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3 minutes readSmoking where it’s forbidden
A law banning smoking has spread throughout the world. Special signs are put up in hotels warning about this — in both the rooms and common areas. The places that the hotel may allow for smoking, depending on its policy, include balconies, terraces, verandas, and separate zones outside.
So that you don’t meet any nasty surprises, it’s best to check in advance about smoking at the hotel where you plan to stay. If you break the rules, you will have to pay the penalty by local legislation. For example, in Germany and Belgium, the fines vary from €150 to €1,650.
Misbehavior at the buffet
On the one hand, it sounds funny: what rules (apart from etiquette) do you need to observe while eating? However, you have probably come across a situation when hotel guests grab everything they can from the buffet and then leave half of it on their plates.
There are plans in Turkey and China to introduce a “law of clean plates”. If the guest hasn’t eaten everything that they took from the buffet, they will have to pay the penalty. Kemer hotel Sefikbey City has already added this point to its rulebook and fines guests. Another 250 hoteliers could join Sefikbey City by the end of 2019.
In this case, you should heed a simple piece of advice: less is better than more. In other words, it’s better to go back for top-up several times than to end up paying a fine.
Rules of behavior in the hotel
You can familiarize yourself with the rules in the booklets normally found at the reception desk, in the room, or on information stands.
Violating the internal rules
The hotel has the right to set quiet periods — when you cannot make a noise or disturb other guests. This usually begins after 23:00.
Yes, it’s true, it’s hard to contain your joy after a successful deal or business meeting, so it’s best to set off with colleagues to the nearest bar or restaurant and have fun until you drop, without worrying about disturbing anybody else.
Losing a key
Many hotels provide magnetic cards to use as keys. This makes it easier to handle lost keys: the staff member takes another card and recodes it.
However, if you’re staying at a hotel that uses ordinary keys, everything is a little more complicated. If you lose the key, the hotelier will have to fork out to make a duplicate or even change the lock (if there is no spare key). We recommend leaving keys at reception, as they won’t get lost that way.
Damage to property
In some rooms, you will find folders with information, including a full list of the property contained in the room. A price is shown next to each item: if any of them get broken, you will need to pay a fine equivalent to its value.
When you first move into the room, check whether everything is in order: are there no cracks in the mirrors, is the furniture in good state, and does everything in the bathroom work? If something isn’t right, invite a staff member to record any broken or out of order items. Otherwise, the hotel will think that the problems appeared after you started to stay there and will issue you a penalty.
Additional guests
The hotel profile always contains information on the maximum number of people who can stay in the room. If your plans have changed — for example, more employees will go on the business trip, and three rather than two persons will stay in the room — you will have to pay for the extra person. Otherwise, you risk being fined.
We are sure that you and your clients will not make such mistakes, but you should be careful to make sure that you don’t encounter unnecessary expenses or tense situations. If you’re unsure about the hotel’s policy on smoking, quiet periods, or other rules, please ask your account manager, who will help you to understand it.
