Flying_Duck

I just returned from a 7 day stay in La Defence Paris Hilton. The stay was great, with a very nice and pleasant staff. I had booked a standard room but as HH Gold got upgraded automatically to heir "Relaxation" room, that included an upgraded work area and a suite type bath room with separate shower stall and a substantial whirlpool (with a TV built in the wall to boot). Highly recommended and with very good Internet prices.

My only gripe, which is not limited to Hilton properties per ce, is what I best can describe as "the European-U.S. disconnect in perceived soap and shampoo consumption"

I can for the world not underestand why one has to phone daily to ask for additional soap and shampoo when in Europe in what is supposed to be a luxury hotel at $200+/night when outside the U.S. But here we went again.

My wife and I usually take 2-3 showers a day when in hot and humid places, such as Paris in July, and use up one of the Shampoo containers after 1-2 showers and the soap after one day in the room.

The room cleaners must be told that if there is a shred of soap/shampoo left, let it be, do not put a new one in place or, as we tried, when throwing the shraps out, assume that you have "stolen" (hidden) it, because still there is no new soap after they have been there.

Evedry day we had to call the reception to have additional soap and shampoo delivered for our, in our view, quite normal habits when on a business trip: morning, before going out for dinner and before going to bed showers.

As I have experienced this before when traveling, especially in Europe, but never in the U.S. or in Japan. I guess that there must be some sort of difference somewhere. I know that there is the old stereotype that Europeans do not have the same sense of personal cleanliness as i.e. Japanese and U.S. persons - which certainly could explain it - but I have no basis for claiming this to be so (As a matter of fact, I am an European myself having lived in the U.S. since 1983).

Perhaps some of the European business persons frequenting this board and traveling to the U.S. can add their opinion to this descrepancy as they too must notice it when traveling.

gwade

Hilarious about the soap...I consistently experience the same thing throughout Europe. It only took me one trip overseas to learn to pack a few bars of my own Irish Spring, and now I carry a few small travel bottles of shampoo. I am not sure if the HLD has the same type of soap as the Hilton Eifel Tower, but is it physically possible to shower with that darn liquid soap they have??

Cheers and happy traveling.

wideman

The Hilton at La Defense might be many things, but a "luxury" hotel is not one of them. It's a decent business hotel, nothing more or less. $200/night in a major international city is hardly top-dollar for a hotel room.

And I believe that it is generally true that Europeans conserve more (or waste less) than Americans, and that it's not part of the European culture to give away unlimited amounts of extras. A European perspective would probably suggest that the hotel fee includes 1 daily room cleaning (unless the hotel advertises twice-daily), 1 set of linens daily, and up to 1 set of bathroom toiletries, as needed, daily. If you require more that that allotment, you'd need to handle it yourself. (Sort of like the bottled water: the hotel might offer you two bottles, and if you drink more than that you're on your own.)

GeorgeJ

How about this instead? The tale of the disappearing towels.

This was at the Conrad London last week...each day when housekeeping had been through, the used towels were taken out and we had fewer and fewer clean towels left in the bathroom each day. We checked in on Sunday and by Wednesday, we came back in the afternoon and all that was left was one bath towel! The wash clothes, hand towels, bath mat and the other 3 bath towels were gone!

I went down to the desk and they sent up housekeeping with a full set of towels. The rest of the week we had a full set of towels when we returned each afternoon...not sure what the explanation was..

korea71

Stayed at La Defense last summer and didn't have the same problem. I actually left with alot of extra stuff as I can't seem to leave them behind. How is the hotel after the renovations?

SST

Hilton Green Park in London left my wife and me in a room with one (1) bath towel, and one robe. We called down in the evening to get more, and while they grudgingly brought up another 3 towels, they "couldn't unlock the room where the robes were". Fine luxury hotel! This was around 10 p.m. When I mentioned it in the morning, I was chastised by the clerk to look in the wardrobe (which I HAD). We checked out a day early.

Flying_Duck

Not knowing how it was before the renovations, I can only say that it appeared new, nice and in many ways luxurious (though Wideman points out the relativeness of that term: I know many people in th U.S. who considers Motel-6 luxorious compared to the local shelter, many Motel-6 guests who considers Holliday-INN luxerious - and so it goes).

There was plenty of comfortable chairs/sofas and corners to carry on conversations or relax, a nice bar and restaurant with curteous service. I was struck by the apparent lack of guests, both at breakfast and when passing through the lobby.

Back to the soap opera: I appreciate the "more conservative minded Europeans" when it comes to "preserving the environment" (read: save a few bucksc for the hotel!).

However, if I pay, say $250 for a room for one night, and $250 each night for consecutive nights, I expect the same service and ammenities provided each day as was provided for the first night. If it is deemed that this is not necessary, that is, not to change linnen, towels, soap etc., fine, but then give me a discount reflecting the saving to the hotel after the first day, i.e.: $250 for any first night, $ 225 for any consecutive night with the option of paying up to the $250/subsequent nights to get the room back in "first day condition". That I can understand. But for me to pay the same amount for the product after the first day only to get an inferior product after that first day just doesn't sit well with me as I don't see the difference from paying the same for 2 two scoop ice creams, only to get one scoop in the second ice cream!

rubbernyc

How many different ways can you spell LUXURIOUS??.. the first try was the correct one.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I am with you with the soap dilemma though.

cheers

Flying_Duck

Spellchecker!! I need a spell checker - A Kingdom for a spellchecker?!!

(Please be patients with those of us who's mother tongue is not English - especially if you are a retired English teacher who can't help him or herself when seeing the buthery on the English language on an International I-net forum (and I type with 2-1/2 fingers to add injustice to injury ( - I am, after all, when all is said and done, as is clear from my spelling and grammar, from one of those Gutheral Germanic speaking European countries, which you may have heard about, Denmark!)

(Glad your priorities are straight: correct spelling over soap and cleanliness any day!

korea71

There are many many threads about the condition of the Green Park if you do a search. I lasted there all of 15 mins in our room before we moved to the London Park Lane. NO AC in the room during the summer. Nuff said.

Eastbay1K

Back to the soap itself, France has the lowest per-capita consumption of soap usage in western Europe. (The article I dug up in a quick search for support isn't nearly as comprehensive as the full study I recall reading.)

http://www.dispatch.co.za/1998/11/21/foreign/FRANCE.HTM

YVR Cockroach

To be more specific, of bathing (or toilet) soap which is a pricy item. The French still sell general purpose soap in large bars for laundry andother purposes and this sells in huge quantities. They're cut down to smaller pieces at home and used for bathing soap.

dctorres

???? I use Dove soap at home in France???

On topic though, I have noticed this difference between travel in Europe and in the US.

However, concerning linens, it's apparently common in the US not to change the linens every night unless specifically asked. I'm positive I've seen a little plastic card indicating as such in US Hiltons.

jabez

dctorres
You are correct. Many hotels will wait (unless requested) until you've left. I love the "Place towels/wash cloths on floor,if you want replaced" in order to "conserve water".

dctorres

Thank you, that is exactly what I was on about

I must admit to being surprised the first time I saw it in the States.