Welcome drink policy
 

As a silver member this is about what you get... but what is the welcome drink policy?

I have gotten welcome drinks on Ibis, Novotel and even Ibis Budget once. About the same number of visits I have not gotten the free drink voucher on Ibis, Novotel and Ibis Budget. I am baffled. What is the policy? Unfortunately I am too polite to ask for free booze ;)

As silver or above you should be given a drinks voucher at check-in. A lot of hotels especially around the UK won't actually give it to you unless you ask in my experience. Just ask if there's a drinks voucher available and they will usually cough one up and sometimes even apologize. Same goes for upgrades when you reach gold, in my experience in the UK you usually have to ask if there is an upgrade available upon check-in for them to give you one.

I've never had to ask for a drink coupon (never stayed in a ibis budget, tho). My silver period was very short during the old days, so maybe good luck.

I'll always ask if I don't receive it, regardless of benefits.

No free drinks at Ibis Budget hotels since they're not part of the programme.

At all other brands, there's no need to be shy. Just ask for a voucher if you're not given one at check-in.

I have always get the vouchers. What I am wondering though, when I book more than 1 room, some times I only get vouchers for the room I stay (2 vouchers) and not for other guests in other rooms, but some times I get voucher for all the rooms and all the guests. Wondering what is the real policy about this. :eek:

I'm at the Novotel Taoyuan International Airport. Just checked in at midnight. I'm Accor Silver. The good news is I was given a Welcome Drink voucher for the Q Bar. The bad news is the bar closes at midnight. I arrived at the shuttle bus location at Terminal 1 at 11:18 pm. Bus is every 1/2 hour. Next bus was 11:45 pm. Thus arrived at hotel at midnight. However it was a nice gesture. :)

You should ask front desk whether it can be redeemed for any item in the minibar. U should be given ample opportunity to enjoy your welcome drink 😉

Can't the voucher be used the next day before you check out? In my experience welcome drink vouchers are good to redeem anytime up to the day you check out.

Some hotels have confusing welcome drink voucher policy.

Sofitel So Singapore, 1st stay, welcome drink voucher can be claimed on any cocktails from their rooftop bar
but then on my 2nd stay, they only provide So So house wine ... no other options (the FD does mention that welcome drink voucher can be used for any drinks from the bar)

Sofitel Nusa Dua and Novotel on Stevens have separate menu for welcome drinks voucher

AFAIR, when I booked a room for 2, the voucher was for 2 : it happenned in a Sofitel and a Mercure (2x)

Just checked out of Sofitel Manila, had booked two rooms as I was travelling with family. We got two welcome drink vouchers each good for two drinks. The mango smoothies at the pool bar were delicious ^

Thank you for this advice. I will remember and try this next time. :)

This is true, but was not too helpful for me when I was checking out early the next morning. :)

This is what a few (rare) stingy hotels want you to believe.

Welcome drink for a double room is for both guests. This is my experience all over Europe at Ibis, Ibis Style, Novotel, Mercure, Pullman and Sofitels.

When denied a welcome drink for 2, ask which guest is not welcome. This shames them.

Mercure Salzburg receptionist was incredulous when I told her that Ibis Versailles would insist on 1 drink only for a double room. She said "how can one of you be without a drink when the other one has one". This is such a sensible attitude.

The second drink costs peanuts to the hotel. This is not about money, it is about principles and atmosphere that the hotel wants to establish.

In French it says " Boisson de bienvenue. Une boisson vous est gracieusement offerte. Différentes boissons sont proposées selon la marque de l'hôtel. Toutes les précisions à ce sujet figurent sur le chèque que vous remet l'hôtel.".

The "available for you and registered guests staying in your room." is missing.... Some French hotels might use this ....

Second drink voucher for double room : everywhere but in France!!!!
 

In France I've only ever been given a voucher for one person but on arrival at the bar when with the OH I've always been offered two drinks.

