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Original poster

Told off by hotel owner for way I disposed of nappies. Was I in the wrong?

255 replies

Heidi3333 · 05/11/2018 23:18

Hi there.

This is my very first post so please be gentle!
I'm just looking for opinions as I'm feeling v annoyed about something and I'm not sure if I'm being unreasonable by feeling this way.
I'm on holiday in a UK hotel for a few days with my 2 year old daughter. We are still potty training so still have wet or dirty nappies at times.
Late last night - around midnight - she had a dirty nappy. When she's had wet nappies I put them in nappy bags and then put them in the bin in my room. However, I didn't want to do that with a soiled one as it would stink out the room. I decided to put the nappy (wrapped in a nappy bag) in a bin in a communal toilet 2 floors up from as it was the only one I could find.
I never thought anymore of it but this morning the hotel owner pulled me aside and clearly p!ssed off told me off for leaving the nappy where I'd put it. He said I'd stank that floor out and had left on lots of lights behind me. He said he knew it was me as he played back cctv to find out!! I asked where I should have put it and he said outside my room and someone would have collected it. I was raging but apologised and walked off.

The owner has been unfriendly and cold to me and my daughter since we arrived. He has made no effort to chat to me at all and hasn't spoken to my daughter at all. I got the impression right from the start tjT he didn't like me although he seems nice with the other guests.

I rarely leave negative feedback for hotel ratings but seriously contemplating doing just that when I leave tomorrow.

Am I being unreasonable?

OP posts:
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halcyondays · 06/11/2018 09:50

Why would anyone bother finding a member of staff? Toilets sometimes smell, just because they've been recently used. Presumably they are checked on regularly anyway.

swee321 · 06/11/2018 10:15

I work reception, and I don't bother to talk with people's children because they can't give me any information that's useful for my job, only the parent can tell me the reason for their visit and where I need to direct them. So I just acknowledge and talk to the parent and ignore the child. These are children much older than 2 y/o as well, so I can't fathom what useful conversation you think a 2 y/o is going to have with a hotel manager.

FortyFeet · 06/11/2018 10:21

!!

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SnipSnipMisterBurgess · 06/11/2018 10:27

If I worked in a hotel that described itself as family friendly (and I have done, in several), I’d make an effort at checkin to enquire if a family needed a bottle warmer, mini fridge, cot sheets, etc, and advise them that if they needed anything to ring reception. Similarly, if someone with a visible difficulty like struggling to walk or manage bags, I’d enquire if assistance was needed. Yes, it’s a business, but it’s a hospitality business. For example, if you order room service, the guest should be advised what the procedure is for getting a tray collected, not left to guess whether they leave it in the room or outside the door. The manager was unhelpful, and made the guest feel bad. She did what she thought at the time was practical. I’d leave feedback that arrangements for nappy disposal should be communicated to guests with young children on arrival.

Feb2018mumma · 06/11/2018 10:33

In all honesty when I stay in a hotel I leave all nappies in my room, although if I did change baby in a public hotel restroom i would be heartbroken if they watched CCTV to catch me! It's not your fault poo smells! If someone had diarrhea in the public toilet and it smelt would he have chased the CCTV? Toilets are for poop!

Original poster
Heidi3333 · 06/11/2018 11:10

In my opinion the owner was waaaay over the top on his reaction about the nappy. He should have designated nappy bins somewhere in the hotel if he's that icky about them.
Also, he definitely has been cold and unfriendly toward me. He was laughing and joking all through breakfast with 2 other guests but said not one word to me! Not even morning. Really unimpressed with his behaviour. Can't wait the review form to be emailed to me.

OP posts:
JeanPagett · 06/11/2018 11:12

Doesn't that mean he's not cold and unfriendly in general but only to you because of your own behaviour?

SnuggyBuggy · 06/11/2018 11:26

Maybe watching CCTV and poo shaming is his thing

rainbowquack · 06/11/2018 11:30

So where was your 2 yr old while you were walk about in a hotel with the top smelly to keep in your room but not smelly enough to offend anyone else nappy?

SoupDragon · 06/11/2018 11:32

Doesn't that mean he's not cold and unfriendly in general but only to you because of your own behaviour?

This.

SoupDragon · 06/11/2018 11:33

I'm trying to imagine a hotel small enough that the owner is socialising with the sociable guests yet big enough to have communal toilets 2 floors up from the OP.

