Emergency situation at St Regis Vommub
 

I stayed there in December. I had been having some episodic medical issues. (Nothing serious, goes away in a few hours.)

My spouse insisted that it would go away. The hotel doctor insisted that I go to the ER. This being a hotel on an isolated island, we had to take a speedboat to another island. The whole time, my spouse expressed concern about the cost. The staff continued to say things like “We’ll take care of everything” and “we’ve got it.” At the ER, the nurse said it was clearly not an emergency and just gave me a saline drip.

After that, they took me back to the hotel.

They charged us for:
- speedboat use
- staff For speedboat
- ER charges

We were charged for anything, including another night at the hotel. (Despite the butler saying he “gave” us a room.)

We have emergency evacuation insurance, which we would have used if it had truly been an emergency.

Given that my spouse repeatedly said it was unnecessary and the hotel was just trying to reduce their liability, what is fair for them to have charged?

In these sorts of situations you should always assume you would be given a bill, despite whatever staff said. It's fair for them to have charged prevailing rates but you may want to inquire if they can provide any discount. Alternatively if you have a letter stating it was a temporary medical emergency, you may be able to claim from your travel insurance, is it really only evacuation insurance?

What is important for Marriott is to avoid any possible liability by being able to prove that they properly managed the situation and tried to minimize the possible damage ( just in case you would have suffered damages). So they had to convince you to go to the ER. Which they did. Alas, they did not care about you at all.

I hate to be a victim blamer and suspect that OP will probably find a way to recoup these costs, but at the highest level this just doesn’t sound like good risk management by the OP. Hope all turns out well.

This is why I always get travel insurance that covers medical as primary. Fortunately never needed to be shuttled but have had hotel docs come in and make referrals and recommendations and have paid for it and always been reimbursed by insurance. (BTW I usually go with John Hancock plans from insuremytrip).

OP - glad it was nothing serious and hope you enjoyed the trip.

Why would anyone go to the Maldives, let alone the St Regis Maldives (and the cost to stay even on points with food and seaplane) and not have full tarvel insurance? It to me is a risk that really would not make sense. I am afraid the hotel is unable to know how serious an incident is and can only make a judgement call based on the hotel doctors advice which they did. It is your responsibility to have reasonable travel insurance or be aware of the costs should something occur. To me this is a case of the hotel has nothing to answer for and people should take more responsibility for themselves and their choices / actions.

St. Regis Vommub??
 

Where is Vommub?? I looked in vain for this property? Did you mean St. Regis Vommuli?

I think the ER bill is totally fair and should have been expected, but I could see being a little upset with the speedboat (and speedboat staff) charges if the conversation went as described. Especially if those speedboat charges are anything close to what the resort charges for private excursions.

I'm sure there is some cost to the speedboat transfer and it's fair for the hotel to ask for some reimbursement, but it sounds like they are trying to make money off taking you to the ER, and that would upset me as well.

If this wasn't an emergency, how did it come that you saw the hotel doctor at all?

Travel insurance usually does not cover any medical condition that is known prior to the beginning of the trip, as appears to be the case from OP’s description. Taking travel insurance would not have made much of a difference in this particular case

Nothing, if we are taking your word as true.

The question is how you can prove that the staffs did mention the hotel would take care of everything.

Unless you can prove that, you are liable to everything.

well the hotel did take care of everything as they said they said they would , and now want to be reimbursed for having done so. I can see it both ways, the employees meaning just go the hotel will arrange for everything , not meaning that it will be free for the OP, just that dont worry about having to pay for everything we will do that and just didnt say and will charge it to your room

The other side is thinking they meant the hotel will pay for everything out of its pocket. Thats not something I would ever think was meant unless the Hotel was the cause to my illness and even then Id want it in writing. Sort of when Im asked if Id like the hotel to arrange my transfer to or from the airport and not to worry about payment = they will simply charge it to my room

How did the OP end up seeing the dr at the hotel? Is the spouse of the OP a medical professional or present any records, dr letter while they were telling the hotel dr that the medical condition would pass?

There are travel insurances available with pre existing condition waivers.

This is a difficult situation.

There's more information needed.

Why did you end up staying another night?
Why would you expect that night would be free (other than what the 'butler' said)?
Do you expect the to hotel pay for your ER charges?

In the end you didn't HAVE to go to the hospital, it was your choice. Obviously you went to see a doctor and that was their opinion, but if you were really certain everything was fine, why did you see the doctor? It seems like you sought advice from a doctor and then decided to take it... not sure why you wouldn't be liable for the consequences

Since the cost wasn't agreed upon you can perhaps dispute the speedboat and staffing costs, but it seems unreasonable that everything would be free. And I don't see any way you can dispute the room cost and ER charges.

I feel it depends on the condition and if that condition is serious enough to mean that travel insurance will not cover it and there is a chance treatment will be required I am afraid to stay at somewhere as expensive and remote as the St. Regis Maldives you have to expect they will charge you for this type of event. It is generally known / accepted that the more exclusive and expensive a hotel the more they charge for things that some low end hotels give away. In this case it sounds like the prudent thing to do would ahve been ask the hotel ahead of making the reservation what the costs would be should an issue occur so you can then make an informed decision to if you wish to stay.

It is not the hotels responsibilty within their room rate to provide medical coverage or speedboat transfers and the cost of these. Once the hotel Dr evaluates someone as needing urgent medical treatment the hotel has little option but to take the steps it did, but it should not be liable for these costs. If the Op feels they are excessive then they should contact the hotel manager / GM expressing their surprise at how high the costs were and if they are able to provide comparative costs from previous experience all the better, but what I feel would be inappropriate would be to contact them expecting the hotel to cover the costs involved as these were incurred by the Op.