Can hotels do this?

Quote: mcallister3200

I believe some people have an entire closet in their home filled solely with hotel toiletries, coffee packets, and restaurant condiment packets/plasticware.
link to original post

Yup.

I collected 'em for a couple decades but ran out of room so I donated them to the poor.

Quote: billryan

At one point, I was doing about thirty days a year on the road and would bring home shampoo and soap bars. When I sold my house in NY and was packing up, I donated two boxes of the stuff to the homeless shelter a few towns over. I'm not sure why I saved them as I hardly ever used any.
link to original post

Why not use them? I did the same when traveling during my 2 year training while living with my folks. When I moved out I did not need to buy soap or shampoo for a year.

Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: billryan

At one point, I was doing about thirty days a year on the road and would bring home shampoo and soap bars. When I sold my house in NY and was packing up, I donated two boxes of the stuff to the homeless shelter a few towns over. I'm not sure why I saved them as I hardly ever used any.
link to original post

Why not use them? I did the same when traveling during my 2 year training while living with my folks. When I moved out I did not need to buy soap or shampoo for a year.
link to original post

You are obviously single! My wife likes a specific soap. I think ams would vote for Trump before my wife would use hotel shampoo.

I do have a lot of the hotel soap bars. Great idea by BillyRyan.

Quote: SOOPOO

Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: billryan

At one point, I was doing about thirty days a year on the road and would bring home shampoo and soap bars. When I sold my house in NY and was packing up, I donated two boxes of the stuff to the homeless shelter a few towns over. I'm not sure why I saved them as I hardly ever used any.
link to original post

Why not use them? I did the same when traveling during my 2 year training while living with my folks. When I moved out I did not need to buy soap or shampoo for a year.
link to original post

You are obviously single! My wife likes a specific soap. I think ams would vote for Trump before my wife would use hotel shampoo.

I do have a lot of the hotel soap bars. Great idea by BillyRyan.
link to original post

Well, yeah. Finding a woman who will put up with me for more than 20 minutes is a problem.

Back then (mid-90s) the hotels had cheaper stuff. These days some have some cool shower gels and shampoos. At least the ones that have not gone CA and using dispensers now.

Quote: Dieter

If a member of the housekeeping staff wanted a plastic single cup coffeemaker, I assume they'd figure out a way to finagle a new one, rather than an old half-broken one.
link to original post

I can't speak for every hotel, but one alternative to theft would be simply asking if they could have one. Like I said, they broke down to like $7 apiece for us. Ours made four cups and had the coffee packs and condiment packs that were purchased (by the hotel, not the guest) separately.

Quote: DRich

An acquaintance of my wife worked housekeeping at a strip casino in Vegas. She always had lots of jewelry available for sale to her friends. I had no idea they were paid enough to buy multi-carat diamond rings so often..
link to original post

Ha! That's a heck of a story.

We only had one instance of a guest claiming missing jewelry. She called claiming that she had left a jar of some sort of skin cream in the room and wanted to know if we had found it. I informed the guest that is the sort of item that the housekeeper would likely have just thrown away because it had such a low assumed value.

At that point, the guest informed me that she actually used the jar to stash her expensive jewelry when she traveled as nobody would suspect that there was jewelry in it.

Immediately, that's an incredibly stupid thing to do for just that reason---if you leave it behind, then the housekeepers aren't going to assume there is expensive jewelry in it.

Anyway, I called the housekeeper and she said she didn't remember any large jar of skin cream being in the room, but even if there had been, she said that it wasn't the sort of thing she would remember throwing away.

At that point, I had to assume it had been thrown away and this guest was throwing a fit and threatening legal action. Seeing no real alternative (the guest had checked out and was states away, or I'd have sent her) I personally went dumpster diving looking for this stupid jar.

I found no such jar. The guest called the police and informed them that either myself or the housekeeper must have stolen what she claimed was between $7,000-$10,000 worth of jewelry. Why you'd be running around with that much in jewelry staying at economy hotels I can't even claim to know.

Of course, accusing me was immediately absurd because I wouldn't have even known that such a jewelry jar existed had the guest not called in the first place. The housekeeper was also still appearing for work, which caused me to assume she hadn't stolen it.

About three days later, we got a call from the guest stating that she had found it. As she told it, it was put into a bag other than the one it would usually go into and that bag hadn't been taken out of the car yet. They went grocery shopping, saw the bag, and then decided to look in it.

