In response to the Las Vegas massacre last October, hotels are changing their security measures. Hotel staff will knock and/or enter a room for security purposes after so many hours of "Do Not Disturb" signs being on the guest's door. The frequency of these checks range from 12 hours to two days. Enhanced security measures at some hotels will allow the staff to enter guest rooms for almost any reason.
Like many Vegas visitors I frequently put those signs up and I am not thrilled with the idea of them being disregarded. In the few months since these policies have been in place I have already heard multiple first hand stories of people being walked in on while they were sleeping, bathing or otherwise engaged in a private activity. The people who have experienced this are always very annoyed, to put it mildly.
It seems there is no way around this. Apparently just calling the front desk daily saying "I am alive and well!!!" would not ensure that they would leave you alone. The hotel staff needs to physically enter our rooms.
They say these measures are for our safety...but are they really? Once they are inside our rooms, then what? Are they going to open every suitcase, every closet, and every drawer? It is such an invasion of privacy. How would the staff know whether or not we were stockpiling weapons unless they do that? How are we any safer by the mere act of them walking into our room?
In an article in onemileatatime.boardingarea.com they list "suspicious activity" as follows.
- Guests overly concerned about privacy
- Guests refusing room cleaning for extended period of time
- Those taking photos and notes about the hotel
- Switching rooms number of times
- Requesting specific rooms
- Extended use of DND sign
- Using cash for payment
- Guest doesn’t leave the room for extended period
- Guest leaves the room for extended period
I do almost all of those things, every trip!
I don't profess to know the answer, but I have serious doubts about these security checks doing anything to improve our safety while we are guests at a hotel. I think the only result will be huge numbers of angry guests, and knowing how litigious our society is now, some who even may have suing on their minds.
