Strategy for hotel recording

[ksosa70]

Hi [from a newbie in UK]. I have just booked a hotel in the hope of getting my first sex sound recordings but feel I need some sort of strategy rather than rely on luck. I have been to the hotel before, and know that the walls are very reasonable for hearing sounds from adjacent rooms. The hotel has 6 floors, about 20 rooms on each floor, the reception and lounge/bar/dining area are situated next to each other in an open plan ground floor. I have booked a Sunday night stay. I have bought myself one of those 'spy wall listeners' from ebay, installed recording apps on my phone and laptop, and a Gembird mini mic (also from ebay).

So, everything is in place, but obviously what I have no control over is being next to a room with a couple who are going do it. I have 2 ideas for overcoming this:

1) When checking-in, [blatantly] ask the receptionist for a room next to a couple, or
2) Before checking-in, hang around close to the reception and wait for a couple to arrive, listen to what room they are given and then ask for a room either side of them, or even opposite.

Comments/thoughts on the above would be appreciated (especially if the 1st one is too dodgy?). And also if any one can suggest other ideas. I don't like the idea of walking the corridors listening out for action or for m/f conversations (in order to pick out a room).

Thx

[Audio]

there are a lot of great hints on this Forum. just read in the same category the threads!
but if i was you, I would book a room in a small bed and breakfast Pension, not in a stanard Hotel like you described.

[sc0tt-uk]

Welcome aboard Ksosa70, always good to have another fellow UK listener around here.

First thing, you're chances of a successful catch are probably a lot higher on a Friday or Saturday night. Personally I'd go for a Saturday, as even the most routine relationships seem to still find time for a quicky on Sunday morning, so it gives you two shots at two different demographics of soundmakers - the party people on Sat night, and the long-term types on Sun morning.

Don't go with either of your options to get a room next to a couple. There is a time when the first might work, but I'll come to that in a sec. If the hotel has thin walls, people here have noticed that often the staff will put couples next to other couples, parties with kids next to other parties with kids, and keep the single people with the other single people to keep noise complaints to a minimum. So, assuming it's changeable on the day without costing you a ton of money, book a double room for two people. It's unlikely that they'll ask about you checking in alone, but if they do, your other half will be arriving later on. If there's paperwork that they'd have to fill in when they arrive and anybody actually bothers to follow up with you about that, explain that they A) got unexpectedly caught up in some family business, B) started feeling ill, C) any other simple one sentence excuse that you can drop along side telling them that there's been a change of plan if they look doubtful. Most of the time staff won't ask a lot of questions, but you having answers at the ready will make a difference when they do.

The scenario where you can request a particular room without raising suspicion only comes into effect once you've booked at the same place a few times. Just a simple "oh, can you check whether room 101 is free... it's my usual" should do it, but be ready with something you like about that part of the hotel in case it's not, so they'll place you nearby.

If you don't want to walk the halls, this could get expensive for you. If you do brave it and walk the halls, have your excuse at the ready on the offchance that anybody asks. On your own floor, maybe you're looking for your room number if the hotel is big enough. If it's believable that you'd be heading down to the bar or exit, I've used the excuse of retracing my steps because I somehow dropped a fiver out of my pocket on the way up without noticing. For longer walks, you could be revising. Reading something on your phone gives you a good excuse to walk slowly and seem thoroughly absorbed, so put something suitably dull on your phone in advance. Assuming our shitty weather is back by the time you make the attempt, you could also just be stretching your legs but not wanting to brave the brass monkeys outside. The key seems to be to keep moving. Same drill as always in that it doesn't need to be complicated, but you do need to have a reason at the ready, just in case. That split second of thinking time that the unprepared listener needs to dream up an excuse will make him seem shady to staff at certain times of night. It's easily avoided by being prepared.

Hope some of that helps, and good luck man!

Sc0tt-UK

[ksosa70]

Thanks for the responses. I neglected to mention that I did read various threads about this subject on this forum prior to posting my thread.

Point taken about staying on a Friday and/or Saturday, but these days are not convenient for me. In any case, suppose you get 100% more traffic of couples staying over a Fri or Sat than a Sunday, say 10 as opposed to 5 - you only need 1. I would say that day of week stay, along with room occupancy, is important if the room is selected for you. The hotel I've chosen, you can ask for a particular room if its not already taken of-course.

