No hot water at Ritz Carlton

 
Old Jun 24, 2018, 5:53 am
  #1  
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No hot water at Ritz Carlton

Stayed last night at the Ritz Carlton in Miami. We had a canceled flight and I have reimbursement for travel interruption so booked a nice room since Im getting the money back. Well, what I thought would be nice! After we checked in, my husband went to take a hot bath. No hot water. Called down and was told that it had been not working all day and they were working on it. Was very upset they didnt tell me BEFORE I checked in as I had just done so. Was told I could be accommodated at another Ritz property and did I want to speak to a manager. Yes, and I waited. Spoke to the manager who told me it had just been resolved and hot water would be working in a short time. Waited 30 minutes and checked again. Did this three times. Eventually went to bed dirty and feeling like swamp butt because of a long flight and how airplanes make you feel dirty. Woke up this morning to get ready for my flight. STILL NO HOT WATER. Called and manager said he would investigate the matter. Its now an hour later and I havent heard back from him and I feel crusty and gross and super angry now. If they give my money back, it actually does nothing for me since Im being reimbursed. I can shower in the Admirals club but, maybe Im a weirdo, but getting dressed dirty is going to make me feel DISGUSTING. Its 70,000 Marriott points per night to stay in the suite I booked. Would I be reasonable to ask for that many points in my account for compensation?
if it matters in Marriott silver elite and have their fancy credit card.
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Old Jun 24, 2018, 6:00 am
  #2  
 
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Yes, it would be reasonable to ask for the points equivalent of one night's stay. This is common and almost always how many of us get service recoveries. If a guest is passing the cost along to the guest's customer or employer, not being charged for a night can create problems with billing the guest's customer, expectations in the future and whether the other trip charges are even valid. Often in that situation the guest will ask for points instead of not being charged for the night. It is common and acceptable.

And frankly, why should the people paying for the airline service recovery not have to pay when you were the one who had to put up with not having water? You are the one who deserves the service recovery but you will not get the benefit of not having to pay. You will get the benefit of the points.

Note that the water issue could happen anywhere. More than just the water being out, it is the hotel's horrible response that makes them owe you service recovery more that just the fact the water was out. Although the hot water being out your entire stay is bad, the hotel made a promise, the water would be restored, that the hotel did not keep.
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Old Jun 24, 2018, 6:03 am
  #3  
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Just got a call back from the manager who was awesome and very apologetic. He promised to give me exactly what I asked for and offered free breakfast. I feel better!
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Old Jun 24, 2018, 8:13 am
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If you are staying at the Ritz Coconut Grove I am not the least bit surprised. I have had several stays there and mistakenly believed the issues were isolated. The hotel may be called a Ritz but it operates more than a standard Marriott in terms of its physical product. More importantly, in short, the hotel is extremely poorly run. The front desk staff are far from the best and do not handle problems well at all. They are all about revenue and do not want to honor the terms of the Marriott program--they act as if it almost an inconvenience to have Platinum guests. The front office manager, Amanda, when told about wrong information given by her staff could not do anything but blame me. This was after I showed her the broken door in the room and being told that being on a Corporate rate limits upgrades!

The hotel is supposedly undergoing a big renovation soon (the decor is the classic RC but has been worn and reflecting a tired, old product)--it needs it and could also benefit from a cleaning house of staff or at least better training and an emphasis on caring for guests.

Last edited by bas5838; Jun 24, 2018 at 8:39 am
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Old Jun 24, 2018, 8:39 am
  #5  
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Originally Posted by bas5838
If you are staying at the Ritz Coconut Grove I am not the least but surprised. I have had several stays there and mistakenly believed the issues were isolated. In short, the hotel is extremely poorly run. The front desk staff are far from the best and do not handle problems well at all. They are all about revenue and do not want to honor the terms of the Marriott program--they act as if it almost an inconvenience to have Platinum guests. The front office manager, Amanda, when told about wrong information given by her staff could not do anything but blame me. This was after I showed her the broken door in the room and being told that being on a Corporate rate limits upgrades!

The hotel is supposedly undergoing a big renovation soon (the decor is the classic RC but has been worn and reflecting a tired, old product)--it needs it and could also benefit from a cleaning house of staff or at least better training and an emphasis on caring for guests.
It may very well be that the negotiated corporate rate does limit loyalty benefits and since we are not privy to those details, we can't prove it wrong. All these details should be disclosed in the rate details. I would report the experience to my travel desk and ask them to research and maybe get the property in line, publish any restrictions, and/or place the property on a disapproved list. It can be funny how some people will go into a full defensive mode when a problem is reported. I can't think of any rate, let alone a corporate rate, that allows a broken door to be acceptable!

