How to Avoid an Extra Person Charge in your Hotel Room

Picture the scene: you’ve booked a lovely room in a great hotel. It has stunning views and lots of space.

It would be a shame to keep it all to yourself, wouldn’t it? So, you decide to invite someone to enjoy the space with you.

But how do you avoid paying for the extra person charge?

Read on, people. We have the secrets and the know-how!

Table of Contents

What Is an Extra Person Charge?

An extra person charge is what you might suspect: charging extra for having another person in your room.

Tips Extra person charge in hotels — Extra person charge in hotels

Many of us don’t often worry about this because we usually visit hotels with two people and both share the same room.

However, if you want to have an extra person in the room there’s often a charge.

Indeed, in some places, if you book a room for a single person, it can be cheaper, so an extra person making it up to two can increase the price.

Given that the standard fee is usually for a two-person occupancy room, more often than not you’ll be considering sneaking in that extra third person.

6 Secret Tips on How to Avoid an Extra Person Charge in your Hotel Room

For those on a budget, avoiding extra charges is paramount. Sharing rooms with others may be a way to save money.

Let’s have a look at our secret tips for avoiding this charge.

1. Guest-Friendly Hotels

Guest-friendly hotels are those that don’t mind you bringing someone else back to your room, even if you’ve booked it solely in your name.

Guest-friendly hotels rules — Guest-friendly hotels

Perhaps you’ve been out on the town and met up with someone and want to bring them back. Perhaps you have invited a friend along for the ride at the last minute.

Whatever the reason, these hotels don’t mind you bringing a guest back to your room.

They may, however, request that the extra guest leaves some ID with reception.

This is more for the guest’s safety than anything, including if there’s a fire and all guests need to be accounted for.

One more thing about guest-friendly hotels: they tend to be in party spots where people are more likely to hook up with others. Tourists meeting locals – I’m sure you catch my drift!

2. Avoid Noise

If you’ve got someone extra in your room, try and keep the noise down. As you probably know, most hotel rooms are not soundproof.

You don’t want to draw attention to the over-occupancy of your room which might mean you end up getting charged extra on check-out.

If you make too much noise, the hotel may well ask your extra guest to leave – and charge them too!

3. Stay in the Room

snuck someone back into a hotel room — Stay in the room

If you’ve snuck someone back who shouldn’t really be there, then don’t make it obvious!

Don’t parade around the place unless it’s such a large and busy hotel that no one would notice an extra person.

4. Be Good

Ok, so I sound a little like mom here. But it stands to reason, no?

If you’re bending the rules to avoid an extra person charge, then behave yourselves!

Essentially, this means not bringing anyone back to your room or inviting any extra guest that is unlikely to be able to do that.

If they’re intoxicated and likely to ‘redecorate’ the room as a result, maybe don’t invite them back.

You’ll be the one getting the charge, and you may both find yourselves kicked out onto the street.

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5. One Only

Parties are great. But not in your room, and certainly not if you’re sneaking in multiple guests and avoiding paying for them.

Let’s face it, the more people you try and squeeze into your hotel room for free, the more likely it is that it just isn’t going to work.

When you’re pushing the boundaries on room occupancy to avoid an extra person charge, just have one extra person. Don’t go all out and invite half your street.

6. Arriving and Departing

Hotel reception arriving — Hotel reception

Most larger hotels have more than one entry point.

Or even if it’s one door, it’s usually large enough and busy enough that an extra person won’t be noticed.

However, you should always take care when bringing a person back who’s not registered to stay.

If you’re caught on your way in, you could be at risk of not having anywhere to spend the night if you’re both asked to leave as a result.

The security guards who you think aren’t always paying attention quite often are on the lookout for such behavior.

You won’t have been the first to try and invite an extra guest, and you won’t be the last.

That said, if there are only two of you in total, it’s highly likely that they’ll presume you’re both on the guest list anyway unless it’s exclusive and every guest is known by name.

Top Tip – Don’t act guilty. Acting suspiciously creates suspicion. Be confident and act normal, like you’re meant to be there.

Why do Hotels Need to Know How Many People Are in a Room Anyway?

You may wonder why hotels even need to know who’s in their rooms anyway.

Hotels like to know who’s staying where for several reasons.

Safety

If there’s a fire and the hotel has 57 guests and 10 and the fire crews rescue 67 people, they will think that everyone has been rescued.

However, if your extra guest hasn’t registered and is still in there, it can have serious, life-changing consequences.

Think about your safety first and foremost. Nothing’s worth the risk of a free night’s stay.

Utilities and Facilities

Hotels need to know how many people to cater for in terms of:

food
heating
towels
soap
and hot water

If every room had an extra person in it, that’s a lot of extra showers that’ll need hot water, for example.

Record Keeping

Hotels keep logs of everyone who has stayed in their hotel.

Hotels keep logs guests — Record keeping rules

Often, these logs are used to prove where someone was when a crime was committed.

If your name’s not on the register, you couldn’t use it as an alibi. Hotels also keep records of any movies you rent or room service you ordered.

And, if your room gets reported for noise or damage (even after you’ve left), you can be sure that’ll be recorded too.

This is another reason why you need to trust who you invite back to a room that’s in your name.

Final Thoughts on How To Avoid an Extra Person Charge in a Hotel

Most travelers have done it. You couldn’t find a room but snuck into a friend’s or a fellow traveler’s room.

Or you’ve made a friend and want to bring them back. Sneaking someone into a hotel room isn’t always that difficult, especially if you’re a single person who’s paid for a double room anyway.

However, it does get a little trickier the more of you there are. Following our secret tips above may help you avoid that extra charge. But, please, make sure you’re safe. These hotel rules and regulations are there for a reason.