Asking appropriate service Recovery from a hotel?
 

hi all,

right now i am staying in a SPG hotel in SE Asia (Forgive me I do not want to name the hotel as I am still dealing with the issue), and here's the problem:

I have booked 3 people staying in this hotel in a suite for 3 nights for quick weekend getaway from 18/4 to 21/4. The problem is that when last night one of us was trying to take a bath, there was some dirty brown water coming out from the bath tube (as attached in the photo), it was so dirty that definitely not an acceptable standard for a 5-star hotel. The problem happened at around 00:00 midnight, and the hotel immediately sent some engineers to come out and tackle the problem, and it took them almost 1.5 hrs to gradually get the water to become clearer. However, it was so tired for us that we just didn't want to take the bath at near 2a.m. so we decided to have a bath this morning instead. Unfortunately, the problem did happen again this morning with the brown water coming out again, definitely not acceptable. Not only just we couldn't take a proper bath, but also we were unable to sleep properly for the night.

This morning we requested to see the GM of the hotel, however as it's Sunday so only the manager on duty is here. He admitted that the problem is not up to the service standard of a 5 star hotel and offered some compensations. He offered us free massage for 1 hour for 3 of us, a lunch, and a laundry, in addition he also put to us into another larger suite which there was no water problem from the bath tube (we didn't ask for a bigger suite we just hope we were put in a room with the facilities working normal) However, we think that was not enough because of the literally lack of sleep in the night and the inconvenience and disappointment come from the brown water, and of course the partial ruin of a weekend holiday. As a matter of fact, we asked for an additional 15000 star points, which is equivalent for staying in a suite in a category 3 hotel for night.

However right now, the duty manager refused us the request for the compensation of star points, he only said he would ask for the approval now. Yet certainly we think compensation for just 1 hour 3 message, lunch and laundry is definitely not enough to make us satisfied. I am just wondering, what would you do if you are having similar situation with me?

http://i.imgur.com/kQvpLcj.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/3ywJkdd.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Mq5rFpG.jpg

I think you're pretty much covered and are not entitled to the 15K starpoints you are requesting.

Try to concentrate on that short weekend getaway instead.

Well, if I had not had my bath for the day/night and was still not able to have it even after 1.5 hours of work, I would have been very upset and insisted that they either switch my room or open up the adjacent or opposite room (if empty) so that I could have my shower before I went to bed.

Now that you haven't done that, and instead went to bed... well, I think I would negotiate to have the 15-20K points, equivalent to a night in the suite and tell him you don't need the massage, lunch, laundry etc. I'm presuming you paid for the suite and it's not an upgrade/SNA? So it would be fair to recover the cost of the suite.

Anway, that's what I'd do. Get back the cost of the suite in points, and forget everything else. Where they put you in after that isn't important: they had to move you because your room isn't functioning. It being an upgraded room is besides the point.

My opinion

Yes that was a paid rate.
Didn't change the room at night because after a whole day out plus a waiting for 1.5 hour to fix, was already so tired that we did not want to move around. Plus we highly doubt the problem may not be a single room issue, which today they said they had to investigate if other rooms also face same situation as well.

Anyway, thanks for your opinions first and I'll see what I can update later.

I think lunch, massages, laundry and an upgrade more than covers the inconvenience, and that you are not entitled to anything else. As remymartin suggested, let it go and enjoy the weekend.

Indeed, this stuff could cost more than a night in a room at some (category 3?) hotel, but without knowing the location and hotel, it's a bit hard to evaluate the offer.

However, the offer was accepted apparently, so this should be the end of it. You can't come back later and ask for more in most circumstances.

Seems like the hotel handled the situation very well and asking for even more seems excessive to me. Enjoy wherever you are.

Couple of questions for clarification : how important was having a 'proper bath' to you ?
Was there a separate shower in the room, and was the water bad in that too ?

Also, a common practical workaround whenever there are problems such as this is the hotel often offers the use of the facilities in the spa / gym so at least you can shower and get on with your day. Was this offered ?

To answer a few question from you guys:
1. Room rate was around USD 390/night.
2. To clarify the exact situation, we were trying to shower first, but there were no hot water coming out, so we tried with the bath tube, and then what came out was some dirty yellow water. Subsequently the water from the shower also turned yellow so do the tap water. I seldom take proper bath too, but I think it's a normal expectation that everything in the room should work normal.
3. They didn't offer the use of any facilities when the problem happened in midnight, it was not until morning after we met the duty manager that the problem got addressed.

And an final update, the hotel has agreed to compensate some starpoints for this incidence, which the amount is definitely more than satisfactory.

I am satisfied not just because the compensation, but also the immediate action from the manager. He admitted the problem straight away and came several times for apology. The hotel is soon undergoing a renovation, I truly hope not only just the room will be refurbished, but also other hardware facilities will also receive an upgrade. I will definitely visit again after the room gets upgraded, which from what the duty manager said it should be really wonderful and fantastic.

And WHERE is this phantom property?

While they should have simply moved you last night, they have compensated you sufficiently now.

Did you suggest they move you to a different room last night?

Rust in pipes happens and is not dangerous.

I think the compensation is adequate also.

In a recent example also in SEA, my muslim partner was served an omlette with bacon in it (ingredients listed said nothing about pork) and guess what we got by way of compensation? A free lunch the next day !

The manager apologised profusely at check out and asked if I would like some points for compensation, I said that she could credit whatever she deemed appropriate. Over 1 week later I have had zero points posted.

So to me your upgrade and massage etc seems more than adequate !

Different thing. It should not be a surprise that bacon in the western world contains pork. Eating bacon if you don't want pork is somehow negligent at the best and asking for compensation is, well....

The post didn't say "bacon omelette", but rather omelette with bacon. To me it implies the menu didn't say said omelette contained either bacon or pork.

Thanks Remy, you are correct. The other ingredients of the omlette were listed and as Bacon/Pork wasn't one of them we didn't think twice about ordering. It was only upon having a mouthful that my partner discovered something wasn't right. As you might expect, she was horrified and I was mortified.