And the $30 re-key fee charged by the Luddite hotel owner would cause me to never return.
And the people who casually "lose" (AKA: "steal") my pewter airplane keychains are welcome to never return.
Some customers aren't worth it. These people desperately need to stay somewhere else.
Edit: This brings up an interesting point that the OP needs to consider in any new business: What kind of customers do you want to serve?
From Day One, 13 years ago, we made the decision to aim for a higher caliber of customer. In a hotel, this means weeding out the questionable people who occasionally try rent a room.
Most hotels (and retail stores) do this with high pricing, under the theory that anyone who can afford to pay top dollar isn't a dirtball. Although there is some truth to this -- our customers who pay $199/night (season) seem nicer than the ones we charge $69/night (off-season) -- we also decided early on that we would be a family-friendly establishment and that we would not needlessly rip people off with uber-high prices.
How do we make sure jerk-asses and scumbags aren't ripping up our aviation themed rooms? It's never a 100% sure thing, but we have never had anything major damaged. Here's what we do:
1. Collateral. You either have a valid credit card or cash deposit before I give you a key. No skin in the game? No room. No exceptions.
2. Experience. After four businesses, working with the general public, Mary and I can usually smell trouble. If I don't like the looks of you, you aren't getting a room.
(Our daughter struggles with this. A 21 year old college student simply doesn't have the life experiences to weed bad people out. Of the tiny number of people I have had to physically throw out, over the last 5 years, they were all checked in by her or my other younger employees.)
3. Over the top customer service. We will do things no other hotel does, like deliver breakfast, and provide complete daily maid service. (Believe it or not, that's unusual on the island.) Not only does this level of extra service give us an edge on our competition, it gives us something the customers don't fully realize: More complete access to what is going on in our rooms.
This means, unlike other hotels, it would be completely impossible for a guest to be mixing up meth in one of our bathtubs, for example. Not so, at the Travel Lodge down the road.
Like I said, some people desperately need to stay at the McHoliday Inn. We are glad for that.