Taking Items from Lounges?
 

I'm currently staying at the Conrad London St. James. It's also about 100F/40C here in London today. I went into the lounge, grabbed a bottle of still water, took a sip, and started to leave. I was stopped at the door by a lounge agent who said I cannot do that. I could have easily fit the bottle in my pocket and she'd have never known, but I thought this was such a trivial item to "steal" that it wouldn't really make a difference, especially given the weather. I didn't argue with her, but I also didn't feel compelled to apologize so I just set the bottle on the table near the door and left.

Am I really being that awful stealing 75% of a bottle of water? They had beer, sodas, and other items which I did not take.

I've never had that happen. I've even had lounge attendants ask me if I want a bottle of water for my room or the road. I've also never had a problem getting a plate of food and taking it to my room to eat when the lounge is too crowded. I think that attendant was on a power trip.

No, of course not. However most lounges do have a general rule that you can't take any food and beverage from the lounge. So whether it was a bottle of water or a bottle of wine they're going to ask you not to take it (if they see you).

Of course the level of enforcement is going to vary by the hotel and the management/attendants.

I got yelled at for taking a bottle of seltzer to my room from a Crowne Plaza lounge (TLV). So yeah this seems to be a thing, but I've never been told "no" when I've asked if it's OK to take a glass of wine up I'd bought at the bar.

Earlier that week, the same lounge dragon offered me a nearly-full bottle of wine when they were closing for the night. I took it, of course.

I didn't look, but maybe this is posted somewhere. Maybe I stay with Marriott too much, but I'm used to having a bottle of water in my room. I mean, this is a 5 star hotel that would've cost >600GBP/night had I used money to stay here.

In the context of the current weather, this is one of the most ridiculously petty things I've ever heard.

But on the flip side, this is *exactly* the kind of lounge attendant you want enforcing the entry requirement rules. So I'm torn. :D

When at the Stucky Venice I was in the executive lounge enjoying a glass of wine when my wife arrived on the water shuttle.
Glass in hand I went to meet her in the lobby. We then went into the lift to go to our room.
The Lounge Dragon ran into the lift and grabbed the glass from my hand.

It cost them a fruit basket, chocolates and half bottle of champagne.

Which was nice...

Very petty indeed, in the current weather she should have offered extra not stop you!!

So does the weather dictate the policy on minimum stay and/or taking items to go?

Someone held the door open to let me in (it takes key card, nobody asks who you are) so she didn't enforce that.

The front desk encouraged me to hydrate up and they have water at the front desk. I guess it's okay for everyone to have water, but not lounge guests.

I mean in fairness, it's literally the hottest day on record in the entire country....and I am taking part of a bottle of water to go. Had I grabbed a handful of bottles of water, a few beers, some mixers then absolutely she should say something. This water is going to be thrown away if I don't take it with me - it's already open.

What if I drank the whole bottle but wanted the empty bottle to carry around with me? Would this be permissible?

I remember an overly vigilant attendant at the Hilton Stockholm who aggressively stopped a number of people from taking water or glasses of wine out of the lounge. She also didn’t do anything to actually ensure that people entering the lounge had access. It seems so petty to me, but maybe some properties feel a need for extreme cost control.

Somebody pissed on her lunch so she paid it forward to you. Report to manager. At a Conrad no less?

What are you going to report the agent to the lounge for? She was too successful in enforcing lounge policies?

Half drunk bottles of water are the only thing that I will take from a lounge, but I would fully understand if someone were to remind me of the policy. After all, I think we have all seen what happens in lounges where it's a free for all and it doesn't take too long before there's nothing but aforementioned bottle water and maybe some bags of chips left.

Last time the lounge attendant(Beijing Capital Renessiance) asked me what would I like and grabbed a few bottles of Perrier sparkling water for me during check-out from the storage, interestingly enough, Perrier is offered in the lounge for free, however, they just don't put them on the shelves. The hotel was phenomenal back then, but not so much now considering the financial state of their property owner.

Any idea what would have happened if you had the courtesy of asking? Like, “Is it OK if I take this open bottle with me?”