Kicked Out of a Motel for Charging at 12 Amps

[WarpedOne]

VFX:

So what is allowed by a guest to be plugged in their rooms? Hair dryer? Coffee maker? Curling iron? Microwave? Medical device? Chargers for cellphone, toothbrush, laptop, hand drill, back massager, camera, radio, Mp3?

The only reasonable answer would be:

Everything is allowed but not guaranteed to work i.e. circuit breaker might trip

There is no need for hotels to offer 10kW per wall socket, mount 1A fast breakers and go away. If a visitor needs more power, he would need to ask the manager.
Everything else is just beating around the bush.

 

[FlasherZ]

If you can charge your phone in your room, then you can charge your Tesla from the wall socket. This guy was a flat out dick.

While the latter sentence may be true and he could have handled it in a different way, I do want to remind everyone reading this thread that the OP, for all intent and purpose, broke the law by violating NEC. Not "broke the law" in terms of handcuffed, throw-you-in-jail violation, but nonetheless running an extension cord through a window or doorway violated the NEC provisions on using flexible cords and that is codified in public safety and building requirements.

As I regularly post (and I quoted from my insurance policy above), if you either do this yourself, or knowingly allow another to do this, you are setting yourself for an uncovered loss should anything happen to the hotel. Note that your extension cord does NOT have to be the reason the hotel is destroyed / damaged!

This doesn't even cover the requirements for ground fault protection for loads located in wet areas (outside). It doesn't cover the inconvenience to other hotel guests for rooms that share circuits.

I see the owner's point of view, although I disagree with the way he handled it. I'd be concerned if that were my hotel and a guest were running extension cords through windows.

He was being "a dick" [sic] if he went off the deep end and pounded his fist on the wall, and kicked the OP out. However, you also need to consider his own situation and potential liability. He should have helped the OP find an alternate solution.

 

[rlang59]

I think it is highly debatable that the manager knew anything about violating NEC with an extension cord.

While the latter sentence may be true and he could have handled it in a different way, I do want to remind everyone reading this thread that the OP, for all intent and purpose, broke the law by violating NEC. Not "broke the law" in terms of handcuffed, throw-you-in-jail violation, but nonetheless running an extension cord through a window or doorway violated the NEC provisions on using flexible cords and that is codified in public safety and building requirements.

As I regularly post (and I quoted from my insurance policy above), if you either do this yourself, or knowingly allow another to do this, you are setting yourself for an uncovered loss should anything happen to the hotel. Note that your extension cord does NOT have to be the reason the hotel is destroyed / damaged!

This doesn't even cover the requirements for ground fault protection for loads located in wet areas (outside). It doesn't cover the inconvenience to other hotel guests for rooms that share circuits.

I see the owner's point of view, although I disagree with the way he handled it. I'd be concerned if that were my hotel and a guest were running extension cords through windows.

He was being "a dick" [sic] if he went off the deep end and pounded his fist on the wall, and kicked the OP out. However, you also need to consider his own situation and potential liability. He should have helped the OP find an alternate solution.

 

[scaesare]

Having just spent the weekend at a hotel just outside NYC in NJ that allowed me to plug in to one of their exterior outlets where I charged for about 48 hrs at 12A, I have a few observations about this:

Firstly: Regardless of the reason a person in the Hospitality/Customer Service industry has for disagreeing with the action of a patron, treating them with respect and reasonableness is paramount if they hope to promote a positive reputation and engender customer loyalty. This was the manager's primary failure, IMO.

Secondly: There are a number of legitimate reasons why a manager may have taken issue with this action. Several of them have already been outlined, such as insurance liability, etc.. Others might include:

• Plugging an "outdoor" device, which might be exposed to weather/water in to a non GFCI indoor outlet
• Use of an extension cord in a manner not recommended by the manufacturer
• Potential tripping hazard running an extension cord in a foot traffic corridor
• Potential need to run an extension cord in an unsafe manner (i.e. under a closed door, through a window frame)
• Potential need to modify premise equipment to run extension cord (i.e. removing a window screen, propping a normally locked door open, etc...)

Now, I'm not saying the OP did all of these, but he did at least some of them. The manager was likely not aware of a few issues (i.e. that Tesla recommends against using an extension cord), but the OP did them nonetheless, and apparently without permission... which he acknowledges, so we all live and learn.

There are likely spurious reasons a manager might be concerned about this as well, likely due to ignorance:

• You are pulling too much power for the circuit
• The outlets are not designed to work with the car
• You are going to burn the place down
• You are costing me an excessive amount money due to energy usage

Thirdly: Given we live in the real world, some people are likely to have a combination of both legitimate and bogus concerns, so we can help alleviate them and at the same time make life easier for ourselves by putting in to practice a number of the suggestions that have been mentioned here:

• Prior to booking, ask about the availability of a "standard exterior outlet" near a parking space in order to plug in your car. If necessary describe this as "the same outlet you would plug a leaf blower in to" or similar
• Get the name of the person who confirmed with you on the phone that this would be ok. Make it a manager if possible
• Upon check in, reaffirm that you selected that facility BECAUSE "so and so on the phone when I booked" was able to accommodate your need to plug in. At this time ask where that location is.
• Don't do anything unusual (running extension cords, plugging in to non-exterior outlets, park in non-standard areas, modify any premise equipment, etc...) without prior personnel conversation. Again, get a name.
• Upon checkout, if all went well, let them know of your appreciation and intent to note it in the customer satisfaction survey and/or online review sites (including plugshare/recargo), and then follow through.

