Horrifying cases of ladies being raped of their rooms at top hotel chains are going down because staff are allegedly handing over keys to sexual predators unchecked, The Post can reveal.
Two separate cases in Texas claim men broke into women’s rooms after lying to staff to acquire keycards.
In an excellent more shocking incident, one man was allegedly capable of persuade police and hotel staff to deliver his victim to his own room at a Hilton-owned property.
One alleged unwanted entry was only foiled when a fast considering woman slammed a door on an intruder’s hand — severing his finger clean off in the method.
Outlining a December 2022 incident at a Holiday Inn Express & Suites, a lawyer representing a victim, who hails from Milwaukee, told The Post: “The lady was asleep and she or he woke as much as the person crouched on the foot of her bed together with his pants undone and a condom out.
“She was capable of scream and get him out of the room, and she or he immediately called right down to the front desk. They admitted, ‘Oh yes, we did give a key to the person. He said he knew you.’”
The would-be rapist had allegedly followed the victim, who asked to not be named, back to her hotel in Gonzales before convincing the front desk to offer him the important thing.
The accused attacker was arrested and arraigned on a felony charge of attempted sexual assault, in a case which is ongoing.
Holiday Inn didn’t reply to The Post’s request for comment.
“Almost every hotel chain I’ve seen has a policy in place that claims under no circumstance are you able to issue a key to someone’s room without verifying with an identification that that person is registered to the room,” said Anna Greenberg of Blizzard Law, who represented the victim.
But again and again, staff have proven to not be vigilant enough. In a case centered across the $500-a-night Hilton Americas Houston hotel, Kathleen Dawson was unconscious after she had been out drinking and was lying on the street near her hotel.
A concerned citizen called 911 because a person was standing over her together with his pants down, her lawyers explained.
Hotel staff arrived to assist similtaneously police, but in response to a lawsuit filed by the victim, they followed the direction of the lady’s co-worker, who falsely claimed she was staying in his room.
Without checking the ID in her purse or her room number, hotel staff put Dawson in a wheelchair and rolled her as much as the person’s hotel room, where she woke up with him raping her, in response to her lawsuit.
The person accused of the rape was initially indicted on felony charges when it took pace in 2017, but those charges were ultimately dismissed.
Nonetheless, in a civil suit Dawson was awarded $44 million damages from the hotel chain.
“Although Hilton typically doesn’t comment on legal matters, we respectfully disagree with the jury’s verdict and attest that our hotel team members acted on the direction of the Houston Police Department,” a spokesperson told The Post. “At Hilton, the protection and security of our guests is a top priority and we don’t condone violence of any kind.
A 3rd woman allegedly woke up in her Austin hotel in January when realized someone had a key to her room and was attempting to open the door.
She could see a person’s hand pushing through the gap between the open door and the protection latch, attempting to remove it, and promptly slammed it shut.
“I ran as fast as I could, and closed the door…slammed it…and truthfully said ‘Get the f—k out,” the lady, who only desired to be identified as Mandy, told The Post. “I heard the gentleman say, ‘Oh f—k and scurry off.”
Terrified, Mandy locked herself in her room and called 911, unlatching the door only when the cops finally arrived.
“I noticed that the finger was still in my door underneath the safety latch,” she recalled.
Mandy told the Post the Austin Police Department has not shared the person’s identity along with her, but described the scene as she left the hotel.
“We go to walk downstairs and there was blood all over the place from his finger,” Mandy recalled. “I used to be scared to death. I used to be like, ‘I don’t want him to see me,’ and thankfully, I poked my head across the corner and he was not within the lobby.
In court filings, her lawyers make the case that regardless that Mandy was not assaulted, staff at The DoubleTree Austin University Area Hotel had allowed the person to intrude into her room and had she not have had the door on the latch, things could have had a much different final result.
She is suing hotel management company Aimbridge Hospitality, Pinnacle Hotels USA, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Austin – University Area and John Doefor over $1 million over the ordeal.
Charges against the person are pending with the Austin Police Department.
A distinct Austin hotel, the DoubleTree Northwest Arboretum, is currently facing a lawsuit in a fourth case.
A school student claims she was raped after her attacker found her lost key card.
The unnamed woman checked into the hotel last March to rejoice her twenty first birthday and lost her key.
She reported it lost to the hotel, in response to the filing, however the rapist — a person she’d had drinks with — used the misplaced key to get into her room and sexually assault her.
The lawsuit seeks over $1 million from the hotel management firms, Aimbridge, Pinnacle LLC and Pinnacle Inc, who couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Her attacker, Zakary Nadzak, was arrested and charged with sexual assault, in response to public records.
The Post’s request or comment to the management company handling the Doubletree properties didn’t receive a response.
A Texas rape crisis center believes the cases uncovered in this text are merely the tip of the iceberg, noting staffers from the Houston Area Women’s Center recurrently reply to victims in distress at hotels, but charges are rarely brought.
“The undeniable fact that that is coming to light, to me, doesn’t indicate that it’s a recent thing,” Emilee D. Whitehurst of Houston Area Women’s Center.
“I believe this has been a long-standing Modus Operandi. I believe what’s recent is that survivors are willing to come back forward and that the climate is changing in order that perpetrators and systems are being held accountable.”
Other cases have taken place in several parts of the country.
An Embassy Suites in Iowa settled a lawsuit with a girl for an undisclosed amount after a rapist obtained a room key from staffers.
When the door’s safety latch stopped him from stepping into the room he told the hotel he and his “girlfriend” had a fight and had them disable the lock, in response to the Des Moines Register.
The victim was assaulted and beaten over several hours by Christopher LaPointe, who was later sentenced to twenty years in prison after pleading guilty to criminal charges.
The front desk had given him a key to the victim’s room without checking his ID and even verifying if he was a hotel guest, the newspaper reported.
For its part, the hotel told The Post it was under different management nine years ago when the incident happened.
“Current management has a strict policy to only provide keys to registered guests,” said a spokesperson.
In one other case in 2017, a California jury awarded a girl $3.5 million after a two-week trial when a Holiday Inn Express she was staying at failed to examine the ID of a person who requested a key to her room, in response to her lawyers.
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Jonathan Padilla was later convicted of sexual assault and served three years in prison, reported a neighborhood station.
The corporate that owns the hotel didn’t reply to The Post’s requests for comment.
Mandy, who travels incessantly for work, said she has purchased additional safety features which will be attached to hotel doors, adding she hopes her lawsuit forces hotels to take their guests’ safety seriously.
“Unfortunately, sometimes people and processes fail and you’ve to be certain that you’re protecting yourself,” she said.
Nonetheless, the burden of keeping a hotel guest secure ultimately rests with the hotel itself, not the victim, said Whitehurst.
“I do know the funds don’t erase the trauma, but they do give a way of justice. A system was held accountable and there will likely be changes in policies and protocols at hotels due to a verdict like that.”
