A reader recently asked, “Should a hotel offer compensation when the alarm clock goes off in the middle of the night, or just blame the previous guest?” This one seems easy to me – the hotel is responsible – see what you think.
The fundamental thing you’re buying from a hotel is a safe, comfortable night’s sleep and a place to shower in the morning.
- A basic responsibility for any decent hotel would be to check that the bedside alarm clock is not turned on, as part of turning the room between guests.
- If they fail to do that, and the result if you aren’t able to get the comfortable night’s sleep you purchased, then they haven’t earned their money.
Several years ago at the Hyatt Regency Jersey City a water main broke and there was no water when I woke up in the morning on a one night stay. They put out flats of water bottles in the hallway. I used a water bottle to brush my teeth. I got one flush of the toilet only (used it judiciously). And I couldn’t shower.
This ‘wasn’t the hotel’s fault’ but they still did not provide what I was paying $359++ for the night to get. They were selling me a package that included use of a shower and couldn’t provide the shower. They offered nothing at all proactively, but when pushed gave me points equal to a free night at the property. That’s how the Sheraton LAX handled a similar issue.
Here the alarm clock going off in the middle of the night, set by a previous guest, is actually within the control of the property so the hotel should own the mistake and improve its procedures so that checking the alarm clock is part of the checklist for turning over a room.
Then again Marriott wants to get rid of alarm clocks in rooms entirely to save money, maybe asking them to invest in better housekeeping procedures isn’t in the cards at least for that chain.
This has happened to me and is infuriating. I’m no wallflower, but it didn’t occur to me at the time to ask for compensation — but good for anybody who does.
Happened to me. But just shows how miserable people are who do it on purpose.
It is in my routine when I check in to look at clocks. Normally I just unplug them. They are useless anyway if you have a phone. If you don’t have a phone, maybe you shouldn’t travel.
It’s annoying, but I think as far as compensation goes maybe a free breakfast if you complain loud enough and management wants to be done with you? Whole night refunded? No. It’s annoying, but I view it as bad luck. The neighbors in the room next door could easily slam a door at 2am and wake you up. And lets face it, if people think they can get a significant $$$ amount off a room because the alarm went off….they’ll just lie. Join the Miles to Memories facebook groups….you’ll the depths people will go to get free stuff.
I arrived at a Raddison Blu Istanbul (points) 9 pm and the a/d didn’t work. Called the front desk and a tech was sent up an hour later. By this time it was 10 pm. He said he couldn’t fix it and he would get a repair team to come fix it. Waited until midnight–nothing. So I went to the front desk and asked to have the situation remedied immediately. Was told a tech would come up to the room and resolve the issue. 1 am–no show. Went to the front desk and asked to be moved to another room. Nothing available, but a tech would be sent to my room soon. A/C eventually repaired by 4 am, and I had a 8 am flight out, had to leave the hotel at 6 am. I called Radisson Blu that morning (from the lounge in the airport) and was immediately refunded all points. Would not expect anything less.
This is iffy to me — it’s an inconvenience, but I wouldn’t expect compensation. (Not having water, I would expect compensation and I would wager that is an insured loss for the property.)
Just before the pandemic I stayed at the Le Meridien Frankfurt and didn’t have any *HEAT* in my room in the middle of winter. They sent me an insufficient electric space heater, and didn’t even apologize. Clearly I should have demanded more from Marriott corporate!
It’s under the control of the guest unless the clock has been hidden in a drawer somewhere. That’s happened to me.
I didn’t know there was a clock in the room because it was unplugged and put in a drawer on the night-table beside the bed. I never use drawers in hotel rooms. Housekeeping never took it out, and at 5am the darn thing went off and woke me up. It had a battery backup.
When I went down to go to breakfast at 8am, prior to my 9am meeting down the street, I stopped by to complain at the front desk. I was staying there for 2 nights. They gave me the first night free due to the clock going off, since it was hidden and not put back by housekeeping.
