# $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:** 5
### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/81 "2025-07-16T05:06:46Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> Are you certain that it wasn’t mentioned in the agreement or document you signed when you checked in?
Yes. I researched that hotel’s brand before I did it. I often research those kind of agreements, so I know where boundaries lay. This is coming from slot club card hustler. Reading agreements and terms is essential. Those documents can reveal things about a company and its technology and infrastructure. They will give you a layout where they cover their tracks…and don’t.
---
### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/82 "2025-07-16T05:12:08Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#):
>
> Yes. I researched that hotel’s brand before I did it. I often research those kind of agreements, so I know where boundaries lay. This is coming from slot club card hustler. Reading agreements and terms is essential. Those documents can reveal things about a company and its technology and infrastructure. They will give you a layout where they cover their tracks…and don’t.
Then, as someone already mentioned upthread, you should be challenging the charge with your credit card issuer.
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### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/83 "2025-07-16T05:16:37Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#):
>
> It didn’t need to be in the rules. The fact that you could not get the thermostat below ~~there~~ their set minimum without tampering with it told you were not allowed to
Intent matters. My intent was practical and not malicious. I did not destroy anything. I just wanted a cool hotel room. The hotel goofed when they expected a guest to behave a certain way when there were no clear established guidelines. Now that they are slamming me with that incidental, that hotel needs to put up a sign. It is clearly important to them, so they need to be transparent.
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### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/84 "2025-07-16T05:21:23Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#):
>
> You seem like a really pleasant guest
What? For having natural bodily functions? And for trying to COVER it up?
Butt, I tell you all what… I would LOVE to hotbox all of my haters in a hotel room!
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### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/85 "2025-07-16T05:27:39Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#):
>
> This is your fault for staying in such a high class hotel. Next time look for a roadside motel advertising “Color TV!” which has an old crone chain-smoking Dosals and nipping from a 40 of Old English ‘800’ at the desk. You can turn that chained-to-the-radiator window AC as high as it will go without any fees, no ‘snitching ass housekeeper’ to bother you, and I guarantee the ‘brown noise’ that it makes will mask anything short of gunfire in the next room as well as aiding you with your “pooters”.
>
> You’re welcome.
>
> Stranger
You aren’t wrong. I once stayed in a Sleep Inn. In Chicago, during January. The HIGH was like 18 degrees. Hotel room had a window HVAC unit. I had myself a gooooood ole time with blasting the heat at max. I slept like a baby.
But then I had to worry about the degenerates. The real ones. ☹ (and no microwave/fridge in the room). And hoooo boy there were some real degenerates at that hotel.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/86 "2025-07-16T05:30:58Z")
Relax. Nobody hates you.
You gotta get over this “how can I trick/game/cheat the world to make Me, Me, Me, happy?”
What if everyone did this? Would any hotel rooms exist for anybody to book if everyone just did whatever the heck they wanted.
Learn alittle bit of impulse control. I fear it will be your un-doing.
I worry so.
signed: your Mom friend. 😁
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/87 "2025-07-16T05:34:51Z")
You were being a dick and you know full well that you were being a dick. You were a guest there and you did something that you know that they didn’t want you to do. Your behavior makes the world worse.
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### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/88 "2025-07-16T05:35:05Z")
> [@hajario](#):
>
> Well damn. OP should be banned for life from the properties. He’s a shitty guest and not worth the trouble.
I did nothing wrong in either case.
Establishments just can’t go around banning people all willy nilly from their properties just because they are annoyed.
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### Author:  [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/89 "2025-07-16T05:36:55Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#):
>
> Establishments just can’t go around banning people all willy nilly from their properties just because they are annoyed.
Sounds like the sort of thing a card counter would say.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/90 "2025-07-16T05:37:11Z")
I wouldn’t count on that. At. All.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/91 "2025-07-16T05:37:34Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#):
>
> Establishments just can’t go around banning people all willy nilly from their properties just because they are annoyed.
Actually, yes, they can.
