aisleorwindow

Hi again SPort-
Oops, I misunderstood about the Jacuzzi, but it doesn't matter: you deserve compensation anyway.
Since it is a chain, may I suggest that you take up your complaint with the corporate office of the chain, and not waste you time with the hotel itself, as they seem to be jerking you around. Because you have status, I guarantee you will receive a better response.



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"I just wanna wish you good luck, we're all counting on you"
-Dr. Rumack

aisleorwindow

If hell froze over I STILL wouldn't pay corkage fees at a hotel!!!
Seriously, here's the deal. The hotel doesn't need to know what you bring into your room. Unless you make a huge mess with beer bottles all over the place, the hotel is NOT going to try and charge you for this. I equate this with sneaking a candy bar into a movie theater that doesn't allow "outside food."
The only time I charged people corkage fees was when they asked for glasses and/or corkscrew from the hotel. No one ever made a fuss. It was only $10 - not unreasonable in my opinion.

Now, as for restaurants - thats another story. Corkage fees for bringing your own wine is par for the course at any restaurant IMHO. Its a way for the restaurant to recover a little bit of the revenue they are losing by you not buying their wine. I suppose if you "refused" they may let you off just to avoid confrontation, but that would be a pretty obnoxious thing to do.
Hope that helps Doppy, nice to hear from ya!

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"I just wanna wish you good luck, we're all counting on you"
-Dr. Rumack

aisleorwindow

Hi SeAAtle! I grew up in Seattle and Bellevue and am very depressed that the Mariners didn't make the playoffs, but I digress.

The only way to GUARANTEE that you can check in that early in the morning is by paying for the night before, and no, there is no discount or half day rate or anything like that, I'm afraid. This is very common and should be no problem should you choose to go this route. All you will need to do is tell the hotel ahead of time that you will not be checking in until the next morning. This is called an Advance Check-in. The front desk will check you in before midnight using the credit card you made the reservation with. It is always a good idea to confirm this with the hotel the night before, just in case.

Other options:
If you have an AMEX Platinum card, some hotels offer early check-in as a benefit. Usually, it is only noon or so, but worth looking into.

If the hotel has rooms clean and vacant at that hour, chances are they will go ahead and let you check in early. Do your homework. Because Orlando is a convention town, the hotel should be able to predict how full they are going to be. Find out what conventions are in town and how full the hotel is expecting to be the night before. If they aren't expecting many guests, then you can bet there will be empty rooms for you in the morning.
Good luck, let us know how it goes!

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"I just wanna wish you good luck, we're all counting on you"
-Dr. Rumack

Doppy

I still don't like the idea of a corkage fee or should I call it a drinkage fee, because the hotel isn't offering any corking services.

So when people asked for glasses, did you inform them that there would be a charge right then?

Were you charging them for the glasses/corkscrew, or the ability to drink alcohol? Couldn't I tell them I just prefer to drink tap water out of a wine or champagne glass?

d

jsmeeker

I've had good luck with early check-in. I know have some sort of "status" at the hotel I stay at in L.A. I'm not sure if early checkin is a benefit, as I almost always got early chekin before I had this "status". And I am talking about times even earlier than 9:30. Sometimes at 9:00 or a little bit before. If a room of my preferred type was available, they would check me in. Ocassionally, nothing is avaialable at the time, so I leave my bag and walk to the office.

I enjoy the early check-in. I can go to the room and freshen up a bit after a 1200 mile way to early in the AM flight.

aisleorwindow

Geez Doppy, you're really hung up on this corkage fee thing aren't you ?
To answer your questions: I always informed the guests that they would be charged AHEAD of time, and they were always cool with it. NO surprise fees on the bill or anything like that.
The charge is basically for "renting" the corkscrew/glasses NOT the ability to drink alcohol.
I like your idea to request champagne flutes for water! Very slick


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"I just wanna wish you good luck, we're all counting on you"
-Dr. Rumack

new228

Love this thread. Thanks for all the good advice and help.

Here's my question - hoping you can help me with it. Might not be your area of expertise.

We're getting married at a big luxury hotel in Hawaii. It's just the two of us - so the wedding planning hasn't been too difficult - all handled by the hotel. They've booked all the vendors and planned everything.

Do I tip the hotel coordinator? Some things I've read say that I should tip her 15% of the total wedding costs. This would be huge. Or is the service what we are paying for and a smaller tip ($200) for good service would be fine.

