any police post here? or marriott employees?

[Hyde]

last night someone i know was staying in the Marriott Courtyard downtown and they were awoken by a police swat officer dressed all in black with an assault rifle at 3am along with the guy in the next room over telling them they had to get out NOW. they forcefully opened the door while he was sleeping.

while he was getting his things together the manager of Marriott called and said they were putting him up in the Hilton and would arrange for a ride over there. it didn't appear that everyone had to leave - just those two.

did not/would not explain why this was happening. nothing in the news about it.


any ideas?

[jessep28]

It was probably warrant related. A vast majority of that stuff doesn't make the news.

[Omababe]

last night someone i know was staying in the Marriott Courtyard downtown and they were awoken by a police swat officer dressed all in black with an assault rifle at 3am along with the guy in the next room over telling them they had to get out NOW. they forcefully opened the door while he was sleeping.

This scares me! Very much! So much in fact that I was dead tired before I read it and now all jittery!

I'm not an employee of Marriott, nor am I a police officer. However, I've worked in hotels off and on, doing desk, reservations, and event sales at times. Plus ...

I'm also one who spends, on average, between 3-7 days or so per month in hotel rooms - alone, and many of them are Marriott properties!

If there's one thing that scares the he!! out of me and gives me the total creepies, it's visions of someone, anyone, law enforcement officer or not, barging into my hotel room in the middle of the night!

For some reason this does not pass the smell test! I have a feeling that something is exaggerated or else the "rest of the story" is missing.

while he was getting his things together the manager of Marriott called and said they were putting him up in the Hilton and would arrange for a ride over there. it didn't appear that everyone had to leave - just those two.

Hilton????? Sure it wasn't the Residence Inn? I would think that they would accommodate a displaced guest in one of their own rooms.

I find it hard to believe that the hotel staff did not say anything until after a rude entrance was made to an innocent guest's room! Normally it's the job of the hotel security and the night manager to communicate with the guest. Had anyone forced their way into my room, I would have been scared to death, and I would have totally gone into b*tchmode with hotel management for letting it happen!

I also find it hard to believe that the hotel would give the police a room key card or a pass card without at least having hotel security along for the entrance. I REALLY find it hard to believe that the police would break down the door of an innocent guest unless there were imminent danger, not just a drug warrant in an adjacent room or some such.

I am acquainted fairly well with an OPD officer, and I'll ask him about this the next time I see him. I'm also going to ask the people at the next Marriott property I stay at what they think of this and what is done under these circumstances.

And yes, I'm streetwise enough to not open my hotel door, even crack it, for anyone {knock knock} "Police, open up!", "Security, open up!", "Room service.", "Maintenance" choose one. If and when that happens I'll phone the desk and ask if it's legitimate.

Oh well -- so much for checking in on the boards after getting in tonight. Jeesh!

[2Adam29]

I'm not a police officer, but from what I do know of police officers, if I had to take a guess they were looking to use the element of surprise on someone they considered potentially armed in a nearby room. Knocking on the door or calling those patrons could alert the suspect and so a silent entrance to surrounding rooms is needed. The hotel wouldn't have been alerted until very shortly before the raid to avoid tipping off the suspect and a warrant would likely be presented obligating the hotel to comply. The midnight wake-up in the dark isn't fun, but it beats getting stuck in the middle of a gunfight.

[S33]

I'm not a police officer, but from what I do know of police officers, if I had to take a guess they were looking to use the element of surprise on someone they considered potentially armed in a nearby room. Knocking on the door or calling those patrons could alert the suspect and so a silent entrance to surrounding rooms is needed. The hotel wouldn't have been alerted until very shortly before the raid to avoid tipping off the suspect and a warrant would likely be presented obligating the hotel to comply. The midnight wake-up in the dark isn't fun, but it beats getting stuck in the middle of a gunfight.

long time no see!

[2Adam29]

thanks!

[Omababe]

if I had to take a guess they were looking to use the element of surprise on someone they considered potentially armed in a nearby room.

I spoke to an OPD officer last night.

He was not aware of this particular situation, but said that if gunfire is a possibility, they would evacuate adjacent rooms since bullets could easily penetrate hotel room walls and injure (or worse) anyone in the adjacent rooms.

He also reminded me that the other hotel I was thinking of is an Embassy Suites and not a Residence Inn, so they probably evacuated the people to the Hilton Garden across the street.

[S33]

I don't know what it is about hotels, maybe it's mostly because of the clientele often times being people who have been displaced from their homes under various circumstances, but they can be a rough place to be, sometimes.

I worked at a Days Inn when I was in college, and I remember all sorts of |expletive| happening, from fights, to drug trafficking, to some of the nastiest prostitutes and toothless pimps, and your run-of-the-mill high school kids who thought they could throw parties in hotel rooms and not get caught. I even had to come across the counter once to stop some guy from beating his wife and trying to smash a cocktail glass over her face in the lobby. (there was a really classy bar adjoining the lobby, which was a real joy to obligated to act as a |expletive| bouncer at 8 bucks an hour)

That said, I'd be forever grateful for the cops giving me a heads up, when they could have just decided not to, in an effort not to blow their cover.

[NovakOmaha]

I was in the hotel business in the 80s & early 90s.  One of the hotels was on 109th & L that I think is now called the Carlisle.  I understand it is now a dump though I haven't been in it or even seen it in years.  We owned it from 86 to 92.  We had security on weekend nights and holidays.  The bottom line with hotels is this:  We required IDs & a credit card and we had a great relationship with the police.  The bartenders were all trained on cutting people off.  It takes a lifetime to build a name and 5 minutes to lose it.  Having said all that, in a hotel it's all about trust.  They may look normal checking in and then freak out in the room.  You hope for the best and get lots of insurance.  

As an aside, another hotel we owned hosted Fleetwood Mac and the one on L hosted Disney on Ice.  THEY were the weirdest bunch I ever saw.  I guess to do that night after night you had to be stoned all the time.

[Omababe]

I don't know what it is about hotels, maybe it's mostly because of the clientele often times being people who have been displaced from their homes under various circumstances, but they can be a rough place to be, sometimes.

I would think (hope) that the Marriott Courtyard would attract more of a tourist/business clientele.

I know exactly what you're talking about. Years (decades) ago one of the places I worked was a Quality Courts (you know it now as Quality Inn/Choice Hotels). We did get our share of such things as families renting a single room because they lost their apartment and such.

I worked at a Days Inn when I was in college, and I remember all sorts of |expletive| happening, from fights, to drug trafficking, to some of the nastiest prostitutes and toothless pimps, and your run-of-the-mill high school kids who thought they could throw parties in hotel rooms and not get caught.

At QC I worked swing at the desk, and that was the time the walk-ins came. It was very obvious what the room was to be used for (hooker, party, etc.) but our GM was very shrewd and aggressive about selling rooms. He wanted his house count as high as possible and we were never to "walk" a guest unless we absolutely had to.

I later worked at a HoJo in the same neighborhood which had far less of that scene, but, the big problem there was television theft. They had gone to color TVs in the rooms (not universal in those days) and they were a hot target item! People would rent a room, un-bolt the TV, and sneak it out. Our security guy (back then we still called him the "house detective") did catch a few of them but not all by any means. This was long before security cameras and alarm systems and such. I remember telephone theft too. Quite a bit more of a big deal than stealing a towel!