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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to want a kettle, tea and coffee in a hotel room that costs £280-400/night?

111 replies

aloevera · 20/03/2010 21:32

So, after a particularly difficult time dh & I decided to blow a chunk of our savings on 2 nights away. We went for a luxury hotel - Ickworth House - and it was lovely, but just felt like at every corner you had to pay for extras - no drinks in room, children's meal at breakfast not included (£3), cycle hire £6.50 for 4hrs (which used to be free), etc.

Am I missing something here? Is it assumed you are loaded and therefore don't mind paying £3.10 for a cup of tea in your room? Or have I stayed in too many holiday inn's where they throw it in for free???

OP posts:
DrNortherner · 21/03/2010 18:14

But in a five star hotel it's all about the service, that's why they have five stars. It's so hard to be awarded five stars as the staff to guest ratio is huge.

In a five star hotel you don't make your own brew, you don't open the doors yourself and you don't pour your own tea at brekkie. And everything else costs ££££.

nighbynight · 21/03/2010 18:16

[whines] but I like making my own brew...

LetThereBeRock · 21/03/2010 18:18

One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow, another 5 star hotel,though not quite as 'smart' or expensive as Gleneagles also offers fresh tea,coffee and milk in the rooms according to the website.

I can pour my own coffee. I'd much rather do so and as Moondog said it can soon become irritating having people do things for you all the time that you're quite capable of doing yourself.

I make an exception for ironing though. Anyone is welcome to do that for me as much and as often as they like.

muggglewump · 21/03/2010 18:22

They should provide free room service tea and coffee then, and not complain when I call back 5 minutes after the first cup for a second cup, and when I say cup, I mean mug.

If it's 5 star I want a mug of tea.

And this is clearly why I'd never pay for a 5 star hotel (well I did once, but I was in Indonesia where they will provide extra free of charge, and never act all snooty about it), oh and it was only US$150 a night too. Bargain.

Guadalupe · 21/03/2010 18:25

The one I stayed in last month near Tower Hill was 5 star and it had a kettle and bourbons. I didn't know lots of posh hotels don't have kettles. I don't normally stay in them.

Maybe that was why it was in a cupboard, to appeal to all sides.

CiderIUpAndSetIFree · 21/03/2010 18:27

I don't think tea and coffee making facilities are necessarily for 'the cheaper establishments'.

I stayed recently somewhere very fancy which did free Illy coffee in the rooms, complete with poncey coffee making machine. It was something they made much fuss about in their blurb.

Personally I think 'luxury' should be about providing what your guests want. Some people prefer tea and coffee with immediate access, whenever they want it, without having to speak to anyone to discuss it. Like having access to the en suite bathroom or TV. Seems reasonable to me, not a 'cheapskate' option.

On the other hand, I fully admit to being a cheapskate by taking my own booze with me to drink in the room if I'm staying in a hotel as the minibar and room-service prices they charge are so ridiculously inflated. I'd happily pay 'pub' prices but do object to being completely ripped off.

DrNortherner · 21/03/2010 18:27

Do you mean HDV at one Devonshire Gardens? If so it's 4 star not five.

Morloth · 21/03/2010 18:27

When I order tea/coffee in a flash hotel. I want posh china and linen napkins and a nice pot of whatever.

Love having people do stuff for me.

I think the assumption is probably that if you don't mind dropping a few hundred quid on the room then another 20 or so on a tea/coffee service isn't going to cause any issues. This is the case for me.

DarrellRivers · 21/03/2010 18:28

I have always had coffee/tea in room with kettle in most hotel rooms and the majority of those have been high-end.
I would have been

DrNortherner · 21/03/2010 18:29

Just checked - 4 AA starts but 5 from visit Scotland.

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 21/03/2010 18:34

I spent a few days at Gleneagles recently, in one of the posher rooms (we'd already booked a suite, and got upgraded when we booked in) and it had tea and coffee making facilities in the room.

And zillions of flunkies - by the time we left, I felt quite watched.

LetThereBeRock · 21/03/2010 18:34

And if you drink 10 cups a day as one poster does? Would you really want to pay £10-£20 per cup?

Just because one has money doesn't mean that they care to be ripped off.

I wouldn't make a very good millionaire it seems. And I'm not at all tight with money.

Besides having to ring room service then answer the door every time you desired a cup of tea would annoy me.

Morloth · 21/03/2010 18:39

They are presumably catering to the majority of their clients. A 10 cup a day habit is a bit out of the ordinary. You can ask for a 4 cup pot (which is what we do because we both need a couple in the mornings).

