6 EUR to make a baby bottle!!!

[trilinearmipmap]

The practical solution to the problem has been pointed out. Use bottled water to fill the baby bottle, then heat it by immersing it in hot tap water.

To the disingenuous posters who claim the OP should pay for the hot water: The baby may need to be fed every two to four hours depending on its age. So the hotel guest is supposed to pay 6 Euros (plus tax) six to twelve times per day for the duration of the stay? You have a choice whether to have room service, or eat out, or pack some food for your trip. You don't have the choice whether or not to feed your baby.

I do not buy the argument that "this is Europe, there are cultural differences". A traveler from any continent to any other should expect some basic amenities in his hotel room including a kettle and a coffee maker.

I have avoided travel in Italy due to the many reports of petty crime there. I did not expect that this would include robbery of hotel guests by the management.

[leandrorar]

I find here a clear conclusion. There are hotels that are baby-friendly and hotels that are not. It's their own decision.

Clearly the Sheraton Golf Medici is not baby-friendly (or at least does not correctly train its staff); so parents traveling with little ones should be aware of this and reconsider if they really want to stay at this hotel.

[Flying Lawyer]

Originally Posted by trilinearmipmap

To the disingenuous posters who claim the OP should pay for the hot water: The baby may need to be fed every two to four hours depending on its age. So the hotel guest is supposed to pay 6 Euros (plus tax) six to twelve times per day for the duration of the stay? You have a choice whether to have room service, or eat out, or pack some food for your trip. You don't have the choice whether or not to feed your baby..

Nobody argues the OP should pay for the hot water. The OP should pay for the service of having the hot water brought to his room.

One of the distinguised posters you are referring to begs to mention that it is hardly a problem to put an immersion heater into your suitecase if hot water is needed six to twelve times per day. We did it that way. And this posters wonders whether you would seriously expect room service to bring hot water six to twelve times per day. If so, such hotel guest is supposed to pay 6 Euros (plus tax) six to twelve times per day for the duration of the stay? Who else should pay it? This guest keeps a room service waiter busy for two to four hours a day, depending on the size of the hotel.

[beachfan]

Or an electric tea kettle

[beachfan]

Originally Posted by trilinearmipmap

A traveler from any continent to any other should expect some basic amenities in his hotel room including a kettle and a coffee maker.

It's certainly not standard in the US to have a kettle and/or coffeee maker.

[Flying Lawyer]

Originally Posted by trilinearmipmap

A traveler from any continent to any other should expect some basic amenities in his hotel room including a kettle and a coffee maker.

A kettle and a coffe maker is standard in the US

And: What about an eidedown bad, a European style lavatory, German speaking TV channels, 220V electrial connections, non-US sockets, a mixing battery at the basin, a hard matress - just to mention some basics I am used to bot will not find in the US. Your "basics" are different from the "basics" others expect. And if I travel I carry most of my "basics" with me (not the eiderdowns and the matress, I can survive in the US style dearanged sheets and blankets, too and a soft US bed will not kill me.

[holtju2]

Originally Posted by Flying Lawyer

Why should parents be entitled to get services for free when other guests have to pay for such services?

Same as why airlines should always upgrade expecting mothers, honeymooners, people with anniversaries, people with disabilities etc.

THEY SHOULDN'T

[thebkguy]

Wow, this sure is being over-analyzed.

This is simple: Like walls and electricity, water (hot or otherwise) is something a hotel should provide at no charge above what you're already paying to be there.

Doesn't matter if it's a motel 6 or the Four Seasons, it's water.

Service industry or not, charging someone for hot water regardless of its delivery mechanism is the epitome of nickel and diming. You're already being paid to provide them with water, they're paying for that in their room rate. If they happen to need hot water, and you are aware that they don't have easy access to hot water themselves, you provide it to them as a courtesy. You're in the hospitality business. Besides being a basic human need, a glass of water is the ultimate in no-cost-to-you requests. Use this opportunity to be hospitable to your guest.

Anyone with ten seconds of service training sees this as an obvious opportunity to satisfy a guest at no meaningful cost to the hotel, increasing their happiness and overall opinion of the property and/or chain. On the other hand, not honoring the request provides absolutely zero benefit to the hotel, and in fact causes the guest to lower their happiness level and opinion of the property.

I mean, if that wasn't true, this thread wouldn't exist. That single service snafu over a glass of hot water had a ripple effect (no pun intended) that caused the quality of the property's service to be questioned on a major traveler forum.

Over 6 EUR and a glass of hot water.

[Dambus]

Originally Posted by KVS

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.)?

No, the service in question is the provision of boiled water to make an infant feed. Check the thread title and the OP's first post if this is somehow unclear.

Some people here are generalising wildly to avoid the issue (IMHO), e.g. equating free airline upgrades to 250ml of boiled water? Seriously?


However, let's ask the direct question:

Assuming we have a cast-iron guarantee that the boiled tap water supplied would only used for mixing a feed, should the hotel provide boiled tap-water free of charge (again, specifically for making an infant feed)?

Allowable answers:

"Yes, assuming we have the cast-iron guarantee etc."
"No, not even with the cast-iron guarantee"

Unacceptable answers:

"Well how could we ever have such a guarantee?"

Originally Posted by KVS

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).

Unfortunately, humans can survive much longer in a rational vacuum and simply thrive on circular arguments.

Seriously though, I do understand the counter-arguments, just trying to tease out whether the issue is policing the use of the infamous boiled water or not.

