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?!

Oh, I didn't realise peacocks had to be manually set to make a noise like an alarm! Well, you learn something new everyday here

Easy to do when majority seem to be attacking.

I'd expect a proper apology from reception at least in your case. A gesture of good will would be nice but I wouldn't necessarily expect to get it

Weird replies on this thread. You should absolutely be compensated. I worked in hospitality for 15 years, we would be bending over backwards to make you happy again (to intercept the impending tripadvisor bashing….)

Well said.

Update (for anyone who's interested): spoke to the manager. She was baffled. You can set alarms from the room or from reception. Departing guests have all alarms wiped so this situation can't happen. No alarm had been set for our room. She's going to send an IT engineer up to our room.

She asked what we'd like. And we agreed on free drinks in the bar. She apologised, and will ensure that no alarm is set for tomorrow in our room.

Thank you for all the opinions. Some were quite tough to read, and some were just horrible (eg @PenguinLord ).

But this is a really special holiday, we have saved up for it, and I don't think it shows we're 'lacking class' if we point out the inconvenience. And yes, a gesture of compensation helps too! But the apology is the main thing.

Makes me think how well Premier Inn do with this kind of thing, and on a much lower budget!!

Right, off to explore now. I hope you all have a good day.

I don't think you're being unreasonable, you're paying to stay in a hotel and relax- something small like a bottle of wine is just a gesture to apologise.

Not at all greedy! The point of a luxury hotel is: i) great sleep and other basics, and ii) great service. That is what they are selling.

It's not like a window cleaner who woke you at 6am. It's like a window cleaner who didn't clean your windows.

A hotel that charges EUR 900 but fails to deliver great service when something goes wrong has been found out selling something that they aren't providing.

Plus, the best service experiences are often when there is a problem that needs fixing, or where something has gone wrong. There is plenty of research showing that a company that corrects a problem well gets a happier client than one where there was no problem in the first place. Great hospitality brands know this -- they aren't doing you a favour by putting a problem right, they are doing good business.

Exactly 😂

Like the other "hilarious" posts that isn't half as hilarious as it sounded in your head.

Since you called me out @hellsBells246 ... Not sure what was horrible about saying your attitude was self-entitled and that humans make errors and not everything deserves to be 'compensated'- you seem particularly impressed with the posted who got a freebie complaining about a porter bringing a toothbrush like if it was something to aspire to.
I think it's a general attitude that comes with the power of Internet, every man and their dog complain and post it all over Twitter/X/FB Angry people in Local Newspapers style about all they can they can to get 'freebies'- you read about other people getting them and you also look for excuses to get some for yourself. Just remembered the video of the guy who put a fly in his own meal to then complain and get the whole meal for the table for free.

Sometimes you just accept inconvenient things happen and that's life, does not mean someone has to pay for every time you feel you did not get your way. Enjoy the rest of your holiday (no sarcasm here :) !).

I stayed at a very posh hotel - was awoken at 7am by construction workers hammering and Drilling inside the hotel. I have to ring down to reception three times then gave up.

I complained and they took £5 off the bill🙄. I gave them a bad Tripadvisor review, and never went back.

£780 a night! I would expect a bottle of wine AND a free dessert by way of apology. You're not staying at a premier inn - you should feel entitled to expect a higher level of customer care

Speak to the manager later in the morning

This doesn't make you sound as cool as you presumably thought it would. Sorry.

I'm glad you got it sorted, @hellsBells246. Bonne journée!

I really strongly disagree with this. Sure, mistakes happen and in lots of situations you have to let it go and get over it.

But when what you're paying for is the good service and good facilities of an expensive hotel then you should have a token gesture if something messes that up.

That was really rude. That poster was actually highlighting the point you're making - that when mistakes are made, a little bit of smoothing over helps. It doesn't matter that the mistake was hers, she's illustrating the hotel's positive response 🙄

No idea what you're on about. I wasn't trying to be "cool".

I've stayed at The Ritz , The Adlon and similar. Breakfast was not included in the room rate. If you wanted breakfast that was on top of the room rate. Not charging for breakfast in the grand scheme of things costs the hotel nothing but would make up for the disturbance.

If reception were surprised about it I suspect it is one of those ones that you self set. Either perhaps you did so by mistake or your children in the other room pranked you by setting it or calling. Was it 1 April?

Maybe the free wine a bit OTT. However a free coffee or pastry at breakfast maybe .I would be cheesed off too .We stayed at a hotel in Wales and had to be up at 7am for my Sons graduation .Alarm/fire Drill at 6 am also ! Not happy at all!

Surely coffee and pastries are always free for breakfast?

id also assume it was set up in error by one of them. They need to be set up daily , and do not continue.

It's not even clear if it was a hotel mistake, or something OP could have done herself even by accident, or set up by a previous occupant and not cancelled.
The OPs post screamed to me of the 'what can I get for free'- she could have gone back to bed, but instead went online immediately to ask why she was not provided free wine.
My friend who is on a wheelchair was recently treated in a shocking way during her journey on a train- this is something worth complainign about. Having to open your eyes 45 min before your usual time is not- for me. But I also worked in customer service for years and saw so many people trying to get free stuff for the weirdest reasons, so admittedly I have little patience for chancers.

You're lucky. Some poor sod was expecting an alarm call at 6am and has probably missed their flight.

So because some people take advantage with fake complaints, genuine poor service shouldn't be addressed? Yes humans make errors but systems and processes can be developed to reduce those errors if they're reported and reviewed. That's how service improvement works. There's only incentive to make those improvements if the errors come at a cost to the business.

Everyone benefits from great service - the customer (satisfaction), the business (£££), the staff (tips, job security).

You sound like an entitled nightmare