Post: #1

As someone who travels a ton, I always enjoyed getting top tier status at hotels and enjoying their benefits like free breakfasts, late checkouts, suite upgrades and all the other freebies they throw at you. But after my trip to Bogota this week where my hotel's front desk and security staff cockblocked me, I'll never be staying in hotels in South America again. Likely the same goes for Asia as well. Airbnb or die.

I went on a date with a girl in Bogota and things were going good so I brought her back to my hotel at about 10:30pm. The hotel security started grilling me about who the girl was, as I guess they had seen me leave for the date alone. Then the front desk staff waved me over letting me know that my guest would have to give up her ID, fill out a registration form, and that I'd have to pay extra for her. They were trying to be nice about it being hotel policy, but were also pretty cold at the same time, totally acting like she was a prostitute. She got embarrassed, uncomfortable and kept saying she didn't want me to have to pay the extra for her, so she insisted we just leave instead....Obviously I tried to just smooth it over but she wasn't having it and the staff totally blew it for me.

I couldn't imagine this happening in nice hotels in big cities in the US! Hotels usually have so many people coming and going all the time that it's not a big deal, but here it was slow at night and the security was actually unlocking the closed front door to let us in. There was only one way in too, so it wasn't possibly to bypass the front desk. It's definitely the whole thing where they don't want tons of sex workers coming in and out all the time, and hurting their brand's reputation, like I noticed some places in Asia were doing.

I thought it was worth sharing this story on the forums here so people realize how hotels are different in South America vs. North America and why Airbnb really is the way to go nowadays. With Airbnb, you still see some people put crazy things up front in their house rules like "no overnight guests" but at least you have that info up front and can avoid places like that. Hotels aren't like that, unless you really feel the need to call around and ask (and deal with the language barrier). Airbnb really is a much more "local" experience. I just was an idiot this trip, and though it'd be easier to get a hotel, since I was only in Bogota for 2 nights and the hotel had good logistics.

It sucked that they cockblocked me like this, but at least now I know that hotels are hit or miss and will avoid like the plague in the future everywhere across Central and South America. Hopefully this can save someone from the same situation as well. I woke up the next day and cancelled the upcoming hotel stay I had in Barranquilla to make sure I don't run into the same problem again. The hotel I was going to stay at had really great logistics, being close to a bunch of bars and restaurants, but I ended up getting an Airbnb a little further away instead.

Post: #2

What hotel was this? Some hotels do tell you upfront that guest will need to provide ID. That's why I always select 2 guest checking in, so they don't question if I bring someone over. If they ask for the other guess, I just tell them that her flight is late. They need to protect their brand too otherwise people won't want to stay there, so it's understable.

It seems you're upset over the incident but you could have prevented this by calling and checking their policy beforehand. Was it a Starwood, Hilton, or Marriott hotel?

Post: #3

(04-26-2016 11:42 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  What hotel was this? Some hotels do tell you upfront that guest will need to provide ID. That's why I always select 2 guest checking in, so they don't question if I bring someone over. If they ask for the other guess, I just tell them that her flight is late. They need to protect their brand too otherwise people won't want to stay there, so it's understable.

It seems you're upset over the incident but you could have prevented this by calling and checking their policy beforehand. Was it a Starwood, Hilton, or Marriott hotel?

Starwood.

That's a good tip though, thanks. I definitely should have put two people, and will always be doing this whether it's Airbnb or hotels (biz stays) going forward, but I think they still would have done the same thing in this situation, except telling me that it'd cost extra. They still would have made her give up her ID and register.

I'm not too salty over it, but I definitely just don't want to deal with stuff like this going forward and see the benefits of Airbnbs now. I travel and stay in hotels A LOT (less and less as I'd been doing mostly Airbnbs lately) and I was just shocked at how not cool they were. Felt like being a kid in high school or something asking permission for something that you definitely shouldn't need someone's approval for. Imagine this policy in somewhere like Las Vegas or Hollywood?

I really also just don't want to waste my time having to call places and asking their policy on this and then compare the results. I was going to stay at the same chain in Barranquilla, managed by the same hotel owners down here, so I assume the policy in Bquilla and all the other places they manage across Colombia. It seems pretty common and I noticed they started locking the doors at about 9pm at this place the next night, so your cut off for avoiding this situation is pretty early in the night.

Post: #4

This is pretty SOP for large hotels in major South American cities (tho can't vouch for Rio or SP) Cattle Rustler, where did you use the 2 guest strategy? I've tried that before in Lima and still had to give the 2 guest name which they would then check her ID after she got there. So yeah, Airbnb always for me as well, especially down there.

