Originally Posted by
GUWonder
For my stays at “luxury” hotels in European capital cities, when arriving for possible early check-in, an offer of an alcoholic “welcome drink” is anything but a certainty.
I'm not saying it's certain, but I've experienced this at PHV multiple times, Crillon multiple times (pre-renovation), Hyde Park Towers (I'm not sure this is the right name, the round thing that was a Sheraton Towers in the legacy SPG LC) in London, the old Hyde Park Hotel in London (before it became a Taj or whatever), Hotel des Indes in the Hague multiple times, and at the Sheraton CDG (although IIRC it was a glass of white wine rather than champagne). It's also happened multiple times at the PH in BsAs, although the last time when my favorite suite wasn't ready, they gave me a different suite for (my choice) either the day or until the following afternoon. At GH Rio, I was offered both breakfast and wine or champagne in the lounge on my arrival day and shown my suite about a half hour later, although they never said whether the suite was or was not ready when I arrived. In Asia, it's happened at Raffles Singapore multiple times and once at the Westin Tokyo.
BTW, I always try to tip the way the locals do (for instance tipping for normal service in addition to a service charge in some places but not in others and generally not tipping in Asia).