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1. It is not daily room searches. It’s daily room checks by the cleaning crew even when asked to not disturb. 2. The policy is for the cleaning staff to scrupu

1. It is not daily room searches. It’s daily room checks by the cleaning crew even when asked to not disturb. 2. The policy is for the cleaning staff to scrupulously applies the usual policy with more attention than usual and reports out of the ordinary things to a support group with IT and security, which seems, well, fine? They are hosting a large group of people specialising in hacking. It is indeed more likely that something fishy with their IT will happen then than at any other point in time. The whole thing is just pretty much asking staff to be extra vigilant. There are plenty of precedents allowing me to suggest it’s a very reasonable and good idea. The Twitter thread then quickly goes into crazy conspiratorial territory when they somehow think that the pictures shared imply search and seizure. Hotels never seize things and they don’t rummage through your stuff. The whole thing is about security getting involved proactively if they see things in the open especially if they are plugged where they shouldn’t be. Still amusing to see people who spent their whole careers arguing about extra invasive provisions to shield against potential sometime fairly remote security risk extremely spooked by room checking - a fairly standard procedure in every hotel. Edit: Downvoting me to death because you dislike what I say is not going to make it stop being common sense. At least, if you disagree, please have the courage to engage in honest discussion. Also please read the thread, 90% of the reply at the time of my edit are completely pointless because they didn’t bother checking what the hotel is looking for and prefer trying (and predictably failing) to look smug.

mattmaroon 2y ago
If the worry is IT issues, what’s a room check going to do? Are they going to report people for having laptops? That’s not what these checks are for. These started in response to the mass shooting at Mandalay Bay, and they’re looking for an arsenal.
- rob74 2y ago
  That... makes more sense, actually. But, if they want to prevent something like that from happening again, they have to take a look at every room in every hotel whenever there is an event going on that could be targeted - which, in Las Vegas, I think is pretty much all the time?
  - RandomThoughts3 2y ago
    Yes, that’s what they do. The change here is just making it daily instead of every couple of day and reminding staff to scrupulously apply the usual policy as previously stated. Plus a bunch of pictures of what network equipments look like so they know.
  - mattmaroon 2y ago
    Yes, they do. The policy is not new. If you read the fine print you sign when you check into any hotel you will probably find it gives them the right to enter your room at any time. After the Mandalay Bay shooting MGM settlesd an $800 million case. They were sued for negligence because had any employee just gone in the guys room they would have stopped the whole thing. After that daily checks have been the policy in a whole lot of places.
rob74 2y ago
Well, when guests put the "do not disturb" sign on the door, hotels should respect their wishes, right? If I put that sign on the door and then find out that my room was entered nevertheless, I would also think really hard before booking a room at that hotel (chain) again, not because I had something to hide, but out of principle. Also, what are they hoping to find? An unlocked laptop with some kind of hacking software running? I don't think hackers worth their salt would be so naive (except maybe if they leave the laptop there as a "honeypot")?
- RandomThoughts3 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - tossandthrow 2y ago
    > There are pictures in the thread you didn’t bother reading. Apparently you need to be logged into X to see this. I did not see any thread under the post (a good reminder to use proper language when pointing such things out, the other person might not have seen there there is a thread). Regardless, I am not a user of X so I won't be able to see the thread. Thanks for inlightening with some examples!
  - waciki 2y ago
    > No, that’s not how hotels work. Do not disturb is a courtesy afforded to you. Every hotel checks room regularly as a matter of compliance. You don’t notice because these people are professional. The truth is you are not a guest but a customer. In the US? There are several countries where that would be illegal.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - beardyw 2y ago
    HN guidelines > Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that".
ajsnigrutin 2y ago
> They are hosting a large group of people specialising in hacking. It is indeed more likely that something fishy with their IT will happen then than at any other point in time. Yeah, and a daily room check will help with that how exactly? Are they going to take laptops away from guest? Flipper zeros? SDRs?
- RandomThoughts3 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - ajsnigrutin 2y ago
    As i said.. are they going to steal peoples laptops and flippers? Why bother commenting, if you're just going to focus on two words and ignore the rest.
    - RandomThoughts3 2y ago
      If they find flippers where they shouldn’t be, you will be contacted by hotel security for a talk, yes, that’s how this works. Hotels don’t steal or seize things. You will politely asked to vacate if they don’t like what you do.
      - wzdd 2y ago
        "Where they shouldn't be", i.e. in a hotel room? Of a hacker conference? Along with USB drives, breadboards, and a soldering iron? Whole thing makes no sense. If someone's going to hack the hotel they're not going to be stopped by housekeeping doing a visual check! It is very much Politician's Syllogism, as mentioned elsewhere in the thread.
        RandomThoughts3 2y ago
        > If someone's going to hack the hotel they're not going to be stopped by… You can put pretty much anything you want at the end of this sentence and then discount it as posturing. "Check if nothing weird is plugged where it shouldn’t be" is basic policy. It’s not supposed to be an invulnerable shield. It’s just an easy to make step in the direction of security and therefore worthwhile. I prefer not to comment about the general contempt I see for housekeeping staff throughout the comments in this thread. I think it would paint a pretty sad picture of this community.
Faaak 2y ago
Sure, I'm certain that the cleaning staff know the difference between an nmap directed at your raspberry pi vs the one targetting the TV vlan of the hotel. smh
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
giantg2 2y ago
"Hotels never seize things and they don’t rummage through your stuff." This absolutely happens today, although it is rare. Hotels have turned over a client's property from rooms or valet to police without a warrant. Some hotels will actually search your bags if you use their luggage room service. This started happening after the Vegas shooting and seems to be only a Vegas practice (or at least I haven't read articles on it happening elsewhere).
meroes 2y ago
Wrong. https://www.secjuice.com/defcon-hotel-security-fiasco/ https://www.secjuice.com/defcon-hotel-security-fiasco/ 2018, so as part of the same new security since the mass shooting. > Hotel security are also confiscating attendees lock picks, although we can kind of see why they would do that. The sight of a hacker with lock picks in your five star hotel must scare the bejeesus out of any security guard. But still, lockpicks are part of hacker culture and organizers are trying to get them back for you. > Its not just confiscating items that they can see in rooms, there are reports of hotel security going through attendees personal belongings too, they have very clearly been searching through suitcases, an unnaceptable violation of their guests privacy.