Post: #5

This bullshit tactic is a curse in Thailand as well, where they extort extra funds and make a mood killing scene and treat your guest like a prostitute.

Post: #6

Yeah I always use Airbnb when travelling nowadays.

In the few cases I use hotels, like here in Saigon for example, I always Google to see if someone have compiled a list of guest friendly hotels in that city. They usually mean hookers but it gives a good pointers which hotels are good and bad for bring back your plates to.

Post: #7

Same experience in Brazil. They ruined it for me by suggesting a love motel in front of her. Made polite but obnoxious comments. The girl left offended.

Post: #8

I have too totally disagree with you although at the same time I can see those miserable employees who hate there job and there life to go after you.
That is just poor training on the staff's part. The only time starwood would try and charge you an extra person is if you are 2 people already in room.

Since you are by yourself your daily rate will stay the same if your 1-2 therefore it is absurd to try and charge you. I would have called the GSM the next morning and explained the situation. Then I would have made a "Hot Alert" explaining the problem. 100% the General Manager would have canceled the whole thing.

Asking for I.D is for the safety of the guest my friend, I wish I can show you all the complaints, theft, damages we get because of incidents that go south. The way they went about it is was wrong however. "Excuse me Sir, its Hotel Policy that we have all of our guests I.D in our system, my apologies for the inconvenience" that is my go too line.

The only way I see this going the way it did was the hotel you are in has a lot of guests bringing in prostitutes and the staff were in lousy moods.

It's not the hotels its the bad employees which is worldwide. Guess what it will happen with Airbnb too. though some Airbnb listings will give you even worse treatment. In Manila my apartment the security will give me the stink eye every time I brought new girl over.

5 star hotels are revolving shag shacks with pros, mistress, party goers you name it there banging.

If you want you can PM the date and hotel you were in. I can send them a terrible message that will get whoever was working all in shit.

Post: #9

(04-27-2016 04:31 AM)RatInTheWoods Wrote:  This bullshit tactic is a curse in Thailand as well, where they extort extra funds and make a mood killing scene and treat your guest like a prostitute.

There's a bunch of websites listing the so called 'joiner friendly' hotels in Bangkok and other places in Thailand. Some top hotels among those too.

Post: #10

I have zero problems asking straight about guest policy. Basically I always order more discre hotels, with only 1 repectionist if possible, I always try to befriend the desk guys. They normally always make some coments about the girls I bring to my hotel. Ive never been to this situation where they ask me to register a girl neither, I normally just walk to my room and say good night.

The only time I had problems with this was for 2 weeks ago but that was initially due to fact that I didnt pay for 2 persons. From my personal experience most hotels in SA will have no problems if you order the room for 2. ( but I never do it )

What really fucked me up was that this hotel had this dumb list of guests who visited and every guest had to fill it manually the same paper every other guest used. Basically any body could see who my other guests were and when they came with me, I complained with the hotel and they removed and then only asked for ID I paid for my guest and done.

So now, I do not only ask about guest policy but also if they do require registration and how their registration works, it can be awkard but much better than finding out later night when you`re almost there.

A good tip too is using the hotels parking ( if the hotel has one) or befriend the parking guy or/and give him some cash. But I never went wrong with small hotels and befriending front desk guys or parking guys, just small talk to them, give them cigarettes, bring them some food and its gonna pay itself !

Post: #11

I am visibly surprised Starwood does this. This has NEVER happened to me before except for one time I banged some 4.5 Isaan girl off wechat at 2 am in the morning. Then again all of the girls I pulled were middle class / didn't look like a "poor girl / semipro". What kind of girls are you pulling?

Post: #12

(12-19-2017 02:07 AM)Putin Closes Wrote:  I am visibly surprised Starwood does this. This has NEVER happened to me before except for one time I banged some 4.5 Isaan girl off wechat at 2 am in the morning. Then again all of the girls I pulled were middle class / didn't look like a "poor girl / semipro". What kind of girls are you pulling?

Yeah I'm a bit surprised too. I've pulled back to the Four Points in Bogota without a problem, and I think it's the only Starwood in the city.

Having said that, the Starwoods in Colombia are owned by a franchisee and I've run into other customer service issues that you wouldn't encounter in a typical Starwood.

Post: #13

Same in Morocco

Post: #14

Hotels are nice if they're $150 a night or more (not an exact cutoff), I like those, but at lower price points, they can be complete disappointments.

Unless it's a pricier hotel, AirBnB is the way to go, just make sure the host has great reviews.

Although, even at $150 a night or higher, in some cities you may be able to get an AirBnB that's still better than a hotel at the same price range...

It just depends though, some hotels have been around quite a while and really know how to treat guests well.

Overall, AirBnB is solid.

