Domestic abuse at the hotel

While kicking about Portland, I stayed in a charming hotel just outside downtown. Things, unfortunately, got off to a rocky start. 

On the first night, I heard a horrendous-sounding, knock-down drag-out fight going on in the room above mine. Coat over PJs, I went down at approx.11pm to notify staff. I was calm and measured because I assumed I would be taken more seriously as a result. I used both the expressions 'domestic disturbance' and 'possible domestic violence' and gave my room number: 730. The woman at the front desk, possibly the only person on front desk duty at this time of night, her face a mask of ambiguity, said she'd 'call up' to ask them to be quiet. While that is a nice gesture, my having said that I heard both repeated loud thuds and crashing noises should have alerted her to, maybe, sending someone up to the room to check on a woman who was possibly being battered. To be fair, the front desk clerk may not have really gotten the gravity of the situation. Heck, who wants to believe that something potentially vile is happening to a woman? I didn't hardly want to believe it myself, but I had HEARD it and knew that something bad was going on in the room above mine. I also told the front desk clerk that it sounded as if hotel property were being damaged. Sort of cynically, I thought that that would get staff to act quickly and I sincerely believed that the room was being damaged.

Indeed, the front desk must have rung the room as the noise temporarily subsided. However, I found myself going back down at just after midnight when things started to really kick off again. This time, I firmly requested that someone go up to the room to check on the welfare of the woman straight away. 'Someone needs to go up there now. This is serious.' The same staff member I had spoken with previously then turned to a man who appeared to work for hotel maintainance and said something like: Do you remember that couple in 830 who were fighting down here around 10.30pm and we had to tell them to stop...? 

I then chimed in with: They've been fighting on and off for over an hour. 

To his credit, the man made a beeline for the elevator and went straight up. Three warnings by hotel staff to keep down the noise level (although what they were engaged in was beyond just yelling) is really '3rd strike' territory. The brawling couple really should have been asked to leave. I would have also thought that the police could have been called, but in a domestic abuse situation having the cops show up probably only would have enraged the man more and the woman would have, ultimately, surely suffered more as a result. 

The couple were also in one of the poshest rooms at the hotel. I should know as I was in a similarly posh room just one floor down. -don't know if that would be why there seemed to be a reluctance on the part of the hotel to ask this couple to leave. Also, maybe they were to check out that very next (Tuesday) morning. Dunno. What I do know is that at 1am, after the couple had started up the cycle of abuse one more time, I went down to the front desk a third time to notify them of the ongoing disturbance and to finally ask to, please, change rooms. I suppose it took me so long to do so because a) I had never been privy to such an unfortunate situation before & b) I had never asked to change rooms in a hotel before. 

The request was granted and I moved to a smaller but much quieter room on a lower floor (sans view). I don't know what happened to the couple in 830, but I did think about what I had heard going on in their room that first night for the remainder of my stay. 

PS: I sent an email to the hotel outlining the above experience. My hope would be that they are inspired to review their policy on how to handle, for lack of a better expression, 'problem guests'.