Uniter

I stayed at the Embassy Suites in Washington DC two nights ago. At 6:20 AM, the fire alarm went off. I walked down from the 9th floor and found out it's a false alarm.

Now, normally, I'd never even THINK of asking for compensation for this. After all, it's not the hotel's fault, right?

Well, the thing is, I've stayed there twice in the last month and this is the second time it's happened. Plus, it took them 25 minutes to "unlock" the elevators and get them working again.

So at checkout, I went down to talk to the manager. The assistant manager says he's not here, but will call me when he gets in at 9:00 am. Naturally, he never calls. So I call the next day the manager says that the alarm is not their fault, but offered to buy me lunch. I told him I checked out yesterday.. and that this is the second time it's happened, so perhaps they have a faulty alarm. Then he offered me a free weekend night stay at their hotel.

It was really more than I was looking for, but I took it, of course. Did I take advantage of them?

OB one

From the way I read your post, I don't really think you were taking advantage of them. It sounds like you were offering comments and suggestions as a return guest and that you wanted to give them your business but that had concerns about some aspect of the hotel operation. After all if the alarm is faulty, one day it might not go off when it should and that would really inconvenience you. If you went down screaming and demanding compensation, i think that would be wrong. I have gone outside in the middle of the night due to fire alarms. Sometimes things happen. You try to get back to sleep

I waited with my family once for over an hour for a shuttle after a red eye flight all the while standing in the heat of the day. It wasn't fun and I made three phone calls for the shuttle to the hotel which was five minutes away. I went in a spoke to the manager when we finally got there and told him that it was no fun and that he needed to do something about the shuttle response. That is all I wanted - an acknowledgement that the shuttle left me stranded- but he invoked the 100% guarantee and gave me a free night which I told him was not what I was looking for and he said "Well we appreciate you business." Like a grandmother or aunt stuffing $20 in your pocket, you say no once then "OK, i'll take it."

Uniter

Actually, I did ask directly for some sort of compensation.

The funniest part is that when I finally got back upstairs (after more than 30 minutes), some woman was leaning out over the atrium railing on the 9th floor. She asks, "Was it a false alarm?" I almost told her that if it wasn't, she'd be dead by now!

beerman

Labor day weekend I stayed at a Marriott. Friday night the alarm goes off at about 12:30 AM and wakes us up. Then Saturday night the exact same thing happens at almost the same time. At checkout no compensation was asked for or offered, just an apology. I think some people just thought it was "fun" to set off the alarm. It wasn't the hotels fault as far as I could tell but very annoying nevertheless.

ProntoPup

You know you took advantage of them or you wouldn't ask.

Everyone is always after something for nothing. Life is full of inconveniences,
I wish people would learn to live with it and try to make it better for others, instead of always thinking "ME" ... what is in this for ME??

holtju2

At Hampton Inn Buena Park the fire alarm went off early morning hours and when checking out we agreed 50% discount on my stay.

At the the HGI LAX the alarm went off at 5AM and after calling to front desk to inquiry what was going on they told that they would entirely comp my one night stay.

Next time when I was at the HGI LAX I inquired if they were going to have the fire alarm special that night too.

ozstamps

That's the good thing about the Starwood Service Promise.

In this instance they'd pretty much automatically add enough points at check out to cover a mid level award room stay for you down the track. ^

They've offered me that when Hotel airport van was late arriving for goodness sakes, or when mail articles held at desk have not been handed over at check-in.

Anything IN THEIR CONTROL that goes wrong they'll consider for this points rebate. Now if some drunken kids lurching back to their rooms have hit the fire button at 3am thinking it was a huge joke, well it is not the hotel's fault. If it is just faulty settings or writing etc, a Sheraton would generally pay on this.

JerryFF

Every place there are fire alarm systems, there are occasional false alarms- hotels, businesses, private homes. Yes, they are inconvenient, but consider the alternative. Would you stay in a hotel that did not have an alarm system? I realize that's a theoretical question, since alarms are legally required, but it is worth considering what it would be like without them.

KENNECTED

In this instance, I totally agree. You were looking for a freebie!

You are a good person to tell management that there have been issues with the fire alarm system during both of your stays, they might have a faulty system. In addition, you've alert US that there is an security/emergency issue at this property whether it's in this particular properties control or not.

Having said that, if you return and the alarm goes of again - you should say NOTHING - as you know IN ADVANCE that they have "issues" with their fire alarm.

I hope you informed hilton when they sent you the "thank you for your stay" email AND alerted [email protected]. I would hate to read later on down the line that something terrible happened at this property due to a faulty fire alarm system.

Lehava

No hotel (or hotel chain) could stay in business if every time a fire alarm went off they had to give the whole building a free night (which would be the fair way to do it, if you get one why shouldnt everyone else). Do you give your family an award everytime your one at home goes off for some reason? I think there is a line and you crossed it. Some things just happen and we need to be adults and live with it. There is a difference between being an elite who should be compensated and just being greedy and selfish.

Uniter

I think you're completely missing the big picture. I have a lot of choices of where to stay in DC -- even within the Hilton family. Being awoken twice at the same hotel in a month from a faulty alarm system is something that would keep me from going back there - is that greedy and selfish? No, it's part of being a good consumer.

The manager knows this. He saw in my record I'm a Diamond member who stays there a lot and he decided to compensate me for my inconveniences. That's called being a good manager.

If you're happy being an adult with a lot of inconveniences, have fun staying at Motel 6. You'll get a lot of them there! (Although, the free local calls are nice).

On a positive note, at both my stays at this ES I was finally provided with a much-promised bathrobe for being Diamond. When the alarm went off, I was tempted to come down in the robe just to show it off.

Lehava

I don't feel I am missing the big picture. You said in post 3 that you ASKED for compensation. Had you offered your comments that it was an inconvenience and needed to be fixed and they had OFFERED compensation that would have been one thing, you ASKED for compensation. Which brings me back to my statement, if you deserve it so does everyone else who was there and that is not realistic for any property.

BTW on your motel 6 comment, I will be meeting my qualifications for Hilton during my current stay. I am the same level you are. I still feel that we have to be realistic about our expectations and not let our status make us into snobs or thinking we are above the reality of the world. Things happen elite or not.

DCBob

I agree that it is selfish to ask for compensation. I have had alarms go off between 2 and 4 AM at 3 different hotels and it never even occurred to me to be that greedy. I was just grateful that the alarm system was functioning.

Tazmania

Now I know why the cut back Gold end Diamond elite perks, they need it for compansations

oontiveros

you people are silly. the fire alarm went off twice in two seperate stays. early in the am. i'd be upset. i would not have necessarily asked for compensation but i would certainly complain. and ensure a report is made. but i see nothing wrong (not my style but nothing wrong) in asking for compensation, especially as a diamond and if they knew me from staying often.