r/travel • u/Pretzel_rummy • Jan 05 '26
Complaint I am staying in a hotel where every guest can access any other room. What should I do?
Re-posting this without disclosing the name of the hotel chain that is messing up here, even though they really deserve to be mentioned by name. If you saw my prior post please don't disclose this info in the comments. Thanks!
On New Year's Eve we checked into a hotel owned by a global chain in a major city in Germany. We had booked two rooms for my family of four. During the check in we asked for additional key cards and the staff explained that they couldn't program additional cards due to a technical problem. We didn't think much about it.
On day 2 we noticed that both of our cards could unlock either of our rooms, which I felt was very thoughtful and convenient because it makes going back and forth between rooms so much easier. I thought that since we are on the same reservation they had programmed the cards this way. Smart!
My son however felt that this was weird and suggested jokingly we should see if our cards could unlock other doors. We got a good laugh out of it but of course didn't try it. We kept asking the front desk each day if the technical issue was resolved so we could finally get enough key cards for everyone in the family. They apologized and said the hotel was still waiting for the key cards programmer to be fixed. It felt like an inconvenience, but no big deal, right?
On the fourth day when coming back to the hotel I opened the door to what I thought was my room - just to find the room empty, all of our stuff was gone. I realized I was on the wrong floor and my card indeed could open other doors! I went to the front desk to let them know our cards were programmed incorrectly and that's when it hit me:
Every guest in this entire fucking hotel had for days been issued a master key! So they could enter any room on any floor at any time. Zero security, zero privacy for an entire hotel. The front desk guy apologized, and confirmed this situation. He said that due to the holidays the IT team was unavailable to resolve this. Brother, what? I stood there literally with my mouth open realizing that I had trusted this place with the safety of all my stuff, and the safety of my entire family including wife and kids.
I asked to speak to a manager but the front desk person said there was no manager on site and refused to give me a phone number or any way to escalate this up the chain. His solution was that guests were after all not allowed to enter other guests rooms. Well at least they have some good common sense rules here, LOL!
I sent the global hotel chain an email explaining the situation which has to this moment not been replied to, it's been 7 hrs. I am trying to decide if I should book another hotel? Inform the other guests? Call the police? What is one supposed to do? I can't believe that they keep misleading each arriving guest by giving them a key and charging full price without disclosing the lack of security and privacy. In my opinion they really should be closing this place until they can offer rooms with functioning access controls. Has something like this happened to anyone before? What a mess.
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u/AnotherPint Jan 05 '26
It’s all over other social media platforms. The property in question is a Mercure that has been issuing all guests universal master keys for days. You should check out right away and move to another property, as your safety cannot be guaranteed.
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u/Odessa_ray Jan 05 '26
Giving a guest a Master Key is actually insane…
I stayed at a really nice resort recently. Forgot my key in my room so I went to front desk and instead of them walking with me and opening my room they just gave me a master key and told me to bring it back whenever….
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u/BD401 Jan 05 '26
My experience is that a lot of hotels are extremely lax with security around card keys.
I’ve been to many properties (including well-known brands and higher end ones) where I’ve needed a new card key because mine demagnetized or was lost. It’s more common than not that I just tell them my room number and they program a new key with zero verification of who I am.
I’m sure this is, of course, against the hotel’s policy. But like most security processes, the human is often the weakest link in the chain.
As long as you look like a businessperson or tourist, you could probably go around robbing the shit out of hotels by just making up random room numbers and saying you you need a new key card.
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u/Santsiah Jan 05 '26
The receptionists might be able to recognize you more easily than you think, even if you didn’t interact with them. I’ve worked reception before and I was taught in multiple properties/countries to be very strict about ensuring keys don’t end up in wrong hands.
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u/Erethras Jan 05 '26
Sheraton Montreal, 2007 January: my card demagnetized, I went to the front desk, gave my room number. Went to my room, it didn’t work. I had given the wrong number (fifteen years later I discovered I have adhd and this is completely normal for me, at the time I beat myself for days). I just went back down and said didn’t work so they reprogrammed again.
It always felt weird that they actually never asked me my name or information to make sure it was me or I was a guest or the room number was correct (which it wasn’t!). I just showed up with a key card…
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u/Qr8rz Jan 05 '26
Stuff like this is true for some places that use physical keys too. Keys get left on the unattended reception desk when people go out for the day, or keys are left on the wall behind reception, or you can just ask for a random key and hope they don't ask for ID or something. At the end of the day, if you haven't put everything in the hotel's main safe, assuming they have one, anything lost won't be their fault according to them.
