Trust me everyone, I did NOT mean to leave you hanging yesterday with my note about someone impersonating me at the hotel. I didn’t think you guys would want to hear about it! But based on several requests, here’s what happened.
During BlogHer, we stayed at the New York Hilton on 53rd and 6th. It was a nice hotel, or it was fine for New York (which are notoriously pretty in the lobby but not so much in the rooms).
Anyhow, due to a mix up, my room was moved after I checked in. I got settled in the new room and left to run some errands, but when I came back later, I was locked out.
Thinking the key card had been deactivated because of all the metal I carry in my purse, I went down to get new keys cut. The front desk did so and I battled the elevators to go back up and try again. Still locked.
Annoyed, I go back down to the front desk and ask what’s going on, where the front desk women asks my name and then goes slightly pale and says, “I’ll be right back.” NOT COMFORTING.
She comes back to verify my name again and she tells me that someone came in to the hotel, using my name and saying “I” needed to change hotel rooms again. Fortunately, when they asked her to verify the reservation name, she spelled my last name wrong (thank goodness for an unconventionally spelled last name). And by spelling it wrong consistently, hotel security locked down the room so no one (including me) could get in.
Shocked, she told me to go back and try the locks again because now that the room is verified, I can get in. Yep, turns out I couldn’t because SECURITY had to let me in, which she neglected to tell me. Twenty-five minutes later, security shows up and lets me in. Fortunately, all of my stuff was there and accounted for. But I’m pissed off and late to meet bloggy buddies.
But that’s not the end of the story.
At 12:30 a.m. when I came back from the Nikon party, I could NOT GET IN THE ROOM AGAIN. So after a minor beer- and exhaustion-fueled breakdown at the front desk, security walks me back up and lets me in again.
I never found out who the person was trying to be me but there were no erroneous charges on my card, likely just someone who wanted to try and get a free room.
And even though I was insanely annoyed about the room lock out, I am glad that the hotel was looking out for me.
Has anything like this ever happened to you?
