Posh hotel un-asked for alarm at 6 - compensation?!

[hellsBells246]

Staying in a v posh hotel. Think 900 Swiss francs per night...

Just got woken up by a bloody alarm. Picked up phone and got a recorded message saying we had asked for a 6am alarm. We hadn't!! It woke us both and now we can't get back to sleep.

Rang reception, who were puzzled about the alarm but not v apologetic.

AIBU to think they could offer a small gesture to apologise?? Eg a free bottle of wine?! Or AIB greedy and mistakes happen?!

100%
It wouldn’t cross my mind to be seeking compensation ffs!

I assume you are joking

I'd be very annoyed by this! Fair enough if it's not something in their control like a fire alarm or other guests being noisy but waking you at 6am with an alarm you didn't ask for is really bad. I'd be speaking to reception later to make sure it wasn't going to happen again, hopefully they'll offer a proper apology then. It's not expecting grovelling, just acknowledgment that it's a mistake on their part and they're very sorry and it won't happen again.

This. Can't believe the responses and yes, I would expect a heartfelt apology and appropriate recompense

the tone of the replies is interesting. Buried in the corporate strategy textbooks is a case study of The Four Seasons hotel chain; they have a big compensation policy. In fact, it’s such a part of their corporate play book that staff are not penalised for mistakes, nor do they have performance metrics about not making mistakes. Being able to go the extra mile when something like this happens is part of the guest experience and helps deliver superior customer satisfaction.

OP, you should have stayed at the four seasons. And yes I would also be livid.

Wow, how to brag by wrapping it in something else!
Out of interest, why were the children in another room? Were they not able to contact you? Otherwise, why would you think the hotel was ringing you 'about the kids'
And then you want compensation?

Well you don't know they won't offer something by way of compensation. You spoke to them at 5am about the alarm. They don't know that two people are now unable to sleep as a consequence of the error unless you've called them back? So if you do feel strongly then speak to them when you go downstairs. I wouldn't have been expecting to discuss free bottles of wine at 5am.

I've not got my glasses on. Just seen it was 6am which is still early but not horrendous

For the equivalent of £800 a night it is completely reasonable to expect things to be perfect. I would be unimpressed with an unapologetic response too and would bring it up again at check out.

Mumsnet is obsessed with people being unreasonably "entitled" when actually in many circumstances you ARE entitled to a certain standard of service. Being woken up at the crack of dawn is ridiculous!

I was once in a slightly less ‘posh’ hotel, only about £500/room/night when we were woken up by a fire alarm and evacuated onto the cold street at 2am, including my sons who were about 8 and 9 at the time. It turned out to be a false alarm.

I was annoyed but compensation wasn’t even on my agenda.

That's very different though! It's not their fault that the fire alarm went off. It is their fault that OP got a wake up call!

Extremely grabby.

I disagree with most, being woken up so early would really hack me off, and for such an expensive hotel it is a mistake. All these people who write 'oh it's only a mistake' don't realise that at very top hotels mistakes aren't supposed to happen. Plus this is a basic one.

The attitude is so weird! Do all these people just shrug off their own mistakes at work with puzzlement and a vague sorry?!

Is it the type of phone where you can set the alarm yourself?? Might the previous guest have done it? I'm actually surprised that hotel alarm calls are still a thing with mobile phone alarms

I would expect a compersation paying that for a night and being woken up at 6 am for no reason.
And I wouldn't feel I was pushing my luck.

I think you should make your displeasure known when you go down to breakfast. The whole point of a hotel (especially a luxury one) is to offer a good night's sleep. Plus, by the time you've got downstairs, they will probably have had the intended recipient of the alarm raging at them for not calling - they may well have missed a meeting or a flight.

Definitely demand compensation. Don’t forget to also report it to the Daily Mail and make sure you and your kids have a suitable compo face photo.

I'd be so annoyed and it's worth a conversation about the impact it's had on you and that the night was ruined - but I am rarely asleep before 3am despite going to bed hours before so a 6am wake up would rob me of most of my sleep (generally sleep 3am-8am)

YANBU

You've payed for a good night's sleep and they haven't provided it. Yes it's just a mistake and you probably shouldn't get a full free night, but a free bottle of wine sounds about right.

I think pps are jealous

😆

I think you’ll be surprised later and they will give you something to say sorry.

We were woken by the fire alarm (accidentally set off by kitchen staff) at 2 am of the morning of a flight we had to be up at 4am for.
Very expensive hotel. Had to pad outside in night clothes in mid winter and wait for the fire brigade to turn up and sound the all clear. We didn't both going back to bed for the 45 mins we had left.
No offer of compo from the hotel and although we were pretty furious accidents and mistakes happen and they weren't to know we were up at the crack of dawn. I didn't expect them to offer anything.

This! For 900 Euros a night I'd be expecting top rate service!

I am so fed up of shit service that I now complain about every instance of it and ask for compensation.

Customers really should stand up for themselves and perhaps companies will start to realise they can't keep taking the piss.

Join my (up to now) one-woman campaign OP! I'd ask for a partial refund.

I agree, I don't think the OP is being greedy. If I'd booked a hotel of that price I wouldn't want an unplanned early wake up call either.