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No hot water. What is an acceptable resolution?

No hot water. What is an acceptable resolution?

 
Old Jan 22, 2003, 10:17 pm
  #1  
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No hot water. What is an acceptable resolution?

On Tuesday morning, at the Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles, I arose at 6:00 a.m. There was no hot water. Calls to service express and the hotel operator were unanswered. Out of desperation, I pushed the button on the phone marked ‘emergency”
Security answered. I was told that the entire hotel was without hot water and that it would be several hours before it was restored.

The Hotel was nearly full with a convention, and when I was downstairs earlier to get a cup of overpriced Starbucks Coffee, I saw several sweaty joggers on there way back to their rooms. Lucky for me, I had a suite with a microwave and heated up enough water to shave and wash my hair. I had pity for the joggers and anyone else who needed to shower and prepare for the day. (I tried to take cold shower and it was untolerable)

Customers at the front desk were furious and the clerks on duty were not only overwhelmed, but were powerless to do anything.

Later in the day, I composed a memo to the on duty manager. I reminded him of the Sheraton satisfaction guarantee and suggested that if I had been at a Sheraton, the night would have been free.

He called me within a few minutes and offered me 7000 SPG point, the equivalent of a free night.

For me, that was an acceptable resolution.
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Old Jan 22, 2003, 10:20 pm
  #2  
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I think a free night equivilent (your choice of the bill waived or starpoint equiv.) is almost "acceptable" even if it doesn't make you "whole". And its certainly more than the Harbour Castle did several years ago when they knew in advance that there would be no water whatsoever for some time (the first notice of this was a flyer on the checkin counter).
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Old Jan 22, 2003, 10:44 pm
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mpclaw:
He called me within a few minutes and offered me 7000 SPG point, the equivalent of a free night.

For me, that was an acceptable resolution.
</font>
Yes, you still didn't have hot water, but IMHO, 7,000 SPG points was a reasonable offer.
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Old Jan 23, 2003, 4:33 am
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Vote with your feet & don't go back!

Le Meridien in Munich was without hot water for a whole weekend "because we're full".

They deducted 25% off the rate, but i'll be avoiding the entire chain from now on.

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Old Jan 23, 2003, 6:07 am
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I'd go for no charge and the 7,000 points personally.
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Old Jan 23, 2003, 7:22 am
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About 10 years ago, I was staying at a hotel near LAX that was hosting a conference I was attending (I don't remember which hotel it was). When I was getting ready in the morning, I found that there was almost no hot water (it was slightly warmer than the cold water, so I knew it wasn't completely broken).

A call to the front desk revealed that nothing was broken, but that on days with a conference, the hotel just runs out of hot water, because everyone is showering around the same time and the hot water heater can't keep up.

This situation is worse than any of those described above, in my opinion. Although inconvenient, and although the hotel should definately provide compensation in the above situations, I understand and accept that things break from time to time.

What I find unacceptable is a hotel that has conference facilities, sells itself as a conference hotel, but then is unable to provide something as basic and necessary as hot water when everyone naturally gets up at the same time because of an in-house conference. It was clear to me that management knew there was a long-standing problem and chose not to address it by expanding their hot water heater. Perhaps in reality this sort of thing does not scare off enough business to be worth fixing.
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Old Jan 23, 2003, 9:30 am
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Swiss Tony:
Vote with your feet & don't go back!

Le Meridien in Munich was without hot water for a whole weekend "because we're full".

They deducted 25% off the rate, but i'll be avoiding the entire chain from now on.

</font>
"Because we're full" is about the lamest excuse because when a hotel is at capacity, the last-reserved group of rooms are paying the highest rates of all (which at Le Meridien, should be enough to buy lots of hot water heating facilities...). But if a hotel has a mechanical failure, I'd be forgiving

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Old Jan 23, 2003, 11:33 am
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Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it possible to install multiple hot water heaters to ensure that if one fails, there isn't a meltdown?

It seems to me that this would be the proper thing to do...
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Old Jan 23, 2003, 1:17 pm
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assuming the problem is in fact with the water heaters, having multiple water heaters would be a fine solution.

but we don't really know what the problem was. if there was a plumbing or electrical or some billing problem with the local utility company, for which there weren't multiple paths for the water to flow, then you would still be out of luck.
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Old Jan 23, 2003, 2:28 pm
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I had something similar happen during a stay at the Dallas Adam's Mark. No water at all for nearly 24 hours. They comped one day of my stay after I asked. That was adequate for me.
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Old Jan 24, 2003, 10:42 am
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This happen to me once at the MArriott Tarryton near White Plains NY. 2 nights no air in the middle of summer, no hot water the first morning. I was Platinum and they would give me 0 comp. They even tried to hit me with a 50 dollar early checkout on the 3 night when they didnt have air back yet.

7000 points is at least a free night. I would be happy after my ordeal
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Old Jan 24, 2003, 11:28 am
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How about having them send someone up with some freshly boiled water to give you a sponge bath

I think the 7,000 points is good as you can choose where you want your free night instead of your company getting the savings. After all, you were the one freezing, not them.
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Old Jan 24, 2003, 3:24 pm
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This just happend to me at the Essex House St. Regis and they comp'ed. me a room night.

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