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Hotel shows customer the door after he refuses to show ID — can it do that?

February 5, 2009

Can a hotel refuse to honor your reservation because you won’t show your identification?

That’s not a hypothetical question. Nick Cataldo contacted me earlier this week because he’d been denied a room at a Sleep Inn property in Birmingham, Ala. Here’s his story.

When I was asked for and declined to show ID, a manager who was contacted by telephone spoke with me and refused me admittance unless I showed ID. I offered to pay cash for the room, to avoid suspicion of credit-card fraud, but this was still unacceptable.

The manager then refused to authorize cancellation of my reservation. After I left, my credit card was charged for one night’s stay. The charge was removed by American Express only after two months.

I asked Sleep Inn about this requirement to show ID. David Peikin, a company spokesman, said the hotel chain doesn’t require IDs to be shown by guests.

As a franchisor, we don’t own or operate any hotels. So while we don’t have any rules or regulations that require a hotel to request identification, these are independently owned and operated businesses that make their own operational decisions.

Cataldo did a little research to find out if the hotel was within its rights to require an ID.

No law requires US domestic travelers to carry photo ID. Hotels and hotel chains cannot assume that a person making a reservation will bring a photo ID. Given guests’ real concern these days about identity theft if the hotel records information on an ID, hotels should offer written privacy policies and should not be allowed to make or retain copies of the ID as a condition of admittance.

When an ID requirement is not stated and the guest cannot or will not show an ID, cancellation of the reservation on request should be the industry standard.

Alabama’s lodging laws make no specific mention of an ID requirement. As far as I can tell, the relevant statute, Section 34-15-11, just mentions a special contract.

A hotel may require any guest, or person proposing to become a guest, to enter into a special contract as to the duration, kind and place of board, entertainment or lodging to be furnished such guest and the price therefor to be paid. If such guest refuses to enter into such contract and to accept board, entertainment or lodging under the terms and conditions so proposed by the hotel, said hotel may refuse to receive or entertain such guest and because of such refusal shall not incur any liability whatever. Such special contract must be in writing and signed by both parties, and by such contract a hotel may vary its liability for the safety of the goods of its guests.

I can’t think of any reason why Sleep Inn should have required a guest to show an ID — particularly one who offered to pay in cash. It had no right to keep his money, and American Express was correct to refund his money.

But maybe I’m missing something. Can you think of a reason why an ID might be necessary for a hotel stay?

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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67 comments

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  • Michael Archangel

    You should always have an ID with you Dummy. In case you drop dead so the city trash can pick up your rotting lazy corpse. Didn’t your mother teach you any better. I really enjoy refusing service to people who are :
    A- Too lazy to carry ID
    B- Jackasses who refuse to carry ID because they like to start trouble.
    We are a small luxury hotel. No shady people without ID’s stay here. take your scams somewhere else.

  • Katie

    I currently work at a Hotel. We do require some form of I.D. It has to have your picture, and an I.D. number on it. We need that information to know who we are renting to, if anything should happen, as a result of the guest’s actions, or someone else’s. How are we going to know who you are? We can’t even begin to know where to look if you have no I.D. on you, or refuse to show it. What if there was some type of accident, and you did not have I.D. on you? What if the person next to you happened to rob you, and they had no I.D. on the person? It’s for the safety of ALL parties. Plus, the situation described above COULD have been one of fraud, why else would they refuse to show I.D? I just had a situation with a very rude mother over the phone. Her daughter and a friend were traveling from out of state. The mother was paying for the room,and could not seem to get the credit card authorization form sent back to me. She tried to pushily, and VERY rudely I might add, tried to get me to feel sorry for the girls. There is only so much i can do for them. These laws and regulations are set in place for the benefit of everyone involved.

  • Katie

    Bob,

    I bet you will be singing a different tune if someone next to you, or even in the same hotel/motel was able to rent a room w/ no I.D . and trashed your car, or broke into your room and stole something or assaulted you… They are not ‘controlling’ anything. They are PROTECTING you, and everyone else who happens to be staying there. Good luck trying to find another hotel who DOESN’T ask for I.D. I’ve been asked EVERY single time I’ve stayed somewhere. Hope that hotel that “appreciates” you will know who the assailant was that attacked you in the middle of the night….

    “The real question is when are people going to stop corporations from controling our lives. Most ID theft occurs at point of sale.

    I guess it comes down to this, I am the customer — it’s my way or I take my business elsewhere to someplace that appreciates me “

  • Katie

    Haha!!! Thanks for the laugh Michael Archangel!!! I will just have to follow in your footsteps… Don’t be a jackass, and you won’t have problems!!! :)

  • http://link John62

    I knew this was untrue: pressurized water had been chosen to power submarines because such reactors are compact and simple. ,

  • http://link John94

    By the time she came home she had nothing but contempt for her symbiotic American peers. ,

  • http://www.montego-bay-hotels.com Montego Bay hotels

    You been asked EVERY single time you have stayed somewhere?

