It is a little scary that someone can just charge something to any room. I used to bartend at a hotel bar, and our guests were allowed to charge their drinks to their rooms. We never asked for any identification or even verified they were a guest, much less a guest in that room. I'm surprised that didn't ever pose a problem.

Didn't this happen in a Flight of the Conchords episode?

Stephen and Commenters: It is fine to ask the staff to remove the contents of the refrigerator, on the first night you check in, for the entire duration of your stay. That way you have the use of the refrigerator for your own stuff, and no chance of being charged for any of the things that they removed. I do this each time I stay anywhere on business, from California to Dubai. They don't act like they like it, but they do it. You don't even have to make up a reason. Just call the front desk and tell them you want all the crap out ASAP.

I had a similar experience in a Sheraton hotel, they had charged me for a number of bottles of water which I had not used. Simply asking them to remove the charges fixed it.

It's sad that decent behavior is newsworthy.

i used to work at a hotel that had a system where the bartender could see the last name on the room so they could at least match that when making a room charge. they still came to the front desk and had me verify any that seemed fishy - like when they had a room charge earlier or a previous day from someone who was at the bar and then someone else tried to charge to the same room later.

the reason for seeing last names was that, as a convention and business hotel there were a LOT of room shares and people could charge to either half of the bill [or during a teacher's conference and anime cons we had 4 way room splits!]

i stayed at this same hotel on several occasions and have always had exemplary service from the front desk. one of the stays was during my wedding anniversary, and on check-in, they gave my wife and i a huge gift basket with champagne, chocolates, flowers, and loads of other goodies.

People still eat food?

What about the local call? Isn't that tracked automatically? Or did someone actually go into his room and use the phone?

This happened to a friend of mine, and we were both startled to realize that the hotel would actually just accept the say-so of the signatory.

@speedwell, avatar of snark:

Some places I stay ask me if I want 'the key' to the refrig/mini bar. I say no and there is never a question about using anything.

@camman68: probably house keeping.

@Smashville: Why is this on Consumerist? Nothing was actually consumed.

Wait, a $50 outside restaurant delivery charge? Whomever ordered that couldn't just wait in the lobby and pick it up there instead of going through the hotel?

@tongsy: In some places, they actually have sensors that record if you move anything. You don't have to have even removed the item; they assume you consumed it if the sensor says you touched it.

You have to watch out for those "Complimentery" bottles of water they leave on the desks inside the room as well. It looks like it's free... and the large wording on the card underneath of it would imply so as well, but then comes the fine print! Compliments of the hotel, for only $2.99!

I'm thrown off by the phone charge as well, I didn't think you could charge calls from outside a room to a different room number.

@jp: That would work too, except then I wouldn't have the fridge for my bottled water.

I've had nothing but great experiences with Marriott.

In fact, one thing that's worked quite well while working my way through college was putting my tuition on my Marriott Rewards card, then paying it off immediately with my table-waiting cash.

Now it's rewards points heaven!

I found out once about this when I stayed at a hotel near an airport in Atlanta. I was originally in room 308 then got moved to 319 or something. Went to the bar and charged a burger and 4 drinks to room 318 because I thought that was my room. Got back to my room then was like whoops.
Girlfriend made me call the desk and inform them of the mix up. The attendant was just like ummm ok. Never did appear on my bill so don't know if he actually did fix it. Surprised me on how easy that was though.

Some places will charge you to empty the mini-bar. It's extra labor for them to empty it, then restock it later. If you need a fridge, it's better to stay at a place that has a dedicated refrigerator, rather than a mini-bar. Some refreshment centers/mini-bars aren't true refrigerators either, they simply keep things cooler than they would normally be. If you put something perishable in it, the food might spoil because it's not designed to keep food below 40 degrees.

@Crabby Cakes: Not True. Someone consumed all the food that was charged to the room.

@tongsy: Stayed at a semi-expensive hotel in Dallas once (Omni) and got charged for a bottle of Evian we never drank. They removed it from our bill without question. We've also been erroneously charged for movies before and it wasn't hard to get those charges reversed, either.

@SenorDoucheoisie:
Whomever ordered it wasn't paying, so the price was not an issue.

"Apparently someone can just charge a meal to any room they want."

This has always struck me as a major flaw in the "charge it to my room" system. Part of me is surprised this doesn't happen more often. (But then part of me is aware of how, by and large, Americans put a premium on playing fair and don't take nearly as much advantage of that sort of thing as you'd think.)

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): When I was in Germany, I charged my dinner to my room as much as I used my company card (it depended on what seemed more efficient at the time). Interestingly, I think using my U.S. based card incurred their currency conversion charge. Didn't know that until I checked out, and I complained bitterly, and they took it off.

