Hotel Door Pushed In

[CAPTAIN MIKE]

Common Occurence

Seems like this happens to most people at some point. Experienced it myself.
However, with the door latch locked AND the chain across, even the maid can't walk in. However, having had my sidearm at my bedside has been a 'final option' on more than one occasion.

It would be a sad tragedy if anyone mistakenly shot a maid or maintenance man going into the room in the course & scope of their employment. So I vote for adding the door wedge mentioned above to your luggage when traveling.

 

[LiquidTension]

I work security at a motel once/week for some extra cash. Almost every time I work, I find anywhere between one and four rooms where the door is being held open by the security latch. The cleaning ladies apparently do this when they're cleaning the rooms and sometimes forget to close the door back. I've never found anyone in one of the rooms, but it stands to reason that if someone did enter one of those rooms they would close the door. Then they'd just be in there when someone went to legitimately enter the room - that could be a bad situation.

I've also found random objects stuffed in the hole for the locking mechanism. Obviously these are placed there so that people can re-enter the room later without paying. Be sure to check the functionality of the locks whenever you check in.

If you go to a hotel with outside access, standard procedure for the cleaning crews is to leave the light off and the window blinds/curtain OPEN. If the curtain is closed, there's a good chance someone is in there, as most people don't leave their windows wide open for all to see what they're doing. Strangely, the people that most often DO leave the windows open are very large and shirtless

It's always amazing the number of people that just chill out in their room with the door open. When I ask them to keep the door closed, sometimes they react with an attitude. It's as if the notion of being robbed or worse is completely foreign to them. Last week I came upon a cracked door with the lights off. I knocked on the door which obviously caused it to open a bit. The person was inside asleep with the TV on. I closed the door, trying not to wake or startle them.

The things that go on at hotels (especially cheap ones) are just like you see in COPS. Drunken fights, loud parties, auto break-ins, CDVs, and general lack of consideration for others. Hotels with interior access are usually better.

 

[MiddleAgedKen]

There are two carbines, (my duty R6920 and my back up carbine, M4 clone all Colt parts on a Bushmaster lower) on the bed along my Kimber Warrior and my BUG (SW Model 36). I'm sitting on the floor loading magazines, probably 30 empty and partially loaded magazines stacked around me an open case of XM193 next to me and a trash bag full of empty boxes and plastic separators over by the trash can. I'm dressed in khaki 5.11s and a black Gemtech T shirt with a suppressed M249 on the front of it.

The door opens with the electronic key card and in walks a couple that was obviously stopping for the night on vacation. I don't know who was more startled, me or them. The husband quickly said, we must have the wrong room and the backed out faster then they walked in.

"No, I'm not kidding! We walked in on a goldurned hit man!"

Kidding aside, a large and inebriated gentleman tried to get into our room at a motel in Fredericksburg about 2 am a couple of years ago. We had the flip-latch set, told the guy "wrong room;" he mumbled what might have been an apology and stumbled off.

 

[yhtomit]

Lee Lapin -- thanks for pointing out those wedges; I plan to get some (or similar) before I drive cross-country at the end of the summer.

timothy

 

[JohnMcD348]

I have always kept a firearm within close proximity of me when sleeping in a motel bed. My family and I tend to be overnighters in alot of places whne we go out for the weekend. When in a motel, I always sleep closest to the door and make every effort to insure that the door is secured prior to going to bed. I am anal about checking these things. Even when staying at placed like "Disney World" The nice thing about most rooms we stay in is that they seem to all have some kind of secure locking box located in there for me to secure my firearm in during the day when out and about.

I haven't had any real issues arise from people coming inother than maid service catching a glimpse or two of me and the wife in precarious situations but I will NEVER be without a firearm in a strange place in a strange room in unfamiliar surroundings.

 

[markdaniel]

Always make sure to check the window locks I have been in many rooms where they were unlocked whein I got there. The doors to an adjoining room are also suspect.

 

[Cosmoline]

I use a chair to block the door. Staff are really bad in a lot of places and will waltz right in whenever they want.

 

[Ignition Override]

I am acquainted with a guy, "X", who was robbed in a La Quinta Hotel in Jackson, MS, near I-55, about eight years ago or more.

A guy first knocked on his door and said that "X" left his key in the door.
"X" was puzzled, but thanked him and closed the door. Soon after that, the door somehow opened and then two guys suddenly walk in, one has a gun in his hand and tells "X" to give them his wallet etc.
"X" asked-what if I keep the wallet? The answer: "I'll shoot you". He gave them what they wanted and was ok.

