Scamming your hotel: insiders secrets revealed

[smit0847]

Don't pay for the minibar: hotel insider's secrets revealed

Has anyone actually done anything like this though? The movie 'freezing halfway through' seems like a fairly logical excuse.....

 

[Ewing]

Fraud, theft, all of the above?

I can't believe they would suggest doing things like that. I would never even contemplate such things.

 

[Inver]

Fraud, theft, all of the above?

I can't believe they would suggest doing things like that. I would never even contemplate such things.

I agree except maybe with giving a $20 tip to the front desk agent with the hope of getting an upgrade.

 

[RooFlyer]

Fraud, theft, all of the above?

<snip>.

All of the above. I read that article and was first repulsed, then thought it was a wind-up, but concluded the guy was serious and indeed repulsive.

Next: How to steal the wine out of the airplane fridges in-the-air.

 

[lovestotravel]

This is the worst travel article I have read

EVER

 

[wenwen1]

I stopped reading halfway, bad examples!

 

[Grooba]

Most decent hotel movie systems can tell you exactly where the movie played to, down to the second. Can tell if the pause was pressed, or the tv switched off, STB power switched off, etc.
However all these features aren't really worth anything if the Front Desk Agent doesn't know how to use them, or doesn't care.
Unfortunately the easiest way for them is just to "comp" things where guests kick up a stink, justified or not.

 

[UP4014]

This is the worst travel article I have read

EVER

gee, I've read many worse than this one, like all the writers who don't admit who paid for their travel.

Matt

 

[Major]

I didn't quite get to the end of the article either. What a terrible attitude, more confirmation of LOTFAP.

 

[harvyk]

Yeah, I'm with others here, this is about the worst piece of advice that one could give travelers, and it ultimately means that people who genuinely have something go wrong will end up having problems trying to get incorrect charges reversed.

Plus I would strongly suspect that if you did get caught trying to pull one of these scams, there goes your chances of ever staying at that hotel again and if it's a chain, I expect the blacklisting could be chain wide.

 

[hummel]

This is the worst travel article I have read

EVER

I thought exactly the same thing when reading it yesterday.

Who approves this kind of garbage?

 

[harvyk]

Who approves this kind of garbage?

The sort of person who realises by publishing this, it'll upset people, who will then talk about this garbage on online forums, linking to the original article, and who will then eat quite well that night knowing they have managed to get lots of exposure for their advertisers.

 

[dajop]

I think many of you are missing the "can you believe it?"/story telling aspect of the article, to try and sell a book. It seems to me it is written as a sarcastic, bitter reflection on the scamming hotel guests (from real experience) than actual advice that people could adopt (although some would/could). And a little comment on the mini-bar scams, not actually scamming the hotel, just other travellers as looking at what some hotels charge for minibar items (eg. 10x the 7-11 next door), significant leakage is already accounted for.

I guess the headline put on the website positions it a bit differently.

 

[drewbles]

I agree except maybe with giving a $20 tip to the front desk agent with the hope of getting an upgrade.

That's still stealing, instead you're doing it by proxy (the staff member is giving away revenue of their employer).

 

[markis10]

This is the worst travel article I have read

EVER

Its an excerpt from a book, as such its lacking context which could make a lot of difference.

 

[Major]

Its an excerpt from a book, as such its lacking context which could make a lot of difference.

Even so, the article is still suggesting people should steal and commit fraud. I would hope the context makes a huge difference

 

[mannej]

He does have a point about the mini bar system though - how many times have you been charged after you check out for things you haven't touched in the mini bar

 

[markis10]

Even so, the article is still suggesting people should steal and commit fraud. I would hope the context makes a huge difference

I agree, if thats not the intent then the context should be included.

 

[EvanC]

The last point is perhaps valid: don't piss the clerk off, because they have the ability (legitimate or not) to ruin your day in one way or another.

 

[eric2011]

Shock, horror......no one else here ever had the chocolate bar and not told them when checking out the next morning.....you know, when the receptionist specifically asks "anything from the mini bar last night or this morning" and thats when you chime in and say "no nothing thanks".

I'm holding my hand up 'guilty as charged'