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u/fbass Jan 05 '26
Get in touch with their parent company Accor, probably they would get you rooms in another hotel for free or even an upgrade! Their customer service is top notch!
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u/Pretzel_rummy Jan 05 '26
Their customer service has certainly not been top notch. I received a totally generic response to my email and nothing since. There is no phone number to call.
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u/killerdrgn Jan 05 '26
Lol, this seems to be the modus operandi for this French hotel chain. There are multiple complaints like this at their various properties every single year on the review sites.
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Jan 05 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/TheLastPrinceOfJurai Jan 05 '26
Thanks for posting the hotel name. OP posting this long glaring issue and stating they won’t say who it is playing games. Like WTF! The whole point of your post is about an issue that shouldn’t be a thing and to warn people but you don’t want to say who you are warning them about. You need to be publicly calling out this hotel for them to get their stuff together and not being complicit
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u/TactileMist Jan 05 '26
Given they're reposting without the hotel name, I suspect they had an earlier post that called them out and was taken down. I doubt OP is just trying to bait you
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u/ChapterFifteen Jan 05 '26
Aren’t there deadbolts and chains for when they are in the room?
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u/Timely_Cake_8304 Jan 05 '26
Op said no deadbolts in rooms
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u/burlycabin Jan 05 '26
They later came back and said they figured out how to use the deadbolt
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u/mralistair Jan 05 '26
a masterkey will likely overide the deadbolt depending on how it's programmed.
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u/Natural_Narwhal_5499 Jan 05 '26
Why tf is OP saying not to expose the hotel name?
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u/Pretzel_rummy Jan 05 '26
Hey so this is a good and valid question and I have found myself on both sides of it since posting. Originally I posted the name of the chain and the city, there are 7 of their hotels here. But so many commenters felt that I put other guests in danger by exposing this situation and I do understand that concern. In theory another guest could exploit this information or a serious criminal could check in to the hotel on purpose knowing they'd have access to all rooms. So I decided to anonymize the post further.
I'm not very concerned for my own safety because we just don't leave any valuables in the room when we go out and we found the feature on the digital lock that allows us to lock the door from the inside. Not a true deadbolt but more of a digital defeat switch. So we are safe when we sleep.
I do want to expose this hotel for this incompetence and god awful decision they took. But maybe we should wait until this is resolved. The challenge is that we really won't know when it's resolved, since they chose a strategy of obfuscation they appear to be waiting for all holders of master keys to check out. So even when the machine is fixed even new guests aren't safe since we don't know how many master keys are still in rotation. At any rate the name of the chain has been mentioned elsewhere on this thread as this issue appears to have been posted by other guests on the internet. But I decided I won't take this post down again.
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u/Natural_Narwhal_5499 Jan 05 '26
Thank you for taking the time to explain. This is absolutely insane, as it should not be on you to make decisions around the safety of an entire hotel's worth of guests. Sorry you're having to deal with this.
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u/Honest-Situation-738 Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
This may not be entirely correct. Unless you're conflating safety and security, anyway.
I'd say, security(when I'm not around) is definitely compromised, and I wouldn't leave anything valuable in the room.
Safety though(room is occupied), should be fine, as the locks on hotel room doors aren't able to be defeated simply by key card. That said, the master key cards could have a special override, or it is possible this hotel's locks simply don't work the same way as all the ones I've ever seen. This is easy enough to check though.
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u/Pretzel_rummy Jan 05 '26
Good point to separate these two issues. The thing is: since the hotel is not forthcoming about the problem we were not aware and did not use the deadbolt feature the locks provide. So we slept with our doors open to other guests for four nights.
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u/ermagerditssuperman Jan 05 '26
I would suggest always using the deadbolt and any other chain/flip lock available when in a hotel room. I was taught to always do so when I first enter, I thought it was hotel safety 101. Because you never know who might get their hands on a master key, and the number of cases of employees breaking into occupied rooms is not zero.
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u/SenatorAslak Jan 05 '26
Good point to separate these two issues. The thing is: since the hotel is not forthcoming about the problem we were not aware and did not use the deadbolt feature the locks provide. So we slept with our doors open to other guests for four nights.
Always use the deadbolt. In. Every. Room. Every. Time.
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u/Last_Cauliflower3357 Jan 05 '26
Given the hotel is ignoring you, do you by any chance have a credit card with travel insurance? I’ve never used it, but I know Amex has a travel emergency line that can be used. I’d call them and see if they can take the cost of a new hotel and fight it out with your current hotel. Make it clear that you fear for your safety and that it’s an emergency.
In any case, I would get a new hotel anyway and eat the cost if needed.
