Location: MSP (Mahtomedi, MN, USA) - HHonors Diamond, NWA Gold & World Club, Hertz 5*, etc.
Posts: 759
this is not going to be the last bottle your kid needs. Switch to breast feeding (ha ha) or else go buy a water kettle. At 6 euro a pop you'll quickly reach the price of a water kettle, even an expensive one.
As a European (British and Spanish) I feel able to say that, yes, the hotel had the right to charge this, but it was mean, mean, mean.
And particularly in a country with such a reputation for loving bambini. And Shantanu has confirmed my own suspicion. It wasn't so much a hotel policy, just bad luck on part of the OP that there were 'childcatcher' supervisors on duty in the reception and kitchens that day.
First the OP was sent on a wild goose chase to the kitchens, where the request was refused.
Perhaps the OP could have charged the reception for wasting time and effort, since the Hotel saw it fit to charge 6Euros for the hassle of heating up water and for taking the same time and effort to visit the OP's room with it the arrangement could have been to call it even-Stevens (perhaps a 1Euro charge for electricity since this is getting so pedantic) and have done with it.
Shame, shame on the Sheraton Golf Medici.
I hope the OP will not return. I'll certainly never consider going there. A good few of the posters looking at this are similarly revolted.
Absolutely the Sheraton Golf Medici had every right to charge what it liked. And in return for that 6Euros they've obtained some ugly publicity in a popular forum. Who knows, perhaps someone reading this has cancelled a forthcoming booking as a result.
The sad fact is that budget conscious travellers like myself are not too concerned with this kind of charge, we have a tiny Japanese stove that goes everywhere with us and make ourselves immune to this kind of pettiness. The victims are the higher payers, just the sort of people these hotels REALLY do want. But even higher payers will balk at some charges on principle. This is such an instance. What a fantastic example of how to go about killing off your golden goose (by denying a vital need to its goslings).
Programs: Severals Golds (BA, BD, AB and LH), Highest tier with HH, SPG and ICRA, lawyer, sometimes a nice guy
Posts: 4,933
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Originally Posted by LapLap
Shame, shame on the Sheraton Golf Medici.
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Originally Posted by LapLap
As someone who has fed babies, I don't agree.
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Originally Posted by soitgoes
That's my feeling, too.
Now it comes to emotions and feelings, which is hardly an argument. One question was raised but never answered: Why should parents be entitled to get services for free when other guests have to pay for such services?
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Do not feel offended by my posts - remember, I am a simple minded litigation lawyer.
Now it comes to emotions and feelings, which is hardly an argument. One question was raised but never answered: Why should parents be entitled to get services for free when other guests have to pay for such services?
I think all guests should be provided with hot water for free in some way.
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Originally Posted by Flying Lawyer
Now it comes to emotions and feelings, which is hardly an argument.
In a customer service situation, all that matters is how the customer feels.
Surprisingly enough, quite a few purchases are made based on emotional rather than rational drivers.....
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Originally Posted by Flying Lawyer
One question was raised but never answered: Why should parents be entitled to get services for free when other guests have to pay for such services?
The service in question is the provision of boiled tap water to make an infant feed. Who else, other than a parent, would want such a service?
Now it comes to emotions and feelings, which is hardly an argument. One question was raised but never answered: Why should parents be entitled to get services for free when other guests have to pay for such services?
Why should the disabled get to use facilities denied to the able bodied?
This same hotel didn't charge for the same service to another guest, so the decision to do so or not to do so is obviously an emotional one depending on who is on duty that day and whether they feel it appropriate to charge or not to charge.
Hotels are a business, but one likes to assume that they have a customer's best interests and welfare at heart.
Why should they provide this service for free? Because by doing so it confirms that the hotel does understand the needs of its clients and the extra responsibilities that parents have. The baby is a guest of the hotel and a particularly vulnerable one at that. Like it or not, it has special needs not shared by an able bodied adult (and the hotel advertising and providing a crib goes some way to acknowledging this). Why should the hotel attempt to do business with a baby (via the baby's parents) as if it was an adult?
The service in question is the provision of boiled tap water to make an infant feed.
No, the service in question is the delivery of boiled tap water to the room. For the 91st time, why should the price of that product/service vary, depending on the [alleged] intended use (e.g. "to make an infant feed", to brush teeth with, to soak one's feet in, etc.)?
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Originally Posted by Dambus
Who else, other than a parent, would want such a service?
Any adult, who feels thirsty and wants to drink something in the comfort of their room. As you may know, "survival [of humans] without water is usually limited to three or four days" (Source: Wikipedia).
Why should the disabled get to use facilities denied to the able bodied?
Please provide an example that relates to the provision of food and/or beverages.
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Originally Posted by LapLap
This same hotel didn't charge for the same service to another guest, so the decision to do so or not to do so is obviously an emotional one depending on who is on duty that day and whether they feel it appropriate to charge or not to charge.
Any business is always free to comp (gift) anything to anyone. However, that does not create an obligation.
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Originally Posted by LapLap
Hotels are a business, but one likes to assume that they have a customer's best interests and welfare at heart.
The "welfare" part would entail, for example, the appropriate quality control procedures (e.g. ensuring that the container, in which the water is delivered to the guest, is properly washed), not providing it for free.
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Originally Posted by LapLap
Why should they provide this service for free?
Indeed, why?
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Originally Posted by LapLap
Because by doing so it confirms that the hotel does understand the needs of its clients
Infants also have a "need" to eat -- should their meals be free too?
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Originally Posted by LapLap
and the extra responsibilities that parents have.
Understanding the needs of parents and an automatic 100% discount for F&B charges are two different things.
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Originally Posted by LapLap
The baby is a guest of the hotel and a particularly vulnerable one at that. Like it or not, it has special needs not shared by an able bodied adult
Like it or not, hotels do not allow unaccompanied babies as their guests. As such, the responsibility for baby's needs (and the associated costs of baby's Fs&Bs is the responsibility of the baby's parent(s).
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Originally Posted by LapLap
(and the hotel advertising and providing a crib goes some way to acknowledging this).
As mentioned previously, Cribs are amenities, provided upon request to hotel guests, just like bathrobes, bath scales, etc. They are neither drinkable nor edible. Beverages, including bottled/boiled water are in the F&B category and are [typically] chargeable.
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Originally Posted by LapLap
Why should the hotel attempt to do business with a baby (via the baby's parents) as if it was an adult?
For the same reason that diaper manufacturers "do business with a baby (via the baby's parents)" -- because a baby does not have the money to pay for their product.
Programs: Severals Golds (BA, BD, AB and LH), Highest tier with HH, SPG and ICRA, lawyer, sometimes a nice guy
Posts: 4,933
Quote:
Originally Posted by LapLap
Why should they provide this service for free? Because by doing so it confirms that the hotel does understand the needs of its clients and the extra responsibilities that parents have. The baby is a guest of the hotel and a particularly vulnerable one at that. Like it or not, it has special needs not shared by an able bodied adult (and the hotel advertising and providing a crib goes some way to acknowledging this). Why should the hotel attempt to do business with a baby (via the baby's parents) as if it was an adult?
KVS' answer was so much to the point, I could not better advocate the case.
As a parent I understand your position. However, it is driven by the approach "see my wonderful little one, you all will support me". I as a parent book that room and I am responsible for my little one, not the hotel. I am responsible for its special needs, not the hotel. And I have to pay for the service, neither the hotel nor the society.
There are plenty of other guests at the same hotel having vital needs (eg me needing cloride free water). But I am willing to pay for it the same way I take care of the needs of my little one.
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Do not feel offended by my posts - remember, I am a simple minded litigation lawyer.
