[superchris]

hotel tray charges completely wind me up and I really cannot see how they are legal frankly. Advertise a price and then place a small * with some tiny font elsewhere explaining there is an additional £x.

I called a hotel out recently when I offered to go and collect it to avoid the charge and they said no. In which case I said how can you advertise it as x +y tray charge if the tray charge is mandatory. The spotty teenager on the phone couldn’t answer of course.

[TravelWise]

I agree with nearly everyone that these charges are getting ridiculous and especially for wifi. I try to stay in hotels that provide it as a standard but that does not always work.

Last week I stayed in a Park Inn by Radisson (Thurrock) and they advertise “free wifi for every guest” well that is simply not true, because it is free wifi for only one device per registered room. So that is not every guest?! It meant that once I had logged in, Mrs TW was simply rejected unless we wanted to pay more. As it happens, I don’t class it as wifi anyhow because it was maximum 512K. The public areas did not offer free wifi either, so luckily we logged onto the Three mobile wifi.
Who is actually only carrying one device nowadays? Maybe that should be the slogan, if you own more than one device you deserve better than here!!

Also, the water was free but it is filtered water in unsealed Ikea style glass bottles, hmmmm, no thank you. Park BIN by Radisson, its premier inn decor, style and amenities, which is fine, but at Hilton Suite prices!!
Even as a Club Carlson Gold member, you get absolutely nothing at this brand of the group. Poor!

[Xuluman]

Yes Martyn, the Shard apparently does have a decent view of your colleagues reflections as they go about their ‘business’.

They do say if you are nervous speaking in public to just imagine them all naked….

[DavidGordon10]

Such charges by hotels are rank profiteering and we should all refuse to book ourselves, or to be booked into, such places. At the Hilton in Gateshead recently, where I was booked as part of a group outing, I complained about the outrageous charges for the internet, and for bottled water, and suggetsed that for future meetings of the group we should always choose a non-rip-off hotel. To my astonishment, some members of the group said they did not mind the charges!

If people are prepared to be victims of extortion, what can you do…..?

[Charles-P]

I just returned from a few days at the Al Bustan Rotana in Dubai. Super hotel, excellent five star service, superb room but the experience ruined by their WiFi charges. When I checked out and said I found it annoying and not something I expected to see in a hotel of that quality and price I was told it was their most common complaint ! The manager did take a stab at trying to justify it with phrases like “extensive investment in equipment” buy I could tell his heart wasn’t in it. When I suggested it was something that would make me think twice about staying there next month he immediately offered me free wifi for my next stay and a 50% discount on what I had paid this time.

[canucklad]

Staff number 08442 411295
Quick question to DavidGordon10 this morning.

Was it the Hilton that overlooks the Tyne (on my radar for next stay)and were you friends able to charge back to the company?

Oh and if you can tell me what bars and restaurants some of your colleagues eat and drink in, please let me know. There’s nothing like a free night out at someone else’s expense : )

[DavidGordon10]

Dear Canuck

It was indeed the Hilton that looks over the Tyne towards Newcastle, actualy looking towards the office where my father started his working life in about 1921. Many of us, probably most, declined to pay and just did without the in-room wifi

If the members of this particular club are happy to be victims of extortion by hotels, they are not necessarily willing to have drinks and more extorted out of them!! But they are actually good at paying for their round – provided you pays for yours…. They meet in Dundee next year.

[superchris]

Had to smile at the relevance and timeliness of this post. Just checked into a Sheraton in Lagos this morning and was confronted by a sign saying that if I wanted to NOT have my room cleaned daily, they would refund me 800 Naira per day (about £3). So in effect thats encouraging me to unbundle the rate myself to bring my rate down.

But what can I do with the money I hear you ask? I can have the hotel credit it to UNICEF (earlier post on hotel getting credit for charitable donations that are actually my money), or have an F&B credit which presumably I can put against my room service tray charge which is……yes you guessed it 800 Naira.

You couldn’t make it up.

[LuganoPirate]

I have a Virgin UK mobile phone number. If I top up with £10 I get 3gB of data for the month. I then create a hotspot and use that instead of the hotel’s rip off wifi.

[Author]

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