Women Leaves Children in Hotel Pool Unattended. Refuses to Gives Room Number.

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Don't most hotels lock their pools and you need to use a key to get in? Simply tell the woman she needs to either be in the pool area or her kids need to leave the pool area. If she uses a keycard to get into the pool, you know it's valid. If the kids leave the pool area, does the family go into the hotel (guest) or to the car and leave (trespassing)?

Well you know the key card is valid as in presently electronically active but you don't know that the person in question is a registered guest of the hotel. Normally privileges are for registered hotel guests. How many times is that brought up as an issue? IDK but I do know that it comes up every now and then here on the Boards about people discussing day guests or not telling the hotel so and so will be staying there, etc. Not saying that's what was at all the issue just speaking towards "you know it's valid" thing.

 

[sam_gordon]

Well you know the key card is valid as in presently electronically active but you don't know that the person in question is a registered guest of the hotel. Normally privileges are for registered hotel guests. How many times is that brought up as an issue? IDK but I do know that it comes up every now and then here on the Boards about people discussing day guests or not telling the hotel so and so will be staying there, etc. Not saying that's what was at all the issue just speaking towards "you know it's valid" thing.

So you think the valid guest gave their key to a friend to use the pool? If they're worried about getting caught, couldn't they give them the room number too? I still think it's a leap (not a large one but still a leap) to think the woman & kids are trespassing simply because she went to the car.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So you think the valid guest gave their key to a friend to use the pool? If they're worried about getting caught, couldn't they give them the room number too? I still think it's a leap (not a large one but still a leap) to think the woman & kids are trespassing simply because she went to the car.

You posed that using a key card for the pool means it's valid..yes the key card is valid if it works to open meaning it's presently electronically coded for it..that does not mean the person using the key card is a registered guest and therefore able to use the amenities that's all I was commenting about

I'm not really trying to consider all the 'what ifs' out there and whatnot with respects to your "so you think the valid guest gave their key to a friend to use the pool"..that wasn't what I was saying either. My comments are generalities here because posters have been bringing up various procedures that could have been done.

I haven't made any comment regarding trespassing though in respects to her merely being in her car so that last comment wouldn't pertain to me personally.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

What exactly does a pool trespass situation look like? As opposed to a normal guest using the pool?

So you think the valid guest gave their key to a friend to use the pool? If they're worried about getting caught, couldn't they give them the room number too? I still think it's a leap (not a large one but still a leap) to think the woman & kids are trespassing simply because she went to the car.

How is it a leap? The fact that she was in her car instead of the pool area is only relevant in that it caught the employees attention. She brought suspicion of trespassing upon herself when she refused to provide her name and room number so it could be verified that she was a guest. What was the employee supposed to do at that point? She couldn't prove the woman was a guest so she followed company policy and asked her to leave. I could probably visit any hotel pool and find a working key card laying on the ground under one of the chairs.

This isn't a case of someone being harrassed in a public place or in their own driveway. She was on private property, had violated a rule by leaving her children unattended, and was refusing to provide information requested by the owner's representative. What did she think was going to happen at that point? They were going to just say "ok, nevermind, enjoy the pool?"

I still think the employee could have handled it in different manner and defused the situation but she definitely overreacted to being asked and escalated the situation.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Please take your children to the restroom when they are at a pool. A 7 year old should not be left alone at a pool no matter what. A drowning can happen so fast.

I think the police were called because the negligent mother would not give her room number and she thought she was trespassing. Although, I do think trespassing is going to be ok soon. Just look the other way and never ask questions.

Aww, come on. I was babysitting by the time I was 7.

 

[abdmom]

How is it a leap? The fact that she was in her car instead of the pool area is only relevant in that it caught the employees attention. She brought suspicion of trespassing upon herself when she refused to provide her name and room number so it could be verified that she was a guest. What was the employee supposed to do at that point? She couldn't prove the woman was a guest so she followed company policy and asked her to leave. I could probably visit any hotel pool and find a working key card laying on the ground under one of the chairs.

This isn't a case of someone being harrassed in a public place or in their own driveway. She was on private property, had violated a rule by leaving her children unattended, and was refusing to provide information requested by the owner's representative. What did she think was going to happen at that point? They were going to just say "ok, nevermind, enjoy the pool?"

I still think the employee could have handled it in different manner and defused the situation but she definitely overreacted to being asked and escalated the situation.

I think it's asking a lot for a minimum wage employee to be expected to defuse such a situation.

My read of the statement put out by Hilton was that the employee quit, not that they were fired.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I think it's asking a lot for a minimum wage employee to be expected to defuse such a situation.

