One woman said she was “freaked out” when she thought someone had tried to break into her room. She was staying at the Sonesta Select Atlanta Cumberland Galleria Ballpark hotel in Atlanta.
Haley Bartoletta posted a TikTok on August 18 warning downtown Atlanta residents about the hotel.
The video has nearly 300,000 views on TikTok.
Bartoletta said she had checked into the Sonesta Hotel with her sister before going to a concert at a nearby venue.
She said everything seemed “perfectly smooth” at the hotel until she returned from the show.
“It sounded like someone had been smoking in the room,” Bartoletta said of the smell in the hotel room.
After her sister fell asleep, Bartoletta said she heard someone spying on her in the room.
Bartoletta eventually fell asleep, but then around 1:30 a.m., he heard something.
“It sounded like someone was trying to break down the door next door,” she says in the video.
She woke her sister and headed to the lobby to request a new room.
“We leave all our luggage in the room because at this point I just want to get out as quickly as possible,” she says.
She said she saw a man walking down the hallway who appeared to be “on some kind of drug habit” and they quickly got into the elevator.
Ms Bartoletta said the hotel receptionist’s reaction when she was told what had happened was “strange” – she said he asked no questions and offered no apology.
He did indeed provide them with a new room, she says. The new room number is 517; their previous room was 617.
“I immediately thought of sex trafficking,” Bartoletta said. “That may be an exaggeration, but I was already on guard.”
How common is human trafficking in hotels?
Hotels are a prime target for human trafficking. Van Law FirmThe hotel is 60% of human trafficking cases.
She and her sister retrieved their belongings from their old room and went up to the fifth floor.
“The same man who was walking down the hallway when we left our room on the sixth floor is now walking down the hallway on the fifth floor,” she said. “As soon as I got off the elevator I saw him. I literally grabbed my sister, turned around and left.”
She says the receptionist said nothing to her as she left the hotel.
“I feel like this is a lesson in just being cautious,” she said. “It could have been nothing at all, or it could have been something, and my intuition was telling me something was wrong.”
Several commenters said they had similar experiences to Bartoletta’s at the same Sonesta hotel.
“I stayed there too, but again, in the room next door, and they tried to get into our room through the door next door,” one commenter wrote. [were] I was going crazy so I put a table in front of the door…”
“I stayed there recently with my sister and we were woken up by what sounded like someone trying to open the door,” another wrote. “It was so loud I shoved a towel under the door to stop it opening.”
“Never stay at a Sonesta or any hotel of that nature,” one commenter said. “You have to pay luxury hotel prices, especially in a big city…”
What is a Sonesta Hotel?
The US-based chain is a behemoth with over 1,100 hotels, but it’s only been around for a relatively short time: The 87-year-old brand was considered a boutique brand until the pandemic hit. Acquired Hotel brands such as InterContinental, Candlewood Suites, Knights Inn, Red Lion and Holiday Inn suddenly found themselves struggling.
How to stay safe in a hotel
Vann Law Firm advises that hotel rooms should be kept locked 24 hours a day, and guests should only open their doors to people they know.
The company also said traffickers sometimes pose as hotel employees to gain access to rooms, so it’s important that employees have easily identifiable identification.
of Litigation Information Center The agency released data on human trafficking lawsuits filed against hotels for “turning a blind eye.” At least 10 people have filed similar lawsuits since March.
Commenters offered advice on what to do in situations where they are concerned about human trafficking.
“They should have called the police and had them escort him out of the hotel,” one viewer wrote.
translation: Exact Hotel Name – Sonesta Select Atlanta Cumberland Galleria Ballpark #Safety #Storytime #Hotel #Atlanta #Atoll ♬ Original Sound – haleymason
“We started carrying hidden cameras and turning them on when we left our hotel rooms,” another user said.
The Daily Dot reached out to Bartoletta via email but did not immediately receive a response. The Sonesta Select Atlanta Cumberland Galleria Ballpark Hotel also did not immediately respond to The Daily Dot’s request for comment.
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