Question about hotel "master" key cards?

[Brooke Wilde]

A preface to my question:

A few weeks ago, I left my hotel door cracked. I then ran downstairs for a second.

I came back up & noticed my door was closed, but it actually wasn't my door, I had got off on the wrong floor & hadn't been paying attention, however, I didn't yet realize this, so instead of going down to the front desk to get another key, I asked the maintenance man, who was just down the hall, to open the door for me.

I had been at this hotel for about a month, so we had seen each other plenty of times & instead of asking any questions, he just slipped his card in & walked off.

I opened the door & a lady is naked about to get in the bath. Right away I realized the mistake I had made. The maintenance man was able to disappear rather quickly, so she never saw him, but right away she started screaming "How did you get in here?".

I tried to say my key opened her door, but she looked at my hands & saw I was not holding a key. She then stormed towards the room phone screaming she was going to call the front desk.

I closed the door & ran to the elevator where the maintenance man was. Apparently, he heard her screaming & knew what happened.

I told him that I didn't rat him out & that I took the blame. I then went back to my room.

Well, since this night I have not seen him once & it has been a few weeks.

My question: Do you think I got this guy fired? Do they have the ability to look in the computer system & see what room doors his key has opened?

They didn't have any cameras on the floors or in the elevator so they couldn't have seen it, but it's really bothering me, I can't help but feel like I got him fired.

He was a really nice guy & had even mentioned that he had been to prison in the past & this hotel gave him another shot & that he had worked there for quite a few years & really enjoyed it.

I feel awful. I check out of this hotel on Friday - should I say something to management?

So, what do you guys & gals think?

[Fizley]

If it's a chain hotel, there is a camera. Maybe not aimed at the wrong rooms door, but probably in the hallway nearby, or at the elevator.

In an employee market one mistake its hard to fire someone fkr one mistake.

So if he was fired, he was fired for other reasons

[Brooke Wilde]

Originally Posted by Fizley

If it's a chain hotel, there is a camera. Maybe not aimed at the wrong rooms door, but probably in the hallway nearby, or at the elevator.

I'll have to go look again, but remarkably, I have not noticed any camaras on the floors or by the elevator, unless they are trying very hard to disguise them. This is a chain hotel, one of the larger brands.

Originally Posted by Fizley

In an employee market one mistake its hard to fire someone fkr one mistake.

So if he was fired, he was fired for other reasons

That makes me feel a little better. I was just thinking that since this woman was butt-naked when the door was opened, that it seriously escalated this offense ... & let me tell you, she was PISSED! On a scale of 1-10, she was a solid 20, so I'm sure she made a VERY big deal about it to management.

[Unique_Carpenter]

Brooke,
Fiz is correct on his comments.
Here's mine:
The answers in red with additional comments below.

Originally Posted by Brooke Wilde

Do they have the ability to look in the computer system & see what room doors his key has opened?
Yes, and there's a log for every keycard for every room. And the exit doors will log in also. These are kept at least a few days.

They didn't have any cameras on the floors or in the elevator... Brook, the camera my contractors install are rather small and un-noticeable. At a decent size place there vid on all elevator lobbys, in the elevators, and long shots down hallways. Camera's are cheap nowadays.

I feel awful. I check out of this hotel on Friday - should I say something to management?
Do not say anything as you might make it worse

OK, welcome to the world of what insurance companies are requiring hotels to do. It's all about guest safety.

Hotel staff are supposed to validate a guest before opening a door. So the guy you're worried about did screw up. But, I will just flat out tell you that stuff happens. Yes Maint and the maid all have master keys. Note that at most hotels those are issued and cancelled every day for basic security reasons.

Will the guest bitch at front desk, yes.
Will front desk cover the guys azz and not report him to the general manager immediately? Probably.
Will front desk write a report? yeah a short one. They have to write reports on any incident.
Should you do anything? No. Maybe the GM will bitch the guy out once he reads the reports. But the guy does have an honest mistake excuse as he knew you were a guest.
So why am I saying do nothing? Cause you don't want to stir it up if front desk did bury it.

