Hotels have become stingy and cheap.

[StingyHotel]

AIBU to think hotels have become stingy and cheap in recent years, losing much of the customer experience?

I am quite fortunate to stay in hotels a fair amount across Europe. One trend I have noticed in recent years, since COVID really, is the tendency towards ‘cheapness’.

I don’t stay in the cheapest hotels either, I pay for rooms costing £300+ per night.

Recent examples of what I would consider stingy are:

• Fridges / mini-bars with nothing in them, not even a bottle of water…Not even an option to purchase extra beverages. When I asked what the point of having the fridge was, I was told it was so I could go to the mini-mart and stock it myself.
• Coffee making facilities that don’t have sachets of milk. When I queried this, I was told milk was for ‘speciality coffee’, and I could have black coffee or pay €2 extra per sachet (!)
• TVs where you have to pay extra to watch any channel - I switched it on and was immediately confronted with a pay screen.
• Hotels without free WiFi, you have to pay per day.

Which brings me onto today, I am staying in France in an expensive hotel - £410 per night. The room is unbelievably hot, does not have an opening window, I am also peri-menopausal and prone to night sweats (not that it should really matter). I tried to toggle the temperature on the thermostat, it doesn’t work. I phoned down to reception and asked how I make the room cooler, they responded that ‘it is winter in France so we turn the AC off and all the fans are stored away now.’ AIBU to think that, for £410 a night, I should be able to blast AC to Arctic temperatures if I so desire? I am getting very frustrated at paying a premium price to then face extra charges or not have a comfortable nights sleep.

It's not just hotels, everything has become enshitified.

I too have stayed in various 4/5* hotels across Europe last year and previous years and haven’t come across anything like you describe.

Even travel lodge you don’t pay extra for tv channels tho wifi you do.

But yes standards have gone down.

Also actually Travelodge had fans in the rooms and opening windows.

Ha this is actually so true!

We stayed in a mid price hotel and was surprised there were no beans on the breakfast menu. I mentioned this to the waitress and she said you have to ask for them, which I do now.

I am finding that, unless staying in actual branded premium hotels e.g. Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons, other supposed 4/5*’s aren’t even providing what I would consider to be basic comfort and necessities for guests.

Ironically, the hotel I am staying in is opposite a Mandarin and I actually went across there for dinner and drinks this evening as the service at my supposedly 4* hotel has been shocking. I like to support local, independent, boutique hotels but I just won’t bother anymore.

Oh that reminds me of another hotel I stayed in, I paid €25 for breakfast, which turned out to be cold breakfast only, if you wanted anything hot you had to pay extra from a separate menu!

I posted something very similar on the recent “things that used to work better” thread.

I agree here although there are exceptions - I was just at the Grove in Watford and they didn’t stint on anything. Two bottles of water AND a bottle of milk AND a window you could open.

Paris hotels often aren’t even cleaned properly or only have a cold water tap for the basin. That said when they have a restaurant the food is generally good.

I recommend German hotels. The rooms are always spacious and generally tidy and modern, in my experience. Hardwood flooring etc. Was particularly impressed with NH Collection recently (not luxury or quirky but very smart and functional with a good breakfast.)

there is just no service anywhere, its rubbish. I stayed in Germany recently, no drinks in the room but a mini mart downstairs. Not very convenient in your pjs! And it was about 300E pn

Remember when fancy hotels used to have mini bottles of shampoo and conditioner that you could shove in your suitcase on the way out?

They all seem to do the big bottles fixed to the wall now.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of a the rooms and facilities at a recent Travelodge, clean, very comfy bed, fan, hairdryer, tea/coffee, plenty of TV channels, free parking and all for £50 a night.

It’s ridiculous, and sad, as I’ll just end up avoiding the independent hotels and stay in named brands. I’m not sure what has happened, I’m sure it didn’t always used to be this way…

Or single-use sachets 😂 which I wouldn’t mind if I wasn’t paying hundreds of pounds a night!

It’s more environmentally friendly.

And I'm sure it being cheaper has nothing to do with it.

I was in a Paris hotel in March and one on London too, both 5*, and they had hooks and spaces where the bathrobes and slippers used to be…but no bathrobes or slippers.
Also I was in Barcelona this week and the aircon didn’t work…now I know why; it’s clearly winter, even though it’s been 19-23C!

With a central HVAC system, which most high end hotels in Europe will have, it is not technically possible for the same compressor(s) to produce warm air to one lot of rooms - which is what northern Europe is mostly doing tonight - and cold air to another.

I have to disagree on the fridge. Ai love being able to chill my own drinks and not pay inflated minibar prices

I'm on the search for a UK hotel with swimming pool/jacuzzi type set up for a short break. Used to do this and if the hotel had a pool you could use it only spa treatments were paid for. Not now. Reading reviews quite a lot you've to pay to use the pool. And it isn't always obvious (until you dig through the reviews of irritated customers)

Oh my god, you’ve just reminded me, another hotel I stayed at waxed lyrical all over social media about its outdoor pool facilities… I come to find out they don’t heat the pool in the colder months i.e half the year, making it unusable for guests.

I can recommend the Salutation in Ambleside

Really nice.pool and free for guests.

See, I don’t mind paying a little extra and if I’m in my room I like to be able to have a coke or wine on a whim, not pre-plan stocking the fridge or going to a mini-mart.

Paying for parking is our bugbear, especially when not near a station or out of town. Agree about empty mini fridge(or no fridge but a space where it once was) and bottled water should be supplied as a minimum. Skimping on housekeeping, refilling tea tray and nondescript toiletries fixed to the wall too.

If that is the case then fine, but there should be a fan available or the offer of one considering the amount I am paying. I don’t think it’s acceptable to tell a guest they ought to just boil all night as it’s winter and the AC is off, for the princely sum of £410 a night.

If we’re being really pedantic, it actually isn’t winter, it’s autumn.