Guest Confidentiality - Where do you draw the line?

[The Farmers Daughter]

If you received a call inquiring if an individual stayed at your Inn on a certain date, would you release that information?
What if the person calling was a spouse checking up on their wife/husband?

 

[seashanty]

no. only to law enforcement with a warrant or court order or whatever.
'i'm sorry, we don't release any guest information.'
why?
'that is our policy.'

 

[muirford]

Just had that situation this week. Someone called to ask if we had a guest of a certain name registered with us for the weekend. I said I wasn't comfortable giving out that information. The woman explained that she was with a class reunion, most of whom were at one of the hotels but they were looking for a classmate who wasn't there. I told her I was not aware of anyone at my B&B for a reunion, and left it at that.
She seemed surprised I wouldn't tell her; makes me wonder what the local hotels gave out.

 

[seashanty]

for upcoming things .... if someone is asking .... i offer to take their name and number and if i come across that person's name, i'll convey a message. i had a lot of wedding groups ... guests staying all over the area ... and that happened quite a bit. sometimes i knew that yes a person was staying with me. i'd then call that person and give them the message. one time i called a woman and she said , 'OMG! You didn't tell her I was staying there, did you?' i told her i had not and left her to deal with it. have no idea what the situation was.

 

[EmptyNest]

No! WOuld never give out that information

 

[gillumhouse]

SS had the answer.

 

[JBloggs]

Nada

 

[Breakfast Diva]

I have to walk a very fine line with this issue. Since we get a lot of honeymooners, people celebrating anniversaries and b-days, I often get calls from family and friends who want to purchase add-on items for their loved ones.
Examples:
"Mom" is calling saying her daughter is staying here for their anniversary on a specific date and they want to pay to have one of our add-ons in their room on arrival.
"Wife" made reservation for their anniversary and now "husband" now calls to add champage and roses.
Coworkers get together and want to pay the balance of the reservation.
Only once did I get a very uncomfortable feeling from the conversation and refuse to give out any information. If it's just a inquiry call about someone staying here, then I won't give any info.

 

[Samster]

If it was past tense, definitely no.
Recently had a guest here who was from overseas and did not have a cell phone. We don't have room phones. They said that a couple of people might be caling looking for them. When a caller called asking if Ms. X was here, I asked who was calling and verified that they were one of the anticipated callers, then took a message.
Other than being pre-arranged like that, I wouldn't say if someone was staying here or not.

 

[egoodell]

no. only to law enforcement with a warrant or court order or whatever.
'i'm sorry, we don't release any guest information.'
why?
'that is our policy.'.

Never. Ever.
Riki

 

[Morticia]

No, I wouldn't give out that info. It's tough when someone calls and wants to speak to a guest, but definitely not after the fact. If someone pushes I say our DB clears itself after check-out so we have no records.
We had a semi-irate 'friend of a guest' ring the bell the other day. 'We're here to pick up John.' I said I didn't think we had anyone by that name but I would look, which I did. Nope. No one with that name. They insisted his car was outside. I asked if he might have registered with someone else? 'Oh yeah, her name is Mary Something. They're from OH.' So back I go to look. Nope, no Mary's From OH.
Their cell rings and it is John & Mary on their way back. Yes, they were staying here. No, they did not register as being from where this person said they were.

 

[greyswan]

resurrecting this subject....
Guy calls this am says he stayed here this weekend and has lost his wallet. "could have sworn I stayed there" well, neither the name he gave or the other party names were here, but I wouldn't have given that info out over the phone. "Sorry, I can't help you" was my reply. I really like the replies the previous posts gave. Breakfast Diva, I can see your problem of add-ons being purchased by others... does anyone have others call to buy add-ons for guests and how do you or would you handle that?

 

[Morticia]

resurrecting this subject....
Guy calls this am says he stayed here this weekend and has lost his wallet. "could have sworn I stayed there" well, neither the name he gave or the other party names were here, but I wouldn't have given that info out over the phone. "Sorry, I can't help you" was my reply. I really like the replies the previous posts gave. Breakfast Diva, I can see your problem of add-ons being purchased by others... does anyone have others call to buy add-ons for guests and how do you or would you handle that?.

For that situation I would have asked what room he was in. Then I would have said nothing was found in that room. You wonder where they get the phone numbers if they're on a fishing expedition. I mean how do they narrow down the place they think someone stayed at?