One of the first things I do in a hotel room is check the clock, if there is one, and turn off the alarm. In my opinion, if you don’t check the clock in the room and it goes off in the middle of the night, you only have yourself to blame for not checking it and turning it off.
If I need an alarm, I use my smartphone.
What’s below First World Problem? Because this is about 10 levels below that. Talk about a bunch of snowflakes. Compensation? How about a permaban – anyone loudly complaining about this is a customer I’d rather send to my competitor.
Heat? Water? AC? Electricity? Big deal. A loud noise in a hotel? Shocker! It happens. Get over it.
The guest pays for a room which is supposed to be ready to be occupied. Unless the property informs the guest that he must check/reset the alarm clock, it is assumed that the said alarm won’t go off at an inappropriate time. Also, the basic purpose of a hotel is to provide a room for sleeping and when such is disturbed, then the hotel has failed in its basic mission!
Thus, compensation or partial refund is warranted!
Sounds like ANOTHER liberal wanting something for nothing. Whine, cajole, bitch, bitch, bitch til you give me something. What an asinine question.
I’ve had that happen to me in the middle of the night and just it ruined my sleep leaving me wiped out the next day. I try to remember to check the alarm clocks but that can be a hassle, having to figure out the settings on all different kinds.
@NSL: “ In my opinion, if you don’t check the clock in the room and it goes off in the middle of the night, you only have yourself to blame for not checking it and turning it off.”
I don’t see how you can reasonably say “you only have yourself to blame.” Can the problem be avoided by doing as you suggest? Sure, but the responsibility is still the hotel’s in the first instance, and as a general matter you really shouldn’t have to cross-check everything the hotel should have done, even if it is smart to do so.
Personally, I wouldn’t ask for compensation if traveling alone, because I’d be back asleep in five minutes. Traveling with my wife on the other hand, she’d probably want someone’s head on a pike because she has such trouble falling back asleep. (That said, I normally unplug alarm clocks, though that wouldn’t save us from battery backups, I suppose.)
Since Gary brought up the issue of possible hotel compensation, please let me ask for an opinion of what most travelers would do under the following circumstances:
Recently, I stayed at a major chain hotel and I have high status with that hotel. About two o’clock in the morning, I received a phone call from the night hotel manager telling me that I was making noise and that many quests had complained. I was alone and had been sleeping and was not making noise. The manager insisted I was making noise. I decided to go down to the lobby to talk with the manager in person. The manager insisted that hotel security said they heard loud noises coming from my room. I again said it was not possible. As I began to return to my room, I noticed that the hotel lobby was filled with many people nicely dressed as if they had been to a party. As it turned out, there was a wedding celebration in the hotel. I was told that the wedding couple and their family were staying in the hotel. It turned out that the wedding festivities continued in four rooms on the higher floor directly above where my room was. In other words, the noise from the party was so loud that security incorrectly assumed the noise was from my room but, instead, was from the room directly above mine on the floor above where my room was. Despite the false accusation, the manager did not apologize for the inappropriate two a.m. phone call.
Should I have asked for compensation for the inappropriate two a.m. phone call and for the false accusation of making noise while the actual noise was coming from a wedding celebration on the floor directly above where my room was located?
Just curious what other guests would do under those circumstances.
I think it’s pretty ridiculous to expect compensation for the clock alarm to go off when one can just simply press a button. When I saw the headline, I thought maybe it was the fire alarm going off. That happened to me once and the hotel proactively gave everyone a two free drink vouchers at the bar. I did have on more than one occasion, has the neighboring room’s clock alarm go off and the room was vacant. Thus, the alarm wouldn’t shut off, and I’ve had to call front desk to have someone come turn it off.
To use a poker term that is “angle shooting”. Everyone is responsible for themselves. To not actually check the alarm (which should be a basic thing anyone at a hotel should do) is just lazy. Sure I’m a perfect world housekeeping should check that but to ask for compensation if they don’t is, IMHO, petty and cheap. BTW over 3000 hotel nights since mid 80s but not looking to make something out of every little issue.
