Sharing hotel rooms with coworkers?

[JessM]

No one is required to share at my company (consulting engineering firm). I honestly think I would start looking for another job if it was required. The economy has improved and there are more opportunities out there. I like my privacy and wouldn't get any sleep sharing with another person.

 

[cijay]

I don't know any co-workers I have right now that I wouldn't mind sharing a room with and have done when we all went to another city for their 25th anniv. banquet. The company paid for rooms at the Sheraton where the banquet was - this is how I know that Motel 6 is just as comfy as a Sheraton LOL. My question would be 'for how long?' Overnight or a week? Traveling for sessions and business things or conventions?

Everyone looks like heck in the morning shuffling around in their pjs, everyone's hair is a mess, everyone has fuzzy teeth so I don't care if they see me like that.

My concern would be what kind of person they are. If they're going to have a steady stream of friends through or go out with them and come back to the room several times in the night...like just use the out of town experience to party. Are they going to have their phone ringing all hours of the night or be fighting with someone over the phone all night. Are they the type that - because it's company money, they're going to take advantage of corporate credit cards etc?

So I wouldn't mind sharing a room if we were compatible or if the room was just for sleeping and showering and everything else (socialising etc) was done elsewhere.

 

[JaxDad]

As a civilian, I think I only had to share a hotel room once. It was an odd flight situation where we arrived very late (well after midnight) and the hotel was booked solid. We shared a room, basically just crashing in exhaustion, then moved into our own rooms the next day. It was actually a female co-worker. We were both single and close friends, but alas she was a lesbian...

 

[Allison]

I've done it before.

 

[tasha99]

OP-I am curious WHAT you do in this other city-also curious how you rent a HOUSE for a short period of time?

I can nOT imagine any coworker I would have wanted to share room with....and since I SNORE I would be so uncomfortable sharing

Not the OP, but renting a house is easy on airbnb or vrbo.

As for the policy, I would not be happy with that. If it were a few rooms a year I would grumble and dread those trips. Lots of travel would motivate me to send out my resume. My company gives me per diem and I make my own arrangements (I'm gone for months at a time) My company last year put me up in my own room.

 

[kamik86]

I travel for work occasionally I used to do it often but not for the last year or so. However when travel starts up again I would NOT be ok with this. Honestly I would look for a position that didn't travel or find a new company.

Add to that that I'm now the only female in my group and all the project leads are also male I would be unlikely to have a same sex coworker they could make me share with though.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I was sent to a conference with a group of teachers, we each had a roommate. I was not thrilled about it, but I survived. She was a health nut who was like I am going to be out of here jogging by 5 AM. It was just one night thankfully.

 

[Magpie]

I was in the Army Reserve - on maneuvers, we sometimes slept in a pile, like puppies, male and female all together. Then some idiot of a superior officer decided this was unseemly, and started making me - the lone female - pitch a tent out in the bushes all by myself, where no one could see me. I did NOT feel safer. Also, I got poison ivy.

I've slept on floors. On couches. In all sorts of interesting places. The presence of other human beings always helps me sleep sounder.

All of which is to say, I really don't understand some folks' disgusted reactions to this. It's not like there isn't a bathroom to change in. Separate beds. Everyone can wear flannel pjs. No one's forced to sleep together. And why on God's green Earth would I care if my roommate is transgendered??? It's not like they're making me to look at them naked!

I do suppose if you're the sort of person who is horrified at the idea of anyone seeing you without your "face" on, then sharing a hotel room might present a problem. Or perhaps you require hours and hours in the bathroom. In which case, pay for your own, and save your company some money.

 

[smiths02]

I'm a teacher - our county hardly pays for us to go anywhere for training, trips, etc and when we do, we always share a room with a same gendered co-worker.

I work in a school district. I have worked in more than one since 2008, when things started to get bad...they won't pay for any of the hotel room for conferences, you are lucky if they will pay the conference fee and mileage. If you have to go out of state, you can probably forget it.
(It wasn't always that bad, but even before, people had to share rooms)

 

[Oreo Cookie]

I worked for a company in the late 1980's-early 90's and this was there policy. After I left, they continued the policy. It didn't bother me then, and I was fortunate enough to share rooms with people I actually liked. I will say that I would have preferred my own space, but for a couple days it didn't matter.

Since then, all the companies I have worked for you had your own room when you traveled, which I much prefer. DH travels a lot, and it's always your own room.

I guess if I really enjoyed the job, then sharing a room would be something I would learn to live with and tolerate. If not, I would start to look around.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

Yes, have had to do this for my job over the last 16 years. My DW is in the medical field and they are required to share a room as well. If they don't, they have to pay OOP for the room. I don't see a big deal since we both go places with co-workers that are our friends outside of work as well. I might look at it differently if it was a big company and I had no idea who the other person was.

