The Cost of Hotel Pranksters

(MoneyWatch)  I posted a few days ago about this item, where a prankster posing as a front desk clerk of the Hilton Garden Inn in Orlando, advised a guest to break the windows of their hotel room and throw out the mattress so they could jump to safety. The supposed reason? A gas leak. The cost $5,000 in damage, although the hotel is not seeking restitution from the couple involved.

Other incidents include last month when a hotel employee enlisted a truck driver to back into the front lobby of a Holiday Inn Express in Conway, Ark. to break its windows, as instructed by a prank caller posing as a fire sprinkler employee. Estimated damage? $50,000.

So who's responsible? The pranksters or the employees or guests who are simply following orders?

First, I think we must realize that these are not harmless pranks. They involve a level of deception and acting that would make a confidence man proud. One famous case involved a man posing as a police officer calling and requesting the strip search of an 18-year-old female employee who was later spanked and sexually assaulted. She sued and won $6.1 million from McDonald's for not warning employees of similar prank calls in the area. (By that time, the caller had duped more than 60 fast-food restaurants in 32 states.) Two other employees were arrested and convicted in the incident. The caller, however, was acquitted.

While Orlando hoteliers and the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau believe this is their first and only incident, it doesn't mean it will be an isolated one. It also means that hotels and travel industry trade groups must educate its members to deal with these kinds of calls. That includes instructing guests on what to do in an emergency, either verbally or written and placed near their phone, so they don't become duped by prank callers.

Alarmist? Perhaps, but it beats $10,000 worth of damage or a million-dollar lawsuit.