I have been in the sports housing business running the THS Company since 1998, and have had the opportunity to book over 500,000 teams into hotels when they were traveling to tournaments. Teams of course are made up of families – parents and their kids, and we all know that some parents do a much better job than others at raising disciplined kids that do not act inappropriately in public. I am sure in this regard that you have sat next to some poorly disciplined kids at a restaurant a few times in your life. My opinion when I see kids like that is their parents just never told them the rules of how to act.
As a housing service that contracts over 1,000 hotels each year, we recommend to our hotel partners that they do exactly that – tell the teams coming to their hotel what their rules are. For the hotels, we suggest they simply have every guest sign a Conduct Policy like the one below at check-in. When hotels do that, we rarely hear complaints back from them about how the teams (kids as well as parents) we booked there act while in the hotel. The hotels that have problems with a team are the ones that don’t use a conduct policy, and in other words never tell the teams what their rules are!
As the hotel coordinator for your team, you shouldn’t leave this up to the hotel, but instead institute your own conduct policy for the hotel stay and every part of the trip that the team is together. If you do, you will have a team that acts in a way where you are invited back to every place you visit, while making the trip more pleasurable for everyone involved.
Here is the form we give to our hotel partners. You can easily revise this to be an effective rule directive for your team when they travel Good luck!
SAMPLE HOTEL CONDUCT POLICY
We are pleased to have been selected as one of the hotels for this week’s tournament. Most Athletes, Coaches, Chaperones and Parents understand the need for responsible behavior while staying in a hotel. Therefore, for the comfort and safety of all of our guests, we have instituted the following policies:
- The guest signing for each room(s) will be the person responsible for that room’s actions.
- Please conduct yourself as ladies and gentlemen. Proper dress is required in all common areas of the hotel.
- Please refrain from congregating in the halls, lobby and walkways. Please remember we have other guests in the hotel that are not part of your group.
- When departing or returning to the hotel, please do so in a mannerly and quiet fashion.
- Please keep your rooms as orderly as possible. If you order food to be delivered from outside of the hotel, please dispose of the leftovers properly.
- An Adult is required to be with Minors in the hotel public areas and hallways at all times. Coaches, Parents and Chaperones are responsible for the team member’s actions.
- While in your room, please keep the television and radio volume at a moderate level. Also, please remember that talking voices carry through the walls – please keep conversations at a moderate level also.
- The use of any athletic equipment is prohibited while inside the hotel. Any equipment seen being used will be confiscated by our staff.
- Pulling fire alarms is a felony offense and will not be permitted.
- Loud, obscene or boisterous behavior will not be tolerated and will result in only one warning.
- A curfew of 10:00 pm is in affect – please reduce your sound levels (talking, televisions, radios, etc.) to a low level at that time for the remainder of the night.
We know that the vast majority of our guests realize that these rules are for everyone’s benefit, including their own. However, in the event that any person(s) or registered guest found NOT in compliance with any of the above rules, they will be subject to immediate eviction from the hotel by management or security.
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Hotel Representative Signature Date
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Guest Signature Date
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Guest Room Number