Interesting Note Under My Hotel Resort Door

Aloha!

I recently spent about 10 days touring Kentucky for the Bourbon Trail, and Thoroughbred Racing. For five nights, I stayed just across the Kentucky Line at a Resort in Indiana that has a floating casino on the Ohio River.

The first night, I put a Do Not Disturb (DND) sign on my door, as I have for decades of travel. No problem, right?

The next morning, I get this note shoved under my door bright and early;

Attachment 342730

I know it's a brave new world after Covid and with all the social changes going on, but come on. You hang a DND sign out on your door and you get this note? A bit overboard in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by ZipZop

Aloha!

I recently spent about 10 days touring Kentucky for the Bourbon Trail, and Thoroughbred Racing. For five nights, I stayed just across the Kentucky Line at a Resort in Indiana that has a floating casino on the Ohio River.

The first night, I put a Do Not Disturb (DND) sign on my door, as I have for decades of travel. No problem, right?

The next morning, I get this note shoved under my door bright and early;

Attachment 342730

I know it's a brave new world after Covid and with all the social changes going on, but come on. You hang a DND sign out on your door and you get this note? A bit overboard in my opinion.

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It's outrageous.

I don't do much traveling anymore but when we do we always look for a place that is OK with pets.

We have 3 cats and the last time we had a Motel it was for 3 weeks while we we looking at houses (we bought this one).

We left the cats in the room while we're out because obviously it's not practical to take them house hunting.

We had a do not disturb for the first four days because we didn't want a chambermaid to open the door and let the cats run out.

There was absolutely no problem with the DND. The fifth day we had viewing appointments in the afternoon so we let them come in and do the room, were happy, they were happy. This pattern repeated about every five day's.

I will say that was in 2016 so well before covid but I don't get why someone would come in to check your room after two day's unless they think you might be laying on the floor gasping like a fish out of water.

I get that, Steve. I would travel with cats too, as long as I could hang out a DND sign when we were away. Dogs may bark when you are gone, but cats usually don't disturb the neighbors.

This was actually a very nice resort. A bit remote, with not much around it, but the resort itself was very nice. It's owned by Boyd Gaming, the people that own a few Las Vegas resorts including The Stardust in Las Vegas. It has a world class golf course, a nice resort pool area with cabanas, a full casino, multiple restaurants, a spa, and a theater for live concerts and events. But once we got that note under the door, it really changed our enjoyment level. Unfortunate.

I don't know, i can see both sides I guess. if there's a dead body in there taking up space and stinking the place up you'd want to get it out of there wouldn't you? We stayed in a motel in West Virginia that wanted to see our car registration to prove our residency. We thought it to be intrusive 'till they explained that they had had some locals renting rooms to make meth in. It made more sense then.

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Originally Posted by tintin

I don't know, i can see both sides I guess. if there's a dead body in there taking up space and stinking the place up you'd want to get it out of there wouldn't you? We stayed in a motel in West Virginia that wanted to see our car registration to prove our residency. We thought it to be intrusive 'till they explained that they had had some locals renting rooms to make meth in. It made more sense then.

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Thanks. You make some good points.

The one thing that gives the Casino/Restort that we stayed at a little slack with me regarding this note, is that it's a Casino. Lots of alcohol ingestion and who knows what else. I do know that Indiana does not tolerate any use of illegal substances that are on the federal list, even for "medical" purposes, but people are going to do what they are going to do. If someone has a medical prescription for a federally illegal substance in one state, they are typically going to breeze in to another state regardless of federal law or the possible change in regulation from one state to another. Alcohol combined with other substances can be a physical hazard. It may be prudent to make sure guests are "OK". Although I do not think this is their primary focus for the policy. See next paragraph.

Maybe they have had instances where so-called guests are robbing them blind. There was a 50" HDTV in the room with no alarm that was not mouted to a wall, but just sitting on a cradenza. A thief could theoretically walk out with that and other things, like the clock with iPhone dock and whatever else a thief could get their hands on. I have a strong suspicion that guest safety is not the priority here, but rather a good excuse to step up room security. I believe that they want to inspect your room on a regular basis to look for pilfering and damage.

This aside, I don't like this policy. My grandfather said that America had changed since he was a child. My father said the same. I now say similar. We tend to lose liberties and cultural norms slowly, generation to generation. I can see this kind of policy continuing until we have hotel security knocking on our doors at midnight to see what's going on in our rooms and to make sure we are being good stewards of our rented rooms and ourselves. Maybe not in our lifetimes, but eventually, something like this is possible.

Bottom line - this is a policy I have never heard of before. It's new. I never have run into any sort of policy like this in any hotel or resort I have ever stayed at in any country. And believe me, I'm very well traveled. That's not a boast, it's a sad fact. I wish I had not lived on th road the way I had in my working career, but that's what it is. And with all that travel, if I wanted privacy in my room after a long day, week, year or for whatever legal purpose, I never would have expected a hotel or resort to demand entry to make sure things are OK with me and with the room. And I'm not OK with that. I personally would not stay there again.

I haven't traveled in ages but you know the old saying, if you don't like it there you vote with your feet.

I agree with your thoughts and feelings.

If you were going too trash or steal from their room it certainly wouldn't take a day to do it.

48 hours is pretty short.

I could see as a compromise that they would ask you to check in with the desk every 48 hours to verify that you are not dead or gone.