I had really good surprises even in France : Once as we were a group of 10 peoples, we were given vouchers for all 10 of us (I booked all the 5 rooms).
Sometimes, I only got one voucher for two people in one room...

​​​​​​​Drink vouchers for all 10 people across 5 rooms? That's impressive! Might I ask which hotel this was?

Mercure Créolia Saint-Denis La Réunion : 10 peoples (5 rooms) : drink vouchers for 10
Pullman Paris Montparnasse : 8 peoples (2 family rooms) : drink vouchers for 8
Mercure Saint-Lary Sensoria : 5 peoples(1 family room) : drink vouchers for 5

I got another email form CS. Can't resist sharing part of it with you. Instead of focusing on customer dissatisfaction, they direct us to the Terms and conditions! Are they fearing a lawsuit or what? :D

I copy the text in French, because I am afraid that once translated it will lose the subtle message of their self-importance.

" En effet, selon les Conditions Générales d'Utilisation du programme et exclusivement en France, cette attention constitue un avantage réservé au membre dont les nom et prénom figurent sur la carte de fidélité. Néanmoins, il peut arriver que certains hôtels prennent l’initiative, de façon exceptionnelle, d’en faire bénéficier la ou les personnes accompagnant le membre pendant son séjour."

In English

" Indeed, according to the General Conditions of Use of the program and exclusively in France, this attention is a benefit reserved for the member whose name and surname appear on the loyalty card.
Nevertheless, it may happen that some hotels take the initiative, exceptionally, to benefit the person or persons accompanying the member during his stay. "

I answered among other things:

" What should be a symbolic gesture of welcome has become an insulting farce, because it is not the cost of the second drink that counts, but the gesture and the derogatory attitude of the hotel.

With regard to "this attention is a benefit for the member whose name and surname appear on the loyalty card." I would like to point out that "benefit" is misplaced in the case of a beer or a glass of wine at 3 euros.

The "welcome drink" is not a monetary benefit but a gesture of welcome.

I wonder what mail these three hotels will get Monday from the management. Keep it up, or cut it out? Hehe...

Pullman Montparnasse won't get much of an email. They are a n der heavy renovation.

As stated in other posts, it up to the hotels' discretion how they want to handle it.
But that France does not follow the minimum is not right.

Baltics covered nicely
 

pulman palmeraie maraks NO
pulman cocagne eindhoven YES for both clients
kees

Then one is plain wrong and the other one plain right according to LCAH CS.:)

While we are talking about the Accor concept of consistency, I have sometimes had two vouchers, which then can be used separately. I had one voucher for two people at the Novotel Fenix Silom, but the barmaid said I was welcome to have them at separate times if I wanted.

The range of drinks provided is amazingly varied, from cheap juice to good wine and cocktails and while the quality is correlated with brand, it's inconsistent. The Pullman Kuching provides a simple juice that I don't think is worth bothering with. The Pullman Khon Kaen has lists of drinks by status level (platinum can get top shelf booze, silver can't get anything alcoholic, gold is in between) and even the lowest level has coconut juice. (i.e. an actual coconut, not something out of a can)

I stayed at the Sofitel Jinan Silver Plaza over the weekend and only received one voucher for a room with two people in it, which was disappointing.

I would have ordered one drink, and shared it with the next pax in a demonstrative way - taking one sip each at the time, while saying "Thank you, we are feeling welcome!".

Excellent. Asking for two straws could be fun as well.

It's so insulting. I had similar experiences but only a handful of hotels give 1 voucher per room for 1 person even though we are registered as 2 persons. I either returned the vouchers to the front desk staff who issued me with the vouchers and asked them to keep it for themselves or I will simply tear the vouchers in front of them and dumped it into the bin.

For hotels that only provide Non alcoholic drinks, I will ask them why are they insulting me? Do I look underage that I cannot consume alcoholic drinks? I simply torn the vouchers in front of them.

But so far most of the hotels will provide 2 drinks per room.