avoiding stuffy and inflexible service at nice european resorts
Apr 23rd, 2014, 10:58 PM
#41
I see two issues, if I was staying in a 4 star hotel and I was ill and unable to get to the restaurant I would want to be able to order a cup of tea at any time.
Since I normally stay in 3 star hotels I've never had this problem but Mrs Bilbo has been laid low a couple of times, and each time (France and Romania) the hotel has been fantastic.
Now the OP mentions a resort, I'm not sure what one is? Are we talking about an all inclusive resort (shudder) or a town that mainly caters to tourists.
Since I normally stay in 3 star hotels I've never had this problem but Mrs Bilbo has been laid low a couple of times, and each time (France and Romania) the hotel has been fantastic.
Now the OP mentions a resort, I'm not sure what one is? Are we talking about an all inclusive resort (shudder) or a town that mainly caters to tourists.
Apr 24th, 2014, 02:38 AM
#42
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I don't drink a lot of coffee, but much like wine, I won't drink just anything. I have a very specific bean preference (even in Italy) and I've been using the Melitta-travel brewing method since my early work/travel days to Japan. Melitta is the brew method used at NYC's fresh roasters, like Blue Bottle and Toby's Estate. I grind fresh-roasted beans the morning of departure and pour them into a Nalgene Wide-Mouth bottle for travel. These fabulous air-tight, leakproof travel bottles are the best. I also pack #2 Melitta filters.
My trips to Japan taught me to always travel with my Melitta 1-Cup Brew Cone. No matter where I went, all I needed was boiling water to make a delicious, heavenly cup of coffee. I purchased my 20-year-old travel cone in Japan, and it still looks brand new. Mine is slightly different than the style they sell now, but it ALWAYS works. So if my room comes with a machine, I simply use the machine to boil water.
<i><font color=#555555>"A coffee-maker in the room would be a tacky admission that the hotel couldn't provide adequate services."</font></i>
This is a very odd statement, coming from an experienced traveler. I think StCirq typed before she had a chance to think. More often than not these days, I stay in 5-star hotels, especially for work. Many of my favorite rooms feature small kitchens, and the coffee makers are usually state-of-the-art machines. Sometimes you need a degree just to figure out how to boil water.
<i><font color=#555555>"What a sad, sorry person you are."</font></i>
How dare you judge someone's state of being? Who do you think you are?
<i><font color=#555555>"I suspect a troll."</font></i>
Yeah, right. This coming from someone calling for a shun-pact.
<i><font color=#555555>"There are many hotels in Italy that have tea and coffee makers in their rooms."</font></i>
Which is why it is confusing for many travelers. How do these Italian hotels get around the strict electrical appliance laws? Every time I ask, I get shrugged shoulders with a comment like, "Our customers like them."
<i><font color=#555555>"I took my electric juicer to Rome one January, so I could buy blood oranges at the market and make juice in my (fairly inexpensive) hotel room."</font></i>
Well now I've heard everything. Thank you for that laugh. Reminds me of the time I shut the hotel's electricity down with my 1600 watt blowdryer. Who knew you needed more than just an adapter? Doesn't everyone start off stupid?
<i><font color=#555555>"This seems like a strange thing to stress out about."</font></i>
It is. But some people like to stress. And they like to rant. Isn't it lovely that Fodor's provides the bandwidth and a source of entertainment for travel enthusiasts.
I happen to fall into the camp that hospitality is defined by how well you treat a guest. If your guest requests a coffee maker in his/her room, then I think the hotel should find a way to provide one (even if it is illegal). I know the Italian law, but it isn't consistent. So what's a non-accomodating hotel supposed to do?
My trips to Japan taught me to always travel with my Melitta 1-Cup Brew Cone. No matter where I went, all I needed was boiling water to make a delicious, heavenly cup of coffee. I purchased my 20-year-old travel cone in Japan, and it still looks brand new. Mine is slightly different than the style they sell now, but it ALWAYS works. So if my room comes with a machine, I simply use the machine to boil water.
