They will inform you that the rooms have mechanical keys for shabbat and then charge the fee to switch the room over from electronic to mechanical (which consists of a guy sticking a plastic blocker over the door latch and then handing you the key to the deadbolt). They don't allow you to say you will live without the deadbolt lock, claiming its unsafe to not have a way to lock the room if you leave.
Most ironically, I found it was extremely hard to get a shabbat goy - I was expecting it to be super easy. I needed a light switched on and every single one had an excuse why they couldn't do it l. Maybe their staff is trained not to or is sick of doing it.
Again, this is just IME but I've been a few times.
Very helpful. Thank you. I have made a dummy reservation under a different name for next weekend and then forwarded the confirmation with the following email message (sent from an email account with a name that's not my own) with the following query:
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"Dear Crowne Plaza Stamford Staff,
I am looking forward to spending next weekend at your property. As an observant Jew, I do not use electricity on the Sabbath, from sundown Friday through nightfall Saturday. As such, I would like to ask if a staff member from the hotel would be able to escort me to my room when I return from Synagogue on Friday night and on Saturday afternoon, and open the door for me. Will there be any additional charge for this assistance?
Thank you for your consideration."
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I will let you all know what they say. If they indicate that there is a fee as you note below, then I'll need to decide whether just to go frum-incognito (I don't look so frum anyway) or to cancel altogether. I can't see paying a $75 fee when the nightly room rate is ~$35! Thanks again.