HELP! Shady S^!# at the Homewood Suites by Hyatt in Greeley, Colorado
This is f-ed up. So, chime in with theories…
Tonight (Monday June 13, 2016 at 9pm) I checked into the Homewood Suites by Hyatt in Greeley, Colorado. While checking in I noticed that I was behind a guy who was driving a Fire Chief truck. He was already being checked in when I entered the lobby and I happen to hear the clerk tell the Chief that he needed the make, model and license plate of his vehicle.
After remarking that he didn’t know his license plate, the clerk told the Chief, “No problem, I’ll follow you out and get it.” And when I heard that, I wondered why they were so aggressively needing our license plates? So I asked.
Here’s Where It Gets Weird
When I inquired about why they needed it, the clerk told me “It’s a law. The government requires it.” At which point I replied that I found that hard to believe, and mentioned that it seemed like a “civil liberties” issue to me. The Chief and I exchanged glances, kind of as if to share our disbelief, and then we both went outside to get our license plates.
When it was my turn to check in, I signed the paper he gave me and filled out my vehicle information, and the clerk began to explain that, “If they didn’t make me collect it, I wouldn’t. I mean, I only need to know your make and model in case I need to tell you the lights are on or something…”
Dragging the Law Into This
He continued telling me that the Chief of Police had personally come to the hotel and shown the City of Greenley ordinance requiring all hotels to collect license plates of all vehicles.
Now, I’m sorry. But I just don’t buy that. And I don’t care if someone is acting like an idiot, but I do care when they’re lying to me and trying to get me to buy into their lie. I don’t do it. Ever. And I called him on it.
I explained that I found it hard to believe, but even if the Chief of Police had asked him personally to collect license plates of vehicles, that doesn’t make it legal. There is a difference between what a police officer wants – and what the law says.
I’m Done With This Guy
At this point, I had my key, and this guy was still trying to convince me that he absolutely needed the license plates but I had already given mine and was done with him and ready to go to my room. And it’s certainly simple enough to prove him wrong:
- I could check the Greeley City website for any such ordinance.
- I could call ANY other hotel in the city and ask whoever answers if they’re required to collect license plates.
But I think we all know what would happen if I did either of those things. Still, several questions remain:
- I booked through Hotels.com, and they really only provide the name of whose staying. So why does the Hotel need more than that, and a credit card for incidentals?
- Why is this guy collecting my address, cell phone, and vehicle license plate number?
- What kind of nefarious things might they be trying to do with them?
- And does anyone believe the city would pass this ordinance? Because Google doesn’t think so.
Besides, did I mention the US Supreme Court specifically forbid Police from collecting this kind of data without a warrant?
According to the ruling, this information includes: “the guest’s name and address; the number of people in each guest’s party;
the make, model, and license plate number of any guest’s vehicle parked on hotel property; the guest’s date and time of arrival and scheduled departure date; the room number assigned to the guest; the rate charged and amount collected for the room; and the method of payment.”
So there’s that.
What do you guys think Homewood Suites by Hyatt is trying to do here???
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Your concern is valid and your suspicion is on point. Something malicious is happening with the extra data requested and I’ve got proof.
I have seen license plate requirements in areas where free parking is limited and the hotel wants to police who’s in their lot. Some will give you a piece of paper with a date to display on the dash. Given that they could simply look at their videos in most cases I don’t worry about it, although I don’t know I have seen the issue where free parking is abundant.
They are just pushing it
I’ve got $5 that says it relates to parking enforcement… towing can, in most areas, be a huge racket.
Hotel and motels have been collecting license plate numbers for decades, right or wrong (??). Today they collect cell phone numbers. Here would be my response if I traveled and I don’t anymore.
1). Don’t have a cell phone!
2). I would give them a random license number.
3). And I would lie about the number of people since I paid for the room and if I want to put five people or one in the room that’s would be my choice. When I did travel with family we shared the room, kids and all.
But there is a scenario that could happen. Bad guy goes to same motel. His car is the same color, make and model as yours. Police come and arrest him then by mistake search your car, tearing it apart looking for drugs or guns. You loose. Give the clerk your license plate and maybe there will no mixup.
Better Idea…don’t travel. Works for me.
I don’t think it is anything shady. It sounds like one of those corporate policy things that may or may not actually exist, but nobody questions it. And the “police chief told us so” is probably the BS that some middle manager came up with to respond to anyone that asks why they need that information. And that middle manager probably doesn’t know why they need it either.
I agree with your assessment, but the problem is when “corporate wants it” is the answer and people refuse to provide it – lying is not the answer.
If the company is forcing the employees to tell lies about the police in order to collect the data, that’s not good. But I’m also worried about something else. Those clerks have our credit card info, name, address, phone, and now license plates. Why in the hell should we trust them with all that? How do I know the clerk isn’t part of a credit card fraud ring, or selling my personal info to someone nefarious or something?
I’m serious about that too. Not just playing Devil’s advocate in this instance. I don’t trust them, and why should I? I’ll never see them again and don’t live anywhere nearby. So they definitely don’t give a damn about me…
I agree with you. I was providing a possible explanation, not justification. If there is nefarious intent I think the damage is already done with your credit card info though. Knowing how many speeding tickets you have I guess is the cherry on top.