# $250 hotel incidental charge for "unauthorized" tampering with HVAC controls **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 15, 2025, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863 "2025-07-15T03:53:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/1 "2025-07-15T03:53:03Z")
I jailbroke a hotel room thermostat and got hit with a $250 incidental damage fee. I bypassed the hotel’s rigged settings to drop the temperature below there “energy saving” 68 degree minimum. Apparently some snitching ass housekeeper must have noticed the setting and reported it to management. BS. I’ve caused more lasting damage to hotel commodes than I did to this thing. (I love Indian food). I wanted my room cooler, it was hot as hell that day and that 68 degree minimum was not cutting it. Also, the walls of that hotel was paper thin. I wanted to drown out the sound from my left neighbor’s all-night puking sessions, and my right neighbor’s grunting (I don’t know if he was attempting to move furniture or had arthritis or what). The room across from me was playing Limp Bizkit at full blast as if it were Spring Break 1999. And I wanted to cover up sounds coming from MY room. Butt sounds. I had the pooters. Squeeky ones. Hot ones. And a few clappers (pop-pop-pop-pop------pop). I got it down to a sweet 63 degrees with the fan humming non-stop. Glorious white noise. I did not damage the unit, nor did I modify any hardware. I tapped a few buttons like an Nintendo joystick cheat. It’s sort of public knowledge, ask any HVAC professional. There were no terms of service that said I couldn’t and there were no signs anywhere. Now they’re charging me as if I damaged the room by microwaving a bunch of silverware causing an explosion, or duct taped 48 pillows to the walls for soundproofing. How should I dispute this? Anyone know how to argue this with corporate or my credit card company? Any legal footing here? I do not want to pay $250 for not wanting to fester in this globally warmed summer heat or hear unpleasant sounds. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/2 "2025-07-15T04:02:28Z")
You’re screwed. Pay up. They have the right to make their own rules and say what will be costly to them. And corporates bottom line. YMMV, but I doubt it. (ETA: mail them little soaps back) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/3 "2025-07-15T04:09:47Z")
Beck nailed it in one, ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/4 "2025-07-15T04:10:11Z")
How did you jailbreak the thermostat? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/5 "2025-07-15T04:14:04Z")
Not in the “tell me information that would enable or further illegal acticity”, since we have rules about that. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/6 "2025-07-15T04:20:07Z")
Like this, [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/g-Ag6W3Ct50/maxresdefault.jpg "Staying Cool at Black Hat and DEFCON and BSides") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-Ag6W3Ct50) If it were illegal the video above would not exist. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/7 "2025-07-15T04:25:34Z")
Well, I’m not so sure. I did this accidentally to my new car. It cost money to have the computer that ran things restored. Hotels might frown on having HVAC men out a the time. Because the ones on staff can’t change thermostats. Or reset internal codes. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/8 "2025-07-15T04:29:39Z")
Hotels frowning on things that guests do does not make them crimes otherwise MW\_Degen\_Gamblr would be telling us the story of how he was _arrested_, not billed, for turning down a thermostat. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/9 "2025-07-15T04:42:16Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > They have the right to make their own rules Not after the fact, though. The OP said there were no signs and no terms of service. How are they supposed to know what the rules are if they weren’t communicated? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/10 "2025-07-15T04:45:44Z")
Property damage is a crime. In any jurisdiction I’ve ever heard of. Have you ever read your FULL lease agreement on checking in a hotel? 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/11 "2025-07-15T04:45:46Z")
I disagree that you’re at fault. Charge it back on your credit card and tell the truth: That you looked up instructions for how to set the thermostat to lower than 68 degrees because it was too hot. There’s no permanent damage to anything; at most they paid a few dollars more to cool your room slightly more. Big fucking deal. It’s more like plugging in your laptop to the TV to watch your own videos than breaking anything. They can reset the thermostat back. It’ll turn into a he-said-she-said situation with your credit card company and you just have to hope for the best, maybe showing them that video. But argue and argue and argue demand to speak to hotel management, escalating it to the owner or corporate if you have to. Cost them more in labor time than the stupid few dollars you cost them, make it even more expensive with the chargeback, and teach them a lesson. I don’t think you did anything wrong at all. Fuck 'em. It’s their fault for imposing user-hostile thermostat controls like that to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/12 "2025-07-15T04:50:45Z")
The last room I was in, it was very very cold. They had the giant oak armoire and lots of lovely wooden chairs… ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/13 "2025-07-15T05:07:21Z")
Just thinking out loud here, because I’m no lawyer: Is there a chance that the existence of the control locks themselves was enough to create an implicit “don’t mess with this”? I mean, if you pry open a locked door, you can’t successfully claim that you had no idea you couldn’t do that because there were no signs. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/14 "2025-07-15T05:12:03Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > The OP said there were no signs and no terms of service. It also never said a dog can’t play basketball. > [@Leaper](#): > > I mean, if you pry open a locked door, you can’t successfully claim that you had no idea you couldn’t do that because there were no signs. And how did the OP know it would not go below 68? Through experiment because I’ve always seen a sign saying “Thermostat cannot be set below XX degrees.” > [@Leaper](#): > > Is there a chance that the existence of the control locks themselves was enough to create an implicit “don’t mess with this”? There might be a law about hacking someone else’s electronics that would cover this. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/15 "2025-07-15T05:12:54Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > The OP said there were no signs and no terms of service. There may not have been signs, but there may well have been fine print on the hotel contract which the OP signed when they made a reservation, and/or checked into the hotel. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/16 "2025-07-15T06:16:18Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#): > > Also, the walls of that hotel was paper thin. I wanted to drown out the sound […] And I wanted to cover up sounds coming from MY room […] Well, AFAIK there are no hotel regulations against traveling with a white noise machine, or some other not-too-noisy droning appliance. Including a portable mini air cooler/fan, which would solve both your problems at once. AFAICT, your lack of forethought in that regard does not obligate the hotel to permit unauthorized adjustment of its HVAC settings so you can get sub-minimum temperatures and sound-masking random noise. (Isn’t the latter purpose what the room TV’s for, anyway?) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/17 "2025-07-15T06:28:37Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#): > > It’s sort of public knowledge, ask any HVAC professional. “It’s not cheating. Just ask anyone that cheats.” ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/18 "2025-07-15T07:07:01Z")
I’m in a hotel this morning. Terrible art. No rule posted against drawing my own on the walls with crayon, so… ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/19 "2025-07-15T07:15:44Z")
You know..it’s like standing up at sporting events when everyone else is seated. Like peeing on your neighbors bushes every morning before walking your dog to poop on their lawn. It’s like screaming and talking on your phone at a theatre. It’s like being drunk and beligerant in a bar. …like arguing with help staff anywhere, loud and obnoxiously. …like swimming in the hotel pool after hours. …like being a rude driver. Many many other things we do day to day. There’s a nice way to do it _or_ just taking advantage of a situation, _because_ you can. Or you know a cheat. Or you can get away with it for awhile. When the Piper wants to be paid, karma will get you. Everytime. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/20 "2025-07-15T08:06:34Z")
If you knew the cheat code to put it at that temp, surely you could have used the code to put it back what it was, on your way out? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863.md?page=2)