 

[NMAmy]

I've slept on floors. On couches. In all sorts of interesting places. The presence of other human beings always helps me sleep sounder.

I don't sleep at all with people I don't know well in the same room. People have different comfort levels. A room full of people would have me awake all night.

All of which is to say, I really don't understand some folks' disgusted reactions to this. It's not like there isn't a bathroom to change in. Separate beds. Everyone can wear flannel pjs. No one's forced to sleep together. And why on God's green Earth would I care if my roommate is transgendered??? It's not like they're making me to look at them naked!

I do suppose if you're the sort of person who is horrified at the idea of anyone seeing you without your "face" on, then sharing a hotel room might present a problem. Or perhaps you require hours and hours in the bathroom. In which case, pay for your own, and save your company some money.

There are many different reasons and oddly, none of mine are listed above. I need a bit of privacy and a bit of time away from other people. My family understands this and are the same way. I go to bed early and wake up very early and would hate to disturb a roommate. And, I just wouldn't be comfortable unless i was good friends with that person. So, no, I wouldn't be on board for that policy. I'm not "horrified" but I definitely wouldn't be signing up for it.

 

[Magpie]

I don't sleep at all with people I don't know well in the same room. People have different comfort levels. A room full of people would have me awake all night.

There are many different reasons and oddly, none of mine are listed above. I need a bit of privacy and a bit of time away from other people. My family understands this and are the same way. I go to bed early and wake up very early and would hate to disturb a roommate. And, I just wouldn't be comfortable unless i was good friends with that person. So, no, I wouldn't be on board for that policy. I'm not "horrified" but I definitely wouldn't be signing up for it.

Fair... I can understand having special needs requiring a room of your own. I think my main objection is to the idea that your company should pay extra to accommodate you (barring a doctor's note). I think the policy is fine, as long as reasonable accommodations are made for special circumstances and people have the option to say, "I'll pay for my own room, thanks."

Also, people who snore loudly should always either have their own room or be bunked with each other. For the sake of all of us! (When my church had a sleepover weekend for the kids, the adult leaders and chaperones had a "snoring" room and a "non-snoring" room, ha!)

 

[scrhsa]

I had to do that....AND share the bed. I know but it was a school function and we were chaperones. There were no other sleeping arrangements that would work, you know, not leaving a kid alone with a teacher etc.:/ Very awkward.

 

[FayeW]

The last few years I've traveled a lot for work. Sometimes it is a huge group of us going to a conference or event, sometimes it is just my boss and I. We always share rooms. Sometimes we rent 2 bdrm condo to share with multiple people, sometimes it's just a 2 bed hotel room. Heck, when we've gone out of town to attend industry parties we've actually slept two in the King or Queen bed. We don't care, we are all really good friends anyway. When I went to a conference with a coworker I didn't particularly like they originally had us sharing a room and then I spoke to my boss and said I would be too uncomfortable and asked to back out of the conference entirely. She got me my own room instead.

 

[Minnesota!]

I wouldn't have a problem with it.

 

[loves to dive]

There are advantages of coming from a big family (5 boys and one girl and I'm that one girl) privacy isn't something you ever have so I wouldn't even blink sharing the bathroom with another woman. There are also advantages of being a scuba diver, no privacy at all, we've been known to strip down on a dive boat under a towel. I've shared a condo with 3 men, one my honey, another one a person we met in class and had been on another dive trip with and the other one a good friend. The two men shared a room there were two bathrooms but that was just because there was a master bedroom with it's own bathroom. It didn't bother me at all to get up in the morning in my tshirt and shorts and shuffle into the kitchen to make coffee, if one of the guys was already up we'd just kind of nod to each other. But again, no one looks their best after coming up from a dive so they had pretty much seen the worst they could see. I also write reviews for a book website and have gotten to know a lot of people from that. When we attend conferences, most of the time we share rooms since we pay for it ourselves (most of them are indy authors) and I've shared with people I've only met on line. I'm one of those who gets up early to workout or jog and I just always make sure my room mate is aware I'm going to do it. I put my clothes in the bathroom the night before, get up and go in there and shut the door so the light isn't shining and try to make as little noise as I can while leaving.

 

[NewRVLady]

Ps- even though I snore there is NO way I could be with another snorer! I am a very light sleeper

 

[Marlyn]

I had to share a room once with a woman who had to sleep with the tv on and who cranked the temperature up so high I felt suffocated. I switched the very next day and paid for my own room. It was impossible. I would NEVER do it again....

 

[Mokat76]

I'm seriously introverted but work in an extrovert business. When I travel for work, the only chance to decompress is in the hotel room. If I had to share a room, unless it was with someone I knew very well or someone as introverted as I, I'd become unproductive pretty quickly.