Several days ago I woke up a little after 6am at the Sheraton Macao Hotel (full trip report to come) and decided to order up coffee from room service. They explained that I could tell them how many cups of coffee I wanted, and that’s what they would fill the pot to. So I asked for 6 cups.
A short while later room service delivered the coffee. It seemed awfully light for 6 cups. I poured two cups, and the pot felt nearly empty. So I called back down to in room dining. The same person I ordered from answered, and she remembered that I had ordered 6 cups. She said she’d send up 4 more cups right away.
So at 6:30am there’s a knock on the door, and the man who delivered the first pot of coffee appeared. He didn’t have a pot of coffee in his hand. Instead he declared: “I am here to investigate.”
I told him that we had ordered six cups of coffee, I poured two and that’s all there was.
He lifted the pot of coffee and said, “there’s still some left”.
He then said it’s not possible that we could have gotten less coffee, because the machine is electronic. They specify how much goes in the pot.
There I am, standing in a bathrobe in my hotel room, being told that it’s not possible that I could be missing coffee and in any case the coffee I ordered was right there, in the pot!
What was I trying to pull, anyway? He thought I was trying to cheat the hotel, to get extra coffee without paying for it.
He then poured the remaining coffee from the pot into an empty cup. It filled only half way. I said, “You were right, there were actually two and a half cups.”
He harumphed, walked directly outside the room, and handed me the pot he had brought along with the four replacement cups of coffee I had been promised — once I satisfied him that I wasn’t actually trying to steal coffee.
I was embarassed, I was angry, I don’t remember ever having been told by a hotel before that they didn’t believe me… let alone over coffee.
And then I told myself that I was in Macau, over Chinese New Year, and that the hotel must find that people do try to scam them for little things. And that they believe they’re better off insulting an honest customer and catching the scammers (they must lose that much to scams) than assuming their guests are telling the truth.
Coffee must be expensive to make, after all.
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Have a meal at Fernando’s on Hac Sa Beach down the West, or A Lorcha by A-Ma Temple, to wash it away
That is your penance for visiting Macau. I informed my wife on the ferry back to Hong Kong to get a good look, because we were never ever going to return. An absolutely horrible place.
@Rapid Travel Chai – I did eat at Fernando’s, wasn’t as good as on my last visit but the chorizo was still excellent!
Stayed at the Sheraton Macau and had a terrible experience there with extremely rude staff who yelled at us for no reason. I hope the blog readers can avoid that place at all cost. It’s quite possibly the worst Sheraton and SPG property I’ve ever stayed in.
Wow. How unacceptable.
@Rapid Travel Chai – I second A Lorcha! It’s got to be one of the best restaurants in Macau.
That is why I NEVER go to China, do not need it, i can never deal with these people, cant tolerate them , even the ones here in the USA bark at you for no reason .
PS. No I am not prejudice, I love Thailand, Japan and Korea and their natives. NO CHINA for me .
You are a sensitive customer.
Yes Lucy, you’ve established quite well that you like other Asians, just not the Chinese variety. How broad-minded you are!
Granted I am not a coffeee drinker, but I think I would have told them what they could do with the 6 1/2 cups of coffee.
Better think twice before taking the little bottle of shampoo and conditioner from the bathroom
Not that this excuses the hotel’s bizarre and inappropriate response, but it sounds like you were also a victim of the confusion between what is a “cup”, and what is a “coffee cup”. Counterintuitively, these are not the same things. A coffee cup is is meant to convey what an approximate serving of coffee might be. According to Wikipedia: “A “coffee cup” is 1.5 dl or 150 millilitres or 5.07 US customary fluid ounces.” Granted, that serving is less than a typical serving these days – but the measurement has perpetuated and still seems to be common today. If you look at the side of your coffee maker – the “cups” are not cups, but coffee cup measurements. Assuming your hotel did indeed deliver you 6 “coffee cups” – that would equate to roughly 30oz of liquid – which is 3.75 cups (defined by 8oz), or in terms of my serving size of 12oz, about 2.5 “mugs” (if you will).
@Daniel
It would all make sense if they didn’t go ahead and bring 4 cups that were missing. If they used same measure as before for 6 cups, they would’ve actually brought less than the first time around.
Daniel, but then how do you explain the second pot with four cups that was delivered? Wouldn’t it then only contain 2/3 of the 2.5 mugs generated from the six cups?
Situation sounds like it was perfectly brewed (pun!) for some compensation Starpoints from the hotel. Did you end up complaining? If it was me, I definitely would have. Seems ridiculous.
@David – I haven’t complained. Mostly I was kind of stunned.
I stayed at that hotel last February, and I was amazed at how many of the hotel guests never seemed to have stayed at a hotel before, and/or were demanding a lot of the staff. It could be that they’ve taken a negative view of *any* complaints at all, merited or not.
In the middle of the last decade, I worked for a school in Macau that called itself a collégio for a semestre. The boss was a Roman-Catholci priest, indeed the then confessor of the bishop of Macau. The school violated 6 out of 21 specific agreements in writing as addendum to the plain and uniform contract offered to foreigners that we had. That’s roughly one third, i.e. as much as the amount of ordered coffee you got.