I should have billed her to replace the pants I had on when I had to go hopping into the dumpster.

---

Another one was I got accused of stealing a guest's laptop once. That guest's entire justification was that her laptop had gone missing and...I guess...that she saw me using a laptop that just happened to be red. It turns out that the laptops weren't even the same dimensions. That guest ended up finding it under her backseat a few days later; she informed the police of that, but I certainly never got an apology.

Quote: darkoz

The maid would be the one who steal the easiest.

She comes around with the services cart which is huge and has stacks of towels and toilet paper etc. She brings it into a room and stuffs the widescreen TV under the towels.

She reports the TV missing and brings the cart to the bottom floor where she unloads it via the street exit and her husband who is waiting with his car parked outside.

A guest would have to explain a piece of luggage the size of a widescreen and be seen walking it out
link to original post

Our TV's were too big to fit in the towel storage area of a housekeeping cart.

I had a housekeeper steal or throw out a bunch of drugs I left on my bed. I'd left a do not disturb sign outside, but the housekeeper claimed she didn't see it or the missing drugs. The manager offered to call the police for me.

Quote: Vegasrider

Both parties would have to verify the inventory which I doubt is even done. I think it’s just posted up as a precaution for anyone thinking of stealing something valuable. Back during my glory day’s touring with bands, it was not uncommon for a band member to go off and totally trash the hotel rooms. TV thrown through the window and into the swimming pool was one that I recalled.

Whenever I use to fly out my girlfriend for a few days she always embarrassed the hell out of me by taking home all the soap and other toiletries. I never used any of it except the shampoo and soap.
link to original post

Fine with us. The toiletries being taken or being used is the same thing, as far as we are concerned. Actually, better that you take them---less trash strewn around the bathroom to have to throw away.

Maids steal, and even security guards steal. It's happened multiple times to me and multiple times to people I know.

People are probably asking themselves how something could happen multiple times. Once shame on them, twice shame on you. Obviously, don't leave money or valuables in your room unattended and it cannot happen.

Well, when you have stayed at so many different hotels over the years some unfortunate event is bound to happen.

Perhaps I'll give some details on some unfortunate events that ultimately lead to theft.

For instance, an old friend of mine was in the shower in his hotel room when he heard the maid and didn't think much of it. No big deal, he assumed she would just leave once she heard the shower, he wasn't even sure if she had entered the room or just knocked. There was not much he could do other than jump out naked and see what the situation was.

Later when he went to leave, he realized his wallet was no longer on the TV dresser stand where he had left it with his jacket.
6k gone just like that.

Quote: billryan

I had a housekeeper steal or throw out a bunch of drugs I left on my bed. I'd left a do not disturb sign outside, but the housekeeper claimed she didn't see it or the missing drugs. The manager offered to call the police for me.
link to original post

Maybe the Wizard stole the Do Not Disturb sign off of your room.

Quote: Mission146

Quote: DRich

An acquaintance of my wife worked housekeeping at a strip casino in Vegas. She always had lots of jewelry available for sale to her friends. I had no idea they were paid enough to buy multi-carat diamond rings so often..
link to original post

Ha! That's a heck of a story.

We only had one instance of a guest claiming missing jewelry.

My guess is that Las Vegas Strip casinos may have some higher end customers. I never said our acquaintance stole anything, she may have just been a purveyor of high end jewelry.

Quote: AxelWolf

Maids steal, and even security guards steal. It's happened multiple times to me and multiple times to people I know.

People are probably asking themselves how something could happen multiple times. Once shame on them, twice shame on you. Obviously, don't leave money or valuables in your room unattended and it cannot happen.

Well, when you have stayed at so many different hotels over the years some unfortunate event is bound to happen.

Perhaps I'll give some details on some unfortunate events that ultimately lead to theft.

For instance, an old friend of mine was in the shower in his hotel room when he heard the maid and didn't think much of it. No big deal, he assumed she would just leave once she heard the shower, he wasn't even sure if she had entered the room or just knocked. There was not much he could do other than jump out naked and see what the situation was.

Later when he went to leave, he realized his wallet was no longer on the TV dresser stand where he had left it with his jacket.
6k gone just like that.
link to original post

Believe it or not, I always travel with a wedge or door stop for just such a scenario.

Quote: GenoDRPh

Quote: AxelWolf

Maids steal, and even security guards steal. It's happened multiple times to me and multiple times to people I know.

