Asking for hotel compensation
 

For going on two days now our hotel has been without water, air, and of course can not flush the toilet. Yesterday we were offered a free breakfast, which we turned down. They just made an announcement that they expect everything to be okay by 4 pm, of course they said that yesterday. When we check out how do we negotiate compensation for these problems or do we just pay full rate?

It depends somewhat on what region of the world you are in and what would be considered a "normal" level of expected service in such an area. But I'd start with "you didn't provide the facilities that we signed up for and we are not paying for the accommodations; may I speak to a manager about having the charges reduced?" and see where you get from there. Go into the discussion with a expected level of discount that you're willing to accept and negotiate to that. Worst case you can try a dispute with the CC but that is probably iffy.

I also probably wouldn't have waited around for day 2 to see if they got things right eventually unless there were no other options but that is a different issue.

If you are staying with a major American chain you can always call up their corporate customer service line and lodge a complaint. I had a miserable stay at a Comfort Inn in London and when I got back stateside I called Choice Intl corporate and they refunded me part of the cost of the stay.

For no water or air conditioning, I'd expect a full refund for those days - period. (Aside from the previous caveat about being in a part of the world where this is expected at a hotel...)

I've only had this happen to me once: I was checking in to a Residence Inn in downtown San Antonio one evening when they'd had a water main break. They didn't even let people check in to the hotel - instead, the manager informed me of the situation right upon arrival and offered me my choice of any other Marriott downtown at my existing rate. (There are about 10 of them within a couple miles of downtown.)

I picked the other Residence Inn a few miles away, although it was clear that I could have picked one of the two or three full-service Marriotts that typically run a somewhat higher average rate. All in all I thought that was fair.

I didn't stick around long enough to figure out what they were doing with people who were in the middle of their stay.

What city? What hotel?

I had a recent stay in Rome at a Sheraton (I'm SPG Gold) and used points. Check-in was an ordeal, with the first room having the wrong key card, the second room was occupied and the third room was finally right (though not the type of room I reserved). They also had a shuttle service to Rome that stopped at both parts of the property - problem was, the bus filled up with folks on the other side of the property and couldn't take our side, and the extra bus they got never showed up.

I requested full refund of my points (it was a one night stay) and SPG Gold had them back in my account two days later.

I would lodge a complaint with their corporate offices. Normally if they make a half assed offer like free breakfast, they probably won't be willing to make any other offers to compensate you.

It's a mixed bag really. A Hilton Garden Inn made a sincere apology when part of my room's sink basin collapsed while I was using it (injuries small but enough to be taken to the hospital). They paid for hospital costs but didn't do anything in terms of comping my room, but did move me to another room.

On the other hand, after I complained that my non-smoking room smelled like smoke and asking the Sheraton Taipei for another room (I had just checked in, I hadn't slept in the room) they offered me a room on an SPG floor (this happening when I was a lowly SPG base member) and offered to comp that night's stay.

Like I said, it's a mixed bag. Good luck.

Hey! Sh!t happens but why one would not move to another hotel after the first day seems inexcusable.

MisterNice

Seems like there's more to this situation?? Was this in a remote part of the world where there were no other hotels nearby? We're all responding thinking about the Marriott/Starwood/Hilton world... Where exactly are/were you?

It was the Holiday Inn Midtown NYC that had mixed reviews. The reason I did not move is it was right by Alvin Ailey dance and I am very directionaly challenged, our trip was to attend the dance studio. It all worked out though. Of course I didnt bathe for two days! They gave 50% off for one day, which was fine since the rate wasnt too bad - you get what you pay for. We were going to see about other locations but after I posted the GM came over the intercom - It sounded like it came from the Fire Alarm in the room, he was really nice and explained that it was something the city had done, broke a pipe or something. He said something like "its a wonderful day for going out and seeing the sites, when you come back everything should be up and running" of course it wasnt, but we managed.