The internet is an odd place, a mixture of trolls, helpers and me-tooers. This past week Hilton published changes to their “Do Not Disturb” guest policy, and the internet went “Bat S Crazy” over it, here, here, here. Don’t spend time clicking all those links I just put them there to clog the internet.
Welcome to my me-tooers post. It’s for the simple reason that I want to weigh in, just like everyone else.

The graphic above comes from the Loyalty Lobby, a site that covers travel loyalty programs. I’ve been working from the home office all week, so I haven’t seen this notice at a Hilton property.
Their post highlights:
New wording on Hilton guest directories under Guest Privacy:
“We understand and respect your need for privacy. The hotel reserves the right to visually inspect all guest rooms every 24 hours to ensure the well-being of our guests and confirm the condition of the room.”
Unable to service rooms cards contain the following language:
“We understand and respect your need for privacy. The hotel reserves the right to visually inspect all guest rooms every 24 hours to ensure the well-being of our guests and confirm the condition of the room. If service is refused for this length of time, a member of hotel management will check on the guest room.”
I’m fairly familiar with the Hilton site and the last update on their privacy policy was November 14, 2017… since the internet has gone “Bat S Crazy” I shall weigh in.
The Loyalty Lobby post goes on to outline several additional points. My response is in RED
What Hilton considers suspicious behavior?
Hilton has collected a long laundry list of issues that one could consider suspicious but some perhaps are not such as:
– Guests overly concerned about privacy – Basic concerns, but I’m not relying on you to keep me alive. Is Glock spelled with one K or two K’s?
– Guests refusing room cleaning for extended period of time – I always hang the DND sign on my door, I’m a big boy I can hang up my own towel and make my own bed.
– Those taking photos and notes about the hotel – I’m a Yelp and Instagram nerd, unfortunately taking pictures is part of the landscape, beside 5 stars review might make your day.
– Switching rooms number of times – As long as you’ve cleaned it we’re cool.
– Requesting specific rooms – Seriously? Unless it’s the presidential suite in Savannah the room you assign will be fine.
– Extended use of DND sign – It’s on the door from the time I arrive, till the time I’m gone…… deal with it.
– Using cash for payment – Ha, you said cash…. carry on
– Guest doesn’t leave the room for extended period – If it’s not snowstorm or another divorce I’ll be leaving each morning.
– Guest leaves the room for extended period – Short of a lottery takedown or needing to bail a friend out of jail, I’ll be back each day by midnight.
Do Not Disturb – Occupied
Housekeeping staff needs to slide the Unable to service note if the DND sign has been hanging through 2PM in the afternoon and are supposed to report guests to the management that have had the sign on the door for 24 hours continuously and refused two service attempts.
Security or Manager on Duty then needs to “investigate” and possibly to enter the room unless the guest is deemed to be low risk such as part of the flight crew or law enforcement member.
Do Not Disturb – Departure
Housekeeping staff can knock the door if it past the standard check out time and the guest has not requested late check out but the DND is hanging outside of the door.
Then there are basically three scenarios; someone is inside the room, room is occupied but nobody is there or room is vacant.
When I get to a hotel room one of the first things I do is hang the “Do Not Disturb” hanger on the door. The second thing I do is flip the “U Lock”. Unfortunately, most hotel room secondary locks can be easily bypassed (don’t watch if you’re easily spooked). I’m betting that most hotel staff won’t go to those lengths in order to open a guests door.
Here are a few tips, don’t leave anything of value in your car overnight, and don’t leave anything of value in your hotel room during the day. After traveling 20+ years I’ve found that if you spend 5 minutes at the front desk letting them know you’re not a total whack-a-do most everyone will leave you the heck alone. Ask to not be disturbed, ask for a late checkout, but put your phone down, look them straight in the eye and appear marginally normal.
This “policy” change was in response to the Las Vegas tragedy last October. While I appreciate the diligence, you’re putting my safety in the hands of the folks that stock my room with two conditioners instead of one conditioner and one shampoo. Not the best defense.
As far as an invasion of my privacy, most hotels have more cameras than TMZ. Besides, if the room attendants barge in while I’m in my travel thong and tank-top they’ll be the ones traumatized, not me.
There you go I’ve weighed in with all the other me-tooers as well as the “Internet Travel Experts”.
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