People are probably asking themselves how something could happen multiple times. Once shame on them, twice shame on you. Obviously, don't leave money or valuables in your room unattended and it cannot happen.

Well, when you have stayed at so many different hotels over the years some unfortunate event is bound to happen.

Perhaps I'll give some details on some unfortunate events that ultimately lead to theft.

For instance, an old friend of mine was in the shower in his hotel room when he heard the maid and didn't think much of it. No big deal, he assumed she would just leave once she heard the shower, he wasn't even sure if she had entered the room or just knocked. There was not much he could do other than jump out naked and see what the situation was.

Later when he went to leave, he realized his wallet was no longer on the TV dresser stand where he had left it with his jacket.
6k gone just like that.
link to original post

Believe it or not, I always travel with a wedge or door stop for just such a scenario.
link to original post

Most places I have stayed have one of those latches so the door can be opened only an inch or so. It is a smart thing to use it.

Quote: AZDuffman

Most places I have stayed have one of those latches so the door can be opened only an inch or so. It is a smart thing to use it.
link to original post

I have always wondered how secure those things are. It seems like the only way to get into the room would be to hit the door with enough force to tear the latch from the door or the frame, which seems considerable.

However, I'm sure there are occasions (guest medical emergency, building evacuation, etc.) where the hotel personnel/authorities need to get in the room. Do they need to "break down the door" in these cases, or is there some sort of double-secret gadget that only hoteliers know about that can circumvent these latches?

ETA: this whole thread reminds me of an old Richard Dawson Family Feud episode. The question was, "Name a souvenir you bring home from vacation." All of the answers on the board (towel, ashtray, matchbook, etc.) would have also been responses to the question, "Name an item you steal from a hotel room!" Makes you wonder where they find the "100 people surveyed."

Quote: Joeman

Quote: AZDuffman

Most places I have stayed have one of those latches so the door can be opened only an inch or so. It is a smart thing to use it.
link to original post

I have always wondered how secure those things are. It seems like the only way to get into the room would be to hit the door with enough force to tear the latch from the door or the frame, which seems considerable.

However, I'm sure there are occasions (guest medical emergency, building evacuation, etc.) where the hotel personnel/authorities need to get in the room. Do they need to "break down the door" in these cases, or is there some sort of double-secret gadget that only hoteliers know about that can circumvent these latches?

ETA: this whole thread reminds me of an old Richard Dawson Family Feud episode. The question was, "Name a souvenir you bring home from vacation." All of the answers on the board (towel, ashtray, matchbook, etc.) would have also been responses to the question, "Name an item you steal from a hotel room!" Makes you wonder where they find the "100 people surveyed."
link to original post

The idea is you would have to make so much noise or commotion to break in you would be found out. If you are doing a Hole in the Wall Gang style room heist you want to be in and out 60-90 seconds, grab and go. You break a door and there goes your cover. As to rescue getting in, a saws-all will do it in seconds. But again, with considerable noise.

As to taking things from the hotel room, they put out the matchbooks and other small stuff in part so you do not want to take the bigger stuff. Might or might not work.

Quote: Joeman

Quote: AZDuffman

Most places I have stayed have one of those latches so the door can be opened only an inch or so. It is a smart thing to use it.
link to original post

I have always wondered how secure those things are. It seems like the only way to get into the room would be to hit the door with enough force to tear the latch from the door or the frame, which seems considerable.

However, I'm sure there are occasions (guest medical emergency, building evacuation, etc.) where the hotel personnel/authorities need to get in the room. Do they need to "break down the door" in these cases, or is there some sort of double-secret gadget that only hoteliers know about that can circumvent these latches?

ETA: this whole thread reminds me of an old Richard Dawson Family Feud episode. The question was, "Name a souvenir you bring home from vacation." All of the answers on the board (towel, ashtray, matchbook, etc.) would have also been responses to the question, "Name an item you steal from a hotel room!" Makes you wonder where they find the "100 people surveyed."
link to original post

Here's a YouTube on opening swing bar latches:

Quote: Joeman

Quote: AZDuffman

Most places I have stayed have one of those latches so the door can be opened only an inch or so. It is a smart thing to use it.
link to original post

I have always wondered how secure those things are. It seems like the only way to get into the room would be to hit the door with enough force to tear the latch from the door or the frame, which seems considerable.