About booking a double on the pretence of 2 people occupancy - the hotel I chose is Travelodge which sell on a per room basis. On making my booking I was not asked how many people it was for. Travelodge do offer 'Family rooms' but the one I booked was categorised as a Double. Whether they [Travelodge] choose your room upon you turning up at the desk I don't know. The last time I stayed there, I don't recall being asked if there was a +1. I would imagine that guest count is important for the hotel for fire risk, so maybe they deduce the occupancy by how many are seen turning up at check-in?

As to walking the halls, initially I didn't fancy this idea, but now I'm contemplating this as an option. I have tried this in the past but they were brief sortie's because I was nervous of bumping into someone either entering the corridor or coming out of their rooms. I have taken in your [Sc0tt-uk] advise about undertaking various 'tactics', so am prepared to try this since this particular Traveloge doesn't have security cams on each floor, plus you don't need a key card to operate the lifts or enter the floors. From my limited experiences of this, I have found that I need to stand still at various points because the noise that my shoes make when I walk make it difficult to hear what I want to listen out for (the only remedy for this is to walk bare footed, its not my shoes).

So I think I will try a combination of walking the halls and hanging around reception looking for couples checking in. As I'm writing this I can't help thinking that what I'm contemplating is creepy and shady. But I guess as long as I'm not harming any one then I shouldn't worry too much about it. I just hope it doesn't become an obsession. At the moment, I would say this has become a sexual fetish, but that's another topic

As for choosing a hotel pension instead of a standard hotel or a hotel chain, I hardly ever stay at these types of hotel, so I would need to look out for recommendations on this forum. I have targeted this particular hotel because I have stayed there before and know that the walls, though not exactly paper thin, would be good for sound recordings (I can hear guests talking next door even without pressing my ears against the walls).

[Quadrophenia1]

Welcome, Ksosa70 and good luck!
This site is fantastic. My only issue is the fact that such a large percentage of the files on this site seem to feature hookers and their customers........ the same old "ooooh, ahhhh, oooooh, ahhhh" stuff that sounds just like the soundtrack of a porno film. There doesn't seem to be very many files that feature funloving, jovial lovers in relationships that are really whooping it up and having fun in bed. Hopefully you can help change that a little bit, Ksosa70.

[sc0tt-uk]

Welcome to creepy and shady club. Please remove your jacket and 20% of your morals before entering our inner sanctum

[ksosa70]

LOL. I'm honored to be a member!

[ksosa70]

Welcome, Ksosa70 and good luck!
This site is fantastic. My only issue is the fact that such a large percentage of the files on this site seem to feature hookers and their customers........ the same old "ooooh, ahhhh, oooooh, ahhhh" stuff that sounds just like the soundtrack of a porno film. There doesn't seem to be very many files that feature funloving, jovial lovers in relationships that are really whooping it up and having fun in bed. Hopefully you can help change that a little bit, Ksosa70.

The majority of the non-archived sound files I have listened to on this site seem to be from genuine couples. But I agree this site is great, and listening to porno-like sounds do not turn me on at all. If I wanted to hear these types of sounds I would visit sites such as youporn. It's because I've become bored of watching porn I'm here. I promise that If I get lucky with a recording I will upload to this site.

[yeppie]

Welcome, Ksosa70 and good luck!
This site is fantastic. My only issue is the fact that such a large percentage of the files on this site seem to feature hookers and their customers........ the same old "ooooh, ahhhh, oooooh, ahhhh" stuff that sounds just like the soundtrack of a porno film. There doesn't seem to be very many files that feature funloving, jovial lovers in relationships that are really whooping it up and having fun in bed. Hopefully you can help change that a little bit, Ksosa70.

The majority of the non-archived sound files I have listened to on this site seem to be from genuine couples. But I agree this site is great, and listening to porno-like sounds do not turn me on at all. If I wanted to hear these types of sounds I would visit sites such as youporn. It's because I've become bored of watching porn I'm here. I promise that If I get lucky with a recording I will upload to this site.

