No ID, No Room

A man walks into my hotel lobby at about 2:00 am.

Guest: “Please tell me you have a room. I just need one bed to sleep. I got a flat tire driving from [City] and literally came into the parking lot on metal!”

As we’re right off the highway, we get a lot of these. No problem; I have a few rooms left to sell.

Me: “Oh, man, that sounds horrible! I have a few rooms left; however, they are double queen rooms. The rate is $159 plus tax.”

Guest: *Pauses* “Oh, dang. You don’t have anything cheaper than that?”

I sort of feel for the dude because I just came in tonight and found that [Hotel Chain] decided it wanted to have four tiers of pricing instead of three, so the queen rooms are no longer the same price as the king rooms.

Me: “Unfortunately, no. I can give you a AAA discount which will save you 10%. I will need to see your ID.”

The guy looks in his pockets.

Guest: “Hold on, I left it in my car.”

He comes back with no ID.

Guest: “So, how badly do you need my ID?”

Me: “Pretty bad, since you can’t rent a room without one.”

Guest: “I have money! I can pay for the room! I just need somewhere to sleep until I can get this tire fixed. I left my ID in [City] and I’m driving to [Town].”

Who travels that many miles without a driver’s license that isn’t up to no good? Sorry, but I’m judgy. I instantly feel like he’s up to something.

Me: “That’s all well and good, but I have no idea who you are and no way to know who you really are, and I can’t rent a room to some rando.”

Guest: “Aw, man, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

I looked up a twenty-four-hour tire fix company and gave him the number. Thankfully, he left the lobby, so hopefully, they came and got him out of my parking lot. I didn’t see him when I left.

I really don’t think he had a flat. But the point is if you don’t have an ID, you don’t get a room.