This story is from a trip when we used points to book a Marriott Residence Inn in Manhattan along the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade route. While the full review of the hotel is here, I’d like to share a quick story about the shower in the room.
After waking up at 5 AM to get dressed in as many layers of clothes as we could, we headed out into the 22-degree weather to wait for the parade. While we were cold, it was totally worth it. Immediately after the parade, we headed to our room to take a well-deserved nap.
Several hours later, we started to warm up and wake up to face the rest of the day. That meant nice warm showers (and a much-needed shave for me, as I let my beard grow out for the previous week, hoping it would keep my face warm. It didn’t).
When I went to take my shower, this was not what I wanted to see.
That is not the way the shower is supposed to look. Fortunately, the hand shower was functioning fine and there were no leaks from the broken shower head.
We decided to wait until the next morning to let the hotel know as, with the handheld shower working fine, there was no need to have maintenance head to our room on Thanksgiving evening to fix the plumbing.
That’s exactly what we did. When we left the room to go and get coffee at the Pret A Manger across the street, we told the front desk about the showerhead being broken. I couldn’t explain it well so I just showed the picture to the associate helping us. She said they would have someone up right away to fix it. I said that wasn’t necessary as we’d be out most of the day but whenever they could get someone to look at it.
And yes, sometimes we get a late start and the first meal of the day is lunch.
As it turned out, we stopped back at the room after finishing our coffee and sandwiches. Wouldn’t you know, they fixed the shower while we were gone.
Being one who reads plenty of blog posts and Facebook groups, my next thought was what kind of compensation should I ask for from the hotel? Should I ask for some of the points I used to pay for the room back? What about a hotel credit to spend at the restaurant or bar?
Do you know what I decided to ask for? Nothing. You heard me. Not a thing. Do you know why? I discovered a problem with the room and within 30 minutes of alerting them, someone from the hotel was sent to my room and fixed the problem.
What more could I ask for? Besides having to use the handheld shower for one day, I didn’t suffer any major inconvenience. I think that we’re conditioned to think that everything should always be perfect and if it isn’t then we’re supposed to get some sort of payment for our displeasure. Not everything is perfect. We’re not entitled to anything if a problem is fixed when brought to the attention of the management.
So the next time your room isn’t ready exactly when it was promised or the batteries in the remote are dead, instead of looking for something in return, try to just thank the person who helps you. If you stop trying to look like the victim every time, you might just enjoy yourself a little bit more when traveling.
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17 comments
I wish more people could be like this!! I just don’t understand the entitled views and feelings of people sometimes. If we could all cut people a little more slack sometimes, I think we’d be a much happier generation.
+1. This was unintentional and they did what they could ASAP. Good call, Joe.
I don’t remember the last time I asked for compensation when something was wrong with my hotel room.
Rather, Joe, I simply report the problem to the front desk; and most of the time, they voluntarily offer some form of compensation. When they do not offer any compensation, I typically move on.
I’ll only consider asking if the problem I’m reporting significantly impacts my stay. For instance, if I was unable to take a shower at all because of a broken showerhead. Still, I’d hope that I wouldn’t have to and the hotel should proactively make an offer. I’ll even say that an apology and taking responsibility to make sure that whatever it is gets fixed is often enough to keep me happy.
I was anticipating reading the article and seeing that you demanded something…. for which I would have shaken my head in disgust at you. I’m so glad I was proved wrong and I am admiring you instead. Not asking for anything is unlike many fellow travelers I talk to who demand money, points, credits etc for every little inconvenience.
It’s the people who immediately look for compensation who were the inspiration for my writing this post.
It does make you wonder why housekeeping didn’t report it when they cleaned the bathroom before you got there. Or if they did report it, why maintenance staff ignored it.
I thought the same thing. Surely they noticed something wasn’t right when cleaning the tub after the last guest left.
The definition of click bait.. LOL
I could show you some better examples if you’d like.
This story would have been better as a tweet. 100% clickbait but also a refreshing break from the typical entitled whining.
Never in a million years would I expect anything beyond having the shower repaired. Is that what it’s come to? Working every single angle? By the way, I’ve been at this hobby since Lucky was in high school so I’m not new to this game. But seriously, it bums me out that this is even a topic – hoping for/expecting/getting something for this minor inconvenience. Things happen.
I’m also sorry that it’s a topic that needs to be addressed. I’m not the one who looks for compensation for any problem. Things happen and as long as they get fixed, I’m usually happy. Still, it shouldn’t be up to me to do quality control work for the hotels.
That’s normal. If something is wrong in the room I report it and I recall no event where it was not fixed. Would not ask for anything. Doing so would make me feel a parasite.
I’ve had plenty of times when I’ve reported things that were never fixed for my entire stay. Most often it’s something like a burnt-out light or dead batteries in the remote control.
Similar issue but shower had no water whatsoever. this was in a place where I was paying a premium to stay close in an expensive time of year. (Christmas time in New York? Category 7 Marriott as a lowly gold).
I let the hotel know immediately when I discovered (it was morning), they told me they’d send someone up right away. An hour later, no one had showed.
I gave up and left gross and unshowered. Came back at noon, still not fixed. Left again and got back at 4, and it was finally fixed.
At checkout I politely brought this up when asked if everything went well with my stay. I said no and explained what happened. Got nothing.
A simple gesture of “I’m sorry that happened, here’s 5000 points for the inconvenience” would have been appreciated.)
Sorry I find the tone of this post slightly virtue signaling-y.
Kudos to you! I would not have asked for compensation either. They fixed the problem. I don’t go looking for ways to get compensation, that is just cheap and petty. Now if something in my room is not right, but not problematic, I always let the front desk know. Otherwise, it never gets fixed. My big thing is room air conditioners. If I can hear the air/con thru my ear plugs, I let the front desk know. But I also make a mental note not to stay at that property anymore, because sometimes all the rooms have loud air/con units.