What are the risks of booking a hotel and lying about the number of guests that are staying?

benicetodan: What are the risks of booking a hotel and lying about the number of guests that are staying?
Most hotels add at least $ 10 per extra person beyond 2 per night. What happens if I make the reservation under the assumption that only 2 people will be staying, when I actually plan on having 4 people in one room. Will the Hotel fine me if I get caught, or will they simply add the extra fee for each additional guest to my bill?

Answers and Views:

Answer by ♠Brian♠
They don’t check…Believe me, I do it all the time.

Answer by DEB1267
unless its a very small hotel or you are very rowdy asllmost no chance at all.

Answer by erin l
they probably will never know – as long as you dont make a lot of noise. Just when checking in – only have you and 1 other person at the counter – have your friends/family wait in the car

Answer by aztrain23
I would not worry about it as long as you are all not obnoxious and bring attention and complaints to yourselves. It’s perfectly acceptable to have 2 people staying the night, yet bring over more guests to be in there. You can tell them that only 2 of them are spending the night, and they usually won’t care.

On road trips, my friends and I would typically pack 8 people into a room meant for 4, and there were never any problems since we only went to the hotel to pass out.

You have a very slim chance of getting caught, but even if they care, the most that will happen is a fee for the extra guests.

Answer by DJT
I would let them know how many people you have staying in the room. It is not just about your money, there are other things involved.

If a hotel is evacuated, for whatever reason, the police and other safety people need to know a true count of how many people are in the facility. If there were to be some sort of terrible accident, a hotel’s insurance will not cover unreported guests, and the hotel has no financial obligation to the family of an unreported guest. These are things to consider.

I do pay attention to what guests say and what they do. If they tell me they are going to have 1 person in the room and 2 enter the door, we charge them for the additional person. Then, when they check out, we make it a point to let them know that they have been charged for the additional person. Pretty much we call attention to their dishonesty. Maybe if we embarrass them in some way, they will be honest the next time. A lie, even as little as the number of people may seem insignificant to you, but it is a crime (defrauding an innkeeper) and it is punishable under law. Am I going to file criminal charges against you for this type of lie, no, but I will charge you for the additional people in your room, and I will call you on your lie, hopefully embarrassing you for your behavior just a little.

Bottom line, do you want people thinking you are a dishonest person, probably not. If you were evacuated in the middle of the night due to something such as a firestorm, and we did a head count, thinking that there are 62 people in the hotel, but because you lied and told us that there were 2 people in your room instead of 4, we don’t realize that we are 2 people short, and Mr. and Mrs. Jones, the elderly couple asleep in one of the rooms, dies in a tragic accident, if you can live with your lie and the possibility of what could happen, go ahead, lie and teach your children how to be dishonest too.

Before you slam me, I know the scenario at the end is far fetched. But we have had to evacuate our facility during a firestorm and fortunately, the fires missed us (by about 250 feet) but the potential for tragedy is there, why risk it.