Electrical issues?
 

Hi All,

I was wondering whether anyone else has had electrical issues when staying at Starwood hotels? I stayed at a Sheraton which had an unfinished electrical outlet with exposed live metal contacts - very dangerous.

http://i.imgur.com/HePZx1T.jpg

I've never ever seen such a dangerous electrical issue anywhere I have ever been. I'd expect a potentially fatal error like this to be taken seriously but the initial response on the night was "oh, they must not have finished the renovation properly".

The hotel refunded/didn't charge for that night's stay and said they fixed the "maintenance issue". This didn't give me any confidence that they were going back round the other rooms to check for similar issues. This didn't give me any confidence that they are investigating how they could have made such a serious mistake.

Not sure why you're asking about all SPG properties? What Sheraton are you discussing? THAT IS IMPORTANT.

If you don't feel the property is doing all it can for the safety of guest and staff call CCS and file a complaint.

I was wondering why you took the plate cover off.

What country is this? Different places have different regulations, fire codes, etc.

Why is this a Starwood issue? Does the OP think that this wouldn't happen to that property if it flew a different chain's flag?

Just looks like someone forgot to screw the plastic front plate back on. This really isn't all that dangerous. Yes, it's far from ideal, but one would really need to work hard to get into a position whereby this could cause any sort of issue.

I'm frankly stunned that the hotel comped your night. Wow. We can all agree that someone should've replaced the electrical plate, but I would simply have let the front desk know the next morning that maintenance should go do so -- it wouldn't have occured to me to make this into an "issue" of any consequence

I'd be extremely upset if a hotel staff said this to me.

You can slap your hand on a plastic socket cover and nothing will happen. The two prongs here are reachable. That substantially increases the risk of electric shock. Thank god this socket was obvious and OP noticed it. Imagine if it was under the table, one could have accidentally placed their feet there.

You can't just say "then don't touch it", similar to advising guests it's okay but be careful while using the blow dryer in the tub. It is potentially a fatal hazard, I don't expect seeing something even close to this in a hotel room.

That being said, people should start naming the property for these specific problems,
I'm sure Starwood hotels have an excellent history of safety standards.

My compass is somewhere between All Starwoods Have Electrical Issues! and What's The Big Deal? Most adults would have the sense not to stick their finger in there, but my three year old who travels everywhere with us wouldn't hesitate to touch that. I don't expect hotels to child proof rooms, but presumably live, exposed electrical terminals is different in my book.

I'd find this concerning if I came across it in my hotel room and it sounds like the hotel thought it was serious enough to comp the night. Hopefully, an isolated incident that they promptly fixed.

USA. The DFW Sheraton.

I'm assuming the brand owners have some say in how the individual hotels are run. Eg) whether an inventory of electrical outlets is part of sign off after refurb.

It was between the tv stand and the work desk. I noticed it when there was a massive spark as my macbook charger came into contact with it (and one of the pins melted). Fortunately it was the macbook charger and not me.

Agreed. Never seen anything like this anywhere else ever.

Looking close this appears to be a 240v (could be 120v looking closer) outlet that is missing the front and the trim plate! Yes, adults should know to stay away, but a child would not. And as OP stated it was LIVE!!! This is a very serious safety/fire issue. I hope the property took care of it ASAP. Comp'ing the room was minimal service recovery by the property.

Exactly, that makes this situation deadly serious, pun intended.

When I stay in a hotel, I expect it to be safe, I can be drunk or not aware of a live socket exposed. GM should have came out and have a serious discussion with you, while immediately telling engineering to check rooms before checking-in another guest.

Curious to know how this happened. So this is a wall outlet found between the TV and the desk? Why should there have been an arc and how did your charger come into contact with it? You tried to use the outlet?