Can You Get Kicked Out of a Hotel? (How It Goes Down)

A lot of people worry about being too loud whenever they stay at hotels. The worry is that they might be disturbing other guests and eventually even get kicked out of the hotel.

Some other guests don’t care about how loud they are but they nevertheless may worry about the risk of getting kicked out.

But can a hotel really kick you out? And if they can what reasons would allow them to give you the boot?

In this article, we will take a detailed look at different scenarios where you might get kicked out of a hotel.

Can you get kicked out of a hotel?

Yes, you can get kicked out of a hotel for a variety of reasons. In some situations, a hotel may give you a warning while in other cases they may kick you out right on the spot. Keep reading below for more insight into how and why a hotel may choose to kick you out.

Tip: Use the free app WalletFlo to help you travel the world for free by finding the best travel credit cards and promotions!

How people get kicked out of hotels (usually a warning system)

Typically, you will receive at least one warning before getting kicked out of the hotel. Below is a breakdown of how those warnings may come in.

The first warning

Just about every hotel on the planet is going to give you at least one warning when it comes to a non-serious disturbance to other hotel guests.

For example, if you have a dog barking pretty loud or you are blaring music or partying, most likely you will get a call to your hotel room from the front desk.

This could also happen if you have loud and unmistakable “love making” sounds coming from your hotel room, TV too loud, etc.

The hotel staff will politely ask you to address the issue and there should not be any negative consequences from the first warning.

But be aware that if you do not respond to the call or to knocking on your door for something like a loud dog barking, you could get hit with a hefty fee. Read more on bringing dogs to hotels.

The second warning

Hotels differ on how they handle the second warning. Sometimes a hotel might send a staff member to your room in person to give you a more stern second and final warning.

But some hotels don’t provide you with a second warning.

Instead, they may show up at your door with a police officer or security guard and demand that you leave the premises within a certain amount of time such as 30 minutes. There is often zero bargaining or compromise at this point.

You’ll probably be less likely to receive a second warning if your violation occurs during quiet hours.

The third strike

Virtually every hotel will kick you out if they are required to come up and deal with your disturbance a third time. At this point, you really have no excuse since you have already been warned twice.

There’s a good chance that at this point security or the police will be involved. The staff may have little to no patience at this point and it’s best to avoid confrontation and just agree to their demands of evicting you.

When you could get kicked out a hotel with no warning

There are some actions that will not warrant a warning before you get kicked out of the hotel.

In these scenarios, you could get kicked out immediately and even have the police called on you in some cases.

Violence and domestic abuse

If there is some type of violence such as domestic abuse going on inside your room, a hotel will almost certainly have a zero tolerance policy.

A staff member might even break into the room to rescue the abuse victim or they might call the police to assist. But either way you can count on getting kicked out of the hotel and potentially having criminal charges filed against you.

Drug use and activity

If you were caught using drugs in a hotel room that could be enough for them to kick you out. For example, if you were smoking marijuana in a state where it is illegal, it’s very possible that you could be kicked out.

Or, if you have people coming in and out of your room purchasing drugs that’s definitely a way to get kicked out with no warning.

Smoking

Some localities have very strict rules against smoking indoors and a lot of hotels also have no smoking policies.

If you get caught smoking in a hotel room (tobacco or anything else) you could get hit with a heavy cleaning fee or in some cases a hotel may choose to kick you out.

Here’s an example of a provision found in the agreement of a hotel:

ALL ROOMS ARE NON-SMOKING! Ignoring this will result in immediate eviction with no refund. Your card will be charged a minimum of $500 PLUS full charges for each additional day the room is offline past your original reservation. You will also be liable for all costs associated with moving incoming guests to another facility due to the room being offline for smoke contamination.

Notice how it states that you will not only get kicked out but you will not receive a refund and you will have to pay a minimum charge of $500 for cleaning. If you set off a smoke alarm you may even get fined for that, too.

Related: Do Hotels Know If You Vape? What Happens If They Find Out?

Damaging property

If the hotel catches you damaging property such as furniture or bedding they may ask you to leave right on the spot.

If you accidentally break something like a lamp or an alarm clock the hotel will probably use discretion on how to deal with you.

They may give you a pass or simply charge you (from your incidental credit card hold) for the broken items if you seem like an otherwise responsible guest.

But if you are drunk or obviously in an altered state of mind they may be less forgiving and decide that it is time for you to depart

If you virtually destroyed the room and racked up a lot of damage like stained carpet, torn up mattress, broken TV, etc., the hotel may come after you in small claims court if you don’t immediately agree to pay the charges.

If you’re wondering what the policy is for broken items at that hotel you can often find it in the terms that you agreed to at the time of booking or check-in.

Making staff uncomfortable

This is a tricky one because making people uncomfortable can often be a very subjective determination. Some people can feel threatened or “unsafe” by some of the slightest provocations.