Good points, gentlemen. Thanks.

There was another odd incident at that casino resort. They had a full-on Fandual SPORTS BOOK there, where you could bet on professional sports. I am an avid Horseplayer and like to play Thoroughbred horse racing. I got to their Sports Book and they had a few horse races up on the monitors. I handicapped a race, walked up to the ticket agent and tried to place my horse racing bet. And she said;

"Sorry sir, we don't accept animal betting in this casino. No dogs, no horses. Only professional sports betting is allowed."

To say I was floored by this would be an understatement. Most places outside of Vegas do not allow professional sports betting, but certainly you can play horses just about anywhere there is an OTB place or Sports Book. I asked her then why they were televising horse racing. Her answer was predictable. She said;

"We are allowed to show horse racing. We are just not allowed to accept bets on animals." Wow. I didn't expect this in my lifetime. At one point in my life, you could go to jail if you were caught betting on professional sports, but horses were no problem. Now, you CAN bet on pro sports, but horses are NOW a problem? Yikes.

I'm wondering if that's an Indana law. No horse wagering outside of an actual horse racing track in that state?

I will never win big in gambling but then again I don't bet............

The only person I trully belived won at the horse track was my grandmother.

She went to the track with a senior group and when I asked if she won she said yes. 50 cents.

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Originally Posted by 32t

I will never win big in gambling but then again I don't bet............

The only person I trully belived won at the horse track was my grandmother.

She went to the track with a senior group and when I asked if she won she said yes. 50 cents.

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It's an exciting sport if you go to the track, but it's not easy to win. Horses are flesh and blood and bone and nerves and hormones. They have good days and bad days. When you spend time handicapping a race, you are mostly looking at PPs (Past Performances) of the horses racing. That tells a good part of the story of how they MIGHT perform this day, but without asking them how they feel, you really don't know the whole story. And I don't speak Horse, so I'm out of luck.

I do go to the paddock to see the horses up close for signs of how they are feeling during the post parade. Excess kidney sweat - a horse is very nervous. Excess sweating in general, the horse may be stressed out or overheated. Ears down head down, not a good sign. I want a horse that is on his game, walking around like he's about to dispatch another horse, his ears perky, muscles rippling.

I always tell first time bettors to stick with a SHOW bet. This way you have three times the chance to win SOMETHING. Not as much as a WIN bet, but at least you get to the cashier's window more often with a SHOW bet. And you can still bet as little as $2.00 on a horse. That's really nothing, especially in today's economy.

I put the DND sign on the door all the time. I feel like I don’t need my room made up or fresh towels every day, and am content to do my own thing, I pick up my coffee at the front desk. I’ve gotten similar notes from quite a few hotels over the recent years. I think they are trying to limit their liability is some way. If you were I peril in your room and no one checked on you, I’m sure someone would have something to say. Personally I could care less if they check in every now and then. I’m never there when they do and my room is mostly clean. The first time it happened it did cause me to raise a brow.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

I put the DND sign on the door all the time. I feel like I don’t need my room made up or fresh towels every day, and am content to do my own thing, I pick up my coffee at the front desk. I’ve gotten similar notes from quite a few hotels over the recent years. I think they are trying to limit their liability is some way. If you were I peril in your room and no one checked on you, I’m sure someone would have something to say. Personally I could care less if they check in every now and then. I’m never there when they do and my room is mostly clean. The first time it happened it did cause me to raise a brow.

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So true on the towels and room cleaning. Years past, maids were delighted to see my DND sign on the door so they could skip my room. The most I'd ask of them is perhaps for a spare towel or coffee for the room coffee maker. Now that's changing. I wish I could be like you and care less, but I don't like this policy change, so I, unfortunately, do care that they are now doing this.

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Originally Posted by ZipZop

It's an exciting sport if you go to the track, but it's not easy to win. Horses are flesh and blood and bone and nerves and hormones. They have good days and bad days. When you spend time handicapping a race, you are mostly looking at PPs (Past Performances) of the horses racing. That tells a good part of the story of how they MIGHT perform this day, but without asking them how they feel, you really don't know the whole story. And I don't speak Horse, so I'm out of luck.

I do go to the paddock to see the horses up close for signs of how they are feeling during the post parade. Excess kidney sweat - a horse is very nervous. Excess sweating in general, the horse may be stressed out or overheated. Ears down head down, not a good sign. I want a horse that is on his game, walking around like he's about to dispatch another horse, his ears perky, muscles rippling.

I always tell first time bettors to stick with a SHOW bet. This way you have three times the chance to win SOMETHING. Not as much as a WIN bet, but at least you get to the cashier's window more often with a SHOW bet. And you can still bet as little as $2.00 on a horse. That's really nothing, especially in today's economy.

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If you can you want to interact with the horse. A tricky mischievous horse is what you want. A horse that seems friendly and gains your confidence and then tries to take a piece out of you is a winner.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

If you can you want to interact with the horse. A tricky mischievous horse is what you want. A horse that seems friendly and gains your confidence and then tries to take a piece out of you is a winner.

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Very true, sir. If you look at the post race temperatment of Rich Strike (The Longshot Derby winner), he was jacked up, biting the escort horse and the escort rider on the leg. He wanted that race and then wanted to cement his dominance after the race. I saw footage of Secretariat just before the Belmont where he destroyed the field by 31 lengths. He truly looked like an executioner on his way to dispatch other horses.