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Comment by withinboredom | Hacker News Reader

The comment never says they interacted with it, only that the machine ate it. They could be a passenger, we don’t have enough information.

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As I mentioned, there are numerous parts of the story that don't add up. The MGM Grand, as I stated, has over 5000 rooms, a random front desk agent would not be able to verify identity by describing the layout of one specific room (nor would that be compliant with security procedures).

The car park machine, "popped to the desk," driving or wandering Las Vegas without ID, the identity procedure... I'm comfortable with my assessment that there is something not entirely correct with the story. You are welcome to disagree.

I don’t know about this particular story. But I have personally been escorted to my room and asked to describe, in-detail, what objects are in the room when they open the door. I have no idea what they plan to do if it isn’t what I say it is, but that method I’ve experienced. I’ve also explained to the front desk and they ask a cleaning person to do a check based on what I say.

Nothing about this sounds too far fetched to me, based on my experiences at other hotels/resorts. Maybe this only happens to you if you have a sketchy appearance or due to other biases; if you are clean cut and of a non-prejudiced race, maybe you won’t run into this crap.

"escorted to my room" is entirely different than the story described here. And "other hotels/resorts" don't have over 5000 rooms and thousands of additional visitors to the casino, clubs, shows, restaurants, who are not hotel guests.

> maybe you won’t run into this crap

What "crap"? He didn't have ID. The employees should simply hand out keys on the honor system?

He probably had ID in his room (or, if in America one can check in without an ID, he could have a credit card with his name), and the staff should have verified it instead of giving a key to a random stranger.

I also mentioned how in some cases I described it to the front desk and they had cleaning services check. A 5000 room hotel is no different than a 500 room hotel except for scale. You still have to do the same stuff, just more often. Having more rooms doesn’t make things go away…

What crap? Being treated with suspicion just for the way you look. “Have ID, don’t care, maybe it’s fake”. :sigh:

Fake ID? Did you read the story? He did not have ID with him when he requested a replacement room key.

I'm not sure why you're so suspicious of my banal vacation story. Here is the dull chain of events:

* We return late to the MGM self park one night. I was told I could "use my key" to get in/out. Stupidly I put my key into the credit card slot (rather than scan the barcode, as you're meant to) and it eats it.

* We return to the hotel room using my wife's key because we're tired.

* The next morning we decide to use the Grand's pool. I leave everything except the remaining room key and my phone in the safe because we're going to the pool and I would not leave anything poolside that I couldn't tolerate being stolen.

* On making it to the lobby, my wife decides she wants Starbucks. I decide to spend my time attempting to get my key replaced. I therefore turn up to the desk with my remaining room key, my phone, but no driver's license or passport. In Europe this would literally be zero problem, hence my attempt.

* I was able to use a combination of answering numerous questions about my room, my identity, and how much I'd spent on the room to convince them to give me a second key.

* I later returned to the desk with my ID to add parking to my folio.

How is identity verified in Europe? Every hotel I've checked into there wanted a passport.

In Europe? Don't you mean "in that specific hotel, on that specific day, with that specific employee"? Do you really think everyone follows the rules to the letter when they're making front desk wages? That job is 100% replaceable.

Sometimes workers get tired of dealing with persistent people who absolutely insist that they are correct (which in this case they were), and realize that they don't get paid analyst wages, they get paid front desk wages, and they say "Okay, this looks right to me. Here you go."

> In Europe? Don't you mean "in that specific hotel, on that specific day, with that specific employee"?

No I don't mean all of that. He wrote "In Europe this would literally be zero problem, hence my attempt." I'm curious, if you can get a hotel room key in Europe without ID, how does that work? Does the phone work as proof?

Apologies, I misunderstood your question. I interpreted your question as a dismissive general response, but it appears that it was a legitimate question about a specific thing.

It's all good. I opened up a can of worms at the start by expressing doubt, it was all kind of a joke but as we all know, text on a screen lacks expression.

They do yes, some bastards even want to hold on to it which is illegal in all of Europe.

As others have suggested, it varies, but in my experience, knowing my full name, room number, possessing a key and knowing how I paid for the room has always been enough. Last four digits of the card used for the room tend to seal the deal in every case, but were not acceptable for MGM (despite me having that very card on my Apple Watch).

In the UK, at least, it's unusual to show a driver's license for anything (except buying alcohol if you look young) because many drivers don't carry them, whereas in the US I had to show it every time I even checked into a hotel and even occasionally when buying things with a credit card.

Everything in your first paragraph usually flies at a typical suburban Courtyard Marriott in the USA. However your story took place at a 5000-room megaresort in Las Vegas, where security has to be much more serious. Most visitors appreciate that.

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