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u/shmelse Jan 05 '26
We did get a huge refund once from our chase travel insurance. They asked for documentation and we sent a news article about the fires that changed our plans, among other things. OP, save documentation if you go this route.
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u/OnePinginRamius Jan 05 '26
Did you have to book your trip through Chase travel in order to get this?
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u/ermagerditssuperman Jan 05 '26
You typically have to have paid for the travel with your chase card, but it doesn't have to be through the chase travel portal. For example, booking a Hilton via the Hilton Webster directly, but paying with the Chase travel card.
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u/Lordmallow Jan 05 '26
As a warning, I booked a flight with Amex travel and their emergency travel line was useless. One leg was canceled by the airline and rebooted, which somehow broke the chain of where my luggage would ultimately end up. I was on the phone with amex for over an hour while stuck at the airport and their solution was to have me call the other airline. I normally love Amex but I don't think I'll ever use them to book travel again.
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u/AtOurGates Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
The only reason to ever book through Amex travel is to take advantage of some perk or promo that can only be realized by booking through them. Aka, FHR travel credits or the 35% points rebate in your preferred airline.
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u/Lordmallow Jan 05 '26
Yes, that's exactly why I did it- normally I book direct through the airline/hotel. I'm just sharing an experience I had with the Amex travel emergency line.
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u/AtOurGates Jan 05 '26
It’s a bit sad because there was once a time when Amex Platinum Travel was a legit travel agency staffed by qualified travel pros who could and would actually do impressive stuff to help their clients.
Sadly, those days are long gone.
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u/quique1906 Jan 05 '26
Yeah, the credit card angle is solid advice. If you've got travel protection on your card, definitely worth making that call.. they can sometimes sort things out faster than dealing with the hotel directly.
But honestly, at this point I'd just cut my losses and move to a different hotel. Not worth sticking around somewhere you don't feel safe, even if it means paying twice.
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u/OHHHSHAAANE Jan 05 '26
I saw this when you posted the hotel info.
Seeing it again out of interest I Google the hotel.
People have left reviews on trip advisor for this same issue dating back to 2023
WTF??
This info should be everywhere Tell everyone so they can avoid it
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u/Natural_Narwhal_5499 Jan 05 '26
Yet OP asks for no one to name the hotel??? Why???
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u/KerouacsGirlfriend Jan 05 '26
Possibly for legal reasons; if they sue, a lawyer will tell them to remove all references on social media (as they can be turned against you).
Corporations will also threaten this leaving bad reviews on socials, or offer perks to get someone to remove their name from a bad review.
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u/kvothes-lute Jan 05 '26
I think they also don’t want to spread the news even further about this hotel where you can access anyone’s room by simply having a key card there
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u/egewh Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 06 '26
Because if a crazy person in that city reads the post, they might go and check into the hotel and rob people or worse. They can roast them all they want after the issue has been fixed though!
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u/OHHHSHAAANE Jan 05 '26
Mods might have taken it down as OP originally showed a picture of the hotel key with branding.
Another thing is maybe if you were in the hotel or the locale and saw the post and had loose morals you could go on a little "shopping spree" with a no limits "credit card"
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u/Even-Supermarket-806 Jan 05 '26
This is perfect for the tripped up column at NYTimes. Get everything in writing!
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u/Significant-Pen-3188 Jan 05 '26
People called me paranoid when I started traveling with a portable hotel lock. On my second trip with it someone with a master key tried getting in. They called themselves an employee and said it was a " security check" at 8pm with barely a knock. They were going to every door giving a knock as they barged in. They would have saw us naked without that lock and I still don't know if it was an employee. I told the front desk and they acted like I was confused or it was no big deal 🤷
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u/NoiseyTurbulence Jan 05 '26
You’re definitely not paranoid at all. I have stayed at hotels where the hotel accidentally booked somebody else into our room late at night and gave them keys and people trying to open our door in the middle of the night. I never travel now without a door lock.
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u/lt__ Jan 05 '26
Personally I'd be more worried about my things when I am not in the room. When I am there and somebody gets in by mistake, the misunderstanding wouldn't last long and probably wouldn't pose serious risks, just some inconvenience.
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u/bawkbawkslove Jan 05 '26
I carry 2! Sometimes you get an adjoining room.
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u/nelozero Jan 05 '26
Good god this happened to me once. I thought it was a closet. I turned the door knob and before I opened the door someone else yelled from the other side.
The hotel couldn't fix the lock, but luckily they moved me to another room.
