Mr Bernstein's Hotel Story on KCRA3

Security Lax At Some Sacramento Hotels

KCRA3 Josh Bernsteins report on Hotel rooms
First of two parts
Serious security lapses exist at several of the busiest hotels in Sacramento, a KCRA 3 hidden-camera investigation has found.
KCRA 3 discovered over the course of two months how easy it is for someone else to gain access to your room, your personal belongings and more.
More than two dozen hotels were visted in Sacramento, and with the permission of guests that were staying at the hotels KCRA 3 tried to obtain room keys without providing any identification.
Randomly selected hotels include the downtown Hyatt, Sheraton Grand, Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn, Clarion and several others in the surrounding area.
Working undercover, KCRA 3 approached the clerks at the front desk of each hotel. We told each clerk we had locked ourselves out and needed an extra key.
When asked for a photo identification, we told the clerks we had no ID and that we had left our wallet in the room.
At Embassy Suites, a clerk named James said that without a picture ID, he would have to escort us to the room. Upon arrival, a photo ID would be required. The name on the ID had to be the same as that that is registered to the room. He said if it is not the same, entry will be denied.
A clerk at the Sheraton Grand called in the head of security.
Out of 10 hotels, only one of them failed.
At the Clarion Hotel at the corner of 16th and H streets, it took less than two minutes to obtain a key to someone else's room. The clerk did ask for a photo ID, but all KCRA 3 did was tell her we left it in our wallet in the room. Moments later, the clerk handed over the key wihout asking for any more information.
Two female teachers from Pheonix were staying in that room. They said Clarion officials should work harder on checking IDs.
Michael Palmer is the general manager at the Clarion. He said hotel security is hit top priority. He also said employees go through monthly training.
Part of that training focuses on security and reminding employees to never give someone a room key unless they provide proper identification.
He added that the Clarion employee never should have given out the key and said he is taking immediate action to make sure it it does not happen again. He said giving out a key without seeing a proper ID is grounds for termination.
Tune in to KCRA 3 Wednesday to see the second part of this series. In that case, KCRA 3 was able to gain access to some rooms without a key.