@dprboyne: True. The mini-fridge at the Drury Inn in downtown New Orleans was like that. Took ten years to chill a single liter bottle of still water.

Didn't I see this on Fletch?

@starzshine: i've seen it done from a house phone in the lobby - you pick up the house phone and it autoconnects you to the switchboard who can connect it to your room.
my former place of employment had so many problems with it that they
a) stopped allowing outbound calls from the house phones and
b) just quit charging for local calls! [that was the best day of my job there]

@starzshine: I've had housekeeping call long distance from my room before.

I brought it up with the manager and he said "oh, we had an issue with this once before, I apologize" and credited it.

Apparently that particular housekeeper was on her/his last straw, or someone else picked up on their 'clever idea'.

@Hooray4Zoidberg: Yes, yes it did. They did not seek a refund however. Silly Kiwis.

What the hell is an "outside restaurant food delivery" charge?

I've had food delivered from outside restaurants many times at a hotel and have never heard of this charge.

Some hotels don't actually have a resturant but will have a menu that you can order from. The individual resturants will change you thru the hotel system.

@Smashville: Pfft. I no longer eat but extract my nutrition from the environment around me. I touch an apple, I get some apple-y goodness by diffusion. It's completely sustainable, unlike the actions of those planet-killing eaters and digesters.

@SNForrester: No no, they are informing everyone about how easy it is to get free food and drinks at a hotel.

@RobertBaron: [<- previous hotel employee] on occasion i had a [sick or lazy] guest order food and have the front desk pay for it as a cash charge to the guest's room [post the charge to the room, take the cash out of the drawer to pay the delivery person] and then have the bellman send it up to the room. bellman got a tip which was usually split with the front desk clerk. this may be what they are talking about here, or the hotel may have an arrangment with a local restaurant.

@Smashville: Only stupid people that haven't learned how to photosynthesize light like you and I. Dumb money wasters.

This happened to me a few years ago while I attended a conference in Chicago. They had no problem removing the charges from my bill - they also had no problem re-charging me three weeks later after they determined through an internal audit that I had actually used four products from the in-room fridge (I was originally charged for two and hadn't used anything). Needless to say I challenged those charges with my bank who sided with me.

@SenorDoucheoisie: It probably started as $23 in pizza but got marked up by the hotel...

@brain_grenade:

Yes! Was thinking the same thing. Deviously crafty, that Fletch.

@Applekid: Thats so lame. Real men have their energies replenished from the radiation from their monitors and cellphones.

My take is that because he stayed there for a month, the hotel simply removed minor charges without argument.

Think of what a month's stay costs, + if he was there because of relocation, it may well have been a corporate account, so they are not only appeasing the guest, but preventing a complaint from traveling back to the manager of his company's HR person or whomver made the arangements.

I bet if he stayed there for two nights and used a personal credit card, the charges might not have so easily dissapeared.

@starzshine: Betcha don't know that you usually get charged 75¢ to $1 each for those USA Today newpapers left outside of your room door...

@tongsy: I think Consumerist has covered something like this before, and postulated that it was the hotel putting the charges on in hopes that people would simply remain blithely unaware of the charges and pay anyway. They don't make a big fuss because they want to keep it quiet and keep people from writing angry letters to, well, Consumerist. :D

@tbax929: This is the MO for all hotels. I guess they just have a good system of verifying names with rooms quickly.

That said, Marriott definately knows how to treat a customer well - ESPECIALLY high rewards members like someone who stays with the hotel for 30 days+ (like the OP).

@Smashville:

It's like wearing clothes: a backwards habit of backwards people. But yes, it is still done.

@catastrophegirl - sometimes makes typos and doesn't care: What kind of sick person does that sort of thing?

... oh.. you mean, sick, as in, physically ill. Who uses the word that way anymore.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): This isn't abused as much due to the fact that most American's have never stayed in a hotel with actual room service plus company's require separate receipts for food and lodging so even when you could do it via the hotel, you cannot due to accounting.

This sounds like an inside job or internal mistake since the food thief would have needed to check out prior to the OP and not have used a credit card that could be recharged for the food. Perhaps the person was hammered when they signed off on the receipt and wrote the wrong room number.

@sleze69: Agreed - I loved my Platinum Elite Status when I had it (Loved less that I was spending literally half my nights living out of a hotel room).

Free upgrades - concierge suite access... good good stuff.

Bacon-wrapped scallops and martinis from the honor bar - yum.

@econobiker: i know starwood hotels at least use a system that can, if directed, send all room costs to one portfolio and all food/beverage/gift shop charges to another. actually at my hotel we had portfolio choices A-H and about 20 catergories of charges, plus the ability to manually move them at check out. so you could keep your room, restaurant and porn charges all on different bills