# $250 hotel incidental charge for "unauthorized" tampering with HVAC controls
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863
**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:** 10
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/181 "2025-07-17T13:36:13Z")
So breaking hotel policy is fun? I bet they were so happy to hear that.
---
### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/182 "2025-07-17T13:38:57Z")
> [@jjakucyk](#):
>
> Sure, I’m not trying to justify the OP, but there’s some misunderstandings about how air conditioners work in this thread and that’s one item I wanted to point out
They don’t understand a LOT about technology, but have many opinions regardless.
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/183 "2025-07-17T13:40:14Z")
They have rules. You willingly and knowingly broke those rules.
What followed was something we like to call “consequences”.
---
### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/184 "2025-07-17T13:40:21Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> So breaking hotel policy is fun? I bet they were so happy to hear that.
Messing with thermostats wasn’t in their policy. Maybe they are going to modify that? Who knows.
---
### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/185 "2025-07-17T13:41:29Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> They have rules. You willingly and knowingly broke those rules.
> What followed was something we like to call “consequences”.
Breaking rules isn’t always unethical…
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/186 "2025-07-17T13:44:15Z")
Not your hotel, not your room.
If you want to be a guest, house rules apply, or you can stay elsewhere.
Once again, what city did this happen in?
---
### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/187 "2025-07-17T13:50:02Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#):
>
> It’s tough to be sympathetic to somebody who views low-paid service workers doing their jobs as “snitching ass housekeepers” and “wenches.”
Hey, I have worked several low wage jobs. I am sympathetic to those who do. But being a low wage worker does not give anyone the license to be a jerk. That night auditor at the first hotel was being a hard core jerk and very unprofessional. She YELLED at me and turned red, just because I sent two unoccupied elevators to the top floor. And she couldn’t come up with a reason why that was a bad thing!!! Yeah, she gets called a “wench”. That’s “wench” behavior. And the housekeeper who snitched on me was a petty tattle tell. Why would she/he even do that? What would they even get out of being a tattle tell?
Midwest Degenerate Gambler
-Not a Karen.
---
### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/188 "2025-07-17T13:51:15Z")
I feel it does work like that. It feels to me airfares are cheaper than ever. I get less in creature comforts but I pay less overall.
---
### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/189 "2025-07-17T13:51:59Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#):
>
> Why would she/he even do that?
Because that’s their _job_, to put the room back into the condition it was before you used it, and let management know what has to now be fixed.
---
### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/190 "2025-07-17T13:52:48Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#):
>
> That’s “wench” behavior. And the housekeeper who snitched on me was a petty tattle tell. Why would she/he even do that? What would they even get out of being a tattle tell?
Maybe…just _ **maybe** _…their supervisors have instructed them to check the thermostats after a guest checks out, to determine if the guest has tampered with the thermostat. In other words…they are _ **doing their job** _.
---
### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/191 "2025-07-17T13:53:33Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#):
>
> Because that’s their _job_, to put the room back into the condition it was before you used it, and let management know what has to now be fixed
All she had to do was set the thermostat back to 72…
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/192 "2025-07-17T13:54:25Z")
She gets paid to do her job, not cover your ass after you break the rules.
---
### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/193 "2025-07-17T13:57:40Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> Maybe…just _ **maybe** _…their supervisors have instructed them to check the thermostats after a guest checks out, to determine if the guest has tampered with the thermostat. In other words…they are _ **doing their job** _.
I highly doubt that was in the training manual. Maybe a couple of years down the line, as more people become hip to the bypass, and then hotels adjust their policies.
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/194 "2025-07-17T13:59:20Z")
Do you not take any responsibility whatsoever for breaking hotel rules?
---
### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/195 "2025-07-17T13:59:27Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#):
>
> I highly doubt that was in the training manual.
Possibly not, but once the hotel has determined that guests are “jailbreaking” (your word) their thermostats, it would not surprise me that the head of housekeeping instructs the cleaning staff to test the thermostats as part of resetting each room for the next guest.
You are trying _really really hard_ to blame anyone and everyone else for the consequences of your actions.
---
### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/196 "2025-07-17T14:00:31Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> It feels to me airfares are cheaper than ever. I get less in creature comforts but I pay less overall.
That’s a more expansive effort though. Smaller and worse seats, paid basic services (like luggage), a tiny bag of crisps, overbooking, etc. Instead of “A timed and tepid shower”, it’d be more like a weak shower, paid towels, television replaced by an AM radio, and so on. Perhaps some people would be happy paying less for that but then we already have cheap no-amenity motels for people who don’t want to pay much for overnight lodging.
---
### Author:  [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/197 "2025-07-17T14:05:36Z")
Breaking rules isn’t always unethical.
Give more examples.
---
### Author:  [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/198 "2025-07-17T14:07:39Z")
Hacking somebody else’s property to operate it in a manner unintended by its owner, regardless of the effort or cost it will incur to address, as a matter of personal preference/comfort is hardly ethical.
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/199 "2025-07-17T14:14:04Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#):
>
> Breaking rules isn’t always unethical…
So what? Breaking this rule most definitely _was_ unethical.
---
### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2025, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/200 "2025-07-17T14:16:41Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#):
>
> Breaking rules isn’t always unethical.
>
> Give more examples.
There are infinite examples. That’s a basic “Philosophy 101” concept. Legal /= ethical.
Some examples, for entertainment? Check out the alignment chart. Lawful/Neutral/Chaotic and Good/Neutral/Evil. People and individual actions can be chaotic (breaking rules/laws/norms) and yet still be good or morally neutral.
I tend to align with True neutral, FYI. But that should be evident already.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863.md?page=9)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863.md?page=11)