It isn't funny, but are you sure that the Frenchman wasn't secreting the eggs about his person for a picnic lunch?
I don't want to be crude, but all those eggs would keep him constipated for a week.

It's a pity that there isn't an hotelier's version of TripAdvisor.
You could keep a blacklist of guests from Hell.

<i>&quot;Any one cares to comment on the airlines' policies to charge for the 1st bag? Blanket, water, air? Hotels are the same way so pay all you want folks, I on the other hand refuse to be a sucker...&quot;</i>

Sure, I'll take a shot, although I doubt it'll convince jsims. The airlines could easily compensate for their rising fuel costs by spreading the extra cost among ALL passengers -- in other words, by raising fares across the board. Instead, they charge a small fee to the people who are CONTRIBUTING to their fuel costs -- the ones who lug extra weight on board. The ones who pack light get rewarded by avoiding the bag fee.

NOW -- let me add that I'm a crappy packer, so I always wind up checking. Because of that, I do tend to favor airlines that don't charge a bag fee. Just like jsims could, AHEM, favor hotels that don't charge exorbitant fees for third guests, such as Holiday Inn.

And, in any case, the hotels are providing services and amenities for the number of REGISTERED guests. If you're in the hotel, you have access to the lounge, the fitness center, the wireless internet, and any other public amenities they offer -- not to mention, as another poster stated, water and electricity. Now imagine EVERY guest decided it was within their right to sneak in an extra person. It would certianly be a crowded, unpleasant experience.

Bottom line, jsims -- you obviously know what you're doing is wrong, or you wouldn't be seeking advice on how easy it is to get away with it in Paris. And when you say American hotels have &quot;no problem&quot; with it, you just mean it's easier not to get caught in the big hotels here.

honest = sucker? A warped mind.

This reminds of the old joke about a guy meets a woman in a bar and asks if she would sleep with him for a million dollars. She says sure. He then says &quot;OK&quot; but I will only pay you $20. She replies &quot;what kind of woman do you think I am.&quot; He answers &quot;we've already established that, now we are just haggling over the price.&quot;

I think that jsims is assuming that the big hotel chains in Europe are like those in the US, where you can pay for the room, pull your car around to the back entrance, use your card key to use that back entrance for the duration of your stay, and never see the front desk again until you check out. We frequently travel with our dog, and the hotels usually put us in a pet friendly room at the end of a hall near a side or back entrance because its easier, so we are used to bypassing the lobby. In this case it would be easy (although, imo, not right) to sneak extra people in.

I have stayed in a few larger hotel chains in Europe (Jurys, Movenpick, Hilton) where the only way in/out is to pass the front desk. The hotels are usually smaller so it's certainly not as easy to sneak an extra person through without someone noticing. And as a few people already mentioned, usually the hotel will ask for your passports so they can register you.

It's just plain wrong. I never stay in places that expensive, but for your budget certainly you can find a triple room or stay in an apartment.

Tracy

You are totally right tcreath of course I have a ton of true stories, we had only one entrance and hold to the key like in Europe, nevertheless some people I am sorry to say always locals tried to sneak in more people .Once in particular I recall some guys from Palm Beach coming to a party in South Beach rented a suite in the second floor and then we caught them pulling up through a widow the luggage of the people they expected to sneak in....well it did not work for them.
All this trying to cheat usually does not work and it is at the end of the day .

Due to chip card technology, there are at least a dozen big chains in France that have automatic check in machines and where you never see a live employee (if you don't want to) unless you are having breakfast and they are checking you off their computer list.

All of these chains are very much aware that even though the rooms are configured for 2-4 people, there are many occasions when there are far more people than that in the room.

In most cases, it does not at all bother the chains, since they are selling a product for a certain price for a certain number of people, and if more people are using the product, it is only the customers who are inconveniencing themselves and not at all the hotel.

Since guests are allowed in the rooms, there wouldn't even be any legal reason to complain about finding extra people in a room.

This is of course more difficult to do in a big city hotel, but no matter what, the hotel is receiving the full price for the product sold (after all, if an extra person is paid for, extra services -- towels or rollaway bed -- are provided). Any extra people are voluntarily inconveniencing themselves, and nobody is being cheated.

I have to confess that I took trips with my parents in the United States for at least 20 years, and they never paid for my presence. I was just told to stay in the car during check-in. Big deal.

I don't get it. Jsims says he needs two double beds. If he gets them, he'll be charged accordingly, i.e. for a triple or quadruple room.

If he wants a room with a double bed and a twin bed, he'll be charged for a triple.
Unless he wants to take a chance and book a room hoping there will be an extra bed??? In which case I suggest Formule 1 hotels. :-)
What if there isn't?

Unless the 3rd person sleeps on the floor I see now way to conceal that the extra bed has been used.

To remain on the cheap side, I suggest he buys 2 plane tickets for 3 and orders 2 restaurants menus : one person can hide under the table and pop up from time to time while another person takes his/her place.
:-)))

<i>I have to confess that I took trips with my parents in the United States for at least 20 years, and they never paid for my presence. I was just told to stay in the car during check-in. Big deal.</i>

So your parents taught you to be duplicitous. That no doubt explains your cavalier attitude to rules and regulations.

Thank you to kerouac for an honest and intelligent post without all the posturing.

jsims: Apples and oranges -- Keroac's post relates mostly to low end formula1 and similar motel-type places. NOT the &quot;high end&quot; international chains you are talking about.

You will definitely be noticed . . . .

The bottom line is that no matter what your moral stance is or is not, hotels in Paris do not offer the anonymity of hotels in the US. Therefore no matter how willing you are to have 3 people sleep in 2 twin beds, you can probably not do it, i.e get away with it.

I still don;'t get how 3 people can sleep in 2 twin beds.

You can have one person in each twin bed and then one sleep on the floor - assuming there is room - but with no pillow or blanket.

Or you can have one person in one bed and 2 people in the other - one directly on top of the other - and the sheet and blanket possibly not fitting around both of them together. I hope they're VERY close friends.

If the OP means 2 double beds - that will usually cost more than a triple room - so he's paying extra - not less.

Sorry -

So I assume the 2 people in the one twin bed are a couple - either straight or gay. (Still, they better be really skinny as well - to get in a 39&quot; wide bed.)

Jsims...&quot;Honest answer without all the posturing&quot;...wrong, you just found an accomplice! Bonnie, or are you Clyde?

Look, is it really worthwhile trying to dissuade this guy? His idea of honesty is admitting that he is a cheap, selfish, dishonest creep, and it's clear he's proud of it. Appeals to his conscience are clearly never going to work, because he hasn't got one.

Why waste our keyboards on him?

You've hit the nail on the head artsnletters! This appears to be an attention-seeking exercise on Jsims's part. And how successful it has been. What an enormous amount of attention this has generated. Rather than rewarding this bad behaviour, another approach would be to just ignore Jsims.

Posturing?

The purpose of the Fodor boards is to discuss travel-related issues and to offer and request assistance and/or feedback.

To me, while this thread was a bit off topic, it did open an interesting ethical discussion that had a travel-related issue at its core. The OP actually became somewhat irrelevant to the actual issue, and therefore I cannot share the opinion that it was a &quot;reward&quot; of bad behavior on the part of the OP.

So to me, we were not wasting keyboards, but rather sharing philosophical observations.

nytraveler, I think they are petite people.

Well - unless they're the size of 8 year olds it just won;t work.