Giantbanger · 06/11/2018 11:34

It's not correctly disposing of to put a nappy full of shit in a bin in a public toilet. You're supposed to flush the poo down the loo before you bin the rest of the disposable nappy.

I can't conceive of traipsing round a hotel at whatever o'clock with a shitty nappy looking for a public toilet with a bin to put it in to.

Firstly, it must have pure stunk, in which case why inflict it on anyone else

Secondly, why were you going up stairs - the most logical place for there to be a public toilet would be in the reception or bar area so it would have made more sense for you to go downstairs.

Shitlandpony · 06/11/2018 11:36

He doesn’t sound very customer focussed, there is a lot worse to deal with in hospitality. He could have asked if you disposed of it differently and been perfectly pleasant about it.

WickedLazy · 06/11/2018 11:50

"Wickeda communal customer toilet is NOT a random place!"

No but a sani bin can be...

Original poster
Heidi3333 · 06/11/2018 11:55

JeanPagett - his behaviour this morning was the same as it was right from the start - even before the nappy incident. Cold and unwelcoming. Hence the reason i was contemplating leaving bad feedback even before all this.

OP posts:
IrianOfW · 06/11/2018 11:58

Re cctv - I guess he needed to find who was responsible if people were complaining so he could ask you not to do it again.

I'd have emptied poo down the loo, double-bagged the nappy and left it in my bathroom. No need to inflict in on anyone else.

He does sound a bit of a miserable sod but I'm afraid YWBU to dump a shitty nappy in a public place.

slashlover · 06/11/2018 12:02

Maybe he knew the two other guests. Maybe they were regulars.

He should have designated nappy bins somewhere in the hotel if he's that icky about them.

He does. In your bathroom.

Bananalanacake · 06/11/2018 12:36

Heidi is my favourite girls name

CJsGoldfish · 06/11/2018 20:52

He was laughing and joking all through breakfast with 2 other guests but said not one word to me!

So he isn't 'unfriendly and cold', he's just reacting to you. I'd love to know what else you've done because, with each additional post of yours, I can imagine that nappygate is the tip of the iceberg or the final straw.

Original poster
Heidi3333 · 06/11/2018 22:14

What are you talking about? He was like that from the word go. He even scowled at me when he opened the front door. I did nothing to justify his behaviour.

OP posts:
BrokenWing · 06/11/2018 22:15

You keep saying he should have...

What about the big list of you should have, it was your nappy and your actions that caused the problem. He probably thought no one would be so grim to hide stinky nappies full of shit in communal areas of his hotel late at night instead of just putting in their bathroom bin or asking what to do with them..

Original poster
Heidi3333 · 06/11/2018 22:19

It was a B&B not some major hotel with someone on reception 24hiurs a day! There was no-one around to ask anything at that time of night.
Still don't think I was being unreasonable. But it's interesting to hear different points of view.

OP posts:
BackforGood · 06/11/2018 22:24

Seriously you have never tipped the contents of a nappy down the loo and flushed it away before bagging up!!?

I don't understand why people wouldn't do this? It eliminates most of the smell instantly.

This . It is only on wadinfg through this thread, that it has become apparent to me that the OP must have left the solid in the nappy. Well no wonder it stank. Why would anyone do that ? Confused I had been trying to work out why you felt it smelt so^ bad that you couldn't have just bagged it, and taken it down in the morning.

I'm trying to imagine a hotel small enough that the owner is socialising with the sociable guests yet big enough to have communal toilets 2 floors up from the OP.

I've been wondering about this too. It is just feasible he knew the folks he was chatting to, through them being regulars or even friends who happened to be staying.

It's not your fault poo smells - no, but it is the OP's fault she traipsed it round the hotel and left it to stink out some toilets rather than flushing it down the toilet like any normal parent.

chemenger · 06/11/2018 22:31

Are you sure the communal toilet two floors up was not a shared bathroom allocated to specific rooms without en-suite? It seems odd that a B&B would have toilet facilities anywhere but adjacent to the breakfast room. It’s not unknown, though to have cheaper rooms with shared bathrooms, they are not meant for general use though. I would complain if someone dumped a stinking nappy in the bathroom in that situation.

chemenger · 06/11/2018 22:32

And yes to the disbelief that people bin shit rather than flushing.