucks .. but by not taking action immediately, your mom kinda limited the response that the hotel and the police could have.
And again I know it had to have been scary for your mom, but it's not the hotel's fault that she unlocked and left unlocked the connecting doors between the rooms or that she didn't call immediately to have security sent up.
That said ... had I been on the front desk (I put myself through college working in hotels on the night shift, so this is the type of thing I'd have dealt with) and assuming the hotel wasn't booked up, I would have offered to move your mom to another room as a courtesy ... just to get her away from being able to hear the guy through the door.
If I were a manager getting a letter about this after the fact, I honestly don't know how I could respond to make it better, other than to say "I'm sorry this happened to you in our hotel."
Ok, I'm truly not trying to be mean or snarky or anything ... this is an honest question.
Why does the hotel owe her a refund for her night's stay? Why are they responsible for the actions of the guest?
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I think the hotel should refund her fees because hotels advertise a restful night, which would mean no tirades from next door or unwanted visitors in the middle of the night. When we had a bad night in a hotel (major chain) due to unruly guests, we were refunded 100% of our nights' fees without even asking (there was a group of baseball players staying there for play-offs and they got drunk and slammed doors all night long). Also, when hotel rooms have adjoining doors, they are generally locked from both sides when you arrive, so, if your mom didn't unlock it, there shouldn't have been any way for him to get in, unless it had been unlocked by housekeeping and not relocked (hotel's liability).
I'm sorry this happened to your mom. It must have been very frightening. I would definitely be writing letters to hotel management and even the chain's head offices. I would also put negative reviews on travel websites (if possible) if this is not resolved to your satisfaction. Unfortunately, I'm sure that there is nothing that can be done by law enforcement now.
Thank you all for your responses. I feel so helpless. I know it's over and she's safe, but we're both the kind to relive bad experiences over and over, causing us to lose sleep, etc.
Photochick, my mom said she thought it was a college student at the front desk. At least you would have been conscientious enough to try to move her!
I understand that there's nothing the hotel was required to do once the man was back in his room. But considering she had to keep hearing him through the wall, at the very least the hotel should have offered to move her, even if that meant they had to pay for her to stay at another hotel.
I agree that maybe it isn't the hotel's fault for a guest's bad behavior, but I think any well-run company would do whatever it could to make its guests happy. I am guessing the college student at the desk either didn't feel like she had the authority to move my mom, or just didn't see what the big deal was, and that shows a complete lack of judgment on her part.
I have asked my mom for the name of the hotel again, she either forgets to tell me or doesn't want me to know. But I will totally go there on Wednesday when I'm in town for work and let them have it!
What can I do to help my mom?
