Well, I see it like Cal does, because aside from the fact that P/L says boutique hotels provide room service when in fact they do not:

1. Providing a take-out menu to outside restaurants which deliver is not room service. By that standard, any hotel/motel in New York could legitimately claim they provide room service.

2. If I'm out late, and get back to my room with the munchies, I'm cashed out, and want to charge a salad or burger to my room, I can't do that. That is a fairly big problem with me, going to bed hungry.

3. If there's no restaurant on the premises and I want breakfast, I have to get dressed properly to go outside and find a place, perhaps there isn't anyplace within 3 or 4 blocks, and I don't want to walk anywhere, nor go outside. Furthermore, eggs get cold real fast.

4. Room service entails some kind of controls, i.e., if the meal is unsatisfactory, the hotel can credit you or otherwise compensate you for the inconvenience. Can't do with take-out.

5. Lastly, there is a possibility that P/L will "upgrade" you to a boutique hotel from a bid for a 3* hotel. In my experience, some 3* hotels do have full room service. If I were upgraded from a 3* to a boutique without traditional room service, I would not be happy. Yet, as the OP indicated, if you have been "upgraded", you may not then "downgrade" back to a 3* - the reservation is non-changeable, non-refundable, even though I never agreed to bid for a higher class ("boutique") hotel.

P/L should deliver what they say they will, or change their description of boutique, or perhaps change their bidding process, but it seems clear to me that they really aren't providing boutique hotels as they define boutique hotels.

[This message has been edited by anonplz (edited 01-30-2003).]