When one books a holiday rental, they typically hope that certain things are taken care of. For example, they will likely assume that they’ll arrive to a bed that’s been made up, have a space to put their luggage, and the residence itself is equipped with all necessary safety features.

Unfortunately, travelers often find that the latter isn’t as common as one might think. For example, one 2018 study found that Airbnb rentals throughout the country frequently lacked smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Airbnb has since tried to resolve this by providing free combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to eligible hosts.

As hotels are required to follow strict safety codes, travelers are usually confident that they will provide a safer experience. However, one traveler is alleging that this isn’t always the case.

What’s Wrong With This Fire Exit?

In a video with over 89,000 views, TikTok user Kyle Himes (@kylehimes8) shows himself in the staircase of the fire exit at the JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes.

“The elevators are not working, so I came to the fire exit,” Himes explains.

However, as he goes from floor to floor, he discovers that the door to enter each floor is locked.

“I’m at stairwell lobby one—it’s locked. Main floor? Locked,” he says, demonstrating that the doors are locked. “So, the whole fire exit—you’re pretty much screwed. There’s a problem here.”

Is This Dangerous?

While many commenters agreed that this was inconvenient, others thought that what Himes was showing was actually both unsafe and illegal.

“Bro just won a lawsuit,” reads one highly favorited comment.

“Ohhhhhhhh big no no. get that bag,” echoed another.

However, others countered that this wasn’t that big of a deal and that what Himes was experiencing was actually normal.

“Having worked in hotels in the past. The comments saying that the doors are supposed to be locked are correct. it is meant to be that way so if there is a fire everyone can safely go down the full staircase and not try to go back into the building/their rooms,” explained a commenter.

“Actually Fire Marshal here. Florida Fire Code only requires that egress is free and obstructed, not ingress,” added another. “So as long as you can exit the building in that stairwell it is not against Florida Fire Code.”

https://www.tiktok.com/@kylehimes8/video/7524197080252828959

Building Codes And Fire Exits

So, who is correct?

Based solely on what was shown in the video, this arrangement would be OK, as the latter two comments are correct. As the doors are solely meant to be points of egress—as in, they are supposed to allow people to exit—it is permissible for them to lock automatically and only allow a complete egress to the outside of the building.

However, in a comment, Himes says that the ground floor—the one that was supposed to allow for egress from the building—was also locked and that he was only eventually able to leave through a service elevator. He does not show this in the video. If this is true, and there is no way to escape from the fire exit, the building would be violating several building codes.

In Himes’ case, he says that this issue with the elevators and the resultant fire exit problems was the last straw.

“We ended up checking out a day early,” he wrote in a comment. “Enough was enough. From the moment we arrived up until the fire exit elevator issue. JW has went down hill.”

BroBible reached out to both Marriott and JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes, via email. BroBible also reached out to Himes via TikTok direct message and comment.

The post ‘Bro Just Won A Lawsuit’: Orlando JW Marriott Guest Says Elevators Aren’t Working. Then He Tries To Use A Fire Exit appeared first on BroBible.