Someone could use the excuse that you’ve made them uncomfortable just because they have some type of issue with you and they want to exercise their “power” over you by making you leave.

But if you were to make overly suggestive comments to the staff, curse at them, threaten them, etc. that could be enough to get them to ask you to leave.

Not abiding by a dress code or wearing clothing that is too revealing even at the pool can sometimes get you “in trouble” with the hotel. But generally they would ask you to just put on more clothes before kicking you out unless you are also engaged in some type of lewd activity.

Bringing a pet when pets are not allowed

Trying to sneak a pet into a hotel that does not allow pets is a very bad idea.

Not only are you potentially triggering bad allergic reactions from other guests who are not expecting there to be traces of pets, but you are risking getting kicked out of the hotel.

It’s very likely that you’ll get slapped with a cleaning fee at the very least which can be substantially more than what a typical cleaning fee would be.

Kicked out for overstaying

Another reason why someone could get kicked out is if they have not checked out.

If you exceed your check out time by a small amount of time such as 15 to 30 minutes you may not encounter any issue with the hotel.

But if you are hanging around your hotel room longer than that you may eventually be charged a day rate which basically gives you a few more hours to get your belongings together and get out. This might be about half the price of a normal night.

And if you exceed the day rate hours you will likely be evicted and/or charged with an additional night. Be aware that if you affect other guests you might be charged for expenses that they incurred when they are forced to relocate.

Related: Do You Have to Check Out of Your Hotel?

Kicked out for a crying baby?

One pretty sensitive topic is can a hotel kick out a family for their crying baby?

A crying baby can become a problem for all of the neighbors in a hotel hallway when the crying is relentless and going on through the night.

But unlike noise from people partying, a baby crying is an unavoidable event if you spend enough time in public places like hotels or airplanes. Therefore, it seems very harsh and like very bad policy to kick out a family because their baby is crying.

Nevertheless, there are reports of it happening:

My brother and his family were kicked out at 2:30 am due to their 10 month old crying. The baby has a digestive disease called galactosemia; from time to time will cry uncontrollably. Birdie, the night clerk asked him and his family to leave the hotel during the middle of the night.

The ideal situation here would probably be for the hotel to try to relocate the other guests who are bothered.

If that’s not possible then perhaps they could just check in with the parents to see what they are doing to try to deal with the situation but at the end of the day there’s only so much that can be done in some cases.

So this is usually a situation where all parties involved just have to deal with it.

Kicked out for having coronavirus?

Another major question is can you get kicked out of a hotel if you test positive for coronavirus?

The answer to this may depend on the exact location of the hotel (city, state, country).

For example, cities like San Francisco passed measures that prevented you from being able to get kicked out of a hotel if you test positive for coronavirus and are sheltering in place or quarantining.

Lots of hotels know that the only place you may have to go to quarantine is a hotel and some even have special procedures that allow you to stay isolated in your room.

But that’s the key, you may have to stay in your room.

I would be willing to bet that if the staff knows that you have coronavirus and you are wandering around the hotel, a hotel could kick you out for public health reasons.

Some hotels might be working with the government to enforce quarantine measures upon arrival.

So if you were forced to quarantine for three days and a hotel sees you out and about they may be able to kick you out and you might even get in trouble with the law.

Are you living at the hotel?

If you’ve been living in the hotel for an extended period of time such as over 30 days (like people do at extended stay hotels) then you may have additional tenancy rights that apply.

You’ll need to check with your local state laws to see if these apply. Different factors will come in to play such as if you have an alternative residence or if your intention was to always be there temporarily.

But if you qualify for tenant status then you may be entitled to a formal eviction procedure. This could buy you more time before the hotel can actually kick you out.

Have you been discriminated against?

If you feel like you are getting kicked out of a hotel due to some type of discriminatory reasons, you might have recourse either through the federal law or your state law.

Through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the federal government prohibits discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of the following: race, color, religion, national origin, and disability.

Public accommodations include restaurants, hotels, and places of exhibition or entertainment.

So a hotel cannot kick you out because you are a Christian or because you are Chinese.

It’s worth noting that the federal government does not currently prohibit discrimination on the basis of age, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. But there are states that have statutes that make this type of discrimination illegal.

If you’re wondering what type of states have public accommodation protections for different classes then check out this resource here.

You should know that discrimination cases are often not so straightforward. It’s rare for someone to come forward and tell you that they are kicking you out because you are gay, for example.

But if you suspect that you’ve been discriminated against you want to contact an attorney who deals with these type of lawsuits.

Final word

As you can tell, getting kicked out of a hotel is definitely something that can happen.

Usually, for normal disturbances such as loud noises you’ll be given a warning before getting kicked out. But if you disregard that warning, there’s a risk that you could be asked to leave and that security or even the police could get involved.

And if you’re engaged in any type of illegal activity or inappropriate or belligerent conduct, you may never even receive a warning and simply be told to leave the property.