Erin Andrews is in the midst of her lawsuit against the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University where she was taped through the peephole in her door. Apparently this video of her was viewed 17 million times.
Andrews contends that the man – who was convicted of felony stalking and who was sentenced to 30 months in prison — alleges that employees at the hotel property revealed she was a registered guest at their hotel, gave the stalker her room number, and at his request assigned him the room next to hers.
Hotels really shouldn’t tell strangers what room you’re in, of course, though ultimately one of the biggest threats to security is social engineering, and that’s a tough problem to crack.
In testimony during her lawsuit seeking $75 million in damages she detailed her new hotel security routine.
“As soon as I get to a hotel, no matter what city or state I’m in, I tell them I want to be moved from the room I was pre-booked in. I want to be moved. I also say if someone has asked to be next to me, they need to call me,” she described on the stand Tuesday. “I instantly cover the peep hole and then I do a check of the room. I look everywhere. I look for lights. I look for red lights. I look to see if there’s cameras. I check the bed. I check the alarm clock. I check the phone. I booby trap my room.”
…”I put a piece of paper down by the door so when I leave, if someone comes into the room I can tell,” she said. “I just put something by it so that if somebody walks in, I can just tell.”
Mitigating the claim for damages, Marriott’s attorneys have argued that this video did not hurt her career.
Why bother now? The world has already seen the family jewels.
Gary your blog has become national enquirer of boardingarea.
^^ Oh look, it’s the perp! I didn’t think they gave internet access to prisoners.
Holy hell man, give BOTH sides of the story.
Marriott/West End had NO idea that Barrett had used in-house phones and other means to determine what room she was in. He found out by using a kitchen/restaurant phone to discover what room she was in. He then requested a specific room (which people actually do) that happened to border hers. The agent didn’t necessarily have knowledge of the occupant next door.
He exploited the system to do this.
@mrredskin writes, “He exploited the system to do this.”
What I wrote is, “ultimately one of the biggest threats to security is social engineering, and that’s a tough problem to crack.”
It would suck if, every time you checked into a hotel, you had to worry about being spied on. I like the strategy of always switching rooms upon check-in. I assume spy agencies do this as well.
Gary,
You probably should update the article to reflect that Marriott was dismissed as a defendant a few weeks ago
https://wkrn.com/2016/02/17/court-dismisses-marriott-international-from-erin-andrews-lawsuit/
Wow , this is the same procedure I go through before cooking meth in a hotel room
Thanks for this Gary, I appreciate this article. As an attractive female, I often have problems when traveling and I find the information you posted useful. There are a lot of perverts and insensitive people out there. And to all the trolls, until you personally have had something happen to you, you will never understand.
@Anne, thank goodness as a spud ugly individual, I don’t have to worry about this
I learned really quick to shield your room number away from strangers. I was new to business travel when I was younger and I was in the elevator with another gentleman when I open the little leaflet with my room key to double check my room number. About 30min after getting to my room the phone rang and the person asked if I was ready for him to come down. I told him he had the wrong number and he said “no, I was in the elevator with you”.
Apparently inadvertently flashing your room number in an elevator is a sign to come to my room.
Just want to toss in that as I rarely travel, when I do I stay at better hotels, and often with my pup who has a big WOOF. but I do often request the same room we’ve had prior.