IndoorCamper

Background: I'm currently staying at the Vespera on Ocean, a newly opened Cat 6 property along the coast of California. I am Titanium Elite, and paid stay was upgraded from a Base King to a Premium King.

We completed 1 out of our two night stay, and we came back from breakfast to a smokey room! The room smelt like a campfire or bbq. There wasn't any visible smoke, but the smell was quite strong. I called the front desk and they sent someone from maintenance to the room to investigate. When he arrived, he explained that the zoning regulations limited how high the kitchen exhaust vents could be built, and that a few rooms have issues with the smoke that is produced by the hotel's kitchen. It was a hotel design issue, and they were currently working on a permanent solutions. Given the fact he immediately knew of the issue, and what he told us, it seems that the hotel should not have placed anyone in the room in the first place since it is a recurring issue. They offered us a room change, and we took them up on their request. So we were packed up and in our new room within the hour.

The room we were switched to was an equivalent room type, but had a slightly worse view of the ocean. We were not compensated for the inconvenience of switching rooms halfway through our stay, nor did anyone only from management apologize to us in person. I was hoping that they would give us something for our troubles after we were settled into our new room, but no dice.

What would you guys do in my situation? I feel like the situation was mis-managed, and although the inconvenience was minor, they should have awarded me something as a courtesy. I'm most likely not going to mention anything, but I was wondering what you all think. Thanks!

Pretzelsandpeanuts

If it’s bothering you, I would be bothered, ask to speak with a manager or call the elite line and escalate it. If it was me, I would say 10,000 points is probably sufficient,

DJ_Iceman

It was an inconvenience, albeit a very minor one and the hotel resolved things to your satisfaction. I wouldn't seek compensation, but then again I'm rarely a compensation-hound.

MSPeconomist

OP got an upgrade (without using SNAs, but it wasn't a suite) and then wasn't downgraded when the problem was noticed and OP asked to switch rooms, so I don't think I'd expect compensation, although a classy hotel would have sent a bottle of wine or some treats as an apology.

Travelosopher

I DO think the OP is due some type compensation. The OP was placed in a room with a known defect, & then was inconvenienced for the time taken to call for help and then wait for someone to come to the room to say the hotel was already aware of the ongoing problem with this room. Then the OP had put more time and effort into packing up belongings & moving to another room. I’m not sure I’d describe this as “minor” & I believe the hotel is even more at fault for assigning the OP this room in the first place! If I were the OP - depending on how I judged this experience of being inconvenienced - I’d ask to speak to a manager and I’d be ready to make a suggestion for compensation if whatever the manager offered was unsatisfactory.

Kacee

I would not even think to ask for comp in this situation. A new room would be sufficient.

Pretzelsandpeanuts

If it was an honest mistake or one-off issue I wouldn’t ask for compensation, but they put him in a known defective room. This room really shouldn’t be used to house any guests with this known defect. Hence I think points are warranted.

Kacee

Life's too short to get worked up about that (or take it personally, which is really what I suspect this is about). Just give me decent room and let's get on with it.

Annalisa12

Nothing. The new room was enough. I dont need manager's fake apologies.

IndoorCamper

Oooof. Much has happened since my last post. We got back to our new room after picking up a few things and exploring the area. Guess what.... the new room is smokey too!! There are some serious issues with the design of this hotel. We were also greeted with a nice aquatic surprise. The bathroom ceiling (from a maintenance panel, to be specific), was dripping water resulting in a size-able puddle on our bathroom floor.

Yikes. This time I spoke directly with the front desk staff and they were very apologetic. They moved us to a third room (of equivalent type) with the help of the bell staff. Even when the bell staff entered the 2nd room, they commented on the severity of the smoke smell. They dropped off our things, and gave us three one hour bicycle rental vouchers - for a group of two. While a nice gesture, this was a pitiful compensation. When we were walking down, we actually ran into the receptionist who had changed our room for us. She came up to check if everything was in order and to our satisfaction. I told her the room was nice with no issues, but I mentioned the bike rental vouchers, and she told me that she was working with the hotel manager on the compensation for our troubles. The way the conversation went, it did seem that the bicycle vouchers were the extent of the compensation they were considering, but she assured me things would be in order. The staff has been extremely helpful and understanding of our issues, but maybe management should have been looped in ensure the maximum was done to make our stay better from the start.

Pardon any typos, I had a few glasses of wine watching the sunset. I'll keep you guys updated. Thanks for your advice and thoughts, they are appreciated.

avja

I normally am not aggressive about receiving compensation. However, this is way too much. The bicycle vouchers are a joke. I would push for a meaningful number of points.

Jon Maiman

I agree there have been too many issues. The fact that there are known design issues and you were moved to two rooms with the same issue is what makes it so bad. Hotel should comp. one of the two nights of the stay either in points or cash.

--Jon

fotographer

Maybe the front desk could have told you were they have rooms that dont have smoke issues.. they should know , and should have moved you to that room.

yurtripper

By this point, I hope there's nobody left who thinks the OP doesn't deserve any comp.. or that the 1 hour bicycle rental is sufficient!

pfreet

It seems they were given too many bicycle vouchers. OP should expect extra compensation for that error as well. :-)

Seriously, why was this even mentioned?