Talk about micro aggressions! SMH
Gary – please don’t follow the lead of another blog I follow that shills for timeshare offers, promotes class action lawsuits and lists every minor cash back offer (even for $5-$10). Life is more important than chasing crumbs under the table.
@dmg9 – Yes, I think you should have. If they woke you up at 2am just to blame for something you have nothing to do with they should apologize + make a nice gesture (i.e. points)
Btw – if the noise from the floor directly above you was so drastic that floors below you complained about it, how come you yourself managed to be sound asleep?
There is no need for alarm clocks. Everyone has a phone.
Dude26 says: – – Btw – if the noise from the floor directly above you was so drastic that floors below you complained about it, how come you yourself managed to be sound asleep?
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When I sleep, I usually do not wake until morning regardless of minor sounds. However, a ringing phone at two a.m. right next to the bed caused me to wake.
@dmg9 – You’re lucky then:) I find myself to be a light sleeper last few years…
dmg9 should get a full refund plus points. How much abuse should the customer take and not request, even demand amends? The alarm clock really should be taken care of by the cleaning crew if the previous guest didn’t reset the clock. However, it wouldn’t hurt to turn off the alarm upon check in to save yourself the misery of being awakened. I have had this happen to me a number of times so I am pretty certain that the probability of it being something that the cleaning crew will attend to is not likely.
Leave it to David Miller to say something stupid about liberals. You are truly a GD idiot, Dave to make a political issue over a minor inconvenience. You are more of an idiot than the original poster suggesting compensation.
K Helldoge – apparently I hit a nerve with you, you must be one of the whiny, got your hand out liberal cry babies who take no responsibility for your actions/inactions and you want someone else to pay for your fake hurt/tears. My statements are not political, they just illuminate the pathetic values of brainwashed liberals who “think” (if I can use that word) that they are owed everything while doing nothing to earn what they receive. Your stupidity is only exceeded by your whiny complaints about something that is your responsibility to handle.
Ugh, hotels. They’d be great if it wasnt for all the guests. I cant stand slammers and stompers. I cant stand hearing a damn dog. I especially cant stand when they congregate in the hall near your room and party on in the wee hours.
In my mind firstly, this is in no way a political issue.
In my circumstance, I have raised this question before but never pursued compensation though I well could have I imagine. The property in question is what in my mind is my home away from home I have stayed there so many times in the past. And so I tend to think of the property in terms I what they must deal with and what is unavoidable. I stayed there as a young adult, before computers were even in use and so we don’t know how many times I”ve actually stayed. As and adult I would spend hard earned dollars on a few days vacation. All I could afford on a low wage job as social worker. All I wanted was peace and quiet and some rest, eating good food, a little shopping. Just being in the hotel I loved was a vacation. SO it was somewhat distressing to arrive after a long car trek (so my pup could come with me) to find a project ongoing and our access from our small patio to the spot my pup used to relieve herself blocked by barricades to keep guest who had that access safe from equipment/supplies for the ongoing project which involved the cleaning and/or replacement of windows of rooms facing the garden or it may have been the roof work as our wing was lower and had a roof…I prefer to sleep in and was awoken every day on that trip by the pounding. I also had the occasion to be awoken by very noisy neighbors whose bed apparently rested against the wall our bed was against. For us though, my concern was that the unexpected commotion put my canine on alert and she could potentially start her own commotion, so I proactively called down to let staff know. THe hotel operator advised she would send security after wondering if it might be an elevator (which I was nowhere near). I felt terrible disturbing someone elses good time, but enough was enough as I was tolerant for a good portion of an hour. As soon as I got back in bed the commotion stopped but by then (I called back to stop them) security was already on the way. I should also mention I have here and at other places been awoken and gone into panic mode by fire alarms going off. I learned when they go off in the early morning it is often due the alarm system being sensitive to drops in water pressure. I have tolerated many fire alarms, grateful the system is working and there was no fire. Most memorable was one during prom night in Dallas at the Lowe’s Anatole, when until then, I was unaware there even was a PA system. I woke up in a panice and then heard the voice say there was no cause for alarm, all was well…as I looked out my window with a view of the main driveway in at least or close to a mile long with multiple fire engines heading toward the hotel. I joined many in their nightwear in the lobby where we observed the firefighters making sure all was well before heading back to bed. But to the point, I am paying privately for peace and quiet. I think maybe once I had an alarm clock go off and assumed the prior guest just forgot but it is aggravating. I do think it should be routine on the part of housekeeping to check that. If one unplugs the phone then they are causing untold minutes on an overworked low paid housekeeper to reset phones. Multiply that by the number of rooms they must tend to and it becomes quite the burden.