Last, other than a card key that's a master, no other card keys will open another room door. The software that assigns codes simply prevents that. Of course codes are reused. But that's after the first card key is cancelled.

[Italia DiBella]

All cameras are not visible in hotels but yes, they're there.

I have a family member in the hotel industry.

As far as him getting fired for it, good chance he got fired by hotel manager looking at the video or he told on himself to try and ease the situation.

I've done that before "got off on wrong floor" tried opening wrong room, it happens

[TryWeakly]

About this naked lady.....

1) Did she have nice tits?
2) Chung called, he wanted to know if she got bush
3) Pyramider called... he was asking ifn she had any taint photos
4) Is she sangle?

Carry on.

Lastly, I concur with what UC has expertly summarized.

[Pitroom]

I worked at the Omni back in like 93 as a Concierge overnight. I was in college at the time so I would come there tired. Thought it was a good idea to sometimes nap in vacant rooms. I would open the room with my master key I was issued. Worked out great until someone checked in to said room and tried to come in.(I had engaged the deadbolt) Anyhow the next day I had an unpleasant meeting with the head concierge at the time and was issued a write up. They tracked who opened that room back to me. So yes if they could track it back in 93 I'm pretty darn sure technology has progressed as opposed to regressed. So the answer to OP question is a resounding affirmative

[MarcellusWalluz]

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it Brooke.
Good maintenance guys are hard to find so property managers put up with a lot of shit from them, they rarely get fired for stuff like this especially if he's been there a few years.
If anything maybe they just assigned him to a different property for a while.
I have been issued rooms that were already occupied on many occasions, twice I encountered the occupants & both times I was more bothered with the incident than they were.
Never walked in on a naked lady but one was several teenage girls from a soccer team that were playing in a tournament. It was at a national chain in a different town where I was staying for a few days.
The other time there were two children & a man (I assumed it was their father). It was at a local "inn" where I was meeting a lady for an outcall Greek fest & yes we left the room really messy & nasty.
Both times they didn't say a word, just gave me confused looks. I just said "oops,sorry" closed the door & walked back to the front desk expecting someone to come running out of the room to ask how I got in but it never happened.
Amazing how many people don't bother to use the deadbolt when staying in hotels.
The other times the people were not in the rooms but their personal belongings were.
It does worry me that one of these days I'm going to walk in on a phsycho & get Kilt just for trying to get my Freak on!

[Pitroom]

Her losing sleep over it is the exact response she should have and is appropriate. It's called caring. Especially from the point of view that this dude is a felon who needs that job. Not a customer with money to burn or a provider who can simply pack her g-string into a bag and off to another hotel go. This is a real human being with real life obligations and limited options so yes if she didn't feel something I would be concerned. The lady complained for sure. They tracked it. Whether he got fired or not is something that I have no clue of. If it's a string of fuck up. Yes. One fuck up I possibly doubt it but who knows.

[BigBamboo]

I agree both camera and key probably did the maintenance man no favors along with possibly a history where that incident was the last straw. But what he did alone is enough in the hospitality industry to get a worker fired because as another poster stated guest safety is high priority at most professionally run establishments unless at a Patel / Motel. So not your fault.

[Brooke Wilde]

Thank you all for the feedback. There were a lot of good points & thoughts offered.

I checked out of the hotel & didn't say anything to management so unfortunately, I'll never know what happened to him.

I'm sure that he knew hotel protocol & that he should have sent me down to the front desk, but I still can't help but have a sick-to-my-stomach feeling knowing that me asking him to open the door was the catalyst to this situation.

I most certainly learned my lesson & will never put hotel staff in this position again should a predicament arise where I am locked out of a hotel room. I'll take my ass to the front desk & request a new key.

[Totempole]

Happens more than you think, good idea to engages the swing bar security lock when inside the room.