  • Friendly Hotel

    Actually checking I.D. is often important for emergency purposes. I’ve actually been at work when a guest passed out in his room and had he been under an assumed name, his family may not have been reached.

  • Anthony Hewetson

    One of my favorite series of book is the Jack Reacher
    series. the protagonist, for the first seven or eight books,
    carried no ID and paid for hotel rooms with cash. About the ninth
    novel or so he started carrying ID as even cash payments to hotels
    entailed showing a picture ID. Good research on the part of the
    British novelist who writes the series … and I think the whole ID
    thing, right or wrong, has to do with post 9/11 paranoia. By the
    by, I used to ride Greyhound all the time and never needed an ID.
    That is no longer the case, evidently, as even paying with cash my
    last two sets of tickets were released only upon my production of a
    valid picture ID.

  • Helio

    It’s interesting to see how people acts in different countries. In my country, you need to show your ID to access almost any commercial building or hotel. Ah, in several places they took a picture too.

    (oddly enough, almost every elevator at big cities has cameras inside…)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Q2AYBXTN4MEALORUDJVL56UVGE Jessica

    I work for a hotel and if a guest comes in and wants to pay cash, we are required to get a copy of their ID and keep it with their registration or a copy of a credit card with their name on it for incidentals. But even if they keep a copy of their credit card on file, they are still required to show their id. If they choose to have a copy of their ID on file, it is so we know the address is valid and they can be billed for the room or we can take them to court for damages to the room.

  • Rock Star Destroys Hotel Room

    Of course the hotel should ask for ID. Do you know how many selfish people will destroy other peoples property and happily sneak out the door.

  • Philipinesnation123

    can i see the picture of the id before go inside in the hotel….

  • Missella916

    I am a manager for a hotel, and we do require id upon checkin, first for security purposes ( we need to know who is occupying the room) second, if any damages occur while someone is utilizing the room we can collect from the loss. Just like you need an id to lease/rent anything, the same standards should be set nationwide to require id. I mean doesnt it seem logical?

  • That1guydrew

    I work for a hotel and I totally agree with the Manager. We have a lot of “Locals” people who live in the area that just want a room to usually do things that are frowned upon by the law. We require all guests to show us their id so that we can for sure know that it is them. We also put their mailing address and phone number in the system. And if they pay cash, we require an id so we can make a copy. We just had a guest check in last week and the Front Desk agent didnt make a copy of id. Well needless to say they damaged the room and the police told us, you have no copy of their id, we cant do anything for you.

  • Loss Prevention

    Of course all the complainers are customers and not merchants why:

    Enough with your worry of getting targeted with advertisements.  All Merchants are trying to do is protect their assets from being stolen.  The credit card company doesn’t pay when you dispute an item that was purchased illegally on your card.  They do what is called in the industry a “CHARGE BACK” to the merchant who has to eat the cost of the theft.  Thus causing the merchant to charge more for their products or services.  Yes that’s right the complaining consumer, YOU, are the loser.  Next time, just get off your soap box and put your thumb over your address and just let them see what they need to protect YOU and Them from theft: the picture to make sure it matches you standing in front of them and the name on the Picture ID matches the credit card you are using.  Wow what a hardship…. 

    WOW BUILD A BRIDGE SHOW YOUR ID AND GET OVER IT!

  • Loss Prevention

    Of course all the complainers are customers and not merchants why:

    Enough
    with your worry of getting targeted with advertisements.  All Merchants
    are trying to do is protect their assets from being stolen.  The credit
    card company doesn’t pay when you dispute an item that was purchased
    illegally on your card.  They do what is called in the industry a
    “CHARGE BACK” to the merchant who has to eat the cost of the theft. 
    Thus causing the merchant to charge more for their products or
    services.  Yes that’s right the complaining consumer, YOU, are the
    loser.  Next time, just get off your soap box and put your thumb over
    your address and just let them see what they need to protect YOU and
    THEM from theft: the picture to make sure it matches you standing in
    front of them and the name on the Picture ID matches the credit card you
    are using.  Wow what a hardship….

    Now do you understand why the credit card companies don’t require the merchants to check ID’s?   Because they don’t pick up the tab!  Wow sounds similar to the fat cats that got away with the mortgage bailout….OH WAIT THEY ARE ONE IN THE SAME.  WAKE UP PEOPLE! WOW BUILD A BRIDGE SHOW YOUR ID AND GET OVER IT!

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