Guests report getting billed hundreds of dollars for smoking, based on the readings of an “algorithmic” smoke detector. The sensor manufacturer markets its product as a way for hotels to unlock new revenue streams.
revenue-generating scheme
Scam. I think the word is scam.
No no, it is the algorithm. There was nothing they could do. Hands were tied and you can’t blame them because the algorithm did it.
Yet another huge win for those who choose to never leave their basements.
I miss my basement.
Caves have only one entrance. So you know when someone is coming uninvited. And you can just spear the fuckers.
Us?
We are treading water in the middle of the ocean.
I stayed at a “hotel” in Denver a few years ago. It was advertised as a hotel on Hotels.com, and we booked because we thought it was cool that the unit had a full kitchen and was like a condo. We thought it would be the best of both worlds, hotel amenities and Airbnb style room. We get there, and it’s basically an apartment building that they’ve turned into a hotel. They have no staff on site, and I had to download an app to check in and do a face scan. Super not privacy friendly. Then one day we stayed in and we’re having a few drinks and conversing. This was 5 guys. We weren’t being beligerant or loud, just talking. It was maybe 4 pm, and not quiet hours. I get a text saying there was a noise complaint. Then we bailed and got another text saying there was a 2nd noise complaint. They threatened us with a $500 fee the 2nd time. I told them we were no longer in the room, so it wasn’t us. We later found what we assumed was a bug device that notified them if we went over a certain decibel level.
I never got charged, but I was ready to fight tooth and nail with my credit card company if they did. It was very weird, and I would never book with that company again.
Do you happen to have a description of photo of the bug device? Interested to find out whether I am running into a similar situation myself.
https://tritonsensors.com/uses/hotels/
I didn’t take a photo, but it was like this.
Set a decibel threshold for each device and receive an alert if it is exceeded.
Show guests that their comfort is your top priority and they’ll leave signing your praises.
Yeah getting a shut the fuck up text every 5 minutes makes me real comfortable. Also they literally advertise it as a revenue stream. How fucked.
The crying part on that feature list is kinda messed up.
Doesn’t react to the sound of the fist hitting flesh, only the crying afterwards.
Customers using 3D Sense can generate over 400% more revenue from fees by detecting more smoking incidents and winning more credit card charge backs than before with our powerful sensors and reports.
Primarily just to generate more revenue. Not actually alert infractions. It’s on their fucking website. Fuck this noise. I’d wrap the damn thing in aluminum foil and watch it try to communicate then.
They’re usually hard wired via cat6 and powered by POE, and will also alert for a lack of input
Every day I love my RV more and more.
This is more of a hotel/airbnb problem than a home/vehicle problem
…the RV means I rarely stay in hotels…
So, are there any sort of devices you can buy to check for these type of things or are they mostly just hollywood TV/movie and detective game mumbo jumbo type things?
This sounds like a total bullshit whine from assholes who made a lot of noise in the middle of the night and disturbed their neighbors because they were on vacation and felt entitled.
Fuck you. Provide anything to back your shit up or shut up. And you won’t. Respect others, or pay the fine.
Edit: EVERYBODY needs to stop taking complaints made by random dumbasses on the internet at face value. What the actual fuck, this is how you get fascist ants in your government.
This cunt literally ADMITS to being in the wrong in the text! 🙄
Bruh go touch some grass
You should go on a walk outside. Go find your nearest tree, see the way the bark grows, see the little bugs that call it home and the tiny ecosystem that tree supports. Go to the nearest rock. Spend some time admiring its strata, think about how it got there over millions and millions of years. Feel the sunshine on your face. Feel the wind ripple through your hair.
Do all this, then come back and re-read what you wrote.
Provide anything to back your shit up or shut up.
This puts me in mind of the landlord asking for a photo of the water not being hot. What would you expect “proof we were not noisy” to look like?
Ok troll. Fuck off
if something is advertised as a hotel it damn well better have sound dampening between the rooms
Sounds like an easy lawsuit. Record the entire stay, test different variables like a hair dryer, candle, fan, soldering smoke, medical equipment like nebulizer, steamer, etc. If they fine you, simply find a lawyer and request a $5M settlement fee. Boom, early retirement.
You can win actual damages and your lawyers fees in most instances. Because there is no meaningful payday in the offing you will have to spend ~100 in small claims or $5000-$50,000 in real big boy court and you will win for yourself… $500. Where on earth are you getting $5M. Large settlements are normally because lots and lots of people are damaged in small amounts, someone’s life was destroyed, or the case was uber complicated and ended up taking years of expensive lawyers.
In case 1 and 3 only the lawyers make out like bandits. In the second case you earn a bunch of money because your life is ruined.
also, who has the time and money to bail on work, pay upfront for hotel rooms and lawyers, and do this? I mean, someone - but probablynot enough people to make large corporations that worried about it, though I could be wrong about that.
Couldn’t that be interpreted as a confession that their air is at least as unsafe as staying with a heavy smoker the whole night, in terms of PM 2.5 and other hazards?
Sounds like a great way to abuse front desk staff by proxy.
Anyone got a mirror of the article that is not geoblocked?
Do archive pages work for you? If so, give this a try: https://archive.ph/2uKUX
I see people talking about chargebacks in this thread which is the logical course of action for a case like this.
What’s nefarious about this is that Hilton and Merriot each own a ton of hotels. If you chargeback multiple times against one of those groups you could get block listed from their locations which can get very problematic in locales without much competition.
I’m going to start away from Hilton hotels after reading through this.
The article is about a Hyatt not a Hilton?
The other linked article is about a Hilton that’s doing the same thing.
Gotcha; I had read the primary thread but then presumed the other article was about the exact same series of incidents. Thanks!
Just now? Lmao
This is why I preemptively destroy the hotel room.
I looked up the sensor and it’s max operating temp is only 112F, which is colder than McDonalds coffee. Hell, the hotel hot water tap is probably hotter than that. The hotel blow dryer gets hotter than that…
I beg the Death Asteroid to rain down on us.
Ah one step closer to “Fuck you, pay me” business style.
I’d hire a lawyer and hit them for reimbursement of the $500 fee, my legal fees, slander for claiming I’m a smoker, punitive damages, and any another other monetary penalty I could think of. I’m sure I could find a lawyer that would be salivating over this.
This should absolutely be becoming a massive class action suit against both the hotel and the smoke detector maker. All you have to do is prove in court that the detector can be triggered by things other than smoking.
