Mystery man settles hotel guests' room tabs

A man staying at the Hilton Garden hotel in south Redding, California on the last Sunday night of 2013 played Santa Claus by paying the bills of all the other guests staying there. Photo / Thinkstock

Guests staying at a hotel in California last week woke to a late, unexpected Christmas gift: a free night's stay.

Officials at the Hilton Garden hotel in south Redding say a man staying there offered to pick up the nightly tab for all the visitors in 50 or so hotel rooms on Sunday afternoon.

"I guess it's just the season," says Karen Evans, general manager of the hotel.

"It's a pretty nice thing."

Rooms range from US$109 to $119 (NZ$133 - $145) a night, while suites cost US$229 (NZ$280). Hotel staff declined to say how many - if any - suites were occupied on Sunday evening.

Linda Overby, who stayed overnight at the hotel with her husband on their way back from a trip to Oregon, says she will donate the money saved to a local food bank once they're back home in Santa Clara, California.

"I don't know what other people (at the hotel) planned to do, but hopefully people will continue to pass it forward," she said.

Overby and her husband learnt of the gesture on Sunday night when the front desk called their room.

"The hotel just said Santa Claus wanted to cover your room," she says.

"It was kind of a miraculous stay."

- AAP