To think the hotel were out of order with valentines stay/room?

[Hotelhorror]

I had a night away booked with my boyfriend on Saturday (the first time we had stayed overnight with each other).

It was a modern hotel with a glass window to the bathroom which was supposed to turn opaque when a button was selected. It was apparent this wasn’t working.

We went downstairs to reception to ask for it to be fixed, receptionist said they’d send someone to take a look. Maintenance man came up and said it was a common issue but he didn’t have the part needed (and wouldn’t have it until midweek) so he accompanied us back to reception again saying they’d give us another room.

The receptionist said there was no alternative rooms available as the hotel was full due to valentines and when this happens, couples have ‘seen it all before so just laugh about it’ and enjoy their stay.

I said this wasn’t acceptable and asked for the manager - who did appear from the back office but basically doubled down and said there was nothing they could do. She did offer us a voucher for a drink each in the bar (really!!) as a ‘goodwill gesture’.

As we had traveled some distance we decided to stay, and used the communal loos in the reception area whenever there was a need (luckily there was no need to in the night).

I found them thoroughly dismissive and am awaiting a response to my formal complaint to head office.

AIBU to find these customer service standards appalling?

Image attached of what I mean (this isn’t mine but from another review of same hotel of people unhappy with the set up)

I have had an extensive education and cannot recall a single instance of instruction in the art of adapting or modifying hotel bathrooms for privacy.

The issue isn't one of who can work out how to do it, so much as who wants to spend their holiday sourcing the materials to wallpaper over the glass or whatever. Hotels are paid for for convenience, not as chances to demonstrate skills of resourcefulness and adaptability.

How rhe fuck do you do that then.

What would you have liked the hotel to do as all the other rooms were taken?

You don't go away on a romantic break to "cope" and pay a pretty penny for it

Yes it’s awkward but it’s not something they could fix on a Saturday, they were full so couldn’t move your room. I actively avoid hotels with glass bathrooms because they are frankly stupid in design, but ultimately a complimentary drink or a discount is all they can offer

Same here. I’m just not an open bathroom person.

See-through bathroom walls are about as classy as see-through underwear.

How the fuck do you do that? If I need to shit, then I need to shit. It’s not going to wait quietly. At the very least I’d be farting while attempting to hold it in.

I’m another who has been married for a long time and I have no desire to see my DH taking a shit. I don’t want him to see me taking a shit.

Oh my god - on both counts - absolutely!
Good grief. I've been with my husband for 40 years and we neither of us want to see that.

Don't be silly.

I have been with my husband for 28 years there’s not much we haven’t seen but I don’t want to look at him in the toilet nor do I want him looking at me when I’m on the toilet, I wouldn’t be happy about this and I don’t think it’s on for the hotel to try to make you think you are being unreasonable

We were on a ship/hotel in Gibraltar with glass between bedroom and shower/loo. We both went for a walk when the other abluted.

I hate those glass doors.

But what did you expect them to do at that moment?

I don't see why you should have to. What if it was 3am? Or you were reading or watching tv in bed? How wildly inconvenient.

Duct tape some sheets or towels to the transparent walls and door to provide privacy?

You are absoutely right.

Hell would freeze over before I would accept that.

I would offically complain to Head Office.
Contact Retail ADR if no joy.
Take to social media and national newspapers.
Try initiate a chargeback on my card.
Small claims court if neccesary.

I'm no prude. Have had more gynacological examations that I can to remember & happy to let trainees sit in if necessary but shitting it not a spectator sport - no way, no how.

I cannot understand people who consider it standard or acceptable to shit in front of a partner (medical situations aside). Absolutely vulgar.

Why do you have duct tape in your suitcase? (Genuine question)

I get it isn't great, but
1.there was no rooms to move you too

1. They weren't going to be able to find the party at that time on a weekend

So couldn't just give each other privacy? You tertiary him enough to have sex with him, but not to play on your phone whilst he pees and vice versa?

So yanbu to be unhappy bout yBu to think that it renders the loo unusable

Would you want your fella to see you having a shit or washing your flaps on your first weekend away together?

Not me. The hotel, particularly the maintenance man.

I mean maybe if it's a new boyfriend and you're still a bit awkward, but I think leaving the room to go to the loo is wild! Just don't look if you don't wanna see each other pee? Bizarre.

I may have been with my husband too long but I wouldn't have even bothered mentioning it to maintenence in the first place idec.

For all those saying what do you expect the hotel to do as there were no other rooms.

Well perhaps the hotel could have taken up some of the suggestions on here for a starter. Not ideal but at least it would have looked as if they cared about their customers and to not metaphorically shrug their shoulders, say everyone else thinks it's fine you are prudes so suck it up

And if it is such a common problem then the maintenance man should not let stocks of the relevant part get so low or in this case completely out of stock.

The world is always going to be divided into people comfortable with their partner witnessing them pissing/shitting, and those not comfortable with it.

If you ARE comfortable with it, surely you can accept that not everyone is? And that that's probably down to experiences you have shared together over time?

My partner helped care for me after a life-threatening illness, and that included him having to carry me to the bathroom when I needed to go, so I lost all inhibitions around him. If you've given birth in front of your partner, for example, you might feel the same.

However, it doesn't take a huge amount of imagination to grasp that a couple spending their first night away together may not yet have reached that level of intimacy. If indeed they ever do! It's not a comment on their inherent compatibility - different strokes for different folks.

At the end of the day, OP had paid (I assume) quite a lot for what was meant to be a pleasant, romantic experience. And it wasn't, due to this issue.

The hotel failed to deliver what they advertised, and what she paid for. Therefore I think she ought to be compensated. Does anybody genuinely disagree with this, whatever their own levels of comfort with pissing and shitting in front of their loved one?

What outcome were you expecting?

They weren't aware that there was a problem until you told them and unfortunately they didn't have a spare part to hand, plus no spare rooms available - so what did you expect them to do?

I appreciate that you were uncomfortable and you weren't getting what you had expected, but you've said that you weren't happy with their response on the day so I'm just wondering what you expected them to do?

When complaining about something, I find it's more effective if I can tell them what resolution I'm expecting.

Would hate that! Yes we have used the loo in front of each other in an emergency when had no choice (sometimes you just gotta go) but I couldn’t go for a poo in front of him as standard! I’d have been going down to the reception loos constantly as my stomach would have played up at the nervousness of the situation even after 19yrs together!