Judging from the response to What's your hotel room peeve?, a lot of us are highly interested in hotels and hold very firm opinions about the services they provide. We frown variously on substandard linen, noisy neighbours and air-conditioning units, hard mattresses, insect infestations, poor lighting, inconveniently positioned power points, freeze-dried coffee, UHT milk, expensive Wi-Fi and dirty bedspreads.
Perhaps this high level of expectation and degree of engagement with hotels stems from the fact that we have quite an intimate relationship with them. Since we sleep there, eat there and bathe there, we can't help but connect with them on a personal level. So we're quick to interpret any failings as a slight against us.
But beyond the petty complaints lies a suite of more sinister problems associated with hotels. Complications can arise for the unwitting and unwary. And guests are not the only victims of scammers; sometimes hotel staff members are fooled by unscrupulous tricksters, too.
Key card scam
I once watched a television programme that detailed a tidy way of robbing a hotel guest's room. I hope I've remembered the sequence correctly. The scammers, a well dressed couple, sit in the lobby of a hotel. The woman dials a room number, pretending to be a hotel receptionist and advises that a maintenance worker will be visiting soon to check some wiring in the room.