Now of course, some folks will simply be unreasonable, as this manager seems to have been. I actually cancelled reservations for the first hotel we had booked for our above-mentioned NYC trip simply because when attempting to ask about charging options over the phone, they seemed to not even want to TRY and figure out what I needed. Three calls and an attempt to speak with a manager or maintenance person didn't change their attitude.

That's when I found the Holiday Inn Express on plugshare.com and booked there instead, using the above methodology.... not only were they cool about plugging in, I ended up giving the front-desk attendant a tour of the car as we were checking out.

Thanks to the OP for posting his experience and all of the ensuing comments... it will help us all make more informed decisions, and hopefully help promote the idea in the Hospitality industry that accommodating us in is their best interests...

 

[dsm363]

The manager could have easily started by calling the room and asking him to unplug. Then if he refused, escalate it from there. Yelling, banging on the door and then coming back with the cops and banging on the door after the car was already unplugged speaks volumes about the manager.

 

[Doug_G]

Yelp reviews were hilarious. Most of them read like this:

The manager is a nutcase, stay away!

And then there's this one 5-star review:

I love this place. Owner are always there to welcome their guests and make them will at home. Service is ver friendly. Rooms are very clean, and updated. Lobby is so beautiful, you could just sit by fireplace and read a book. I would highly recommended this hotel to someone visiting Salida alone, couples, groups and families. Oh ...great WiFi no problems with speed or connection

It is SO discordant with the other reviews... must have been written by the owners!

 

[GlennAlanBerry]

Well, I just added my Yelp review http://www.yelp.com/biz/salida-gateway-inn-and-suites-salida?fsid=FsIm2Vm3bIKZdwISj4EAVA (which is a shortened version of my original review that I put on my personal blog).

I appreciate the support from most of the commenters here. I definitely made a couple of mistakes in this incident, but I really don't think I deserved the response I got from the motel owners.

As far as the debate about whether and what you can plug into your room while you are a motel guest, I will say that the motel owners did have the absolute right to ask me to unplug the car, and then if I refused, they could have then escalated the situation to the point of calling the police and evicting me. The way they handled it was clearly unreasonable, and ended up hurting them much more than it hurt me.

 

[Lloyd]

I would not have provided the link to the TMC. No use attracting trolls here!!

 

[darthvdr]

Wow, what a story. There are many people in the service and hospitality industry who shouldn't be.

 

[HHHH]

Wow, what a story. There are many people in the service and hospitality industry who shouldn't be.

Ain't that the truth. My parents owned and operated hotels when I was a kid, in fact, I lived at one of the locations from when I was born until I was 14. I continued to work there through high school, and college, and I can tell you that you have to be as accommodating as possible to guests and go out of your way to provide good service. If you do, they'll be back, if you don't, they won't. It's that simple.

 

[GlennAlanBerry]

I did not directly link to TMC. Actually, searching for "Kicked out of a Motel for Charging at 12 Amps" brings up my blog as the first result on Bing, and the second and third result on Google. Search rankings will change over time. This is a public forum, so people will find it eventually anyway.

 

[VolkerP]

Will this thread never die?
citing Tostoi here: everything has been said, but not by everyone.

So let me have my shot here. I think there is consensus on the following two issues:
1 You are allowed to plug in any electric device in your hotel room that you carry with you.
2 running extension cords thru the window is a no-no.

Simple logic dictates from here, that it is allowed to plug in your drifter drill, poke a hole under the window, and run your extension cord thru there. :tongue:

 

[NigelM]

citing Tostoi here: everything has been said, but not by everyone.

Tolstoy when he was masquerading as Morris Udall?

 

[yme]

During my TESLIVE talk, I put up my insurance policy text. It specifically excludes cause as a factor. If you break the law by violating NEC, you take the risk, regardless of whether it's a grease fire or someone lighting a match in his room or the extension cord catching fire.

2. We do not insure under any coverage for any loss which
would not have occurred in the absence of one or more
of the following excluded events. We do not insure for
such loss regardless of: (a) the cause of the excluded
event; or (b) other causes of the loss; or (c) whether other
causes acted concurrently or in any sequence with the
excluded event to produce the loss; or (d) whether the
event occurs suddenly or gradually, involves isolated or
widespread damage, arises from natural or external
forces, or occurs as a result of any combination of these:

a. Ordinance or Law, meaning enforcement of any
ordinance or law regulating the construction, repair
or demolition of a building or other structure.
[...]
d. Neglect, meaning neglect of the insured to use all
reasonable means to save and preserve property at
and after the time of a loss, or when property is
endangered.

What does it mean when it says that they don't cover "any loss which would not have occurred in the absence of one or more of the following excluded events"?

It sounds like they d​o cover losses that would have occurred anyway.

I guess it depends on exactly what the excluded events are, which is not clear to me from that excerpt.

 

[FlasherZ]

What does it mean when it says that they don't cover "any loss which would not have occurred in the absence of one or more of the following excluded events"?

It sounds like they d​o cover losses that would have occurred anyway.

I guess it depends on exactly what the excluded events are, which is not clear to me from that excerpt.

You're right, it's horribly worded. From the excerpt, it looks like non-related causes may still be covered (I'll go get the non-excerpted text later, because when I originally read it I had the interpretation). However, this is my policy and they vary state-to-state and company-to-company. I am aware of at least 2 cases where a claim was not paid due to code compliance issues, when the event was caused by matters unrelated to the issue. Even if the insurance company will pay, you might find yourself locked in litigation for a long time. Why go through the hassle?