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?!

Thanks, @sunglassesonthetable ! I owe you a drink!

(But you can only have a small glass of Swiss wine, mind.)

And @cremebrulait, you are confused.

My 5* hotel DID need to be asked because they weren't going to offer me anything.

Why should it matter if I was an influencer or a bridezilla (??!) or a 'kind and mild-mannered guest'??

None of that makes the slightest difference. The hotel made a mistake. They should pay for it. And they didn't.

Now there's an idea!!

Oh right, @RosaRoja. No, the hotel didn't bother to update me. They said they'd send an IT guy up to take a look, but they didn't say if they did, or what he found. All a bit unsatisfactory.

None of the pp have obviously ever stayed in a ☆☆☆☆ Swiss hotel. Good grief! Of course you should be furious. There is not much else to do in Switzerland at night anyway than get a good night's sleep.

If it were me and I was staying another night, I would call the front desk at 3:00 am and make a huge scandal demanding that the bed sheets be changed immediately because there is a mouse in your room that shit on them and you need the night porter and the manager to track down the critter immediately and dispose of it all while screaming at the top of your lungs while jumping like a maniac on the bed. Just to get even. :)

Clearly you’re just looking for drama. stoo peojecting- clearly you are the one who is confused. You keep thinking a mistaken wake up call warrants compensation. 😂

*But that’s the difference. A 5 star hotel will generally doesn’t need to be asked. OP appears to be asking for it. Not the same. but we also dont know if OP got upset and/or demanded something.

Ive found at nicer establishments, the kind and mild mannered guests tend to get catered to a bit more. especially in the days of influencers and bridezillas — they probably do the minimum for certain types.*

Hmm not convinced. Don't really get your point here other than you're a bit pissed at OP generally.

I’ve been dwelling on this, initially I said bygones, let it go. If it were human errors then I stand by that..but the alleged attitude of the people you reported it to doesn’t scream 5 star. I
work with a lot of UK 5star properties and their guest services would
have been on this from the first conversation you had. They are there to create wonderful experiences.

Had it been acknowledged and apologised for straight away you’d have walked off feeling better but the shrug and lack of action or feedback since have escalated your feelings especially given the experience of staying hasn’t met the expectation given the brand they advertise and price paid. Understandable.

If you are still there, leave a note for the Duty manager or GSM explaining there’s a glitch in the system and see
what happens.

I think it does.

You paid for a comfortable night but didn’t get this and will feel tired the whole day which will ruin your day. Just say if you had a meeting and you didn’t want to look tired out or a day’s activity that you needed energy for. A hotel no matter the luxury rating should apologise for ruining your sleep and offer you compensation. A five star hotel should go further and offer a night for free. No matter the financial compensation I’d not be pleased to feel and look tired out. It wouldn’t be about the money refunded or the free dinner etc it would be that I’d feel exhausted and my day ruined because of this. I’d leave a review explaining the situation.

😂😂😂

Yes, exactly my feelings! Thank you.

I’d be really cheesed off and would expect compensation- probably a lot more than a bottle of wine

I haven't slept properly in the last year due to having a baby. I struggle massively going back to sleep when woken up (5am now 😩) as my mind starts racing etc.

I'm also about to book a v posh hotel as a bday treat so I can finally have an uninterrupted night's sleep while DH stays with DC. Therefore....if that were to happen to me I'd devastated...fuming! perhaps a bit entitled why not? Yes, mistakes happen but you never know what's going on on others people's lives so as a courtesy, a chocolate? A free desert? It costs the hotel nothing.

(Or even acknowledge what happened as it seems they didn't...)

YANBU. In hotel on my wedding morning I was woken 1 hour earlier than what I asked. I was very annoyed as I had a long busy day ahead. The staff were quite apologetic but no compensation could make up for that hour of sleep I lost. (I didn't ask for compensation nor did they offer any).

I tell my 13 year old DD about some of the MN posts and read out the responses…. I laugh out loud sometimes… my DD ‘OMG mumsnet sounds like a bunch of bitchy women’… she’s not wrong is she? You’ve had so much grief from some batshit women!
I hope you spoke to them in the morning once you were up and showered and complained and were given some compensation, as you should be!
Yes mistakes are made, but it’s not grabby or entitled to expect an apology and or compensation!

We complained at a hotel about half that price when a flag they had outside our window knocked against a pipe all night in the wind. When I say complained, I simply mentioned being disturbed by it when asked how our night was as we headed out for the day, thinking they could take the flag down. They said to leave it with them. When we returned after a day out, we'd been upgraded to one of their top rooms and given a voucher for dinner and drinks in the restaurant. Impeccable service and left an amazing impression, rather than the slightly groggy and unhappy one we had previously.

Hotels thrive and survive on good reputation. Their job is to keep guests happy. When you're paying top prices you should expect top service.

A lot of people in 4* hotels are business travellers who care little what the price is, and don’t expect staff to grovel to them. Hotel staff know this. Stars are awarded for physical amenities a hotel has, but quality of service can be variable.

I’m staying in an expensive hotel in the US atm. My alarm went off at 6AM and not down to me. My main thoughts were only about this thread!!

What did you do?

Nothing. Wouldn’t even have thought anything of it if not for this thread. Had clearly been left on by the last guest 🤷‍♀️