My read of the statement put out by Hilton was that the employee quit, not that they were fired.

It's hard to tell either way to be honest. Finding out the employee was no longer employed could mean that the location manager had already fired her. Or it could mean she quit. The statement doesn't expressly state. However the statement from Hilton is pretty clear they would have fired her if it hadn't happened already.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It's hard to tell either way to be honest. Finding out the employee was no longer employed could mean that the location manager had already fired her. Or it could mean she quit. The statement doesn't expressly state. However the statement from Hilton is pretty clear they would have fired her if it hadn't happened already.

Which would have been a tricky thing to do IMO IF the employee was more following the procedures and policies of the independently owned Hampton which appears to be the case in at least some of the employee's action. The blow-back should be at that level not at the employee level if that was the case.

Unfortunately who usually gets it is the employees. That's not me saying things could have been different (how you approach someone can completely change the environment) just that if Hilton was going to terminate the employee anyways it IMO should be because they felt the behaviors didn't even match that of the policy of the independently owned Hampton Inn location. Otherwise Hilton would need to deal with the owner of the location with respects to their procedures and policies and the owner of the Hampton should have been the one to terminate the employee if that was the case.

And to be fair Hilton is in a rough spot. They are assuming it's racially motivated and who can blame them right now. I just hope they investigated it enough on their side before making the statement.

 

[mefordis]

They shouldn't have called the police. She wasn't doing anything wrong and I've never been asked at the pool if to prove I was staying in a hotel.

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

I have been asked several times at the pool, the morning breakfast, and a couple times to simply enter the lobby at night, and I’m as white as it gets. I just show my room key and tell them my name. I often forget my room number, but just producing my keycard and stating my name oftentimes gets me the “OK”.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I have been asked several times at the pool, the morning breakfast, and a couple times to simply enter the lobby at night, and I’m as white as it gets. I just show my room key and tell them my name. I often forget my room number, but just producing my keycard and stating my name oftentimes gets me the “OK”.

So in your opinion, should it been enough for her to produce her key card without having to give her room number?

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

So in your opinion, should it been enough for her to produce her key card without having to give her room number?

I’ve always had to give my name
ETA- I have been asked to wait until they look it up on their computer.

 

[disykat]

They shouldn't have called the police. She wasn't doing anything wrong and I've never been asked at the pool if to prove I was staying in a hotel.

How can leaving your children in a hotel pool without being present in the pool enclosure NOT be wrong? I've never seen a hotel pool without a sign that says children MUST be attended.

I once let my kids swim in a hotel pool with me standing with our dog directly next to the gate (because dog wasn't allowed in pool enclosure and I couldn't leave her unaccompanied in the room or in the car because it was too hot) my eyes on my kids watching their every move with a complete view of the entire pool because I was literally the same distance or closer than I would have been if I was inside the gate. I was fully aware I was technically breaking the rules and was ready to answer any questions and had even prepped the kids that we might be disallowed because were bending the rules. I honestly felt like what I was doing was a workable solution since I was standing right there watching them, but if they had asked us to leave I would have without question because the rules were very clear.

 

[monsterkitty]

As a person who was the safety manager for a major waterpark and neighborhood pools for 17 years, seeing two child play unattended in a pool would not have caused me to think anything other than, "Great, two more young unattended kids in the pool."

You guys would be shocked at how many kids under the age of 8 are dropped off at neighborhood pools and major water parks without their parents walking in the establishment. Or their parents would be in the water park, but in a completely different area of the 70 acre park.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

If I am at a hotel pool and questioned about whether or not I am a guest, I will provide my name and room number so that I can go on with my day. If I refuse, I would expect to be questioned further.

Exactly. I don't expect every staff member to remember that I'm MrsBianca in room 393.

I've had to produce a key card, identify my name and room number, and an i.d. (the i.d. was for age, though) at Embassy Suites evening cocktail hours. The one I went to swiped the key card; the woman in front of me didn't have her keycard so she didn't get her drinks.

So you think the valid guest gave their key to a friend to use the pool? If they're worried about getting caught, couldn't they give them the room number too? I still think it's a leap (not a large one but still a leap) to think the woman & kids are trespassing simply because she went to the car.

Read any message board with hotel employees and you'll find stories of people renting a room, planning to have a party in it or a pool party, even if the hotel rules expressly forbid it. People will rent the room, give out the room number to their friends, and then 'sneak' them in (in locked hotels, by going to the 'back doors' and either propping them open or leaving someone down to let people in. Same deal with the pool doors/gates, they will prop them open.

