actonma

Last Friday at a Hilton in Europe I called down to the front desk that I had laundry but it was still sitting on the floor in my room when I got back at 10PM. And I had a flight at noon the next day to Amsterdam. Night Manager was very apologetic and washed/dryed my underwear and T-shirts in the hotel washing machine so I had clean clothes the next morning but I didn't give him my dress shirts/slacks.

Got to Holland the next day and check-in to my hotel and they don't have weekend laundry so I rush over to the Centrum in the little town I'm staying in and buy 2 shirts (I'm flying to Germany on Monday evening so checking out Monday morning...) and a pair of dress slacks for my meetings Monday and Tuesday.

Not many great options in a small town at 5:00PM on a Saturday but I got clothes that I am likely to wear again -- but I spent nearly 300 Euro. Ouch.

I have an email from the hotel manager and before I respond thought I would seek guidance on what is appropriate compensation, if any. They washed my underwear which I would have paid to clean otherwise, although I could have expensed. And they offered me a taxi to the airport when i checked out but I had an uber waiting outside so I politely declined.

Thoughts?

arlflyer

*Unhelpful snarky comment warning*

Are you a butcher for a living, or do you work with biohazards or something? If it were me I would have thrown my office clothes in the shower with the steam on for five minutes and gone to my Monday meetings happy as a clam. Oh wait, that's what I do to begin with...

smmrfld

My thoughts are that stuff happens when you travel, this wasn't exactly a major issue, and you should move on.

UKOK

I'm sure the night manager thinks he deserves some compensation.

jbeckett

Write it off. They did their best to make up for the mistake.

IsleOfMan

Sounds like they messed up and did what was in reason to remedy it. The cab offer was a nice touch as well, even if it ended up not being needed. I'd accept their graceousness and move on.

I also doubt I would have spent 300 euro on replacement clothes. In the rare instances that I travel and plan on relying on laundry service, I re-pack worn clothes carefully to ensure I have a backup... even when not relying on laundry I usually re-pack at least one outfit to re-wear in case of emergency (overnight delay, spill, etc) and always repack jeans for multiple evening/casual/travel wears.

Kacee

A request for compensation from the hotel would not even cross my mind.

I might be a little annoyed at myself for allowing a situation where a single minor hotel error left me without clean clothes for a business meeting.

gengar

I'm surprised compensation wasn't proactively offered. I've had failed laundry pickups/deliveries on two occasions (although neither with Hilton properties) and a manager contacted me in both instances with profuse apologies and I was (IMO) overcompensated, but it was clear that management was very concerned about leaving me in a tough spot.

In a separate incident at the Hilton Bentley, an FD agent incorrectly told me at check-in that there was weekend laundry service (there is not on Sundays); the night manager offered to take my laundry to a third party wash-and-fold himself, but I declined and just did so myself. He sent up a fruit plate and bottle of wine anyway, which was a greatly appreciated gesture.


At the same time, I do expect a dependable laundry service when the hotel advertises a laundry service.

MSPeconomist

Why was the laundry sitting on your floor? Often overseas hotels tell me to tie the bag to my doorknob while in more limited service places, I'll deliver it myself to the valet, front desk, or a housekeeping supervisor. I like to sort of watch it until I can verify that it's been processed into the system.

BTW I assume that it was in the supplied laundry bag and you completed the laundry request form.

writerguyfl

As a former hotel Night Manager, I know from experience that there's no way to satisfy every guest when it come to compensation. Based on your comment, it sounds as if you expect the hotel to offer compensation without prompting. That's a reasonable expectation and many people share that point-of-view.

However, there are also people that view an instant offer of compensation to be an insult. They see it as an attempt to ignore the problem and "buy them off". So, it's a bit of a no-win situation for hotel staff, as either option might end up making the situation worse.

scubaccr

Don't believe any compensation is really due, nor do I understand why would you end up with zero clean clothes other than what you were wearing when you asked for laundry service, what if you'd made that out dirty by accident, eg f+b spillage.

If airline loses luggage you just get allowed $50 to by essentials, I would not expect hotel to be on the hook for your 300euro purchase. It is like with insurance claims you have a duty of care scenario to keep expenses to a reasonable minimum.

Typically laundry left out by room guest is collected by room cleaning servicing each morning if bagged up in provide laudry bags.

If I need laundry on day of arrival or after room is cleaned , then I simply drop the laundry bag at either of Main or Lounge Reception, whichever I am naturally passing, normally without making a special walk just to do such dropoff..

If getting laundry done was so vitally important that if not done it would leave you short on clean clothes, why the heck did you not drop bag at reception on your way out earlier that day.

In fact on 1-nighters I don't usually avail myself of free pressing/laundry as free service is normal speed turn around, and laundry comes back midday/noon onwards which is pretty useless for my needs.

farnorthtrader

It never would have occurred to me to just leave my laundry on the floor in my room and expect it to be taken and cleaned. In fact, it is probably good that I read this thread because we often use the hotel laundry bag as our laundry bag. We will make sure to tuck it away out of sight in the future to make sure we don't accidentally use their laundry service. We have only used hotel laundry about three times and have always either dropped it at the desk or called and had it picked up.

NoStressHere

Best bet would have been to deliver to front desk. I would never trust that it would be picked up in room and delivered to the proper place.

Also, the idea of storing "worn" clothes with the expectation you might need to wear them is good. I always do this. Fold or hang with assumption you might need them. Has saved me more than once. Only underwear gets tossed into my dirty clothes bag.

geekboy

I have had this laundry issue, with it not going out, at least 2 times in the past 5 years. On both occasions, the General Manager personally took it to a local dry cleaner for "one-hour cleaning" and they covered the cost. I have even had issues where I sent laundry out on Friday while I was away the weekend, only to return on Monday and they had only hung up the laundry bag in the back -- holding it for me rather than sending it out.

Other than the several times I had this issue, I would not expect a hotel to compensate me for purchasing new clothes as that would be on the extreme end. I would at least expect alternate service, such as provided by the GM at the hotel I frequent, or maybe 10,000 points as "annoyance" compensation... but not much else.