. . . where the swinging piece that looks like part of a tuning fork goes over a ball that is attached to the door:
If someone in the room puts the lock in place and then becomes incapacitated to the point that they cant release it, how does someone enter the room? Do they actually have to break down the door or is there a special tool that will allow the hotel to gain entry?
WAG: You could prolly get in with a hefty pair of bolt cutters, or a saw cutting through the tines of the “tuning fork”.
A search of YouTube for ‘security lock’ returns returns 104 hits.
The 20th shows how simple it is to defeat that type of latch.
I have two anecdotal experiences. In both the hotel had to get someone to saw off the locking device.
Steven
My brother had to deal with this when he was a hotel manager. It did indeed involve the fire department and some bolt cutters - but that’s just his hotel.
Those types of locks, when sold for residential use anyway, have a keyhole on the hinged side (or if it’s a chain, where the chain attaches to the wall.) The door opens enough so you can stick your hand in and unlock the key.
I guess hotel guests wouldn’t have use for such a thing, so they don’t put keyholes on them.
Keep in mind the purpose of this lock – it’s so you can open the door and talk to whoever’s out there without them forcing the door open further. It works perfectly for the function in that the door is open to limit of the device and you can’t finagle it open it a hurry. Chains and solid versions of these locks are all easy to open from the outside if you have a bit of time. An attacker, though, doesn’t have that time – she just wants to try to bust in on you.
I’m pretty sure I could snap one of those things in two with one decent kick of the door.
I once *did. * (Worked in a hotel and was responding to a domestic violence situation.) FWIW, I’m 5’4", about 115 lbs, and not particularly athletic.
Um, happened to us. The guy took a pry bar, jammed it in between the two tines, and bent it far enough for the ball to go through.
I did as well, when it was my apartment, my roommate was inside and sleeping so like the
dead that banging on his window for ten minutes straight didn’t wake him up. Just gave it a
hard swift kick and the wooden frame broke (not the swinging lock thing).
Hubby and I got locked out of our room once. It was an odd situation - our room faced a courtyard, so it had both front and back doors. We had gone outside through the back door for morning coffee and cigarettes. When we were done, our key cards wouldn’t work on the back door. The manager’s key card wouldn’t work either, so he brought out a nifty little tool designed to un-lock those funny front door locks. Since the key card worked on the front door, we were in! No violence, no bolt cutters.
Agreed. They are mostly there for peace of mind, but would not stand up to any serious attempt to break in.
Use the peephole to check out who’s outside.
Chain locks predate the routine use of peepholes in hotel doors; the devices you see now replaced the chains (though you may see them in older hotels) and are there because hotel guests expect them.
I thought their main purpose was to keep the door from closing and locking when you padded down to the ice machine. 
A situation happened to me and my family in 2000 while vacationing in Florida. The room key worked, but somehow, the empty room’s interior lock had latched. after 10 minutes of pushing at it with a credit card through the 2 5 inches of open doorway, my dad was able to thwart said lock.
Ahh… Good times. Good times.
I use that type of lock to keep the maid out. (There are some who ignore the do not disturb placard.)
If they’re screwed into a wood door frame, they’re useless. For them to be anything other than peace of mind, they’ve got to be bolted into the steel. Otherwise any lightweight can break through three wood screws! I can’t imagine that anyone could break through the one in my current hotel without attracting a lot of attention. Remember, though, that these are intended to protect you while you’re standing behind the door talking to someone in the lobby. They’re not meant as security for your unattended door – that’s what the bolt lock is for!
Yeah, but first you want to stand to the side and hold something up in front of the peephole, so you can escape from the guy with a gun who’s waiting to shoot through the door when the light from the peephole dims.