To think my request at hotel wasn’t unreasonable?

[Chocowoka]

In a nutshell a friend and I wanted to have a spa day. We found what looked like a beautiful hotel with great facilities and decided we’d like to try there.

The offer included and cost £95 each

Spa treatment 25 mins (either a foot scrub, facial or body scrub)
Full use of spa facilities for 4 hours
2 course lunch or afternoon tea

I asked if I could just have a massage as I have bad flare ups with my skin with many products so a scrub wouldn’t be ideal. I was told no... ok fair enough so I chose the foot scrub.

My friend wanted the lunch and I wanted the afternoon tea. When I told the girl what we wanted she said oh I’m afraid we can’t do that as they’re served in different restaurants so you’d have to eat in separate restaurants (in the same hotel) 🙄 I said, “Well I’m not expecting silver service. I’ll happily go the restaurant that mine would be served in and take the plate with my food on, to the restaurant that my friends in, so we can eat together?” 🙄

She went to ask someone and came back and said “We can’t do that I’m sorry”

I said, “Ok, we’ll just leave it then” and we going somewhere else and booked it.

Now I could have had the lunch and my friend could have had the afternoon tea. I felt on principle however that we were spending a lot of money there for a treat so why should we not get what we really want!?

The hotel offers room service and is a 5* hotel so I’m quite sure they could carry some from one restaurant to the next or allowed me to, because if day a hotel guest fancied afternoon tea does that mean they can’t have it in their room?

If a group of 6 friends went chances are they aren’t all going to want the same. So the hotel would still say no and lose custom potentially.

I just think for such an expensive few hours they could have been more accommodating.

@user14928465

No I didn’t pay so they did lose our custom

*imply

It’s a package deal which sets out the only options available. imagine everyone wanted to swap this for that and eat from one room to another.

YABU. They're probably glad you went somewhere else. You hadn't even started the day and found two things to moan about.

I want your special offer of a facial scrub and afternoon tea, but can I change that to a massage and lunch and you do it at the same price?

YABU. They offer what they offer. If it does not suit you you are of course free to take your custom elsewhere.

Afternoon tea is a different concept to lunch and it's not unusual for it to be served in a different location.

Also honestly, I don't think £95 for a meal, a treatment & 4 hours use of 5* facilities is expensive, I think you won't find many places offering that for significantly less.

user14928465

How did they lose your custom? You already paid but didn't actually take up everything you'd paid for. So they made a bigger profit.

Huh? Where did you get that from?

If you were staying at the Dorchester or Claridges i'm sure it wouldn't be an issue but then you wouldn't be paying £95 a head would you? That is the nature of offers they come with restrictions I'm afraid.

@Michaelbaubles

That’s what I was thinking. When you watch these programmes about luxury hotels the emphasis is on keeping customers happy. It wasn’t like I was asking for freebies just to eat with my friend...

It's nkt that hard to understand that when you pay specifically for x you get x, not yz. If you want yz, pay for yz.

I used to get so fed up with people who were doing these things. Eg, buy a voucher for a burger but then demand different meal with "but it costs the same on a menu". So? You paid for burger🤷

It's nit standard bringing food from 1 restaurant to another even within same hotel. As pp said. It's usually different kitchens, there are h&s and food hygiene rules AND they will end up with bunch of customers wanting to do the same as well.

YABU. VU. It was a package in which you saw what was advertised and booked. You can't then go in saying I don't want what is advertised I want this instead...about treatments, about lunch. They're probably glad you left.

YABU. It is very exact because it is a cheap package and you get exactly what is says on the tin. If you wanted to pay extra I am sure they would have accommodated you but you were expecting extra for a cheap deal.

How did they lose your custom? You already paid but didn't actually take up everything you'd paid for. So they made a bigger profit.

I dont think op had paid for it. I gathered it was an offer she'd seen and contacted them about, wasn't happy with what they said, so decided to book a different place.

YABRidiculous

Apologies for typos

It's a five-star hotel, not a buffet at the local cricket club.

YABU

It's lunch for two or afternoon tea for two. What's so difficult to understand?

YABU, you sound rather difficult.

Mumsnet is a strange place in terms of customer service! It always seems that posts regarding service are weighted heavily against the OP!

Yes OP some 5 star hotels do bend over backwards- for customers who spend £0000s staying the night or returning often. a package deal wouldn’t be quite the same thing IMO.
And it wasn’t about just eating with your friend otherwise you wouldn’t have mentioned the massage.

@Alsohuman

A massage can be as long or as short as you pay for....

It was a ‘special deal’ not a tailored experience.

It’s unlikely to be the same staff doing the treatments as the massage.

Many reasons why they wouldn’t serve things from another restaurant - not the same as room service at all.

Surely one if you could have compromised so you could eat together?

Yabvu OP and awkward

The offer included and cost £95 each

Spa treatment 25 mins (either a foot scrub, facial or body scrub)
Full use of spa facilities for 4 hours
2 course lunch OR afternoon tea

THEY set packages for a REASON op not so ppl can change it in any way they see fit!!! Totally unreasonable!

@Michaelbaubles yes, but that's probably for guests paying full whack to stay at the hotel. Not for people who are getting a cheap Groupon deal.

But it wasn't just the massage you wanted to change. You also wanted to re-organise them regarding food all for a very cheap deal. These packages are cheap because they are all the same and easy to arrange - not chopping and changing to suit some fussy idiots who cant read.