How do high end hotels get away with nickel-and-diming? Is this typical?

[OldOlds]

@Si_Amigo

I stayed at a nice Marriott in downtown Milan Italy once and it was like a $350 room. Still I was impressed at how they tried to manage to squeeze even more out of me while I was there, not just nickle and dime. They had a mini bar in the room and I don’t ever use those things because I know that they are going to rape you for anything; but this one had a new scam. They had a local bottle of beer with a big titted Italian lady on the label and I picked it up to look at it; just by doing that they charged almost $35 because there was a sensor on it that rang it up as a sell!

Even my shifty Italian suppliers that I was there auditing were impressed at how shifty the hotel was.

I’ve seen that too, with the sensor that measures when you touch something. Infuriating to have to go tell them to take it off the bill.

I have stayed at everything from the worst two Holiday Inns in the world (Montreal and Detroit, by the way) to insanely upscale and modern hotels (always in Europe, due to a quirk of how the company books international travel). And I agree that the more expensive the hotel, the more they hose you.

[gracer]

@toast_pakora

Y’all need to read a memoir that came out a year ago, I forget the name but it was the hotel version of Kitchen Confidential written by a fellow who’d worked at a 4-star hotel in Manhattan for many years. What I learned…

…the person who makes the most money by far at a hotel is the bell hop. Any staff person who gets tips will be making more than the management. Being promoted to management is a significant step down because of that and most workers would rather have the cash…

…you can raid the mini-bar and watch all the pay per view porn and then claim that you didn’t or blame it on the cleaners and the charges will be taken off your bill without a quibble…

…as **Spoons **noted, hotels keep track of their guests and note their preferences, so that when they check in again, they can be welcomed with their favorite drink/room/tickets and be sent a card on their birthday. It’s all about customer retention…

That’s as much as I can remember for now. I looked it up: it’s called Heads In Beds. Very entertaining.

True, and what Spoons said too. I worked in a 4* hotel for a few years.

You could easily say you didn’t have anything from the minibar, you didn’t have that drink etc etc, it would be wiped off the bill without question. But please don’t! We were struggling, financially. We didn’t nickel-and-dime, I don’t think. We charged for the internet, but this was several years ago and everyone did. And we really needed that money. We charged for the bottle of water, but the tap water was better than bottled anyway. We charged for breakfast, but lots of guests didn’t want breakfast and didn’t want it included in the price. We had the option of including it in the price, but the price of the room just went up €10.

Everyone there worked really hard for our guests, and went the extra mile for the regulars and returning guests (like Spoons!) I would call ahead to the bar to remind them one of the regulars was coming, I’ve stood in the kitchen myself making someone a late night snack after their flight was horribly delayed, housekeeping liked to make sure the regulars had things just the way they liked in their favourite room. I always really liked it when people called to plan a romantic weekend: we would coordinate to make it a perfect, surprising, romantic stay. Like, we would have candles lit in the room ready when they walked in, then have the restaurant planned and then chilled champagne in the room just when they returned. Planning that stuff is so much fun! We felt like secret agents

My point is: they probably work really hard to make you happy, and they’re genuinely pleased if you have a good stay. Please don’t be too mean in scamming them back. Just ask when you ring, they’ll knock something off the price if they can!

(Also, I was in a country where nobody tips. I made fuck all and did it all anyway. It was a fun job.)

[slaphead]

@Dewey_Finn

I think the reason they do that is that people would consume the food or beverage in the room minibar and then restock it from a convenience store down the street. So now at some hotels, just removing the item triggers the charge.

Or more likely they would claim ‘no I didn’t use anything from the minibar’ after emptying it into their baggage, or refill the booze bottles with water and put them back in the fridge. I never touch the minibar but one time I got back from a long trying day and thought ‘screw it! I’m having a triple-price beer’ - cold tap water :mad: So I had to schlep down to the reception/bar anyway, where they comped me a nice cold half-liter of pils.