As long as they are not discriminating against you solely because you are a member of a “protected class” – that is, because of your race, your gender, your religion, etc. – a business can absolutely refuse to do business with you, and can have you removed from the premises. And being a difficult customer is not a protected class.
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### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/92 "2025-07-16T05:42:45Z")
> [@hajario](#):
>
> You were being a dick and you know full well that you were being a dick. You were a guest there and you did something that you know that they didn’t want you to do. Your behavior makes the world worse
Damn we posted at the same time.
Here’s another post:
No man, I was not being a dick. Adjusting a thermostat is NOT dickish behavior. WTF??? Neither is sending two elevators to the top floor 3 o clock in the freaking morning. If that causes a malfunction in an elevator, that hotel had bigger problems to deal with than a “dickish” guest. NO DAMAGE OCCURED
But, since that hotel communicated they didn’t want their shit messed with and punished me for it, I won’t do it again. Fine. I don’t care. Be transparent and I’m cool. So when I’m back in that city either I will stay at that hotel again (not likely) and leave the thermostat alone or I will just take my business elsewhere.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/93 "2025-07-16T05:43:20Z")
The amount of cash you spend in their establishments don’t matter. There’s always another customer coming up behind you.
Nice ol’ Me is trespassed from a pizza joint in town. Because we “complained too much”.
I spend a buttload of money there at least 30 times a year. We’re not talking about Little Caesars. This is a privately owned pizza parlor.
They didn’t care how much pizza I bought.
I aggravated the owner and he got tired of it.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/94 "2025-07-16T05:45:08Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#):
>
> Establishments just can’t go around banning people all willy nilly from their properties just because they are annoyed.
Of course they can. Obviously.
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### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/95 "2025-07-16T05:45:33Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> Actually, yes, they can.
>
> As long as they are not discriminating against you solely because you are a member of a “protected class” – that is, because of your race, your gender, your religion, etc. – a business can absolutely refuse to do business with you, and can have you removed from the premises. And being a difficult customer is not a protected class
That is peak reddit mod energy. 😉
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/96 "2025-07-16T05:47:00Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#):
>
> No man, I was not being a dick. Adjusting a thermostat is NOT dickish behavior. WTF??? Neither is sending two elevators to the top floor 3 o clock in the freaking morning. If that causes a malfunction in an elevator, that hotel had bigger problems to deal with than a “dickish” guest. NO DAMAGE OCCURED
The hotel thought it was dickish behavior. Every single person who posted here thought it was dickish behavior. It was dickish behavior. Don’t get cute when you are a guest somewhere.
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### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/97 "2025-07-16T05:49:56Z")
I don’t. I’ve been essentially living in hotels for quite a while and those were only two of the three confrontations I’ve ever had.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/98 "2025-07-16T05:51:07Z")
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#):
>
> That is peak reddit mod energy.
It’s also speaking truth to you, who flat-out stated:
> [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](#):
>
> Establishments just can’t go around banning people all willy nilly from their properties just because they are annoyed
Yeah, this is the IMHO board, but your statement is absolutely incorrect. If you’re hell-bent on being a problematic guest at hotels, as evidenced by several threads you’ve started, you get to face the consequenes.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/99 "2025-07-16T05:52:23Z")
You know what, in your own home, I assume you have control of the thermostat.
How would you feel if your overnight guest changed it? To suit themselves.
Or set the coffee maker “their way”?
Or pee’d allover the floor? Puked in the sink?
And left early the next day. You might be upset.
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### Author:  [@MW\_Degen\_Gamblr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MW_Degen_Gamblr)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2025, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-hotel-incidental-charge-for-unauthorized-tampering-with-hvac-controls/1020863/100 "2025-07-16T05:55:40Z")
Ok, let me modify that…
Establishments can’t go around banning people all willy nilly from properties just because they’re annoyed…and not expect any backlash.
I’m confident that most people don’t enjoy when those in authority establish rules out of thin air just because they’re in a bad mood or happen not to like someone.
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