Originally Posted by oliveANDatwist
While I appreciate that nickel and diming guests in luxury hotels is a very bad move, I thought I would give you the point of view of a hotelier. The F&B department of most luxury hotels is often run at a loss in countries where wages are above slave labour level. I will not bore you with extract of departmental P&L accounts, but suffice to say that it costs a great deal of money to keep staff level in relation to guests expectation( there is a lot involved in a simple club sandwich, from the guy who takes your order to the laundry staff who will clean your napkin). Believe me the chap who sells the $6.95 club sandwich is probably making more money on it than the RC or FS on its $20 one. That said I am the first one to complain about exhorbitant telephone charges because once you have amortised the equipment the running costs are peanuts. So I think that what luxury travellers can complain about is the quality of the service associated with the item, if your club sandwich is perfect, served on nice china and with a smile then tip the poor guy who delivered it and enjoy.
But isn't this why many hotels add on automatically a hefty gratuity for the guests convenience?? I have seen a low of 12.5% to 18% gratuity added, not to mention at some hotels tray/cover charges...... however, I can understand that keeping good staff levels high to meet customer expectation is expensive, especially in markets like Paris and New York..... . While it doesn't take the sting away it is nice to have a club sandwich while checking FT, watching tv and enjoying the city/resort scenes from your hotel room once in awhile......