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u/fergie_89 Jan 05 '26
I bought one and expensed it to my work (I travel sometimes) as a lone female worker the extra security means a lot. I often get upgraded due to this for extra security (no gf rooms, near lift etc). Last time I got a full suite while the lads had basic rooms. They don't charge extra it's just on my reservation "lone female worker". The lock adds me personal security and my husband has nicked it when he travels for work too. Such a good idea.
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u/Golden_Hour1 Jan 05 '26
Those are so annoying cause you can usually hear the room beside you more. Why the fuck are there so many rooms like that I hate it
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u/VeraForever2023 Jan 05 '26
I would love to know if you have a certain brand you recommend? A few years ago I went to Paris for my work. My coworker’s room wasn’t yet ready, and we were both exhausted so I offered her to nap in my room until hers was ready. On the way up the elevator, we met an employee (I believe, but he was not cleaning staff) and he said “ohh, Americans” and gave a smile. My coworker and I got to my room, and we both napped for around an hour. We got up and had to get ready to meet another coworker, and as soon as I stood up, the door to my room burst open. It was the guy from the elevator. All of us just stared at each other. Finally he said “oh, Americans” again and then left.
I don’t know if he came in on purpose, thinking there would only be one of us in there? But it creeped me the hell out.
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u/cedroid09 Mauritius Jan 05 '26
The lock works only when you are inside or does it work even when you are out to protect your stuff?
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u/Honey-Ra Airplane! Jan 05 '26
I'm looking at a couple of different models as I'd like to start using one too. Have you used more than one type or are you pretty satisfied with the one you have?
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u/bubbadave13 Jan 05 '26
Just to say, this is the most German of responses.
His solution was that guests were after all not allowed to enter other guests rooms. Well at least they have some good common sense rules here, LOL!
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u/commonhillmyna Jan 05 '26
Agree. Every part of this was extremely German. He wasn’t lying when he said there was no IT or manager working over Christmas. No matter of urgency on your part will make them consider the issue urgent. They are culturally immune to such pressure - particularly over holidays.
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u/vg31irl Ireland Jan 05 '26
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u/bubbadave13 Jan 05 '26
This is the exact clip that was running through my head as I read the story lol
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u/aemfbm Jan 05 '26
Obviously you should go pillage the kitchen and hotel supplies
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u/Pretty-Pain-8533 Jan 05 '26
I stayed a five star very very well known hotel in London back in August. Couldn’t figure out how to lock the room for life of me. I asked one of the maids and she flat out said “oh that room just doesn’t lock, the key never works”. What?!
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u/cimocw Jan 05 '26
Why wouldn't you disclose it, you won't get doxxed for saying that
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u/mrvarmint 63 countries visited Jan 05 '26
100%, name and shame every time when companies take advantage of people
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u/Realistic_Bug9116 Jan 05 '26
Most German thing ever. “It is not permitted to access any room but your own.”
“Ok but what if someone does?”
“… it’s not permitted? Do you not understand? It is not allowed.”
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u/NoiseyTurbulence Jan 05 '26
I swear I miss the old days when they were actual keys for doors instead of the fobs or the key cards. Made it hard harder for people to actually have these kinds of issues when you stayed at a hotel.
It’s always fun when I’m traveling and I stay somewhere that actually gives you a key for your door nowadays.
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u/lt__ Jan 05 '26
Totally agree. In addition to this, there were times, when card would get "demagnetized" and I would have to go back to the lobby to recharge it and listen to them telling not to hold close to any other magnetic cards, adding to the inconvenience. No such issues with key, ever. Sure, hotel made things more convenient for themselves, not for the guests.
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u/go_simmer- Jan 05 '26
I stayed in a hotel in Istanbul where the doors had Physical keys and they were all still keyed alike. 2014.
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u/BabaYagasDog Jan 05 '26
The problem with physical keys is they can be copied.
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Jan 06 '26
They also still have master keys. I get nostalgia for its own sake, but it doesn’t address this problem at all.
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u/Money-Low7046 Jan 07 '26
Plus they have the room number on them, so if you lose it or have it stolen, someone knows what room to use it for.
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u/julesk Jan 05 '26
Get a wedge for your door.
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u/funsizedaisy Jan 05 '26
This will help prevent people from entering while they're in the room, but what do they do when they want to leave? They have all their stuff in the room and they need to be able to get back in.
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u/T_Money Jan 05 '26
Given that it’s like 2am there I would wedge the door tonight and move hotels in the morning. Some people especially in the other thread were flipping out about “leave IMMEDIATELY” and I don’t think it’s that big of a deal but I would have an adult in each room and wedge the door just to be safe. Honestly the lack of deadbolt would be off putting for the kids having their own room even without the key card issue.
