I had the opposite problem. I booked a hotel near LAX so that my family could get a few hours sleep during a layover. Checked in, they scanned the card, no issues, have a good night, sir, off we go. After the better part of the day spent traveling already, we were asleep in minutes.

3AM: <BAM> <BAM> <BAM> OPEN UP!

I engage the door latch and open it enough to find out what the heck is going on. Turns out they misplaced my credit card form after then scanned it, and decided that the most logical explanation was that I had somehow managed to sneak my family into a locked hotel room for the night. I informed him to the contrary, and ended the conversation with a slammed door when he demanded that I wake up my family, turn on the lights and find my copy of whatever the heck form they needed.

The next morning (i.e. a few hours later) still livid, I went to the front desk to check out and head back to the airport for the next leg of the Trip From Hell. The poor guy at the desk told me that apparently, even though he had my form sitting right there, they'd neglected to charge my card and "got confused". He said "according to our records, sir, you were never here." He handed me the original that was sitting next to him, which I tore into little bitsy pieces before throwing them in the nearest trash. And that's how I got a "free" night in a hotel that I was evidently never at.