@Voyager

Really cheap hotels are awful. Really expensive ones (unless in really fantastic locations) aren’t worth the money. Good mid-range hotels (and I love Hampton Inns) are an excellent compromise. I never use the gym or the spa, and I try to avoid hotel restaurants unless absolutely necessary. Even when I’m traveling on business.

I agree. So long as it’s clean and efficient and quiet-ish with an OK bed, I really don’t care. And I always travel with earplugs. Hotel restaurants I will use unless there is something obviously available nearby, I can’t be arsed to schlep round the neighbourhood to save $15.
One thing I do like is the sort of ‘baseline’ service you get from e.g. club quarters. Free wifi, free water bottles in the corridor, a basic room service menu plus a book with menus from 3-4 local takeaway places where you can order from and have it added to your bill. I think its a great compromise between cost & convenience.

And I think there is a difference between ‘high-end’ and ‘pretending to be high-end’. For random business reasons I once ended up at a Small Luxury Hotels property in Bratislava and a couple of times in the Intercontinental Carlton in Cannes.
Marrols in Bratislava, just before christmas - walk in, real christmas tree, fireplace burning, since there is a small party overwhelming the check-in desk a lady sits us down and brings us a glass of champagne, points out the gratis bowls of christmas snacks, asks if we need anything. Couple of minutes later we get to sit down by the little desk the check-in lady is using while she does the admin, offers more champagne. Small room (old building) but free minibar, free wifi, free TV (a bit of an eye-opener when flicking through the channels, that). Choice of lady or gent room which apparently have different toiletries & decor.

Carlton - to be fair this was at conferences with an army of visitors but it was basically indistinguishable from a Hilton, other than that the building was very grand and the other guests very snotty. If I remember correctly a beer was €6 (bar or minibar), a small bottle of water €4 and a chocolate bar €5. WiFi was chargeable but we had a company code for the conference. The chambermaids were great though - I would clear out the L’Occitaine toiletries from my double bath and they would immediately replace them, twice a day. By the end they were leaving a double set lined up along each of the two sinks So I wasn’t impressed, but my missus was, two years worth of free toiletries.

[Dewey_Finn]

Regarding hotels that charge for internet access, I think some hotels are looking at a two-tier system. Basic internet, fast enough for email and web access would be free but they’d charge for access fast enough for streaming content.

[runningdude]

If you make a stink, you can get a lot of things comp’d.

[Soylent_Juicy]

Years ago I read an article about this sort of thing. They interviewed a rep from Delta Hotels and she said that their thinking is that if someone can afford to pay $199+ per night for a room, then they’re not bothered by paying for all the extras.

[DMC]

I only have to travel a few weeks a year for work, but typically stay at higher end hotels. I don’t remember the last time I had to pay for internet access. Wi-fi, sure, but all of them had an ethernet connection that could be used free of charge. I prefer to be hard-wired anyway as it is typically less flaky.

As for other differences, the bed and bedding can make a huge difference. It’s hard enough for me to get a good night’s sleep in a strange room, but with a shitty bed, it’s almost impossible. That’s not usually an issue in nice hotels. They are also far more likely to come through when you really need some help. The concierge at a Hilton is more information booth than anything else. They will sometimes help you, but it’s usually something you could have done yourself. The concierge at a really nice place can perform magic. Things you think are impossible suddenly become feasible.

[Mama_Zappa]

@GreedySmurf

A part of it as well is what type of clientelle the hotel relies on it. The moderate to higher end hotels often relies on business travellers. With the room being paid for by the employer, the person staying there doesn’t care what other expenses he pays for, it all goes on the bill they don’t have to pay for.

Actually when I travel on business, my employer DOES care, and if I tried to “run through” a 15 dollar a day internet charge I’d be skewered by my bosses. Meals are also typically limited per day.

So when travelling on business, I’ll intentionally go to the mid-range places that have free internet, included breakfast, etc.