However, I'm sure there are occasions (guest medical emergency, building evacuation, etc.) where the hotel personnel/authorities need to get in the room. Do they need to "break down the door" in these cases, or is there some sort of double-secret gadget that only hoteliers know about that can circumvent these latches?

ETA: this whole thread reminds me of an old Richard Dawson Family Feud episode. The question was, "Name a souvenir you bring home from vacation." All of the answers on the board (towel, ashtray, matchbook, etc.) would have also been responses to the question, "Name an item you steal from a hotel room!" Makes you wonder where they find the "100 people surveyed."
link to original post

As I understand, there is a gadget.

It does take some manipulation, so you do get a few seconds to put a robe on, rather than the door promptly opening fully with the master key.

Quote: AxelWolf

Maids steal, and even security guards steal. It's happened multiple times to me and multiple times to people I know.

People are probably asking themselves how something could happen multiple times. Once shame on them, twice shame on you. Obviously, don't leave money or valuables in your room unattended and it cannot happen.

Well, when you have stayed at so many different hotels over the years some unfortunate event is bound to happen.

Perhaps I'll give some details on some unfortunate events that ultimately lead to theft.

For instance, an old friend of mine was in the shower in his hotel room when he heard the maid and didn't think much of it. No big deal, he assumed she would just leave once she heard the shower, he wasn't even sure if she had entered the room or just knocked. There was not much he could do other than jump out naked and see what the situation was.

Later when he went to leave, he realized his wallet was no longer on the TV dresser stand where he had left it with his jacket.
6k gone just like that.
link to original post

I don't dispute that whatsoever, but I would say that it would almost certainly be more prominent in the Vegas area and other big cities.

In your friend's story, assuming it was LV, or similar, that housekeeper could basically take the 6k and bounce out of town pretty easily. I don't know the extent to which the employers verify employee credentials out there, but it seems possible that she wasn't even working under her actual name. Even if she had been, perhaps she sees 6k as enough to get on out of Dodge and thought to herself, "Well, I can never go to Nevada again."

When you get into a hotel such as the second one I managed, the housekeepers who work there not only depend on that as their primary job, but they're also people who have mostly lived in the area the better part of their lives, if not their entire lives. I'm sure there's some number big enough where they might grab it and skip town, but I doubt very many (if any) of our guests were running around with that in cash, that they'd leave it in the room unattended even if they were and, again, it would have to be an incredibly substantial amount for the housekeepers (who often had minor children) to try the old grab and go.

Of course, that's why hotels disclaim that they're not responsible for lost/damaged/stolen items---they really can't be. If the hotels themselves could be held responsible for that, then nefarious actors could simply claim to have anything in the world in their rooms and that it got stolen.

With phones and everything like that nowadays, my best advice for anyone leaving anything of significant value in the main room (even if just going to the bathroom) would be to have your phone, and perhaps other devices, recording the main room and definitely to have it on the door. With that, if it is an employee of the hotel and you can actually PROVE it was an employee who stole something, then perhaps the hotel could be legally determined to be liable for that if you can't get to the employee or the employee skips town.

Quote: Joeman

Quote: AZDuffman

Most places I have stayed have one of those latches so the door can be opened only an inch or so. It is a smart thing to use it.
link to original post

I have always wondered how secure those things are. It seems like the only way to get into the room would be to hit the door with enough force to tear the latch from the door or the frame, which seems considerable.

However, I'm sure there are occasions (guest medical emergency, building evacuation, etc.) where the hotel personnel/authorities need to get in the room. Do they need to "break down the door" in these cases, or is there some sort of double-secret gadget that only hoteliers know about that can circumvent these latches?

ETA: this whole thread reminds me of an old Richard Dawson Family Feud episode. The question was, "Name a souvenir you bring home from vacation." All of the answers on the board (towel, ashtray, matchbook, etc.) would have also been responses to the question, "Name an item you steal from a hotel room!" Makes you wonder where they find the "100 people surveyed."
link to original post

It would certainly take a lot, but you could also use bolt cutters, which the hotel had on standby (but usually only where managers can get to them).

The reason that we would have those on standby, and this happened once, is because we had guests staying in two adjoining rooms who had used the latch lock, but then accidentally shut the adjoining door behind them (which automatically locks) with all of them in one room. As a result, we had to cut the latch lock in order to get them back into their room.

