Originally Posted by
stackm
I also view the suggestions as guidelines. I can't imagine being outraged that the potato chips or nuts were an incorrect flavor, or the wine delivered was a different brand than I requested.
If there are 10 Inner Circle guests per night, the concierge potentially could spend much of his day just fulfilling snack requests, in addition to attending to his regular job responsibilities.
It's not often I defend the hotel chain, but I believe we should cut them some slack. Especially since many of these rooms sell for $100-$200.
Slack is one thing. Sure if they give me wavy chips instead of normal, I'm not going to complain. Or commonly they don't have the exact wine varietal I like, but they try to get close and that's good enough for me. I think most complaints from me and others come from total lack of effort. A common pieces of sliced fruit and a bottle of water isn't even remotely close to what I ask for.
The IC amenity is marketed to replace "raid the minibar." Before I was IC and I got to raid the minibar I could pick exactly what I wanted, from the sometimes limited minibar selection. Why should I settle for something I don't want now, when the IC amenity is supposed to be an upgrade?
Sure, if you're booking a last minute discount rate in the lowest room category, I'd assume the hotel isn't going to pay as much mind to you. But, I can count on one hand the number of times I've reserved below a suite at a Kimpton, and even at repeat hotels I've gotten amenities that are clearly afterthoughts. It's just disingenuous to advertise this to be something it's not and I do not feel ashamed to call and request what I want, if the amenity is really disappointing.