Not trying to be cheap - just not sure what to do since we don't have a breakdown of costs - just a total package that we purchased for about $5,000.

ALadyNCal

One of the things recently asked about was my most major frustration recently...

I booked/prepaid in full for two rooms for two nights so that the four of us would be entitled to check in at 9 a.m. (after arriving on an all night red-eye). We called a day or two before to confirm the reservation and have it noted in the file that we were not checking in on the first night, but arriving the following a.m. from a red-eye. They said, "No Problem".

Of course, when we arrived at the Ft. Lauderdale Renaissance at 9 a.m. (exhausted), they were a) not very friendly, b) said they would check to see if rooms were available, but 'couldn't guarantee anything'.

I got rather testy then and explained that they CERTAINLY COULD guarantee me something because I was a paid guest starting the night before. It took them a good 5 or 10 minutes before they could read their OWN SYSTEM and comprehend that I was prepaid from the day before and not arriving at 9 a.m. asking for a favor.

Although the rooms were nice, every aspect of customer service was poor throughout our stay.

Thanks for all the interesting info on this thread

roberto99

Regarding the early checkin question:

I have checked in to literally hundreds of hotels before noon with very litle problem and without having to pay for the previous night, either.

I've only paid for "the previous night" when I arrived at 00:15-04:00 am like in Singapore.

When I arrive at the hotel desk, I politely explain that "I know that I'm pretty early but I'm really hoping that a room is available now." If a room isn't ready, any decent human being calls the housekeeper and they clean one the "check-outs" within 20-40 minutes.

I've only had to wait maybe 5 times in a thousand hotel checkins. Perhaps 3 of those 5 were in smaller European hotels.

I also call the hotel an hour or so before I arrive to see if they have my kind of room available/blocked for me (no smoking, quiet, upper floor, quiet side). This tends to smooth things over at checkin.

ALadyNCal

roberto99 -- if it had just been the two of us, I would've gone and risked it. But with my Mom/Step Dad (over 70) traveling with us, I didn't want to risk subjecting them to a clerk telling us to come back at Noon.

Glad to know it's worked well for you tho

monahos

Another question for g_leyser :

What are the typical shifts for the staff a guest comes into contact with, e.g. front desk, concierge, bellman, etc. ? Is a hotel a 3x8 operation, 2x12, or staggered? Does the average employee work 5 days a week, or more like flight crews who put in long hours but less days per month?

I do like recognizing employees who have been nice upon initial contact, and sometimes give them a little present on departure day, but more often than not they were nowhere to be seen then.

I would rather not ask for their name or schedule beforehand, as it could be awkward. I suppose I should make it a habit of deciphering their name tags, and writing the names down, given my poor memory.

SeAAttle

93 wins and no playoff spot! Unfortunately, too many people expected a replay of last year and are disappointed. But if Anaheim can eliminate the Yankees, the season will be salvaged.

I think I will try the route of just showing up early and hope for a check-in, perhaps calling when I connect in MIA from Santiago to ask if early check-in might be possible. One problem - I am attending a convention of about 30,000 but I am arriving a day early.

Keep the faith, g_leyser. Ichiro will be healthy next year.

vetteset

These crew stories totally disgust me! Our crews are totally professional and I try to go out of my way to tip housekeeping and room service nicely. Did you say the crews were from EUROPE? Most of you act like we are horrible people and should not even be entitled to stay at a Sheraton/Hilton! By the way, crews provide revenue for the hotel rooms that overwise go empty. Especially, during the off season, where empty rooms are making no money! I for one, have never witnessed ANY crew member act the way you described.

aisleorwindow

Hi new, thanks for the kind words and welcome to FT!
This is a really good question and I don't know the answer for sure. I will ask some of my friends that work(ed) more closely with the sales dept. and get back to you.
My first feeling on this matter is that 15% is WAY too much money ($750!!!!). I would imagine that at a luxury hotel that tipping would be appropriate, but even $200 seems pretty generous to me. I guess it all depends on how good the planner is. I'll let you know.

Doppy

There's a discussion in the Vegas forum about charges for extra adults in the hotel room above 2; I've seen prices range from $20 to $100 per extra adult.

What was your experience with these? Like the corkage fee, I'm not a big fan. I'd pay something reasonable, but $100 a night isn't it; $10 a night probably is. With some exceptions, extra people in the room isn't costing the hotel any more money, unless breakfast or something like that is included.

Did you ever bust people? Were you supposed to be on the lookout for this, or was it overlooked?

d