So we know that the photo's at the hotel were taken at 6:11 AM. And the police got the call Tuesday morning from the hotel clerk, and by the time they got to the hotel, MDM and Shaniya were already gone. Things aren't quite adding up for me here though.
1. Where are the photo's/video of MDM and/or Shaniya leaving the hotel? (To me, the pic's look like they are from an elevator area).
2. Wouldn't the hotel find it odd for someone to check in at 6:11 AM. Most hotels check out time's are around 11 AM up to Noon. It would seem a bit strange to me for someone to only check in for a couple hours (especially with a child). Is this hotel just off a highway? That's the only reason I can think of for this to not raise suspicion.
3. Don't most hotels require you to check out, even if you paid in advance? To turn in your key card, etc.? So shouldn't police know when he checked out? Was Shaniya with him? Are they just not releasing this info for some reason? Did someone else check them out? Did the clerk see Shaniya when he checked in or out?
Lots of questions here for me.
Yes you do need a credit card. That is to say, I've never heard of a place that will take cash. They don't just charge you for the cost of your room when you check in. They reserve credit on your card for your booked stay plus an additional amount in case you damage the room, or charge room service or overstay. Then when you check out they bill you the actual charges for your stay. If you want to pay cash you can, but you still must provide a credit card on check-in. Then when you leave, they remove the reserved credit on your card and you hand over cash.
I don't know if they will take a debit card for a hotel. I've never tried that. But a debit card would still be linked to your identity, so that wouldn't change anything for these purposes.
I haven't had a chance to read the whole thread because our power has been out with the storm for a couple days and just clicked here to the end to see if they found her yet. Not good that they haven't, especially with this storm that we have been having on the East Coast.
Anyway, I work at a hotel here in Norfolk, VA on the weekends. I don't know what hotel they were at, but I can tell you that the one that I work at is not the Ritz if you KWIM. Even at that our rates are about $75 a night, but all the rooms look out at the beach. We take cash with no deposit except a $5 deposit for the key. By law we have to see someone's ID. I am the night auditor so I can tell you that people come in all night long, at all hours and sometimes people only stay for 2 or 3 hours. If they obviously have someone with them and it is a shady situation where they are only staying for a couple hours I am supposed to tell them that we don't want that kind of business there, but there are places we can't see and can't tell every time. Although it is not the Ritz the owner does try his best to keep the shady people out. We are not located right off the highway but we do get people coming in at all hours. I had someone recently come in at 7 am and pay for the night knowing it was going to end at 11 am. There is no credit card needed at all.
Working for a hotel you see some really crazy things. Sometimes I get people in the early hours of the morning with a child who come there as an escape from an abusive boyfriend/husband/wife. You just never know.
We do not require people to check out. We ask them to but the only repercussion they get for leaving their key on the nightstand and leaving is that they do not get their $5 back. When my daughter was born 2 years ago we were in the middle of a move and we went to a hotel in the area that was not as run down as the one that I work at for the first 2 nights because we had help unpacking our stuff and decided it would be easier to just go to the hotel. My daughter was early, this was not expected. I paid in cash and showed my ID and no deposit was taken.
Also, my daughter has health problems, sleep apnea among others. She sleeps on a breathing monitor that not only sets off an alarm every time she stops breathing for more than 20 seconds but it also beeps every time she takes a breath. For this reason, I get little sleep. Because of that we have a deal here at my house that once a month I ge tto go to the local Motel 6 for a night to get some sleep. I show up there around 8 pm and stay until 3 so he can get to work on time. I show up with no bags. I check in with cash and an ID, they take no deposit since the key is one of those plastic cards, and I ask for a wake up call at 2:30. I go to the room, take a long hot bath and then lay down and go to sleep. When I get my wake up call I leave the key card on the dresser and I leave. I do this once a month every month for the last 2 years. No one ever says a thing to me, they don't remember me when I get there and I never get a call or a letter about any of it. I have never used a credit card for any of it and never have to pay a deposit.
Having worked for a hotel for the last 8 years I can tell you there is very little we can do about anything and considering the circumstances, especially as a night auditor, which is what would most likely be working at 6 am, we really do not ask many questions.