I am all for giving people a chance. I had a stay in a property that was in a wide spot along the highway in Nevada (i.e.a very small town) where they charged me for movies after I checked out (yes, they were viewed after I left). It took a while to get ahold of a manager. I had a gas receipt miles down the road after the charge occured and she waived the charge. I suggested maybe someone entered the room while being cleaned and the door was propped open. She said they "don't do that" at her property. On my next stay at this property I noticed several doors propped open for cleaning. I went to the front desk and asked for the manager, asked her to join me for a walk down the hallway and showed the many doors open with no housekeeper in sight. You could hear the eggs sizzling from her embarrassment. Ooops.
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Old Jun 24, 2018, 10:50 am
  #6  
 
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Originally Posted by zohyeahz
Stayed last night at the Ritz Carlton in Miami. We had a canceled flight and I have reimbursement for travel interruption so booked a nice room since Im getting the money back. Well, what I thought would be nice! After we checked in, my husband went to take a hot bath. No hot water. Called down and was told that it had been not working all day and they were working on it. Was very upset they didnt tell me BEFORE I checked in as I had just done so. Was told I could be accommodated at another Ritz property and did I want to speak to a manager. Yes, and I waited. Spoke to the manager who told me it had just been resolved and hot water would be working in a short time. Waited 30 minutes and checked again. Did this three times. Eventually went to bed dirty and feeling like swamp butt because of a long flight and how airplanes make you feel dirty. Woke up this morning to get ready for my flight. STILL NO HOT WATER. Called and manager said he would investigate the matter. Its now an hour later and I havent heard back from him and I feel crusty and gross and super angry now. If they give my money back, it actually does nothing for me since Im being reimbursed. I can shower in the Admirals club but, maybe Im a weirdo, but getting dressed dirty is going to make me feel DISGUSTING. Its 70,000 Marriott points per night to stay in the suite I booked. Would I be reasonable to ask for that many points in my account for compensation?
if it matters in Marriott silver elite and have their fancy credit card.
If you were really that worried about it, you would take a shower in 65 degree water. While it may be a little uncomfortable, at least you won't feel disgusting. Five minutes of being uncomfortable is better than being uncomfortable for over an hour.

I'm glad you got compensation, however, as you deserved it for a disservice.
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Old Jun 24, 2018, 10:53 am
  #7  
 
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I was going to say the same thing. Maybe it's from years of Boy Scout camp followed by military less-than-Ritz-type conditions, but if it's a choice between "feeling disgusting" and taking a cold shower, I can survive a cold shower.

I also agree with the previous poster who said it's the failed service recovery (apparently then overcome by proper service recovery) that represents the bigger issue.

Finally, I don't understand the sentiment of "if they comp the stay it does me no good since the stay was being paid for by someone else anyway". The result is a free stay either way, so why should it matter who absorbs the cost?
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Old Jun 24, 2018, 12:31 pm
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Originally Posted by DJ_Iceman
I was going to say the same thing. Maybe it's from years of Boy Scout camp followed by military less-than-Ritz-type conditions, but if it's a choice between "feeling disgusting" and taking a cold shower, I can survive a cold shower.

I also agree with the previous poster who said it's the failed service recovery (apparently then overcome by proper service recovery) that represents the bigger issue.

Finally, I don't understand the sentiment of "if they comp the stay it does me no good since the stay was being paid for by someone else anyway". The result is a free stay either way, so why should it matter who absorbs the cost?
It's a form of double dipping. By getting points instead of a comp'd room, the company still pays for the room with a receipt to back it up and the guest gets a free night elsewhere (probably not for the benefit of the company). Some may see this as fraud in that they could have gotten the room comp'd and not submitted for reimbursement. But it was the guest that was inconvenienced and not the company so something personal would be appropriate. I'm sure there is a litany of stories where the company paid but may not have had to.
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Old Jun 24, 2018, 9:19 pm
  #9  
 
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Very lame that they weren't forthcoming about the hot water outage when you checked-in!! The manager did the right thing it sounds like, but it shouldn't have come to that.
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Old Jun 25, 2018, 8:58 pm
  #10  
 
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Originally Posted by zohyeahz
Just got a call back from the manager who was awesome and very apologetic. He promised to give me exactly what I asked for and offered free breakfast. I feel better!
If this was the Coconut Grove property, who did you deal with as it seems all of the managers are off property for several weeks and I am trying to resolve a points problem.
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