I only remember that because they actually demanded to be switched to different rooms due to feeling, "Insecure," without the latch lock on the one door! Can you believe that? I told them that they were lucky that we weren't going to charge them for us having to break the lock. After that, I told them they could either keep the rooms that they have, as they are, or I could come up in the late evening hours and install a new latch lock...which only takes several minutes.

Quote: ChesterDog

Quote: Joeman

Quote: AZDuffman

Most places I have stayed have one of those latches so the door can be opened only an inch or so. It is a smart thing to use it.
link to original post

I have always wondered how secure those things are. It seems like the only way to get into the room would be to hit the door with enough force to tear the latch from the door or the frame, which seems considerable.

However, I'm sure there are occasions (guest medical emergency, building evacuation, etc.) where the hotel personnel/authorities need to get in the room. Do they need to "break down the door" in these cases, or is there some sort of double-secret gadget that only hoteliers know about that can circumvent these latches?

ETA: this whole thread reminds me of an old Richard Dawson Family Feud episode. The question was, "Name a souvenir you bring home from vacation." All of the answers on the board (towel, ashtray, matchbook, etc.) would have also been responses to the question, "Name an item you steal from a hotel room!" Makes you wonder where they find the "100 people surveyed."
link to original post

Here's a YouTube on opening swing bar latches:

link to original post

I'm sure he wasn't sharing that for the purposes of breaking into someone else's room, but if that was the goal, seems like a great way to catch a heavy object to the fingers or someone sneaks behind the door and then uses all of their body weight to slam it closed on your hand.

Quote: Mission146

In your friend's story, assuming it was LV, or similar, that housekeeper could basically take the 6k and bounce out of town pretty easily. I don't know the extent to which the employers verify employee credentials out there, but it seems possible that she wasn't even working under her actual name. Even if she had been, perhaps she sees 6k as enough to get on out of Dodge and thought to herself, "Well, I can never go to Nevada again."

When you get into a hotel such as the second one I managed, the housekeepers who work there not only depend on that as their primary job, but they're also people who have mostly lived in the area the better part of their lives, if not their entire lives. I'm sure there's some number big enough where they might grab it and skip town, but I doubt very many (if any) of our guests were running around with that in cash, that they'd leave it in the room unattended even if they were and, again, it would have to be an incredibly substantial amount for the housekeepers (who often had minor children) to try the old grab and go.

In Vegas it would be more the maid would call the thief she knows to pull the job later. When she has an alibi air tight. Indeed it would need to be a ton of money for a local place in a smaller city. Unless the maid was a junkie, in which case judgement would be limited. Size of hotel is also going to matter. The smaller the hotel the riskier it will be to do.

Probably 2 to 3 times a week whenever I’m up early enough for breakfast we stop into a hotel for their free continental breakfast. Not once have we been questioned. Just walk in with some kind of luggage and that seems to be enough to keep the heat off.

Quote: Seedvalue

Probably 2 to 3 times a week whenever I’m up early enough for breakfast we stop into a hotel for their free continental breakfast. Not once have we been questioned. Just walk in with some kind of luggage and that seems to be enough to keep the heat off.
link to original post

I think that's a Dancer play! (He wrote about something substantially similar for LVA once)

Honestly, you can probably save your back; I think only the hotel's owner, or maybe GM, would even conceivably care...and that's only if they absolutely knew.

Also, hotels generally have three shifts; breakfast is going to be C&A shift and most people check in during B shift with a few checking in during C shift. Typically, A Shift has no idea who is actually a guest of the hotel and who is not; how would they know? C shift wouldn't know most of them, unless it was totally dead the night before.

I also can't imagine a hotel doing anything other than asking you to leave. Even that would surprise me, unless you became a known person. For anyone other than someone who is absolutely known not to be a guest, it's not even worth the confrontation. Often, it's not even going to be perceived as being worth the confrontation even if someone did know you weren't a guest, again, unless you were making a habit of it.

No need to take countermeasures; this particular form of petty theft probably won't draw any heat anyway.

I've taken advantage of some free motel breakfasts and their pools. It's in the past and I don't expect to do it again, but problems were few and far between.

Quote: billryan

I've taken advantage of some free motel breakfasts and their pools. It's in the past and I don't expect to do it again, but problems were few and far between.
link to original post

I'd be more likely to do something about someone swimming if I knew they weren't a guest. Of course, you could just come in, pay $5 and swim all day if you wanted to.

