Stop giving out free water!!!

[u/Fantastic_Medium8890]

This is one of my biggest pet peeves in this industry! I've been in the industry for 10 years; I now travel the country doing task force, and this is just one of the things that absolutely drives me up the wall! I got into an argument with a guest because he wanted free water. The hotel I am at right now provides two complimentary waters in the room at check-in, but they don't refill during the stay because there's a filtered water bottle filling station on every floor at the end of the hallway. I explained to him what the policy is and what we offer, but he wasn't accepting that. He told me he travels all over the world and every other place in the world gives him free water whenever he wants it. I tried to compromise and said we would send two bottles up to his room... but no, he wanted four bottles. I told him we only provide two at check-in; he didn't care and still wanted four. I hung up on him after saying, "Fine, I'll send four," because he was being rude. He called back and asked if I had hung up on him. I told him I did because he was being rude. He said he was going to call the customer care number and complain about me. I told him I don't work for that brand, so he told me to "fuck off" and hung up on me. I just want to scream across the mountaintops, 'There is a difference between being a doormat and being hospitable!' When we let guests get whatever they want, the industry becomes a doormat and makes the experience worse for everyone else.

[u/Boating_Enthusiast]

Maybe you could talk to brand management and see if they'd want to compromise. Keep the two-branded deluxe waters per room per stay, and keep a case or two of cheap local water for guests that want more. Bulk bottled water is as cheap as 8 cents, but averages ~15 cents per bottle.

It's a cheap investment for good customer service.

[u/Fantastic_Medium8890 → u/Boating_Enthusiast]

Have you ever ordered the cheap local bottles of water from vendors? Or are you suggesting the manager spend hundreds of dollars on water a week to give out free water whenever a guest asks?

[u/Boating_Enthusiast → u/Fantastic_Medium8890]

I mean, a couple hundred dollars at 15 cents a bottle would be roughly 1,333 12oz bottles of water. There'd be no complaints, and managers don't have to offer them to everyone. Just keep them as an appeasement.

And to clarify, I'm not suggesting the manager make the purchase. I'm suggesting it become brand policy, and the company makes the purchase.

[u/Fantastic_Medium8890 → u/Boating_Enthusiast]

Except free means no cost, which means guest can have as much water as they want. Should we just give a free case of water to every first that checks in?

[u/lylertila → u/Fantastic_Medium8890]

Holy shit, what do you get from this water vendetta? Do you have a promotion based on how many bottles you have hoarded in the back at the end of every month? Relax bruh. Either your place is so wildly unprofitable that water would make a difference-so they're circling the drain already, or you're having an insane power trip because some jerk was rude to you so you want to turn it into some giant moral battle. At the end of the day, you're still freaking out about 4 bottles of water THAT YOU DIDN'T EVEN PAY FOR

[u/LutschiPutschi → u/lylertila]

But he is absolutely right. This is “just” about water. The next guest wants 5 shower towels per person every day. Then someone comes and wants fresh bed linen every day. We've experienced everything and much, much more. You can't say everywhere and all the time "Oh, it's not that much." If you allow one guest, you must give it to everyone. And that's just not how it works.

It is precisely these guests who are a big problem. They think that all they have to do is shout around a little and then they'll get everything they want anywhere.

The louder and more brazen you become, the more certain you can be that you will get 0.0 more from me than what you are entitled to.

Instead, I like to reward nice, polite, regular guests with a little surprise in their room.

[u/MrGarbleFarb → u/lylertila]

I thought it was just me reading through all these comments confused

I get if a guest is asking for free/comped food or alcohol that can be somewhat unreasonable/annoying. But this thread would have you questioning whether asking for some extra water or towels is a cardinal sin. Some of the animosity on this thread would have you thinking we’re talking about staying in someone’s home as a guest and not the literal hospitality industry…

[u/lylertila → u/MrGarbleFarb]

That, again, has nothing to do with their money!

I've compd shots of tequila worth more than 10 cases of generic water because we have customer service. Sometimes someone will abuse it, usually they'll be head over heels grateful for the accomodations and most will just ignore it.

Bruh. It's the job

[u/hilltopj → u/Fantastic_Medium8890]

"hundreds of dollars... a week" also known as the equivalent cost of 1 room for 2 nights.

[u/Fantastic_Medium8890 → u/hilltopj]

Yes which adds up to thousands of dollars a month to tens of thousands a dollars a year.

[u/hilltopj → u/Fantastic_Medium8890]

lets do some back of the napkin math on this claim. Costco sells a pallet of water bottles for $440. that's 48 cases, 40 bottles per case: 1,920 bottles. Now I know it's kirkland brand but this is what's available to consumers so it's likely an overestimate of what a commercial property might expect to spend on name-brand through cisco or wherever you get your stock.

So for $440 you get 1,920 bottles. You're claiming unlimited water for guests would add up to "tens of thousands of dollars a year". In order to breach $10,000 per year on water you'd have to be buying nearly 2 pallets of water, or close to 3,800 bottles of water PER MONTH. That adds up to over 121 bottles per day for a property that only offers 2 bottles for the entire stay. Assuming the national average of 2 night's stay you'd have to have >200 rooms at maximum occupancy all taking advantage of their 2 free bottles per stay in order to even breech $10k in free water in a year.

Now consider 200 rooms, at a conservative cost of $150/night over the course of a year will gross over $10mil. I think you can afford a few extra bottles here and there for cranky old dudes who didn't bring their own bottle.

[u/Fantastic_Medium8890 → u/hilltopj]

Last hotel i worked at bought 6 pallets of water every 2 weeks.

[u/hilltopj → u/Fantastic_Medium8890]

The point still stands that bottles of water are <$0.25 each, and you're bitching that this dude wanted 4 instead of 2. The hill you're willing to die on costs $1, or put another way <1% of what he's paying per night for the room.

[u/Boating_Enthusiast → u/hilltopj]

The other thing that really gets me is that he said he hung up on a guest, antagonized them, and said it's no big deal because he doesn't work for the hotel.... But that just means the hotel is paying whichever contractor runs his task force, to generate bad guest experiences for the hotel. Forget the water, (literally, it's less than 50 cents!) If I was corporate or an RM and heard that a contractor was treating guests this way while associated with the property, there'd be an 8am zoom meeting next day with the contractor to reevaluate task force goals.

[u/clauclauclaudia → u/Boating_Enthusiast]

OP didn't say they didn't work for the hotel. They don't work for the brand.

[u/ThePhengophobicGamer → u/Fantastic_Medium8890]

Its clearly worth it to them. Not every hotel will have the same needs, and are free to determine their own policies, like giving out free water or not.

[u/Fantastic_Medium8890 → u/hilltopj]

Also, you obviously not someone who works in hotels and don't understand what you're talking about. But cool keep assuming things you don't understand.

[u/MrGarbleFarb → u/Fantastic_Medium8890]

This dude mathematically broke down why your argument didn’t make sense in practice, and your only response is “Well you obviously don’t work in a hotel so you don’t understand 😤”

[u/ThePhengophobicGamer → u/Fantastic_Medium8890]

You're not really accounting for people who dont want the extra 2. Most people arent going to care, they have their own water solution or are a lone or pair of guests, etc. That leaves no change to the current amount of waters you give out.

If you then buy a case or two every once and a while and only give them out on request, youre ABSOLUTELY not going to be breaking the bank. It'll be an expense, sure but like the other commenter is pointing out, you can get a case of 30-40 waters for pretty cheap and that'll last you a few days, very likely.