Do people usually spend all day in the hotel room ordering/drinking cup after cup of tea though?

ProfYaffle · 21/03/2010 18:39

We stayed in the Westbury Mayfair last year (another one of the lastminute.com secret hotels) and was quite shocked to not have a kettle in the room. I was looking forward to a nice tray of freebies!

expatinscotland · 21/03/2010 18:41

Like moony, I've lived in enough places where you can't drop a sock without someone picking it up and taking it away to return it to you washed and pressed, or a hairbrush without someone appearing to grab it out your hand and brush your hair.

It gets tiresome.

CiderIUpAndSetIFree · 21/03/2010 18:45

I don't agree that if someone is paying for an expensive room they automatically won't mind paying for all the extras.

For some, staying in the hotel in the first place is a saved-up-for treat. Others may be staying for business reasons so the room may be paid for but the extras not.

Or some things may just be more important to you than others - if you like a really nicely presented tea tray with all the extras and are happy to pay for it then absolutely fair enough. Personally I'd rather save on that and spend the money on a nice meal, am happy with just my (free) sachet of instant coffee and boiled water in the room first thing in the morning.

bintofbohemia · 21/03/2010 18:45

OP - are you sure you didn't get one? Recently we stayed in a hotel and were similarly peeved at the lack of kettle etc - it was only after we checked out that someone pointed out that it had been in a stupid cupboard under the TV. Gutted.

LetThereBeRock · 21/03/2010 18:52

I don't imagine that they do but if someone does why not?

Having to call room service every time I require a hot drink seems like the exact opposite of luxury and convenience to me.

muggglewump · 21/03/2010 18:53

I love that I have a habit!

A four cup pot is no good to me, it goes cold after the first cup.
Like I said, I've paid for 5 star in Indonesia and they fell over backwards for me, not that I was demanding, but they did bring me extra towels, tea to the room, carried DD's travel cot to the beach etc, yet in the hotel in Switzerland I had to pay £4 a time for a cup of tea from room service.
Even if I had been paying there I'd have resented it.
I have very little money, yet I'd share my last penny so it's not about being stingy, it's about being canny with money, and not wanting to be ripped off.

expatinscotland · 21/03/2010 18:55

'it's about being canny with money, and not wanting to be ripped off. '

Thinking it's classy or smart to be ripped off is even worse! Here's a £4 mug of coffee for you, MUG.

LOL, especially when the person thinks it's some sort of privilege to be conned.

Morloth · 21/03/2010 19:00

I said they are presumably aiming for a certain market/majority. So of course they are going to charge more if people will pay it - it is what the market will bear.

I am sure if the majority of people mentioned that they would like these facilities on the suggestions card or whatever then they would change it or if they started to lose business because of it.

But that isn't going to happen if it hasn't already I would think.

Morloth · 21/03/2010 19:01

Sorry that should have read "As I said upthread". "I said" sounds arsey and I really don't care that much - I have a Starbucks habit in any case.

muggglewump · 21/03/2010 19:02

I think some folk do think it's good to pay a lot for things that are cheaper.
It means they have money, and that reassures them.

Me?
Well, I don't have much money but I'll still not pay full price if I can easily afford it, when I can get it cheaper.

Why?
It makes no sense to me, why spend if you don't have to.

Original poster
aloevera · 21/03/2010 19:33

to clarify... they definitely didn't have one, we rung reception to ask, they said order room service.

I got the impression that they were trying to make cut-backs. Hence they used to not charge for cycle hire, but now do. It felt like they were trying to add costs here and there to make up their income.

I just felt that I expected to pay through the nose for a place like that, but then once I got there to relax and enjoy the experience, rather than feeling agitated that extra costs were adding to our (already huge) bill.

I accept that there will be some people who can order whatever without a second though.

OP posts:
MmeLindt · 21/03/2010 20:33

I only drink one or two teas a day if in a hotel so it would not bother me not to have a kettle.

Best place I stayed in was a small family run hotel. It was 4* I think. They had a Nespresso machine in every room so we got decent coffee, not just instant stuff. And you could call down to reception for a free glass of milk and honey and a hot water bottle if you could not sleep.

I had a bit of a sore tummy one evening and ordered a hot water bottle. They lad that brought it was about 18yo, a bit embarrassed to meet me (in my dressing gown) over the top of a hot water bottle that he had filled to the brim with hot water. It looked like a big pink blowfish.