Jolt Country

Is there still a job known as a hotel detective? I've been listening to some of my old time radio shows and today I heard 'American Band' on the radio and it started me wondering. All the hotels I have ever stayed in never had one, actually, most of the hotels I stayed in were motels so I guess I wouldn't know...

I picture some short guy in a cheap suit with a snapbrim fedora drinking warm bourbon from a desk drawer....


THE
LISHEN, SHEE
AARDVARK

AArdvark wrote:I picture some short guy in a cheap suit with a snapbrim fedora drinking warm bourbon from a desk drawer....

I've never been a hotel detective.

Bruce

I had never even heard the term so I had to look it up.

This may fall under "obvious", but I guess I've never stayed at a hotel that was so rough that it needed its own detective to investigate crimes on the premises -- and I've stayed in some rat holes, to be sure. So in that respect I'm guess I'm glad I didn't know what it was. If I ever walked into a hotel and saw a guy there who was introduced to me as "oh, that's just the guy we keep here on site to investigate crimes," I'd like to think I'd just turn around and walk out.

You know what's even weirder? The whole "detective" angle, which implies that some digging and investigating will need to take place in order to solve the crimes. It's not like a security guard who might be visible in order to deter crime ... this is a guy who they're keeping around to investigate unsolved crimes. Are you going to sleep at a place like that?

AArdvark wrote:Is there still a job known as a hotel detective? I've been listening to some of my old time radio shows and today I heard 'American Band' on the radio and it started me wondering.

A combination of changes in technology and general cost-saving measures more-or-less got rid of hotel detectives. One use would be investigating guest claims of wallets being stolen (presumably by a hotel employee), investigating suspicious payment such as a possible bad check from a guest, and doing investigations on potential employees.

1. Most hotels don't bother with them any more, they let the local police handle things.
2. With near-universal use of credit cards, hotel detectives would no longer have to check a customer's bank to confirm he has enough to cover a stay at the hotel.
3. Hotels don't bother doing checks on employees any more. Part of it being, guests tend to keep less valuables in their rooms (again, thanks to more use of credit cards) so there's less need to watch employees as tightly. Technically the hotel isn't liable for what's stolen out of your room as long as the hotel has a safe available for guest use, but it still would look bad if a guest room was robbed.
4. Now they simply call it 'security' and they may have de-skilled the job so now it's not much more than a security guard
5. A hotel detective is generally only in a high-class hotel, and his real job is more toward protecting the hotel from embarassment and partially to protect guests. A guest gets caught in some embarassing predicament (like getting caught with a hooker when his wife shows up), the hotel detective might handle it (like getting the broad off the premises) as opposed to having the police called. Part of his job is that, he's often a retired police detective, he knows what sort of things to pass on to the local police as opposed to the things that, while technically still illegal, are the sort of thing that if the hotel handles privately, they are not going to get in trouble over for obstruction of justice. Also, if the police do get called, he would have done some things for them in advance, like securing the scene, making sure things aren't moved, etc.

So the job is still around but only in the classier hotels then. Hmm, I bet the cheap suit and the bourbon is long gone though.


THE
MODERN AGE
AARDVARK

AArdvark wrote:So the job is still around but only in the classier hotels then.

Again, that would explain why I'd never heard of one. Apparently there is no Senior Detective at La Quinta ...