The La Quinta has the kind of rooms where each door is on the outside, with no inside hallways. And he was on the ground floor-easy getaway spot.
You should never stay in this type of layout.
It always happens to somebody else...

 

[Battlespace]

La Quinta in Orlando

I just returned yesterday from a 10 day business trip to Orlando. There was a basket ball team staying in the same La Quinta (on Research Parkway) last weekend. On Saturday night the room phone rang and when I answered there was a young male voice with an obscene message. I just hung up and forgot it. At midnight the phone rang twice and then did so again at 12:04. I simply unplugged it and then told the desk clerk the next day. My only issue with telling the desk clerk was that english was a second language for her and she didn't do well with it.

Yes, I use a door stop and a portable alarm hung on the door knob when I travel along with a Surefire on the table. When I fly I do not take a handgun, but do when I drive.

 

[FLA2760]

About 12 years ago when we were in the process of looking for a house in Florida we had a similar experience. We were staying in a Comfort Inn in Palm Coast Fl along I-95. I had a SW model 60 in the room with me and I held a PA CCW. We were startled awake at 5 am to loud banging on our room door and a man screaming let me in MF! I cover the door with the revolver and wife is on the phone with desk. The guy at the desk said the cops are on the way and that this guy was just chased off the property an hour before. The cops show up and it takes three of them to cuff him. I never told the guy at the door or the cops I was armed. The cops said have a good day and that was it. We checked out like an hour later.

 

[qwert65]

Going back to college a couple years ago i stopped at a hotel near Richmond IN about 0300 I hear a bang, a snarl and a scream. I had forgotten to hook the latch and a drunk guy had been given a card key which worked on my door.

Unlucky for him my rottie was sleeping by the door. I think the scream was suprise as he didn't have any marks but he went to the counter and i went back to bed

 

[Soybomb]

A couple years ago, Comfort Inn. Lebanon IN. Day 2 of Pat Rogers Carbine Operators Course.

It's about 5:30 in the evening, I had just started to load magazines for the next day's class. There are two carbines, (my duty R6920 and my back up carbine, M4 clone all Colt parts on a Bushmaster lower) on the bed along my Kimber Warrior and my BUG (SW Model 36). I'm sitting on the floor loading magazines, probably 30 empty and partially loaded magazines stacked around me an open case of XM193 next to me and a trash bag full of empty boxes and plastic separators over by the trash can. I'm dressed in khaki 5.11s and a black Gemtech T shirt with a suppressed M249 on the front of it.

The door opens with the electronic key card and in walks a couple that was obviously stopping for the night on vacation. I don't know who was more startled, me or them. The husband quickly said, we must have the wrong room and the backed out faster then they walked in.

It turned out that the clerk who checked me in, put my checkout date into the computer wrong, the room showed as available and they rented it to the couple that walked in on me.

The lesson I learned, the latch isn't just for when you are sleeping.....

I bet they had something to talk about that night.


Seriously throw a couple door stops in your luggage, they're a cheap and easy way to help harden your hotel room a little.

 

[Hardware]

Couple of stories worth considering...

Comfort Inn in Raleigh NC a couple of years ago, too many hours on the road. Get a key card and go up to room, put key in door and open to a dark room with somebody sleeping in bed. Close door, return to desk and give the clerk a mild reaming. Get key card to an empty room. Safety latch and lock engaged and we go off to a none-too-restful sleep wondering who might come into our room in the dead of night.

Speaking of room safety, MGM Grand hotel fire. When I was getting safety lesson at a fire academy they told us a story about a couple staying on one of the floors ravaged by the fire in 1980. Guy always traveled with duct tape in his suitcase. After discovering smoke in their hallway and no way to escape. They used it to seal around the door, cover the air vents in room and wrap walls where the pipe entered in the bathroom. Bed linens went into the tub full of water and the man and woman went back and forth with wet bed linens cooling down the door. Smoke got so bad they had to tie wet rags around their faces to breath. Fire killed everyone else on their floor. Their door was cooked on the outside, scorched on the inside. They suffered smoke inhalation and burns on their hands and arms.

YMMV

 

[Defensory]

The Golden Rule of hotel/motel security---ALWAYS use ALL the locking devices (dead bolt, chain etc.) on the door when you're in the room, whether you're awake or asleep. This will stop even employees from entering.

Buy an alarm wedge like the one I posted a photo of several days ago. If it's legal to do so, have a firearm handy. Make sure you have a properly charged cellphone.