Some hotels do rent out the pool area for parties, but a lot of the time, people just go "oh, I rented a room for me and my kids, so we can have guests", even though that's not the case.

They shouldn't have called the police. She wasn't doing anything wrong and I've never been asked at the pool if to prove I was staying in a hotel.

She left children unattended in a pool. That was the first thing she did wrong. She left the building/pool area, while those children were in a pool. That was her second error. When asked if she was a guest, it wasn't because she was not white....it was because she left her children in an unsafe position, and acted in a manor that was somewhat suspicious (as a PP stated, if they needed to charge a phone, they'd go to the ROOM they rented). The meltdown, instead of just being reasonable and saying "I'm Mrs Bianca and I'm in room 393" was her third strike. The entire situation could have been avoided by her amending her behaviors at any point prior to the police being called.

As far as the police, hotel employees deal with crap from people every day. They get yelled at for telling people they need to use a credit card and not cash; about incidental fees and smoking or pet fees. They have to deal with people getting mad because they book the lowest price and don't check the room, then the people arrive and are ticked they have one king sized bed for the 2 adults and 4 kids. They have to deal with the messes people leave in those rooms (do you know how nasty people are?)....I don't mean just regular mess, I'm talking blood and needles and poo everywhere. They get threatened because people call and don't know the room number of the person they are calling and the caller gets mad because the desk clerk can't put the call through without the guests permission. They have people brandish weapons, and throw things, and destroy property. If I were the hotel employee, in this position, I absolutely would have called the police as well; they get paid to deal with hostile situations.

 

[sam_gordon]

She left children unattended in a pool. That was the first thing she did wrong. She left the building/pool area, while those children were in a pool. That was her second error.

Aren't those two the same error?

 

[kaytieeldr]

She was within 50 feet of her kids at the furthest. She had direct line of sight.

50' is the furthest she could have been from the pool in that lot based on google maps

Typical parking space is nine feet wide. Many, many of the parking spaces are more than 50' from the pool. Some are even completely out of the pool line of sight. Where were these numbers obtained..

If you think it's unfair of this woman to suspect racism singled her family among all the people who had swam in that pool that day for suspicion of trespassing, I don't think you've spent much time in NC.

There were, according to what was quoted, four people in the pool area at the time: two adults who were unknown or unidentified by the woman making the claim, and her two children.

The hotel employee did not call the cops and tell them that a woman was neglecting her kids. The hotel called the police to report a trespasser.

According to the original article, this standard action followed the woman refusing to answer the employee's questions.

If you think it's fine that a business' first reaction to seeing a black person on their property being to call the police, I think you've been living under a mushroom.

Please link to the indication that calling the police was the employee's first reaction, because I can't find it.

The woman showed the hotel her ID when she checked in and received her key, which she showed to the hotel employee

There's no cause to suspect that a woman holding a working room key is trespassing

Has anybody here stayed at this property and confirm that (a) the hotel is identified on the key card and (b) that the current validity of a Hampton Inn room key card can be verified by simply looking at it?

So that it wouldn't appear they were targeting her because of her race. If everyone gets asked there is no appearance of discrimination.

What exactly does a pool trespass situation look like? As opposed to a normal guest using the pool?

My guess? Someone driving directly around back to the pool area and the entire party editing the vehicle already dressed for the pool. Or stripping off their outer clothing and already wearing swimsuits underneath.

 

[sam_gordon]

My guess? Someone driving directly around back to the pool area and the entire party editing the vehicle already dressed for the pool. Or stripping off their outer clothing and already wearing swimsuits underneath.

Yup. But I don't think that's what happened here.

 

[cobright]

Sitting in your car playing on your phone outside of what I assume to be a gated fenced in swimming pool is NOT supervising your children.

That's just silly. If a parent were sitting in the bleachers watching their child run laps at the school track, would you call that child unsupervised? Are the little league outfielders unsupervised? The word literally means to watch someone.

Gee, tell us how you really feel about N.C.

Well... since you asked. I was there 3 years ago for my brother's wedding and observed a white family enter a grocery store with the head male of the group telling a black employee to "Get out of the way, boy." in the Foghorn Leghorniest voice I ever heard. The young man did get out of their way. And not a soul around said anything. Myself included (to my shame).

I saw more pro-nazi imagery (not even mentioning confederate flags which I more understand) in the average NC parking lot than any WW2 documentary.

I would rather live in New Jersey.

I would rather live in Paramus, New Jersey.

 

[sam_gordon]

The word literally means to watch someone.

That's part of the definition.
"observe AND direct the execution of"

You still haven't said how you know she was 50' away at most.