Compensation for water leak
 

I recently stayed at a Marriott hotel where water leak developed on the ceiling of the bathroom which went unnoticed for 3 days, eventually the leak got worse so the leak was discovered and we called the front desk.

The tech couldn't fix the issue so they switched us to a different room, however when the tech was attempting to fix the water leak, he told his colleague on the radio that he suspect it is coming from the sewer pipe from the floor above, the water that came out from the ceiling was yellow and my wife developed minor rashes on her face after unknowingly applied products on her face that has been contaminated with the water from the water leak.

At the end the front office manager and the engineering manager met us at my room and assured me those are tap water and the color came from the color leeching from the wallpaper. While this explanation is plausible, but it's hard to look past what the tech has said and how it caused my wife to develop rashes on her face. (Off-topic, but it's a strange co-incidence that I watched the movie flint on the plane before the stay at the hotel)

Ultimately we settled for 70k points (2 nights of points) + free trip to the Airport, is this a reasonable outcome? I am not really a frequent traveler and it's the first time things like that happened, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

What color was the wall paper on the ceiling?

Based on the photos I have, the wallpaper have an orange-yellow type of colour.

I left out a few details on the first post so it can be concise, when I asked the tech about where the water came from he got really defensive and refused to answer my question, he just says a manager will speak with me and hurried off, before he went he noticed there was a pool of yellow water in the tub so he quickly washed that down as well. I am not sure why the tech will behave this way if there's nothing to hide.

I can see such behaviour. Especially with the propensity for people to demand compensation or worse yet, post issues/reviews without knowing the facts. My work has strict rules we are NOT to speak with media and refer them to management. They are very CYA about just about anything. But with reporters wanting sensational over factual...

How does the manager know that the issue was due to the wallpaper? Maybe that is right, but the manager quickly telling you this seems more CYA than factual. Granted, human nature is to hyper-notice things like a rash on the face when we have had some potential exposure, but your wife has reason for concern. This hotel handled this poorly. They should have been mortified and offered you either that night free or enough points to cover a free night at the hotel. Go to TA and warn others. Name the hotel here. You are not just warning about a potential plumbing issue that could happen anywhere but you are warning others of a hotel that does not handle accidents/mistakes/issues well.

BWT, if your wife went to a dermatologist over this the hotel should pay and they should also pay to replace the products destroyed, whether it be by water dilution or contamination by brown water. And granted, they are cheap, but the hotel needs to replace your toothbrushes if they were anywhere near that bathroom. Be it brown water or wallpaper residue it does not belong in your mouth.

Done. But agreed could have been handled better.

70,000 points and a free trip to the airport sounds very fair ...

As to the bolded question, the answer will vary depending on who you ask.

One of my worst jobs ever was serving as a Night Manager at a hotel during the soft opening after a complete renovation. The building was gutted almost down to the studs and rebuilt. We opened many weeks too early (in my opinion). Hence, my job consisted of apologizing for problems that never should have happened and trying to satisfy guests via compensation.

What I quickly learned was that different people will have entirely different reactions to the same compensation offer. A completely comped room would thrill the guest paying out of pocket but anger another who was having the bill paid by their employers. An offer of points would appear meaningless to someone who didn't belong to the frequent guest program or never would consider staying at another same-branded hotel. Although they were uncommon, I also met people who literally wanted nothing more than a sincere apology and a promise that we'd do everything possible to fix the problem so no one else experiences it.

That's all just a long way of saying that you may get very different answers to your question.

If the yellow water was urine, it would have had an odor to it. Was there a strong smell of sewage in the room? Since you haven't mentioned that, my guess is no. But if the liquid was dark yellow, and it was urine, the smell should have been obvious!

Sorry, but if it is my wet toothbrush your sniff test indicating it's probably not urine isn't enough. Your guess isn't going to cut it.

I don't know the hotel's plumbing system, but sadly, we had a leak from a pipe that drained from a toilet at home. Those pipes only have liquid in them when flushed-and not under pressure. If the leak was constant, and with any force, it's not likely that it was waste water.

Excellent point Mr. Viker ...

Thanks. I will also add that the water was almost completely clear as it was so diluted with the flush and bowl water. If the water from the hotel week is noticeably yellow, I think its from some material that its running through.

Thanks for all the replies, seems like what I got is quite reasonable then.

Seems like the details I left out is quite important, so I will put the full version here, don't say I didn't warn you about the length of the text!

It's a 5 night stay using points (so I paid 4 nights worth of points), and I am a gold member with Marriott. On the third night my wife noticed her cosmetic bag got wet but we thought nothing of it and believed it might have gotten wet from housekeeping.

Then on the 5th night we noticed there is a big water leak coming out from the roof of the bathroom, so we immediately called front desk and they send a maintenance guy over, he opened a hatch on the ceiling and after observing for a few minutes, he radio'ed to his colleague saying there could be a leak in the sewer pipe upstairs, then he walked to me and said he will go upstairs to investigate and will be back.

After 20-30 minutes he came back saying it should be fixed, but the water keep leaking and he said do we want a different room, I said can the leak be fixed and he said no, so I said there's not much choice then, so I will take the new room. He radio'ed his colleague saying the customer is ready to move, so I asked him where the water come from as they are yellow and he suddenly become very quiet and didn't answer the question. After I asked several times he said a manager will speak with me shortly, just before leaving he noticed there's some yellow water in the bath tub so he quickly washed it down before he leaves.

After another 20 minute or so a bellman turned up asking whether we are ready to move, so I asked where's the manager and he said he have no idea and I should check downstairs, as we still need more time to pack up I ask him to give the keys to the new room to me and I proceeded to the executive lounge to lodge a complaint. An executive lounge supervisor then spoke with me and agreed to come upstairs to assess the water leak, that's at around 9pm that evening.

Both the supervisor and the executive lounge staff struggled to come up with compensation as it is my last night and I am flying out the next morning, they said they need to do a full investigation on what happened first, especially where the water came from. In the meantime they offered free transport to the airport and promised someone will speak with me on checkout. I got a few phone calls that evening as they are putting the case together and want to make sure it was accurate.

The next morning I went to the executive lounge again to inquire about the progress of the investigation, the supervisor there said they have been briefed about my case but there's still no report from the maintenance team, so they asked me to return to my room and that's when they send their front office manager and engineering manager over to my room to discuss the case, they said a full investigation has been conducted and it is tap water, it does comfort me a bit but there's also concern on whether they did this purely due to liability reasons.

Either way they know I am a gold member and apologies about the event and offered me 35k points, we eventually agreed at 70k points and they said they could offer me a better room if I come back next time.

Does this looks better?

From my prospective what's done is done, thankfully there was no lasting issue as the rash cleared quickly (whether due to the water or not, we will never know), I posted here because I am not really a regular traveler so was keen to get other's opinion on how severe this really is.

The leak was slow, almost dripping and only happened from time to time (hence why it took a while for us to realise there was a leak).