Several years ago, we spent Thanksgiving weekend in New York City — a trip we booked mostly with points, scoring a room at the Residence Inn by Marriott along the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade route. (If you’re curious, you can read more about how we booked it and a full review of the hotel.)
But today, I want to share a quick story about what happened with the shower in our room — and a reminder that sometimes, it’s okay to just… go with the flow.
Bundling Up for a Cold Thanksgiving Morning
After waking up at 5:00 AM and bundling up in as many layers as possible, we headed out into the 22-degree morning to snag a spot along the parade route. It was freezing — but absolutely worth it.
Once the parade ended, we shuffled back to our room, half-frozen and ready for a well-deserved nap. Several hours (and many layers) later, we finally warmed up enough to start getting ready for the rest of the day, which included the glorious idea of a hot shower — and, for me, a much-needed shave after a week of letting my beard grow out. (Spoiler: it didn’t help with the cold.)
Except… this is what greeted me when I pulled back the curtain:
Not exactly ideal.
Thankfully, the handheld shower was working just fine — no leaks, no other issues — just the main showerhead hanging on for dear life.
Reporting the Problem — and a Quick Fix
Since it was Thanksgiving evening, and we could still get clean without a problem, we decided it wasn’t worth disrupting a maintenance worker’s holiday dinner. We’d let the front desk know in the morning.
Which is exactly what we did — after grabbing coffee across the street at Pret A Manger (because yes, sometimes our first meal of the day is technically lunch).
While checking in with the front desk, I showed the associate the picture on my phone (because how do you explain a dangling showerhead, anyway?). She was sympathetic and said they’d send someone up to fix it. I told her there was no rush — we’d be out most of the day.
As it turned out, we swung back by the room not long afterward — and wouldn’t you know it, the shower was already fixed.
At that point, I had a choice to make.
I’ve read enough blog posts and loyalty forums to know the drill: spot a problem, make some noise, and wait for the compensation to roll in. Perhaps I could have asked for a partial refund in points. Maybe a restaurant voucher. Maybe a few thousand “we’re so sorry” bonus points for my trouble.
But you know what? I didn’t ask for anything.
Not Every Inconvenience Deserves Compensation
We found a problem, reported it, and it was fixed — all within 30 minutes. Besides having to use the handheld shower for one day, we weren’t actually inconvenienced. No harm, no foul.
At some point, it feels like we’ve all been trained to believe that any imperfection, no matter how small, automatically entitles us to a reward. Like the world is supposed to be flawless, and if it’s not, someone needs to pay up.
But here’s the truth:
The world isn’t perfect. Travel isn’t perfect. Life isn’t perfect.
Things break. Delays happen. Batteries die. Not everything needs to turn into a transaction.
Maybe instead of constantly looking for a handout every time something doesn’t go exactly our way, we could just… roll with it. Appreciate when someone fixes the issue without a fuss. Say thank you. Move on.
Because if you’re spending your trip plotting how to “get something” every time reality doesn’t match your expectations, you’re not traveling — you’re just playing customer service bingo.
And honestly, who wants to live like that?
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18 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.
You should read LoyaltyLobby.
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.