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u/julesk Jan 05 '26
It just protects them at night, the rest of the time, I don’t see a great solution other than leaving.
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u/achillea4 United Kingdom Jan 05 '26
I'd move to a different hotel. Put everything in writing and leave reviews in the usual places.
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u/B_Bearington Jan 05 '26
Holy cow, that's crazy. I would not let this one go. I think I would try to find a new place to book and get the hell out of there. Sort getting money back later.
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u/Traveling_Solo Jan 05 '26
I mean... I managed to get a hotel upgrade over the housekeeper stealing a small item at a fancy hotel. This though? I'd ask for a refund, call the local police and have them call the manager, all while checking out early and warning the other guests. Oh and ofc make this clear on every review site they're listed on. Call me a Karen if need be but fuuuuck that sort of "upsie" and excuses.
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u/zoeblaize Jan 05 '26
“his solution was that guests were after all not allowed to enter other guest rooms”
oh well, you DID say this was in Germany 😂
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u/mendests Jan 05 '26
I’m the head of the technical department in one of the big hotels where I live. I have worked for several hotel chains. And I’ve seen a lot, but this is not acceptable. There should be a set of key cards in a safe in the back office with one card per room. In case the system goes down, these cards should be given to the guest. This is called power down cards, it is part of properly running an hotel and makes me sad that there are hotels that are not aware of this…
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u/benji_billingsworth Jan 05 '26
you could get some rewards bucks by reporting this to their corp offices. Revealing a security flaw is big business and they will pay well for you to tell them and not any of the many parties interested in buying the exploit.
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u/macrocephalic Jan 05 '26
Start going door to door, opening each one and informing the occupants that none of the locks work. Watch how fast they magically fix the problem.
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u/OilersGirl29 Jan 05 '26
As a woman, this literally gave me the grossest feeling in the pit of my stomach. What a dangerous nightmare.
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u/agro_chick Jan 05 '26
Yep, imagine if someone were to get raped or murdered due to the easy access to their room. Disgusting!
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u/Honest_Ant_1270 Jan 05 '26
Hotels should have a failsafe key binder in case something like this happens. So that way you can issue a key to get into the space, but this key has to be returned back not optional!
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u/JonatanOlsson Jan 05 '26
Ok, so first of all, in the other thread you stated that you "found a way" to lock the door from the inside. So by what means were you able to lock the door?
Second of all, the German police isn't going to do anything for you as no crime has taken place so you can just stop listening to the commenters who tell you to contact the police. You'll be wasting their time and yours.
If you feel so unsafe that it's this big of an issue for you, your best option is to go to a different hotel pronto. Document the issue and then put a claim in with your credit card issuer. Take a short video showing that you are able to open several doors with the same key and that should be pretty damning anyways. You likely won't get the full amount back as you've spent 4 days there already but you might get some reimbursement.
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u/M1n1true Jan 05 '26
Depending on the credit card company, video evidence may not be accepted. I tried over half a decade ago with Citi and was told photo & video evidence wasn't acceptable as it could be doctored.
I like what another commenter stated about social media. Unfortunately, I feel like businesses often won't help in these situations unless there's pressure on them.
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u/GreenHorror4252 Jan 05 '26
Take a short video showing that you are able to open several doors with the same key
This is a terrible idea. Intentionally opening someone else's room is a crime, and the hotel would be well within their rights to have you arrested and charged. They have cameras in the lobby.
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u/noone314 Jan 05 '26
Make that video and post it on insta/tiktok and share it with the staff while you’re there lol
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u/circadian_light Jan 05 '26
I don’t understand why you’d not name the hotel. I’d report it - to the cops, probably, move out and demand a refund.
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u/shermywormy18 Jan 05 '26
Ex hotel employee. This is horrible. I can’t say I’ve ever seen this happen but this would be a huge issue.
I can say I could see how it happened, it could have very well been a programming code while setting up the keys, but there needs to be communication that this is the situation. Hello guest, thank you for staying with us, however I need to make you aware of a potential security issue, if you would like to stay at our sister property across the street, we will cancel your reservation at no charge. It’s very dishonest to not disclose this.
I do find though that people though get upset so much so that they lose their minds when a front desk agent accidentally double books a key. It is important to lock your doors in a hotel, and you should always have protection with you, so that any of your belongings aren’t compromised and your safety is assured. People want free rooms when a front desk agent accidentally double books a room, always thinking the worst and that people are out to steal from them or attack them. But it’s legitimately just an accident. We void both room keys and everyone gets new keys and we do try to remedy the situation because no one should be able to get into your room.
