Unusual reasons for guests renting?

Question

I just got a booking from a nice lady for next month. This was a new one for me.....she is in town to do a 91k trail run. Yes you heard that right.....91k. (I looked it up and that's 56 miles)...and not on the street, but rough mountain trails. WTF? Pretty impressive if ya ask me.....!

What's your most unusual guest's reason for staying.

[Waiting for Paul...........]

Dave Stokley · Answer

I just booked a place in Wisconsin for a 50 mile trail run I'm doing in May. There are more of us idiots than you'd think.And this is kind of on topic I guess... I had a call yesterday with representatives from the local Sheriff's Office, Smuggling Enforcement Team, and Department of Homeland Security, about working together to prevent drug cartels from doing business in STRs. I guess they've always used hotels but are shifting to STRs. These agencies work with hotels and review their guests lists looking for suspicious guests (1-night stays, paying cash, and either locals or people from towns near the border). They also run their info to look for past drug offenses. Interesting stuff. Be careful folks!

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Doesn't that sound like an illegal search? I'm all for justice, but I would expect a level of privacy when I sign into a hotel or vacation rental.

Dave Stokley · Answer

Not sure if you are misunderstanding what I'm saying or just having a different conversation. The hotels I'm talking about are VOLUNTARILY giving this information to the authorities in the interest of protecting their property, employees, and other guests.

Paul Sandhu · Answer

Had a guy that lived 45 minutes away and would drive back and forth for work in this town. His wife was divorcing him and kicked him out of his house. So I stuck him in a house with some of his co-workers that had a lot in common. They made a Christmas tree out of empty beer cans.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I don't mean to upset you. I completely understand what you are saying. I'm just surprised any American would willingly share someone's personal information without good cause or a court order. Major hotels and major short-term services like AirBnB don't do it unless required by law (rare) or with a court order. If I were suspicious of foul play and law enforcement showed up, I may let them look at the one guest they were suspicious of, but I would not give them free access to my records any time they wanted.

Dave Stokley · Answer

**Not legal advice**This isn’t really the right place for this discussion, but seems like you might need to adjust your expectations: “you shouldn't necessarily expect to have the same degree of privacy that you enjoy in your own home. Hospitality law experts explain that while hotels and motels want guests to feel comfortable, they still own the property, and also have an interest in protecting their employees and other guests. In some instances, property owners also might cooperate with police and other law enforcement agencies by turning over information about who's staying with them. "You have to keep in mind, in the hotel guest relationship, the guests do not own the hotel room as they do their homes or cars," Stephen Barth, an attorney and professor of hospitality law at the University of Houston, explains. "They have been licensed by the hotel to use this space." According to Barth, hotels and motels have good reason to be wary about what guests might do on their premises. "This conversation didn't just come up because of Las Vegas," he says. "This has been brewing for many years because of meth labs, prostitution and other illegal activity going on in hotel rooms. Human trafficking is on the radar as well. Hotels have been diligently trying to address those issues."” And this is almost exactly how the agents framed it to me. Source: https://people.howstuffworks.c...

Dave Stokley · Answer

Nobody is being forced to do anything here and you're obviously free to do what you want. Personally I haven't agreed to do it yet either, just thought it was an interesting conversation to share with the group.Anyway, I'm certainly not upset, but I do feel bad for hijacking Bruce's thread, so I'm going to leave it be.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

A lot of hotels have privacy policies that state they won't share information without a subpoena or a specific law requiring it. Check out the Supreme Court decision on City of Los Angeles v. Patel.

Paul Sandhu · Answer

A couples house burned down. State Farm put them up in a motel. They got tired of it after 24 hours. So SF put them up in one of my places for 3 months. They stayed a 4th month in exchange for 3 brand new Samsung appliances and a big HDTV. I had to a Sawzall to cut out a wall to get the fridge out.

Steven Foster Wilson · Answer

I actually knew a lady who did those kind of races. I thought it was crazy too.