Share a Hotel Room?
johnnyBravo
57 Posts
I was really surprised by an artilce I just read on hr.blr.com based on a survey conducted by Orbitz Travel. It said that nearly 1 in 4 (!) (24%) of business travelers have said they've had to share a hotel room with a co-worker! Say what?
Are travel budgets that bad? Anyone out there have experience with this? Can't they just send people to budget/cheap hotels? I'd rather do that than be forced to have a co--worker for a roommate unless they were also a close friend.
Meanwhile, I'm sure that these are "same-sex" arrangements, but with same-sex harassment claims on the rise, why would any employer think it's a good idea for co-workers of any gender to be in such close quarters? Can't you see it now? A claim from an employee in which he/she says that the employer "made us" share a room, which led to this problem?
Am I alone in my surprise?
Comments
My company books separate rooms, but on one trip to Philadelphia for a conference, my colleage was so frightened to be in a hotel room alone in the "big city" that she was in my room most of the time.
When I worked for a school system years ago, we had to share a double room. OK except in the morning with showers and getting dressed--kind of awkward.
My husband's company has a sharing policy too. On his last trip, the conference was at a resort with 2 bedroom townhouses and the only other co-worker he was going with was a 21 year old female intern. Seemed wrong to me and I told him so. He switched with another pair from a partner-company so that the men stayed together and the women stayed together. I am all infavor of economy, but let's get real!
There is a big difference with sharing a 2-bedroom townhouse than sharing a hotel room. For one thing, a 2-bedroom townhouse would have separate bedrooms and bathrooms. The only sharing would be in the common areas: kitchen, living room and dining room. I have no problem with sharing a townhouse. I've done it.
At the same time, I have not ask employees to share a hotel room. When it came down to it, there was never a question - two hotel rooms were reserved.
My current company does have employees share a room (also my last company did as well). We try to have single rooms whenever possible but if the expense is large for the room then we ask people to share. In fact, my President and Sales Director just went on a trip and shared a room for the night. My President's philosophy is he would rather spend the extra money on doing things for the employees, like a nice Christmas party, lunch for everyone, a gift card at Thanksgiving, etc. then to spend it on travel.
I can understand what you are saying about same-sex harassment, but if we had an employee that was totally against the arrangement I think my President would make an exception. You could have a harassment situation even if the individuals were not sharing a room.
rooms. I was extremely uncomfortable with that and expressed that
my boss. In the end, I had to pay the difference in the cost to have my
own room. Unfortunately, it caused speculation among other people
as to why I had my own room and they did not, why I was uncomfortable
sharing and etc. I was very frustrated with the entire situation
and felt that the whole thing caused more harm than it needed
too. I would agree with all of the posters that say sharing rooms
is a poor practice.
We have a shared policy in our company as well; we have found it to be beneficial in building a sense of teamwork and unity and rooting out selfishness in the workplace.
[quote user="erinkuntz"]My previous organization also "requested" that employees share rooms. I was extremely uncomfortable with that and expressed that my boss. In the end, I had to pay the difference in the cost to have my own room. Unfortunately, it caused speculation among other people as to why I had my own room and they did not, why I was uncomfortable sharing and etc. I was very frustrated with the entire situation and felt that the whole thing caused more harm than it needed too. I would agree with all of the posters that say sharing rooms is a poor practice.
[/quote]
Depending on the types of things people speculated as the cause, they could have inadvertently invoked ADA or other types of state-related civil rights protections for you as a person perceived to have the protected characteristic (e.g., disability or gender transition). Situations that generate this type of gossip are very harmful to organizations overall and teams in particular. I hope supervisors and/or managers stepped in on that situation.
I wouldn't mind sharing a suite but I'm not a big fan of the 2 co-workers, 1 room thing.
I worked for one of the largest electronic retailers for over five years. In that time I took an average of 6 trips a year in which I had to share a room every time. It was a total nightmare. I do not suggest it to any employer. [ap]
I feel badly for all of you who have reported that in your experience it's been the "norm" to share hotel rooms with co-workers. I actually don't mind traveling for work, and I realize that may be due in large part to that I get some alone time while doing so. From the perspective of most people I know, they don't see much of an upside to traveling for work, since you're usually spending all of your daytime hours doing the bidding of your employer. But at least at the end of the night, you should be allowed some alone time away from colleagues if you so choose. No wonder so many people dread business travel if they are stuck with their colleagues 24/7.
My philosophy is that if you're going to give up additional time to travel for work, you should get some semblance of a benefit. For me, a dad with 2 small children, having 'quiet time' (read: zoning out in front of the TV in my hotel room) is that benefit! When I imagine having to deal with a co-woker (who I might not even like) in the room with me, all because my employer is out to cut costs....that would change my whole attitude towards such travel.
I had to share rooms for years with at two of my previous companies. I was actually repremanded a couple times when I got separate rooms on some trips. I have often wondered if there are any legal implications when it comes to this. While many times it was not a horrible experience, I did have one trip where a co-worker who I hardly knew got very drunk[D] and threw a liquor bottle out our 5th story window onto the beach boardwalk below. What a disaster that turned out to be....the room was in my name and of course the front desk called an yelled at me, (just before security got there).[8o|]
For a few years I was lucky enough to work with a good friend, so sharing a room was not so bad....but still.....I never thought it was good to be required to share a room.