I briefly worked at a hotel. Two such stories.

Once a guy asked if he could just "sit and read" in the lobby. I had to say "no." Now, if he had just sat down to read I would never have noticed him. Lesson learned: do not call attention to yourself.

I heard the story about a woman used the restroom every day. It was in downtown so this was a problem you always had to watch out for. Lobby was busy enough that if you hit it once they probably would notice. But it was "same woman, same time, daily." When they confronted her she got huffy and said, "well, I guess I will go somewhere else" as if she was taking her business elsewhere and was not just a freeloader.

Quote: AZDuffman

I briefly worked at a hotel. Two such stories.

Once a guy asked if he could just "sit and read" in the lobby. I had to say "no." Now, if he had just sat down to read I would never have noticed him. Lesson learned: do not call attention to yourself.

I heard the story about a woman used the restroom every day. It was in downtown so this was a problem you always had to watch out for. Lobby was busy enough that if you hit it once they probably would notice. But it was "same woman, same time, daily." When they confronted her she got huffy and said, "well, I guess I will go somewhere else" as if she was taking her business elsewhere and was not just a freeloader.
link to original post

The first instance seems a little unusual; did the hotel have a rule against people who weren't registered guests hanging out in the lobby, or was it just super busy that day? I could see myself saying no if it was going to be a really busy evening, but that aside, I'd honestly have no reason to care. I'd just inform the individual that I am busy, so please don't talk to me unless they want coffee, or something.

***Another note is the second hotel owned by the same guy as the one I managed I would cover overnight once a week and there was some bus bound for New York every so often that did the pickup near there in the middle of the night; I wasn't of a disposition to let people freeze, so I'd invite them inside and offer to make them some coffee.

The second thing I could also maybe understand for a busy hotel in a downtown type area. The only way we would have ever cared at either of the two hotels in the area I most recently managed a hotel is if we knew someone had used it and left it a mess. We really weren't worried about the four cents worth of toilet paper and fraction of a penny toilet flush so much. The first hotel I managed, several states away, did not have a public restroom to begin with.

Quote: Mission146

Quote: billryan

I've taken advantage of some free motel breakfasts and their pools. It's in the past and I don't expect to do it again, but problems were few and far between.
link to original post

I'd be more likely to do something about someone swimming if I knew they weren't a guest. Of course, you could just come in, pay $5 and swim all day if you wanted to.
link to original post

Pools are scarce around Bisbee. Last year, I asked The Copper Queen Hotel about renting out their pool for three hours for a private party. The person who said he was the GM told me the hotel's insurance policy only covered registered guests so he couldn't help me.
I wasn't asking for exclusive access, just wanted 15-20 people to be able to swim for a few hours.

Quote: billryan

Pools are scarce around Bisbee. Last year, I asked The Copper Queen Hotel about renting out their pool for three hours for a private party. The person who said he was the GM told me the hotel's insurance policy only covered registered guests so he couldn't help me.
I wasn't asking for exclusive access, just wanted 15-20 people to be able to swim for a few hours.
link to original post

I imagine that's going to vary from hotel to hotel.

I don't know anything about every possible type of insurance policy; I just knew that our pool's insurance would cover it if, by one mechanism or another, the person was paying to be there. It's very possible that the GM to whom you spoke was either just erring on the side of caution, or alternatively, that hotel's insurance policy did actually specify that only registered guests were covered to be in the pool area.

I can also say that guests have to come first, so there is no way that I would allow for 15-20 people who are not guests to be in the pool at one time. Honestly, twenty was already halfway to our maximum covered capacity, per fire/health regulations, given the square footage of the pool area.

The only exception to such a large group I might make is if the group was fine with both beginning and ending their time in the pool area prior to 3:00p.m., which was our check in time. That's the only time I would see so many people in the pool area as not being potentially disruptive to hotel guests.

If a hotel debited my card on file, claiming damages, I would contact the credit card company, tell them I dispute the charge and to not honor it.

That would force the hotel to either let it go or pursue me in court: good luck with that.

Quote: MrV

If a hotel debited my card on file, claiming damages, I would contact the credit card company, tell them I dispute the charge and to not honor it.

That would force the hotel to either let it go or pursue me in court: good luck with that.
link to original post

Most credit cards have a dispute process and if they find for the hotel you will still be charged.

I am the king of disputing things, I probably do it every other month or so.