Great!
You shouldn´t be bothered about the hooker complaints. Quadrophenia has a hooker fixation, he hears them everywhere. We´re still searching for the best therapy.

[JohnGypsy]

Been away from the site for a couple of weeks and just noticed this thread today. So, ksosa70, have you had your stay yet? If so, how did it go?

If not, and for future reference, here are my quick thoughts...

1. I always ask for a room "far from vending/ice machines and the elevators." The upside of this is that it is much easier to hear things in your room -- and, as a bonus, you have longer distances to slowly walk the halls and still be looking fairly normal (i.e. going from your room to the elevator or going from your room to vending and back). The downside is that sometimes they take that as "I hate noise, so put me somewhere really quiet" and therefore put you near other singles. But, in my experience, that isn't often the case -- they just pick a room far from the noisy stuff and you're still just as likely to be next to a couple.

2. I'm a hall-walker. Sure, if you get REALLY lucky, you might be next door to a couple going at it -- but, often, you aren't that lucky. Therefore, you've got to increase your odds -- which means walking the hallways. I think I've become a bit of an expert at it. I've wandered hallways even in fairly small hotels for a couple of hours easily. Heck, in a BIG hotel (in Vegas, for example, where there were hundreds of rooms PER FLOOR and there were 15+ floors), I've wandered the hallways for 5+ hours at a time! It's easy when they are that big -- because you can walk for an hour and never pass the same point -- so no one would ever notice that you're just wandering.

My method is to constantly be on my phone. Everyone is looking at their phone these days -- so it doesn't look weird to be texting as you walk. Heck, even even makes for a good excuse to be able to STOP all the time while you are walking! As you mentioned, even the sound of your own feet can be loud -- so I'm constantly walking and then stopping between doors for a quick listen -- and while I'm doing that, I'm fake-texting/typing on my phone or faking trying to read something close-up or something. Anything that would be a reasonable excuse for someone to stop for a second -- so it looks like I'm just taking a closer look at my phone. I do this all the time -- and it works very well for me. I've even done it in hotels WITH cameras -- because I think I can pull it off.

Do be ready if anyone ever asked you what you were doing. Maybe you're trying to work on your phone, but don't get a good signal in your room, so you're just walking the hallway. Or, heck, I have a game for my Android phone called "Ingress" from Google. It actually REQUIRES you to move around to do things. This, I think, works as a great excuse to explain why I'm walking back and forth in the hallways (and even on different floors!). To be honest, the game doesn't EXACTLY work like that -- but they won't know any better. It's an eye-candy intensive game that uses GPS and shows your surroundings -- so I think it would work really well to be able to show to someone and say "I'm just playing this new game from Google where you have to walk to different areas to earn stuff." You could show them the screen and it even looks like exactly that. Then I'd be all "Hopefully I wasn't bothering anyone! Sorry about that -- I just couldn't sleep and thought that I'd play the game to take my mind off of things."

In any case, those are my tips -- hopefully they are beneficial to someone looking for ideas.

Good luck, everyone!

[mrgraham99]

Sunday nights not so good in my opinion, its unlikely a couple on a weekend break will also stay the third night..Sunday

Many hotels are full of business travellers during the week, double rooms just for one person:-(

In this situation try and stay in a touristic area, this increases your chances......check tripadvisor feedback forms for people complaining about poor sound-proofing....all helps.

I'm back out "in the field" now, have had some good results in the past...so stay tuned!

[Audio]

JohnGypsy

you wander 5hours through a vast Hotel comlex with cameras and didnt get caught? amazing Story.

[reggind]

One thing I have not seen mentioned is in the summer to check in early and crank your AC up to the hilt, and in the winter to check in early and crank your heat all the way up.

Also, make a note of anything in your room that might make noise. If you have a mini fridge, unplug it. Make sure that the bathroom light is off all the time if it has a vent fan that comes on with the light.

As soon as you hear any movement in the rooms around you you can crank your heat or AC all the way off. You will have some comfort for a while because it will be really hot or really cold and some of your heat/cold will effect their room via the wall and prevent their heat or A/C from kicking on at inopportune times.