Not to mention that, while violating every other rule of their own religion (such as fasting) on top of being dishonest when it comes to the contract, they also tried to force us into participating in Roman-Catholic worship, which most of us teachers refused, but the 85% Buddhist and atheist Chinese students had to endure.
Macau is a beautiful place. Unfortunately, it is inhabited by Macanese, quite a few of whom (though luckily not each and every one of them) combine the very worst aspects of south China’s greed and cunningness, colonial European brutality, and Christian (especially Roman-Catholic) bigotry and hypocrisy.
Thing always go wrong when it’s the Chinese New Year, especially when you stay at the world’s largest Sheraton the the world’s new gambling capital. I stayed there last year during the Chinese New Year and everything went great. I guess it’s because I am not a coffee person. Here is the full hotel report: http://www.tprochina.com/?p=54
Stayed at that Sheraton last January.
It was wonderful, especially the lounge with full breakfasts and happy hours.
Overall, we found the service to be very efficient and polite. But they are indeed sticklers on giving you what you pay for.
On NYE we had a prix fixe champagne menu at Bene. The lovely waitress engaged us in a lot of pleasant conversation and one point in the course of our conversation she made is that the hotel sells a lot of rooms to Chinese customers who are one only half a generation from being peasants and don’t always understand the notion of having to pay for everything they consume, and so the hotel has to be very strict about matters like the one described here.
So don’t take it personally, Gary. They’re having to educate customers to western-style capitalism every single day.
I was there over Chinese New Years as well and had negative dealings with the hotel as well. As an SPG Gold, late checkout should have been guaranteed, but the hotel said they would only accommodate up to 12:00 pm as a courtesy. I had to contact SPG twice to confirm the 4pm late checkout, the first time the hotel even lied to SPG as they confirmed that I had 4 pm late checkout, but when I called to confirm, it was only for 1pm.
@Gary – What they did was wrong but you feeling anger over it (which unfortunately for us is your right) is not necessary. Welcome to being a minority in another land. Yes, you don’t always experience this outside of the States but alas, minorities don’t ALWAYS get accused of things they didn’t do either in America. When it happens to them they have to deal with it and if they complain, people that resemble us (So what if I’m a little portly and light skinned as my friend writing this blog here is) unfairly give ’em hell for it.
I’ve lived half my life outside of the States, in Asia and Europe and it’s is quite amusing when we get all up in arms about… well, what most other people here at home have to deal with everyday. Right or wrong, fair or not.
In other words, lighten up. Entitled much? And Affluenza doesn’t kill… well, actually it does in America, just not people that look like us.
It’s just coffee my friend… just coffee.
I want to know what Lucy thinks about the Taiwanese.
Gary maybe you should make clear that such hate filled speech is not welcome on your blog?
We went to China thirteen years ago to adopt our lovely wonderful daughter and it really saddens and enrages me to read such comments as expressed by Lucy.
Also we stayed at the Conrad in Macau a couple of years ago, received a double upgrade to an absolutely huge suite and could not have been treated more graciously. “Those’ people were unfailingly polite to us.
As I ended the post, “And then I told myself that I was in Macau, over Chinese New Year, and that the hotel must find that people do try to scam them for little things. And that they believe they’re better off insulting an honest customer and catching the scammers (they must lose that much to scams) than assuming their guests are telling the truth.”
I actually have some sense, I think, where the hotel is coming from. I don’t think I’m angry about it. It was just an interesting story of an experience that in its own small way was unlike anything I’ve experienced and I’m fairly well traveled including to the various Chinas.
Straight out of a Seinfeld skit. Could you have even thought about this before it happened?
@gary You were accused of stealing. You’re entitled to be angry. Who wouldn’t be angry in that situation? I hope you do make sure somebody higher up at Sheraton hears about this. That’s absolutely unacceptable behavior.
@kokonutz I can’t speak for Gary, but I’d DEFINITELY take it personally if someone confused me with a Chinese peasant who just fell off the boat. Your explanation for the hotel’s actions may be correct, but that just makes it that much more insulting, doesn’t it?
I guess I don’t look it as coffee (or just coffee). I look at it as being called a thief. Pay for that treatment if you wish.
The SPG twitter folks saw this post tweeted and messaged me. They offered me 5000 points and an apology. I thanked them for the apology and told them the points weren’t necessary, my point wasn’t to complain/seek compensation, it was a travel story worth sharing.
Why do you think there must be scammers at this hotel? Seems like a slight on Chinese nationals.
@Cheng the hotel’s perception seems to be that they’re getting scammed at every turn. Whether their perception is accurate or not, I have no direct knowledge.
Gary: As brought up by Kate in post 24, bigoted messages like the one that Lucy (post 7) made should not be welcomed.
Your lack of commentary on the intolerability of such messages in this day and age (particularly on a blog discussing international travel) speaks volumes as to your character.