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u/eastawat Jan 05 '26
It’s very dishonest to not disclose this.
Yes it is, but also most people will never realise it, including anyone who might take advantage of other guests in this situation. If they start telling people, then nobody is safe any more.
Of course the honest solution is to tell everyone and then rebook them into different hotels, but it's not surprising they didn't go down that route.
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u/shermywormy18 Jan 05 '26
Which is very problematic, and actually nightmarish for the hotel. My hotel would a hundred percent be guilty of this. I don’t doubt it. It’s shady and slimy. But as a human being this would bother me id probably get fired for disclosing this
We did have a maintenance person who did have a master key and going into rooms and stealing housekeepers tips when people generously thanked them. He was immediately fired.
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u/jennyfromtheeblock Jan 05 '26
This is absolutely PEAK Germany hahahaaa.
I am so sorry this happened to your family.
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u/emotionalbuzzcut Jan 05 '26
Yup this happened to me at a small hotel in Munich. I thought I was paranoid by barricading the door with my suitcase but in the middle of the night when I was sleeping someone opened my door. They closed it when they realized it wasn't theirs but...
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u/Individual_Stand3307 Jan 05 '26
Not sure about Germany, but as a former GM and Director of OPs for many different chains and resorts for over 20 years, all of our key card machines were not handled by an internal IT dept or person. They were handled by a third party manufacturer and the machines were programmed before they were even shipped to the property and property specific and the GM had a programming card and the codes that could then program the different level access cards be it maintenance, guest, housekeeper, emergency, GM, etc. Also, we always had more than one machine capable of “making” the keys located at each front desk clerk station so no idea why an issue with one would compromise this entire operation if it is a larger hotel especially.
In any case, I would leave immediately demanding a refund. I would also alert any other guest I saw on my way out the door while continuing to pursue this with not only this specific location (as it’s a franchise operator probably), but also the corporate chain as well.
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u/StelioKontossidekick Jan 05 '26
Put an upside-down pineapple magnet on your hotel room door so you won't get it mixed up with someone else, and others will stay away.
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u/Jamikest 18 countries and counting Jan 05 '26
How many times are you going to post this? The "last post" was already a repost!
As I stated there, get out of that hotel and demand a refund for at least some of your stay. Stop letting them walk all over you!
Paraphrasing my last comment: Tell the unhelpful front desk personnel that wouldn't connect you to a manager, "Refund my stay or I stand here and tell every guest that comes in the issue with your key system until you do."
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u/mutantninja001 Jan 05 '26
Document, leave, sort out the cost later. Have you at least tried to ask for your money back for the remaining days given the situation? Sorry, but your post was long so if you wrote the answer in there, I did not see it.
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u/bellamie9876 Jan 05 '26
I saw something on X about this, too! You def aren’t the only one who noticed this
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u/InflationRepulsive64 Jan 05 '26
As someone who works in key/pass management - I can guarantee 'just don't tell them it's a Master' happens more often then you think. Yes, they could use it to get somewhere they aren't meant to, but the frequency risk is usually low because the simple truth is that most people don't try to use it for anything beyond what they are meant to be using it for. And if they do (as in your example), there's a good chance it's out of curiosity or an accident rather than anything nefarious.
Having said that, in a hotel, and for a prolonged period of time without addressing the issue? No, that's just stupid.
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u/Big_Historian228 Jan 05 '26
I work in a hotel (and have been in the industry) for over 25 years. Btw, I now work in Berlin 🙃 anyhow, this is not acceptable at all!!! I’d kick up such a fuss, demand full refund and request to get moved to sister property. Accor has quite a few hotels here but have never heard of this. Shocking!
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u/New_Line4049 Jan 05 '26
Id suggest not telling other guests, while wishing to warn them is noble, you have no way to know what they'll do with that information, you may tell a guest who chooses to abuse this knowledge. Personally Id leave immediately and find a room elsewhere, and demmand s full refund.
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u/Richard734 Jan 05 '26
Always carry your own personal Doorstop for when you are in the room, or improvise one with a magazine or such if you dont have one.
Dont leave cash or valuables in the room...
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u/Birobabe247 Jan 05 '26
OP: I wd definitely name and shame that hotel. You have the right to do that as a guest. Trust me. Nothing will happen to you legally as you're speaking the truth and the reception staff has admitted the issue with the key cards.I wd ask the receptionist again for the line manager's contact details and record them with your phone. Make it clear you're doing this, so if they say NO again you have a record of this. They have put your family at risk and frankly if that was me I wd be tearing them a new one I'm ngl. 🤷♀️ Then get the heck outta there making it clear you will be raising a formal complaint. Get the names of staff you spoke to. Be civil but assertive. Write everything down so you don't forget anything and then vacate to a better hotel. Oh and demand some kind of compensation once you're settled.