What I find really infuriating is when someone in a nearby room has a wake up call with the automated phone. They leave the room and forget to turn off the alert/call. It goes on forever. This is not the hotel’s responsibility.
As far as the alarm clock, though, I never thought about it. I usually unplug it bc the light is too bright, especially the green lights!
It has never entered my mind to ask for compensation when this has happened. But I did get into the habit of making certain any clock-alarm is turned off before going to bed (I prefer my cellphone alarm).
David Miller: thanks for bringing politics into a conversation about hotel inconveniences and compensation. This is certainly symptomatic of the divisions in our country today. You must be great fun at a dinner party.
David – I only spoke the truth – you should listen and speak up yourself – we are all being destroyed by these lying socialist liberals and their assault on common sense and the taking responsibility for THEIR actions.
When it happens once, you learn to check the clock before you go to sleep. If housekeeping can’t even test all the lights and replace a lightbulb in a room, how can you expect them to check the clock? Don’t expect someone else to do it, take care of yourself … the first word for frequent travellers.
My husband & I were staying at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi MS pre covid. Someone intentionally set off the fire alarm at 2 AM. My husband had recently had foot surgery & we had to walk down 5 flights of stairs. (I’m grateful it was not more.) Then we stood out in the cold for an hour while the presumed fire was investigated. One older woman was clutching her chest on the lawn saying she was having a heart attack in the meanwhile. The hotel brought out a cart w/ bathrobes & slippers for the guests on the front lawn. After the “all clear” was given we waited an hour for an elevator to go back up to the room. (All the hotel guests were returning to their rooms at once so the elevators were crowded.) The hotel comped us for one night. What a literal nightmare. A clock radio alarm seems a small inconvenience in comparison.
You people expecting a hotel to compensate you because the alarm clock goes off are crazy. Yeah it’s annoying. But how many people do you think will abuse that. There’s no way to prove whether it went off or a guest is trying to scam the hotel.
Airport hotel at JNB – not the Intercontinental, the other one. The alarm on TV system went off horrendously loudly multiple times thru the nite … TV was hardwired into the wall (not an outlet) and couldn’t unplug it … turned it off of course, did everything possible with the remote. Then an hour later…again. Called for help – “on the way” – none showed up. Fell asleep – then again – again an hour later. Really a rotten sort of experience. Management did not charge me for the nite.
I would expect a full week all expenses paid gesture in one their most premium hotels including all transportation ,meals plus 250,000 points
In addition a written statement it will never happen again signed by their lawyers
The poor guest has really suffered irrefutable harm not even the poor folks in Ukraine have gone through so much pain & suffering
dwondermeant – Your remarks correctly show the absurdity of the “poor guest’s” complaint. This poor baby uses a typical lying liberal complaint as they expect to get a free ride + whatever they can moan and groan about. People like this make me sick, but they are the end product of liberal brain washing.