Post: #15

Plus it's much easier to bring a girl to your "apartment" than to your hotel.

Many decent girls are easily scared of hotels as it screams bad girl. Apartment though? It just happened.



And you can cook your own stuff, so you save a ton of money (and it's healthier).

Post: #16

That's how they do it in Colombia. That happened to me a few times, then I decided (as you did) to only use Airbnb. It has more privacy and (usually) no one bothers you, unless you make a party in the apartment at 4am and wake up all the neighbors.

It sucks that I'm paying $100 and something a night (which is a lot in Colombia), only to be harrassed by hotel staff.

Post: #17

This is fairly common in Mexico. Annoying. You can get around it to some extent by registering as two people, saying she'll arrive later, and putting down a fake name for her if you don't know it, hoping they won't ask for her ID. This is more of an issue in hotels where you are asked to surrender a physical key every time you go out and then pick it up when you return The thinking is that they want to protect the reputation of their hotel and not have it slide dangerously towards becoming known a 'love motel'.

Although it's possible that the morals of the hotel staff are being offended (or they're just envious), it's more likely that they're just mindless rule-followers. That is in their job description. They're not supposed to think or be flexible. A different attitude about customer service.

I disagree that about asking the policy in advance, although if you do, ask like you're just confirming: My cousin is traveling with me. That's not a problem, is it? You'll often have better luck by not telegraphing your intentions and just winging it. If caught, remaining calm will work better than getting worked up.

Post: #18

(12-19-2017 01:50 PM)ElFlaco Wrote:  

Quote:This is fairly common in Mexico. Annoying. You can get around it to some extent by registering as two people, saying she'll arrive later, and putting down a fake name for her if you don't know it, hoping they won't ask for her ID. This is more of an issue in hotels where you are asked to surrender a physical key every time you go out and then pick it up when you return The thinking is that they want to protect the reputation of their hotel and not have it slide dangerously towards becoming known a 'love motel'.

Although it's possible that the morals of the hotel staff are being offended (or they're just envious), it's more likely that they're just mindless rule-followers. That is in their job description. They're not supposed to think or be flexible. A different attitude about customer service.

I disagree that about asking the policy in advance, although if you do, ask like you're just confirming: My cousin is traveling with me. That's not a problem, is it? You'll often have better luck by not telegraphing your intentions and just winging it. If caught, remaining calm will work better than getting worked up.

I did it in Brazil and when the girl came, the front desk guy treated her like a real guess, presenting all the hotels facilities and saying all of these kind of bullshit they normally tell guests once they`re checking in. The girl understood that I had everything planned to bang her in advance and she was a little bit scared, I had a hard time to bang her that night. hahaha

But normally only ordering a room for 2 is just enough in Latin America, I did this this time in Brazil because the girl was really hot and I had very few day in the city and also I didnt want to have any problems once the girl came as I always order a room for only one person but no way that old front desk guy almost ruined my night.

Post: #19

(04-27-2016 02:59 AM)MuyTallguy Wrote:  This is pretty SOP for large hotels in major South American cities (tho can't vouch for Rio or SP) Cattle Rustler, where did you use the 2 guest strategy? I've tried that before in Lima and still had to give the 2 guest name which they would then check her ID after she got there. So yeah, Airbnb always for me as well, especially down there.

Many SA hotels understand the deal once a guy comes alone and asks for 2 guests, anyways just say that the other guest will come and register later.

Normally front desk staff are the ones who asks me if the other person is coming later, I just blink an eye and do a yes head move quickly like: " dont annoy me with this stupid question" and I`ve never had any problem with 2 exceptions.

Post: #20

I just don't understand how a large hotel with dozens of occupied rooms has staff that are able to identify who the people walking through the lobby are... surely there are tons of singles, couples, families, business people, groups... How's the guy know you checked-in on your own 4 days ago and here you are with a girl now?

I'd think the obvious solution is to stay at bigger hotels.

What about checking in early in the day? Surely it's not the same staff on front desk at 2pm as at 11pm? How's the 11pm guy going to even know who you are?

Post: #21

This happens in europe too. Banged some girls at their hotels and they said stuff like "well you can only stay for 20 minutes otherwise you have to pay" stayed lomger and didnt pay but it was still kinda annoying

Post: #22

(12-19-2017 03:46 PM)christpuncher Wrote:  I just don't understand how a large hotel with dozens of occupied rooms has staff that are able to identify who the people walking through the lobby are... surely there are tons of singles, couples, families, business people, groups... How's the guy know you checked-in on your own 4 days ago and here you are with a girl now?

For safety reasons, some hotels control access. To get from the street to your room, you have to pass through a checkpoint (and possibly pick up your key). There's no wide hallway you just breeze through.