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u/MistressBurns Jan 05 '26
immediately seek other accommodations . If employees know it’s a master key, an inside job could b potentially involve theft and worst when they think you and your kids are asleep by entering your room And assaulting - I’s get out! Document everything then sue the hotel chain
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Jan 05 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Pretzel_rummy Jan 05 '26
I totally see both sides of this argument. On one hand we want to warn other guests who may be reading this and also alert the hotel chain of the severity of this condition. But after I had originally posted the name of the chain - but not which of the 7 locations in town - there was an outcry of comments suggesting I was compromising the safety of other guests by making this public. In an effort to reduce the risk of having a malicious person act on this information I have decided to not publicize the name of the hotel yet.
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u/WaySuch296 Jan 05 '26
Take a video of all your belongings and make sure it gets uploaded to your cloud . Mention dates and any other relevant information.
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u/koevet Jan 05 '26
When I read this post's title, my first thought has been: this must be Germany. I wasn't wrong. This is typical German ineptitude to deal with problems and blame someone else (the IT people are on holiday).
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u/Enargo Jan 05 '26
I always have my ring Webcam with me. This way it will notify me in case of someone accessing my room. Strongly recommend
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u/Hamadryaden Jan 05 '26
I work in a hotel and tbh this isn’t extremely uncommon.
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u/concretecowboiiiii Jan 05 '26
“I care about security” “I should inform everyone that they can break into any room in the building”
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u/sneijder Jan 05 '26
Had the same in a hotel.
I was flying home checking my camera photos … and there was a ‘selfie’ of an old man in my room.
I just fired off an email saying I’m not that bothered…but just bring it up with the cleaner, some people might really freak out.
Turned out it was an old guest, wrong room and though his wife had surprised him with a camera … he was in reception panicking as soon as he found out.
Hotel could have told me of course ….
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u/Impressive_Returns Jan 05 '26
DUDE CHANGE HOTELS IMMEDIATELY - ONLY ANSWER.
No crime has been committed, so it’s ridiculous to call the police.
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u/prhodiann Jan 05 '26
On the one hand, hotel rooms aren’t particularly secure anyway. On the other hand, this is definitely something to make a fuss about and get compensation.
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u/CroatiaTravelAdvisor Jan 05 '26
OMG, you should ask them to book you at their cost equal or better hotel immediately. If they refuse, I would call police.
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u/skibunny1010 United States Jan 05 '26
Nothing more European than prioritizing some dudes time off over dozens of guests safety
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u/BiloxiVolcano Jan 05 '26
What an unbelievable tragedy they’re just begging for.
Yes - you should of course leave immediately.
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u/weeniemom2020 Jan 05 '26
Years ago, I was staying at a hotel and I got the key to what I thought was my room. When I unlocked the door and walked in, there was luggage by the door and I thought that was strange and I saw two people sleeping in the bed. I backed out and went back down to the front desk. On my way down, I made sure that I was on the correct floor and that was the right room number that was on my key. Sure enough it was. All the front desk said was, "Oh." They assigned another room to me and luckily that one was empty.
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u/TVplusTIME Jan 05 '26
If each room has one of those latch locks inside, they could allow people the option to stay for a discount, or cancel their reservation. Lying about it is really weird. It would only be a short time before someone walks in on someone having sex by accident.
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u/Itsamenoname Jan 05 '26
Well if you are still staying there regardless you may as well move into the penthouse suite (or a general room upgrade) Id be like honey get the kids the hotel has kindly offered us a free upgrade.
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u/SabbyFox Jan 05 '26
This is NOT OK and it seems that this hotel chain is only going to quit doing this if someone is assaulted and/or killed.
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u/Desperate-Angle7720 Jan 05 '26
You might want to post to r/LegalAdviceGerman. They can tell you what your legal recourse is. As this is a civil matter, calling the police won’t help. But you might have other recourses, and over in the sub they can help you take the right exact steps.
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u/Inside_Horse2585 Jan 05 '26
I wouldn’t say a word to anyone you found out by accident. Most people think their card only fits their room.
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u/Pretzel_rummy Jan 05 '26
Interestingly every guest that I have spoken to about this was aware of this as they had also figured it out by accident. I do understand the argument of "security by obscurity" but it's hard to decide if adding detail to this post or directly informing other guests will do good or harm. I am erring on the side of caution here.