My standpoint is that boiled tap water should be provided free of charge for an infant-feed but could be charged at full price for making up personal herbal tea, soaking of bunions, sterilisation of belly-button rings etc. etc.

-- Dambus

[Dambus]

Originally Posted by Flying Lawyer

Why should parents be entitled to get services for free when other guests have to pay for such services?

You are right, in general they shouldn't.

It would be ridiculous if simply having a kid in tow entitled parents to order free room service dinners, raid the mini-bar without charging, watch unlimited pay-movies etc.

Luckily this thread is debating whether a hotel should provide free, boiled tap-water specifically for making an infant feed?

[Flying Lawyer]

Originally Posted by Dambus

Luckily this thread is debating whether a hotel should provide free, boiled tap-water specifically for making an infant feed?

This thread is about a debate on FREE SERVICE BY ROOM SERVICE not about providing free, boiled tap-water specifically for making an infant feed. The focus is not on "free water" but on "free service".

And it is, to bring it to a more abstract level, the old debate whether costs for infants shall be socialized and transfered to the society or a bigger community or not. (be it via the tax payer, via other pax on a plane or a train, if it comes to cheap infants' and kids' seats or in our particular case via other hotel guests, if it comes to ROOM SERVICE serving hot water).

[ittboss]

Dear ittboss,

My name is ********* and I am the Executive Office Coordinator at the Sheraton Golf Parco dè Medici Hotel & Resort in Rome. I am writing in relation to the Comment Card you kindly completed during your recent stay with us.


.....I would also like to assure you that we do read all surveys and act on them immediately. As regards to your kind comment about hot water, I wish to inform you that Italian fire regulations do not allow us to keep any kind of electrical equipment in the rooms. Further to this I wish to confirm that the charge of € 6,00 is the usual charge for anything brought to our honoured guests’ rooms, as published anywhere.....

Dear ittboss, by thanking you once again for your kind preference of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide – your home away from home, I remain at your complete disposal for any information or assistance with the booking you might need



Kindest regards,

*******

[Dambus]

Originally Posted by Flying Lawyer

This thread is about a debate on FREE SERVICE BY ROOM SERVICE not about providing free, boiled tap-water specifically for making an infant feed. The focus is not on "free water" but on "free service".

The title of the thread is "6 EUR to make a baby bottle!!!" and the key question the OP asks is "Now is this a justifiable charge?" or to put it another way:

Should a hotel provide free, boiled tap-water specifically for making an infant feed?

In this particular case the hotel chose not to make hot water accessible via any route other than room service for which there is an associated charge. (Let's ignore for a moment that OP was originally told to go down to the restaurant to collect some hot water)

The OP did not ask for free room service he asked for hot water for his infant. The hotel told him his only option was via room service with a €6 fee. The debate is not whether the hotel should waive it's room service fee, it is whether the hotel should somehow provide access to free, boiled tap water specifically for making an infant feed.

Again, my standpoint is yes it should. Whether this is by allowing the OP to collect some boiling water from the kitchen or by waiving the room service charge makes no difference to me. If the hotel is worried about tying up room service staff or is paranoid about non-infant use of it's hot water fine, then go the kitchen route. But that is a secondary issue.

If you feel that on principle the hotel should not offer free access to boiled water for infant use then the debate is over and we can agree to disagree.

-- Dambus

[SwissCircle]

I still don`t get what the problem is:

willing to stay at a luxury hotel, eventually pay quite a price per night and then complain about 6 Euros for rooms service?

[Shantanu]

Just a couple of points:

Originally Posted by SwissCircle

I still don`t get what the problem is:

willing to stay at a luxury hotel, eventually pay quite a price per night and then complain about 6 Euros for rooms service?

Not trying to be excessively pernickety, but I really wouldn't call this place a luxury hotel.....we usually stay there just to avoid the expensive rome city centre hotels.

Originally Posted by ittboss

I wish to inform you that Italian fire regulations do not allow us to keep any kind of electrical equipment in the rooms.

What about the hairdryer, television, fax machine (brought to our room as a special request item), minibar, etc, etc......they're not wind powered!

In my own experience at the same hotel (as stated previously)......... we went to the restaurant and they refused to allow us to take the boiled water up to the room; they insisted on bringing it up themselves.....and didn't charge us a room service fee (this was on the first evening we arrived there)......and also the next morning (not afterwards, because, as already stated, we purchased a small kettle from Carrefour romanina). Now, we didn't want room service, they provided the service free.....so why wasn't this afforded to ittboss. It surely should be the same for all guests, especially since ittboss, like me, didn't actually want room service. Also, we were given this service twice; it was not from the same waiter/manager.

On the issue of trying to cheat the hotel out of revenue (using the hot water for one's own tea bags, oatmeal, etc), they don't charge to bring up champagne buckets which I use for my own wine........and there can be no other use for such a vessel.

Of course no one can expect anything for free at a hotel......but it would be nice if the hotel used some reasonable judgement. It would make guests feel good (they made us feel good by treating us in the way ittboss would have liked to have been treated). Indeed, our older child was given free milk repeatedly (even though we expected and wanted to pay for his milk) at the Cafe, the piano bar and the less formal restaurant. The time we ordered room service for him, the waiter even ran down and brought him a glass of free milk after delivering his meal......and we did feel good about the way we were treated (not about the stay in general as there were other service issues which spoiled our experience of that particular stay in addition to problems with the room). But we have since returned there (with our own kettle......... which always sits in the boot of the family car).

Lastly, no one is trying to present an argument here that would stand up in the european court of human rights. It's just an issue of good customer service and care.