To all the haters: There are people like me who have difficulty sleeping, and if are woken up in the middle of the night will not be able to go back to sleep. So the idea to just “press the button” to doesn’t necessarily work.
Recently I have been checking the clock and even after seeing the alarm is off, on the 2nd day after housekeeping comes, it is on! So worse than not checking the alarm, they are setting it!
aviators99 — quit your crying and just unplug the clock , wimp!
Many people forget the distinction between compensation to which a customer is entitled, and a service recovery gesture to which a customer is not entitled but a good business will offer upon request, and a great business will offer proactively. There is no entitlement to any compensation when the alarm clock goes off unless the hotel promised to have reset the clock and neglected to do so.
Any decent hotel will ask you when you check out, “how was your stay?” It is then I would broach the topic of the alarm. If I am a valuable customer, I expect that night’s stay to be refunded, either straight-up or by a lump sum of points equal to a standard award night at the same hotel.
The primary purpose of a hotel is to have a place to sleep. I will not ask outright for a refund or any sort of gesture, however, because I am not owed it.
I always check the alarm is off and the time is correct. Do you advocated the Hotel owing you money if the clock is wrong? About time people started to look after themselves.
Experienced travelers check the alarm clock. Especially at airport hotels or hotels that it is more likely guests have early am flights
David Miller is 100% correct on all counts.
This is my top pet peeve in hotel rooms, and I always try to remember to check or unplug the clock.
Seems hard to ‘prove’ though so I wouldn’t ask for compensation. For no water, or especially bogus fire alarms, then I’d ask.
David Miller, You proved your hatred of liberals. You have come to regard liberals as essentially undeserving of having their will warranted, no matter what the request or need.
4u2Know – The problem with liberals is that they can’t think rationally. They never take responsibility for the moronic things they say and do – it is ALWAYS someone else’s fault. They have no common sense and they are ignorant about reality. They “think” that the world owes them everything and they always have their hands out. They rant and rave and act like 2 year olds when their asinine thinking and desires are not immediately addressed. They are the very people who are ruining America. Now uknow…
Thanks for setting the world straight David. Your hatred runs deep.
4u2Know – yes, I have hatred for the people who are ruining America- and these people just happen to be lying liberals. You need to wake up and quit defending their evil, anti America agendas.
I’ve taken to unplugging the clock radio in rooms where there was one. Normally I would stay just one night.
I unplug the clock, that way there’s no chance of waking me and people like David Miller and his hate propaganda.
4u2Know – what a pathetic, petty reply – enjoy your bleeding heart lying liberalism.
This hatred, hostility and resentment of liberalism is a reflection of you, Mr. Miller, and some insecurity you’re hiding. The conversation was about an alarm clock, and you’ve turned it into a hate speech. No matter what someone says to you, I bet deep down you are envious of something that you didn’t achieve during your contemptible lifetime and you preach about it to people anywhere someone will listen. You will be waiting for my comment so that you can reply and have the last word, am I right?
with all due respect Rich, I do believe in people taking responsibility for themselves, but at the same time when I as a leisure traveler have saved or am spending considerable funds to stay in a lovely hotel, and all I long for is peace and quiet and some rest which I recognize as atypical, I do think I should be relieved of my usual responsibilities and should be able to trust that the property, whose job it is to be hospitable and considerate and see to guest’s needs do so. It shouldn’t be on me to have to check the alarm clock or make even more work for housekeeping staff to have to reset the damn clock and plug it back in again. ANd I suspect there are people among us who just might be elder and do not have a mobile phone, though a rarity I imagine..but because these darn phones thiese days do not come with owner’s manuals, I was very late in the game in learning how to work the alarm on my own. Dare I admit that my motivation came from a regular clock radio that also was such a challenge to work with I succumbed to the phone! I would think someone could see the clock in questIon to verIfy the error and compensation should fit the offense. In the case I mentioned prior with roof work being done for the duration of my stay, I think the stay should have been comped, though I never expected or asked, just tolerated it.