mattmaroon 2y ago

If the worry is IT issues, what’s a room check going to do? Are they going to report people for having laptops? That’s not what these checks are for. These started in response to the mass shooting at Mandalay Bay, and they’re looking for an arsenal.

rob74 2y ago
That... makes more sense, actually. But, if they want to prevent something like that from happening again, they have to take a look at every room in every hotel whenever there is an event going on that could be targeted - which, in Las Vegas, I think is pretty much all the time?
- RandomThoughts3 2y ago
  Yes, that’s what they do. The change here is just making it daily instead of every couple of day and reminding staff to scrupulously apply the usual policy as previously stated. Plus a bunch of pictures of what network equipments look like so they know.
- mattmaroon 2y ago
  Yes, they do. The policy is not new. If you read the fine print you sign when you check into any hotel you will probably find it gives them the right to enter your room at any time. After the Mandalay Bay shooting MGM settlesd an $800 million case. They were sued for negligence because had any employee just gone in the guys room they would have stopped the whole thing. After that daily checks have been the policy in a whole lot of places.

rob74 2y ago

Well, when guests put the "do not disturb" sign on the door, hotels should respect their wishes, right? If I put that sign on the door and then find out that my room was entered nevertheless, I would also think really hard before booking a room at that hotel (chain) again, not because I had something to hide, but out of principle. Also, what are they hoping to find? An unlocked laptop with some kind of hacking software running? I don't think hackers worth their salt would be so naive (except maybe if they leave the laptop there as a "honeypot")?

RandomThoughts3 2y ago
[flagged]
- tossandthrow 2y ago
  > There are pictures in the thread you didn’t bother reading. Apparently you need to be logged into X to see this. I did not see any thread under the post (a good reminder to use proper language when pointing such things out, the other person might not have seen there there is a thread). Regardless, I am not a user of X so I won't be able to see the thread. Thanks for inlightening with some examples!
- waciki 2y ago
  > No, that’s not how hotels work. Do not disturb is a courtesy afforded to you. Every hotel checks room regularly as a matter of compliance. You don’t notice because these people are professional. The truth is you are not a guest but a customer. In the US? There are several countries where that would be illegal.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- beardyw 2y ago
  HN guidelines > Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that".

ajsnigrutin 2y ago

> They are hosting a large group of people specialising in hacking. It is indeed more likely that something fishy with their IT will happen then than at any other point in time. Yeah, and a daily room check will help with that how exactly? Are they going to take laptops away from guest? Flipper zeros? SDRs?

RandomThoughts3 2y ago
[flagged]
- ajsnigrutin 2y ago
  As i said.. are they going to steal peoples laptops and flippers? Why bother commenting, if you're just going to focus on two words and ignore the rest.
  - RandomThoughts3 2y ago
    If they find flippers where they shouldn’t be, you will be contacted by hotel security for a talk, yes, that’s how this works. Hotels don’t steal or seize things. You will politely asked to vacate if they don’t like what you do.
    - wzdd 2y ago
      "Where they shouldn't be", i.e. in a hotel room? Of a hacker conference? Along with USB drives, breadboards, and a soldering iron? Whole thing makes no sense. If someone's going to hack the hotel they're not going to be stopped by housekeeping doing a visual check! It is very much Politician's Syllogism, as mentioned elsewhere in the thread.
      - RandomThoughts3 2y ago
        > If someone's going to hack the hotel they're not going to be stopped by… You can put pretty much anything you want at the end of this sentence and then discount it as posturing. "Check if nothing weird is plugged where it shouldn’t be" is basic policy. It’s not supposed to be an invulnerable shield. It’s just an easy to make step in the direction of security and therefore worthwhile. I prefer not to comment about the general contempt I see for housekeeping staff throughout the comments in this thread. I think it would paint a pretty sad picture of this community.

Faaak 2y ago

Sure, I'm certain that the cleaning staff know the difference between an nmap directed at your raspberry pi vs the one targetting the TV vlan of the hotel. smh

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

giantg2 2y ago

"Hotels never seize things and they don’t rummage through your stuff." This absolutely happens today, although it is rare. Hotels have turned over a client's property from rooms or valet to police without a warrant. Some hotels will actually search your bags if you use their luggage room service. This started happening after the Vegas shooting and seems to be only a Vegas practice (or at least I haven't read articles on it happening elsewhere).

meroes 2y ago

Wrong. https://www.secjuice.com/defcon-hotel-security-fiasco/ https://www.secjuice.com/defcon-hotel-security-fiasco/ 2018, so as part of the same new security since the mass shooting. > Hotel security are also confiscating attendees lock picks, although we can kind of see why they would do that. The sight of a hacker with lock picks in your five star hotel must scare the bejeesus out of any security guard. But still, lockpicks are part of hacker culture and organizers are trying to get them back for you. > Its not just confiscating items that they can see in rooms, there are reports of hotel security going through attendees personal belongings too, they have very clearly been searching through suitcases, an unnaceptable violation of their guests privacy.