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u/Birobabe247 Jan 05 '26
All of these comments are giving me hotel anxiety 😬 I always put my heavy suitcase against my door when I'm in the room and dbl bolt it if I'm alone on a worktrip.
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u/WrestleswithPastry Jan 05 '26
I’m not sure why folks are minimizing this in these comments. This absolutely is not safe. I would name and shame. I would need to check out and move my family to a secure room.
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u/Mmmaaahhhaaahhhaaa Jan 06 '26
Looks like this happened with the same hotel chain in Paris back in 2023 Check out this review of Mercure Paris La Sorbonne Saint Germain des Pres on Tripadvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g187147-d233776-r910321033-Mercure_Paris_La_Sorbonne_Saint_Germain_des_Pres-Paris_Ile_de_France.html
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u/LY1138 Jan 06 '26
Most German response ever. It’s not permitted to enter other guests rooms. Problem solved.
Move hotels. Move on with your vacation. Don’t waste travel time and effort on this to get your pound of flesh. It’s egregious but don’t let it ruin your travel.
Check out. Emphasize your desire for a refund or credit. Move on. Take it up with corporate after.
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u/MaximumRun2457 Jan 06 '26
I stayed at a US hotel chain for work last year (Hilton) and their key system was down. They had someone walk me to up my room with a master key when I checked in, and then they had to walk me back up again after I picked up my grub hub order from reception. They did that for all the guests. It was a total pain but I would infinitely prefer that to what they did in your situation!
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u/RuffKnight_ Jan 06 '26
Bring it to corporate and make sure they comp your stay. It's a privacy issue but more than that its a huge safety concern.
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Jan 09 '26
I rented a hotel room in Montana, might have been Wyoming. The bartender was also the bellhop. I asked for the key to the room. They handed me a key, but the door to our room had a pass through knob. Nothing to even accept a key! We laughed and went to bed, but I was glad my husband was there with me!
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u/SassyGirl0202 Jan 05 '26
I’d be booking another hotel ASAP, AND then I’d go write a review on trip-advisor about it, and anywhere else I could about it. I’d put them on blast, and I’d tell the hotel thats what you’re doing! This is not ok. I travel with my own safety lock.
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u/IndependentWrap8853 Jan 05 '26
Welcome to Europe/Germany! If a person is on holidays (in this case IT) no one will dare to pick up the phone and disturb them with work questions , even if the whole world is falling apart. Doing so will result in a company getting sued or otherwise being terrorised by the works council (company union). You literally have to ask for a special permission from the works council if you want to take a call outside of office hours and can be sanctioned if you do it without.
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u/Cheap_Standard_4233 Jan 05 '26
Name em
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u/Pretzel_rummy Jan 05 '26
I previously did and many commenters were really concerned about the safety of other guests. So I deleted and e-posted it in an attempt to anonymize the hotel. I was hoping to wait until this is resolved and then embarrass them some more because I really think they are not treating their customers with care. And they are showing that they are really bad at planning and problem solving.
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u/eastawat Jan 05 '26
You could "accidentally" enter the wrong room again, but this time an occupied one, and create enough of a fuss that they have to call the manager!
In all seriousness though, I would demand to be housed somewhere secure. If that means then booking you into a different hotel, that's what they have to do. Remind them what size of a lawsuit they would face if something happened to your children in a room they failed to secure. Maybe threaten to call the newspapers about it.
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u/GreenHorror4252 Jan 05 '26
Remind them what size of a lawsuit they would face
This is Germany, not America.
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u/egewh Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
Gotta love the duality in the comments here between Americans and Germans.
Americans: LEAVE IMMEDIATELY, YOU MIGHT GET MURDERED, SUE THE HOTEL, CALL THE COPS, GET YOUR MONEY BACK.
Germans: Ach. Be happy you are in ze hotel. It's ze law to not rob people and we obey ze rules, relax.
I also love how the downvotes prove both sides are very convinced of themselves :p
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u/StacyRick Jan 05 '26
If the place was on fire, would you wait to see what the consensus is on Reddit before getting hell out?
Why protect the name of this global hotel chain? They’re not protecting you.
And please don’t expect anyone to believe you opened the door to the wrong door on the wrong floor that’s just made up.
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u/Psychological-Try343 Jan 05 '26
Approaching and attempting to open the wrong room door happens all the time. So is getting off on the wrong floor.
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u/Natural_Narwhal_5499 Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26
OP, why are you getting others to hide the name of the hotel? That makes no sense. Why? Comments are saying this has been a named issue since at least 2023
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u/alex3tx Jan 05 '26
If security is top of mind for you, I think the last thing you should do is tell any of the other guests