# Are there still Hotel Detectives? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2006, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-hotel-detectives/363329 "2006-07-06T04:57:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-hotel-detectives/363329/21 "2015-07-21T04:34:57Z")
> [@sleestak](#): > > In Vegas the casinos have two different sets of roles. > > First they have security. Security does a couple things. They handle customer issues, physically patrol the property, do routine checks of the property (are the doors that need to be secure, secure? etc) and work with the cage for money transport. If someone needs to be removed from the casino, the security folks handle this. They also handle medical issues. > > Then there is surveillance. This would be the equivalent of hotel detectives. The surveillance folks watch the cameras for questionable behavior. This includes people on the floor and also people playing games. They watch the card and dice games quite closely. They watch the cage constantly. They are responsible for maintaining the video for court cases. This is all true, however the property I work for (and all of the other big properties on the Vegas strip) also have investigators (their job title is actually “Investigator”) who work in plain clothes and do the type of work described by the OP’s detective. Where I work, Investigators are more likely to be looking into an internal issue (like employee theft or fraud), but it’s not uncommon for them to work on cases of crime committed by a guest. There is a whole team of them working most major Vegas properties, with enough manpower to have at least one on duty at all times. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-hotel-detectives/363329/22 "2015-07-21T05:23:48Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > so what do you actually do? > My impression from 1940’s dime novels was that the hotel detective was there to prevent immoral activity which would give the hotel a bad reputation. ( After all, if a married man is seen in public with another woman…it would be just scandalous, you know. 🙂 ) > But this isn’t 1940 anymore…Sure we need hotel security men…but “detectives” ? I read in a novel set in a hotel (can’t remember the name sorry, but the author had worked in a hotel) that while this was the reputation that the Hotel detectives had, in reality unless it was a rowdy party or a well know personality, there was little they could do, even if they suspected, the couple could simply say that they were married and the hotel would have to leave it at that. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-hotel-detectives/363329/23 "2015-07-21T06:02:39Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I read in a novel set in a hotel (can’t remember the name sorry, but the author had worked in a hotel) that while this was the reputation that the Hotel detectives had, in reality unless it was a rowdy party or a well know personality, there was little they could do, even if they suspected, the couple could simply say that they were married and the hotel would have to leave it at that. Presumably they could refuse to rent a room, or ask the couple to leave, or produce ID showing they were married (last name, address, whatever). Even in the late 60’s I remember an investigative article where one Toronto newspaper checked on the issues with someone with an in-town address renting a room at several major hotels. By that date, it got some odd looks but no refusals - but the fact that they thought it might (hence the story) suggests this was a recent change. The impression I got was the hoity-toity hotels did not want to encourage a reputation as a rendezvous. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-hotel-detectives/363329/24 "2015-07-21T08:30:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Out of sight! > > Actually, I don’t recall classic crime novels of the 30s-40s where hotel detectives “solved mysteries”. They might’ve helped out Sam Spade and his cohorts on occasion\* but didn’t go around fitting jigsaw puzzle pieces together. > > \*remembering the hotel detective who ran off Wilmer Cook in The Maltese Falcon. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWppefhQoos) (starting at 1:06) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-hotel-detectives/363329/25 "2015-07-21T08:46:42Z")
I stayed at a hotel/casino in Manila that had security guards (the ones posted outside had submachine guns!) and a hotel detective. I had a cell phone stolen and his question was, was it stolen at the hotel? If so, he would grill the housekeeping staff and examine security footage. I told him it was most likely stolen on the commuter train, so he referred me to the Manila police. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-hotel-detectives/363329/26 "2015-07-21T08:53:16Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Presumably they could refuse to rent a room, or ask the couple to leave, or produce ID showing they were married (last name, address, whatever). Actually, at common law Inn Keepers could not refuse rooms except for cause, it was one of the recognised exceptions to freedom of contract. And remember at the time many people did not carry any identification readily, nor could hotels (unlike today) check the veracity of any ID produced quickly, unlike today. Basically, if you said you were married, they had to accept it, and whatever name you gave, unless they had other reasons to suspect. > [@](#): > > Even in the late 60’s I remember an investigative article where one Toronto newspaper checked on the issues with someone with an in-town address renting a room at several major hotels. By that date, it got some odd looks but no refusals - but the fact that they thought it might (hence the story) suggests this was a recent change. The impression I got was the hoity-toity hotels did not want to encourage a reputation as a rendezvous. Well no did they not. However, as stated they had no real way of finding out, unless you did something which set off their suspicions, of which an in town address was one. They genenrally put up with it if you were being discreet. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-hotel-detectives/363329/27 "2015-07-21T15:29:54Z")
Heh. A couple of weeks ago, my friend was staying in the LA Airport Hilton, and I went to pick him up to bring him to a jazz event he was sponsoring. I went up to his room, knocked on his door, and said (in my most authoritative voice): “Hotel detective. We’ve had a report that you’ve got a hotplate in there.” As it turned out, he was down in the lobby waiting for me. But he’s 84 years old; I’m pretty sure it would have got a laugh out of him. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-hotel-detectives/363329/28 "2015-07-21T17:16:35Z")
I worked at a hotel/casino as a guard and we also had “Investigators”. They looked into things like employee theft, slip and fall claims, evictions (the formal expulsion of someone from the property with notice not to return) and hooker patrol. Most places still have the title. For real crime the police were called in. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-hotel-detectives/363329/29 "2015-07-21T20:40:45Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Havn’t you watched NBC’s _Las Vegas_? The guys there are Hotel/Casino Security, which do about what “Hotel Detectives” used to do. Of course, the show is glamorized with made up stuff, but the basis is more or less correct. > > However, oddly, one of the primary jobs of the old school “hotel dicks” was to prevent non-married couples from conjuganal visits. Of course, there was another gig some old-school hotel dicks had, especially in England. In the days before no-fault divorce, adultery was often the only valid legal basis for a divorce. So, a man who wanted a divorce might have to arrange with the hotel detective to be “caught” in the act with a hooker, with a photographer conveniently present! ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-hotel-detectives/363329/30 "2015-07-23T14:56:31Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > This surprises me: I was under the impression that security personnel are mostly low paid jobs–while police officers get decent salaries. That may be true, but it’s supplemental income. Cops and firefighters often take second jobs because their schedule allows it. If you are a firefighter working 24 hours on and 48 hours off, you have a lot of time to make extra money and still have leisure time. Cops do the same thing because their schedule also often allows for a second job without too much strain. Lots of them do private security or bouncer-type gigs. I knew one that ran a landscaping/mowing business in his free time. Same with retired cops…if you are making a nice pension and have nothing but free time, the security work is just gravy. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-hotel-detectives/363329/31 "2015-07-23T15:22:02Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > … Even in the late 60’s I remember an investigative article where one Toronto newspaper checked on the issues with someone with an in-town address renting a room at several major hotels. By that date, it got some odd looks but no refusals - but the fact that they thought it might (hence the story) suggests this was a recent change. The impression I got was the hoity-toity hotels did not want to encourage a reputation as a rendezvous. Nowadays it can be challenging to rent a hotel room with local ID. I’ve gone through the 3rd degree when doing so in Las Vegas when I lived there. But the hotel’s concern had zero to do with morals and was mostly the idea that a local was renting the room intending to throw a wild party for 30 people there and trash the place instead of having their party at home and trashing their home. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-still-hotel-detectives/363329.md?page=1)