News and notes from around the interweb:
- Italian Supreme Court rules hotels don’t have to provide free tap water (HT: @istrakhov) It seems to me, though, that if a restaurant charges coperto they should be willing to provide tap water (though I do not think this should be legally enforced, but venues that don’t should be named and shamed).
Italy’s highest court has ruled a five-star Dolomites hotel was acting lawfully when it refused to provide tap water to a tourist.
The woman from Rome unsuccessfully argued that “water is a natural resource and a universal human right” after a waiter only offered her €7 (£6) bottled mineral water at the restaurant of the five-star Hotel Sassongher in Corvara during the 2019 ski season.
…Supreme Court judges dismissed her claim, ruling that Italian laws and regulations did not mandate venues to provide tap water to guests and that the decision to serve it was up to individual venues.
- American is blocking non-stop domestic saver awards (i.e. bookable by partners) within six days of travel
- Amadeus computer reservation system fined for violating GDPR and it’s not the privacy folks will find concerning, it’s what they were doing with the data.
The idea was to build detailed traveler profiles based on flights, destinations, travel frequency, and spending habits. According to documentation collected by the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD), the project aimed to offer “targeted and hyper-personalized” searches based on a “deep understanding of the end customer.”
- Good read from Skift albeit behind a paywall, a 10-year look at hotels’ direct booking efforts that began with the Hilton ‘Stop Clicking Around’ campaign. It appears that the OTA percentage of room nights has not fallen, but that hotels are paying lower commissions. Loyalty programs have grown, because people sign up to get member rates. Direct booking is bigger in the U.S. than the rest of the world and with business-heavier chains than more leisure ones.
- Qantas adds Philippine Airlines as a partner. Qatar Airways just did this a week or so ago, and it opens up a lot of business class award space across the Pacific. Alaska is adding them, and American has a codeshare (but not traditional earn-and-burn relationship). I’ve been expecting them to join oneworld for many, many years though wondered if Cathay Pacific would object. We keep seeing them partner up with oneworld carriers.
- You can now earn Bilt Rewards points for Mindbody fitness bookings.
- Elizabeth Warren asks Bilt for information on its rocky rollout about how many cardmembers had issues paying their rent or mortgage and about their AI chatbot for customer service. She is among the most anti-AI members of Congress.
@Gary: It was commmonplace in the West End of London (tourist area) to charge for water, arguing it was extra service. The practice was eventually shamed out of existence. Niobody went to court – that is a litigousness contagion.
In lots of countries, including in Europe, restaurants and hotels do not provide “free” tap water. In lots of places, you should NOT drink tap water unless you want to get really sick.
The lede is misleading. It was not the Hotel itself, but the restaurant which would not serve tap water. I am assuming the hotel room itself had running potable water of which the litigant could drink her fill.
Best we can do is… Limoncello
Elizabeth Warren is very much anti-slop, and does not differentiate whether the slop is human made or AI-made.
I highly respect her integrity, which is something that many companies lack. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/air-canada-chatbot-lawsuit-1.7116416
I’m surprised by the ruling, while a few countries in the EU, including Spain and Portugal legally require restaurants to serve tap water for free. Tap water is potable and actually tasted good in Madrid, while I heard it isn’t in Barcelona.
Google:
Where you’re legally entitled to free tap water in Europe (and where you’re not)
This sounds so strange, and it has revealed my naivety. I spend most of my time in Europe in France. They are required to provide tap water. I used to ask for it (carafe d’eau) but I haven’t since arriving a month ago. It appears to be automatic (but maybe because my accent speaking French is obvious). I’ve been to Spain, Portugal, and England this century, all places required to provide complimentary tap water. Except for a few trips just across the border on the Cote d’Azure, I’ve not been to Italy. Always wanted to go, but this news gives me pause. If I’m expected to pay 7€or whatever to get water, I’m not going. Sorry, no way. Of course I can afford the 50€ a week this would cost (based on 7 sit-down meals a week). But, it’s the kind of thing that gets under my skin.