A LOT of hotel guests don’t like to have people going into their room while they’re out.
One way they can prevent others from entering is to put the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on their door.
However, one tourist has told other people why they shouldn’t leave the sign there for too long.
It turns out that the hotel staff become increasingly concerned about people who ask for privacy for too long – and could even send police offers to check on them.
That’s exactly what happened to Sophie Vershbow, who wrote about her experience in a Las Vegas hotel on X, formerly Twitter.
She said: “So apparently in Las Vegas if you leave the “do not disturb” sign on your hotel door for more than 72 hours they automatically send over a police officer to make sure you’re still alive. Steve was very nice.”
The policy doesn’t just exist in Las Vegas either, with most hotels in America keen to check on their guests’ welfare if they haven’t seen or heard from them for a while.
A report by KXAN states: “Currently, nearly all major hotels have a 72-hour do not disturb policy to ensure that no more than three days pass that activity within a hotel room is not visible by hotel staff.”
These checks are labelled “welfare checks” and may not always be carried out by police officers, with the hotel staff instead assuming the responsibility.
Either way, Upon Arriving explained why you shouldn’t be too surprised to see someone come into your room if you’ve had the sign on your door for a while.
They said: “At a certain point, a hotel will have to check on the condition of a room to make sure that everything is okay.
“They also might want to just ensure that whoever is staying in that room is also doing all right.”
Some hotels consider 72 hours too long and will even perform these checks after as little as 24 hours.
Hilton updated its do not disturb policy in 2018, which the hotel chain published online.
It reads: “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.”
However, regardless of whether or not it’s their policy, some hotels have been guilty of ignoring the signs in the past, irritating their guests.
Michelle Chang from Intentional Travelers revealed that a member of staff opened her door and tried to clean, despite the sign being on full display.
She wrote: “I had the tag out on our doorknob and while I was taking a nap, I heard a knock on the door.
“After a couple of short seconds, they knocked again. And then opened the door!
“I was surprised they knocked at all but especially that someone opened the door while that door tag was displayed.”
Read more on the Scottish Sun
Meanwhile, this flight attendant swears by a clever hotel safety trick to stop people getting into her room.
And this hotel cleaner uses a towel to make their room safe.
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