Shame on the Sheraton Macao for their pathetic behavior and accusations, and shame on you for your lack of willingness to stand up in the face of clear racism.
@Gary No points if you complain. They’ll tell you they’ll give you an upgrade next time you go there which is terrible because who in their right mind would want to go there after this fiasco.
@Gary – ask SPG if you can give points to a reader?
@Jason Arroyo – my approach is often not to draw extra attention, thinking that (1) peoples’ comments usually speak for themselves, and reveal the character of the person making the comment, (2) giving undue attention gives the views of the commenter a bigger microphone, but (3) where criticism is necessary, the nice thing about the internet and wisdom of crowds is that readers will make their own voices heard.
Hope that explains how I think about comments. I try (but do not always live up to my ideals) not to get into wars in the comments. I’d rather see marginal views fade into obscurity, the opposite of what happens if I engage them. Is that the right approach? I could be wrong of course, I’m open to that possibility.
@Marc – see above, SPG has already offered points. If you complain to the hotel they’ll likely offer you something on next stay. I find complaining to Corporate Customer Service almost always yields points. But I don’t generally take that approach.
Agree with others’ concerns about Lucy’s prejudice towards Chinese and China. This incident was worth mentioning, but related more to the poor managment at this particular hotel. It’s true that Chinese are not generally known for being super polite or having great customer service, but there are a lot of kind warm hearted Chinese as well. China is definitely worth visiting for open minded travelers.
So the hotel GM lied to me when they said SPG doesn’t give out points??? I even have the email to prove that!!!!! This is incredulous and just makes my impression of this hotel even worst. Not only are they rude, but their also liars.
Add me to the consensus appalled by Lucy’s anti-Chinese bigotry.
As for the experience itself, Gary, what a petty and accusatory attitude on the part of the hotel.
similar things happened to us when we are in chiang mai, thailand at the ROYAL PRINCESS HOTEL. we booked with AADVANTAGE MILES and it included buffet breakfast for 2. The first morning, it was ok, the 2nd morning, right after we were done eating breakfast, 2 waitress chases us and demands us to pay for it. It was embarassing. I told them talk to the front desk and we have already paid for it with room. They said NO NO. I then told the 2 women to follow me to the front desk and had them speak to front desk guy. I demanded that these 2 ladies apoligize to me cos I asked them to speak to front desk and they kept chasing us to the elevator. The next morning during breakfast, those 2 ladies and the restaurant manager came up to us and said sorry.the hotel supervisor apologized and sends us nice plates and very clean, brand new spoons and forks but only 2 pieces of fruits on them. On day of our departure, the top manager himself wanted to meet us, apologized to us.
Please add me to the list of those who believe that comments should be related to Gary’s post, rather than one person’s opinions toward a nationality. Do I agree with the comments made? Absolutely not, no, not in any manner. Do I feel folks should have the right to express an opinion without a PC police response? Absolutely. Disagree with a person’s opinion, but let’s not try to keep people from expressing them.
Macao! Sheraton? Say no more! What were you expecting, the place is grubby, the hotel is grubby, the people are grubby, I’ll be staying away from Sheraton Macao if they are worried about a bit of coffee
I would have to say half the business in China are out to cheat people. i’m sure that hotel does NOT want to cheat you but they are afraid of being cheated.
At a guess, if you ordered six cups of coffee they wanted to make sure you didn’t have six people in the room — I imagine that’s a not-unheard of problem there, especially over New Year.
I tend to agree with Lucy. It’s not easy to some people’s ears but actually very candid suggestion which is to avoid China if not necessary. There are so many Asian countries out these.
You were in Macao and you stayed by the Sheraton?!?!?!
I think this whole “chasing platinum” thing you have for SPG and Hyatt is reaching new levels of absurdity
Among dozens of better choices than the Sheraton is the Conrad right next door – a world class hotel at an absurdly low 40K HHonors points a night.
When you choose to stay at a remarkably inferior hotel, ostensibly for no reason other than because you have and/or are chasing status (I can’t imagine what other reason could’ve drove you to stay there), where they apparently treat you worse as a platinum than a hotel right next door will treat a general member…. it just reinforces Seth’s point in your continuous “loyalty” argument.
I stayed at the Conrad and was treated just like every other regular joe at the hotel there…. aka, better than the “special treatment” you received for being a platinum at Sheraton
(and I say this as an SPG platinum myself with no Hilton status)
Why weren’t you staying at Wynn?
@peachfront: I hear what you are saying…BUT…as a guest at a hotel that has created a policy to combat the ‘over-entitlement’ of ‘mainlanders’ and you train staff to that policy then you can’t be offended when that policy gets uniformly enforced.
Walter makes an important point, imho.
Should’ve stayed at the Conrad next door. I’ve been there four times now and every time has been amazing. I’ve gotten it twice at $80USD and 16K points and twice at the revenue rate of around $250, a steal either way. The last three times I have been upgraded to a deluxe suite due to my HHonors Gold status from the amex card.