The Casino Locked Us Out of Our Room: What Now?

The cardinal rule is “Do not stay where you play.” I know you’re a sinner. Sigh.

The annoying thing about electronic keys is that when the heat comes down, you will get locked out of your room. Because this is an inevitable event, prepare in advance by doing two things. First, have a minimum of stuff in the room, and whatever is there should be kept in closed zipped bags, making it harder for security to defend going through your stuff (they do this). Second, add a name to the room at the start of the trip. Give them the name of a real person, ideally an expendable civilian female friend.

When the lockout happens, have your friend go to the front desk and try to get a new key. If you are locked out on a particular shift, wait until after the shift change. She should show her ID, and ask for a new key. She should not say that her existing key is not working. As always, another teammate should be watching this exchange from across the lobby.

If she gets the new key, then she should actually go up and try it. If it works, she should pack up all the stuff and immediately get out with it.

If not, is the room connected to an adjoining room by an interior door? It’s a longshot, but you might be able to have a teammate make a new reservation, specifically request the adjoining room, and go through that way.

Next, you could immediately lawyer up, have your lawyer call, and find out how far you can get with that. If it’s Vegas, this might be the way to go.

But, let’s assume you’re at some dump in the Midwest, say, an Isle of Capri or something. Here’s a trick from the notorious Johnny Chang of MIT fame. In the morning, when the rooms are being cleaned (probably by non-English speakers), you wait until the maid is in the room adjacent to your locked room, then pop out into the hall wearing only a towel (and underwear underneath), holding an ice bucket. Knock loudly on your own door and curse. Then summon the maid from the adjacent room. She will see you half-naked, with no shirt, no socks, no shoes. Try to explain to her that the door to your room just shut behind you while you were trying to get ice, or trying to get new towels from her cart—or something. Channel your best Mitnick. The details aren’t as important as the visual effect. You’re in the hallway, half-naked, exasperated, exhibiting increasing frustration. Obviously the door just shut behind you, right?

Try to get her to open your room with her master key. She obviously has one. If she speaks English and shows some resistance, offer to show her your ID once she lets you into the room.

And if something goes wrong and the plan fails, and you wind up in the hallway in your underwear talking to security, then that’s what you get for staying where you play!