Cockroaches and hotel rooms...what's fair?

[lizabu]

Basically I'm wondering, if you found cockroaches in your hotel room would you be satisfied with being moved to another room or do you think you should be compensated in some way? Free night, free breakfast, discount? We're talking like 20-30 baby cockroaches crawling on the bathroom floor and one bigger "momma" one. The room was otherwise clean except the bathtub had one long black probably ladies hair on the bathtub ledge if thats the right word for it. It's a well known chain. My husband videoed the bugs with his cell phone and showed the front desk. They moved him to another room and said the manager would call him when he came in the morning. My husband got no call. He even stayed another night so the manager could've reached him if he wanted to. He's a little put off because he thinks the manager should've done something to make up for it. It's hard to believe there could be that many bugs and noone knew about it. What do you think? Is he wrong to expect compensation of some kind? Was switching him to another room enough? What would you do?

 

[Goofyluver]

A. I wouldn't have remained in the hotel. And

B. I wouldn't have been charged for my room which I was leaving.

 

[disneyquestions]

A. I wouldn't have remained in the hotel. And

B. I wouldn't have been charged for my room which I was leaving.

This

 

[lizabu]

I should have said the room was already paid for at check in

 

[CharliNye]

Honestly, I would try to get in touch with the manager again. Hunt him down if need be. Let the front desk know that if they do NOT contact him the video will end up on the evening news.

That's unacceptable to me. And downright disgusting. In this day and time travelers are much more concious of what is acceptable in a hotel room, and cleanliness and bug free are one of them. The news agencies LOVE stories like this. So something like this on tv would do a lot of damage to that hotel's reputation, and I'm certain they don't want that to happen due to one unprofessional person. He could also call the head office of that chain and let them know the manager isn't returning his calls, stressing he has video of all the roaches.

gah. Now I have the willies.

 

[Goofyluver]

I should have said the room was already paid for at check in

That doesn't change my answer in the slightest.

 

[Green Tea]

I surely wouldn't be asking for free food.

I would leave. There is nothing they could offer me there that I would want to accept. I would get out and fumigate everything that had been in the room. Why would you want a free breakfast after that???? Blech

 

[ilovemk76]

Basically I'm wondering, if you found cockroaches in your hotel room would you be satisfied with being moved to another room or do you think you should be compensated in some way? Free night, free breakfast, discount? We're talking like 20-30 baby cockroaches crawling on the bathroom floor and one bigger "momma" one. The room was otherwise clean except the bathtub had one long black probably ladies hair on the bathtub ledge if thats the right word for it. It's a well known chain. My husband videoed the bugs with his cell phone and showed the front desk. They moved him to another room and said the manager would call him when he came in the morning. My husband got no call. He even stayed another night so the manager could've reached him if he wanted to. He's a little put off because he thinks the manager should've done something to make up for it. It's hard to believe there could be that many bugs and noone knew about it. What do you think? Is he wrong to expect compensation of some kind? Was switching him to another room enough? What would you do?

Moving rooms would have been enough for me. If that room had problems then I would have moved hotels.

 

[Hannathy]

I think switching rooms was good enough. Your DH wasn't harmed in any way. Roaches and bugs are every where people are, even the cleanest place can have insects, especially in certain areas of the country.All we can do is control them not eliminate them. If the whole room was clean then that roach could have been brought in by another quest and hid and just came out when the room was quiet between guests.

This expectation of compensation over everything is really out of hand. I think this is sometimes the reason managers don't call over problems like this if they say sorry then they have just admitted fault and opened up the hotel for crazy people to sue.

If the Hotel had a restaurant it would have been nice for them to offer a free breakfast to make up for his inconvenience for having to move but not necessary IMO.

 

[OceanAnnie]

Where were you staying?

 

[nmmom95]

A. I wouldn't have remained in the hotel. And

B. I wouldn't have been charged for my room which I was leaving.

This.

I wouldn't have wanted to eat at a buggy hotel, so I would have requested that the room be reimbursed and I would have found another hotel.

 

[lizabu]

I felt bad for him. It was 11 at night and he worked 16 hours and just wanted to sleep. I'm leaning towards just dropping it and posting a review on Trip advisor or something.

 

[scrapquitler]

A. I wouldn't have remained in the hotel. And

B. I wouldn't have been charged for my room which I was leaving.

This. And if the room was prepaid, I would expect a refund. AND I would contact the corporate offices, in writing.

 

[mrsg00fy]

What Hannathy said.

 

[FredinFL]

If you see them, the place is infested. No room would be roach free. Ew.

 

[disneyfans95]

I have been a hotel GM for 20 years. That has NEVER happened in any hotel I have run and they should be ashamed at their poor housekeeping.

At a minimum, an upgrade and comp room for that. If it was me (lets say took over a hotel and getting my housekeeping up to speed), I would have paid for your taxi, comped you a room at a local hotel and then personally invited you back at a later date for free so you can see how great my place is at that later date.

That said, I would not even open my rooms if I had that issue.

It is normal to have issues like lack of hot water, bad lock, maybe a TV not working. Those, I would comp you a breakfast and a room move (if we can move you or not fix issue in an hour). If I could not move you due to a full house, I would drop the rate of the room depending on the issue.

Trust me, there is a ton of profit in the rooms so I have wiggle room to play with and repeat business is big for all hotels so even $25 off tonight will help me when you do rebook next year.

 

[dis-happy]

Who paid for the room? Was it through a discouter website? Pre-paid by your dh's employer? Those might factor into how the hotel is able to issue a refund.

Is he part of this chain's frequent stay program? He could have asked for extra points to be credited to his account.

Finally, just like at Disney, it's better to take care of a problem while on site. If the GM didn't contact him, he should have gone back to the front desk the next day for a follow-up. Also, it's best to be specific and state what you want: the night comped, a free meal, points, whatever. That way you are more likely to get what it take for a satisfactory outcome.

Finally, depending on where in the country you are, cockroaches are a way of life. You don't eradicate them, you just try to reach detente with monthly spraying. The good news: at least it wasn't bed bugs!!!

 

[debf]

This happened to us on the way home from Diseny in 2009. We were getting ready for bed and there was a roach on the wall. I called the front desk and told them we were leaving and that I would not be charged for the room. They did not argue the situation at all. We drove about 45 minutes north to the next town. I figured if there was a roach in my room, they were every where. No way were we going to stay there.

 

[lizabu]

Who paid for the room? Was it through a discouter website? Pre-paid by your dh's employer? Those might factor into how the hotel is able to issue a refund.

Is he part of this chain's frequent stay program? He could have asked for extra points to be credited to his account.

Finally, just like at Disney, it's better to take care of a problem while on site. If the GM didn't contact him, he should have gone back to the front desk the next day for a follow-up. Also, it's best to be specific and state what you want: the night comped, a free meal, points, whatever. That way you are more likely to get what it take for a satisfactory outcome.

Finally, depending on where in the country you are, cockroaches are a way of life. You don't eradicate them, you just try to reach detente with monthly spraying. The good news: at least it wasn't bed bugs!!!

His boss was paying for the room. They had 2 rooms. The boss was in one my DH in the other. I guess the bosses room was fine but he was shocked about the bugs too. Even after my DH was relocated he barely slept. He kept imagining bugs were crawling on him. Probably switching hotels would've been the way to go. The next night they did go to a different hotel. They sure weren't going to go back to that one.

 

[Rora]

I'd want to be compensated. Then I'd leave.