<i><font color=#555555>"A coffee-maker in the room would be a tacky admission that the hotel couldn't provide adequate services."</font></i>
This is a very odd statement, coming from an experienced traveler. I think StCirq typed before she had a chance to think. More often than not these days, I stay in 5-star hotels, especially for work. Many of my favorite rooms feature small kitchens, and the coffee makers are usually state-of-the-art machines. Sometimes you need a degree just to figure out how to boil water.
<i><font color=#555555>"What a sad, sorry person you are."</font></i>
How dare you judge someone's state of being? Who do you think you are?
<i><font color=#555555>"I suspect a troll."</font></i>
Yeah, right. This coming from someone calling for a shun-pact.
<i><font color=#555555>"There are many hotels in Italy that have tea and coffee makers in their rooms."</font></i>
Which is why it is confusing for many travelers. How do these Italian hotels get around the strict electrical appliance laws? Every time I ask, I get shrugged shoulders with a comment like, "Our customers like them."
<i><font color=#555555>"I took my electric juicer to Rome one January, so I could buy blood oranges at the market and make juice in my (fairly inexpensive) hotel room."</font></i>
Well now I've heard everything. Thank you for that laugh. Reminds me of the time I shut the hotel's electricity down with my 1600 watt blowdryer. Who knew you needed more than just an adapter? Doesn't everyone start off stupid?
<i><font color=#555555>"This seems like a strange thing to stress out about."</font></i>
It is. But some people like to stress. And they like to rant. Isn't it lovely that Fodor's provides the bandwidth and a source of entertainment for travel enthusiasts.
I happen to fall into the camp that hospitality is defined by how well you treat a guest. If your guest requests a coffee maker in his/her room, then I think the hotel should find a way to provide one (even if it is illegal). I know the Italian law, but it isn't consistent. So what's a non-accomodating hotel supposed to do?
Apr 24th, 2014, 04:39 AM
#44
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[[ "There are many hotels in Italy that have tea and coffee makers in their rooms."
Which is why it is confusing for many travelers. How do these Italian hotels get around the strict electrical appliance laws? Every time I ask, I get shrugged shoulders with a comment like, "Our customers like them." ]]
If you had bothered to read the next paragraph, you'd have seen the explanation: A hotel can put a coffee machine in a room if they provide a fire-resistant surround for it. The exact rules may vary from region to region.
Most Italians wouldn't touch the kind of coffee produced by those machines, nor the kind produced by a Melitta filter, either. The Italian notion of tea doesn't seem to require boiling water; I think hot tap water would do. Therefore, Italian hotels that bother to comply with the regulations for having a coffee machine or a water boiler in the rooms will almost certainly be hotels with a lot of northern European clients, or clients from the Anglo-Saxon dispersion countries.
New hotels may be exempt from the rules because they've been constructed with fire-resistant materials, or have modern fire prevention and isolation features.
Which is why it is confusing for many travelers. How do these Italian hotels get around the strict electrical appliance laws? Every time I ask, I get shrugged shoulders with a comment like, "Our customers like them." ]]
If you had bothered to read the next paragraph, you'd have seen the explanation: A hotel can put a coffee machine in a room if they provide a fire-resistant surround for it. The exact rules may vary from region to region.
Most Italians wouldn't touch the kind of coffee produced by those machines, nor the kind produced by a Melitta filter, either. The Italian notion of tea doesn't seem to require boiling water; I think hot tap water would do. Therefore, Italian hotels that bother to comply with the regulations for having a coffee machine or a water boiler in the rooms will almost certainly be hotels with a lot of northern European clients, or clients from the Anglo-Saxon dispersion countries.
New hotels may be exempt from the rules because they've been constructed with fire-resistant materials, or have modern fire prevention and isolation features.
Apr 24th, 2014, 06:07 AM
#46
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I don't blame the hotel staff at all for not wanting to do something illegal. Even if other hotels do it, and especially not for something like this, which is not even a real customer service issue. The couple in question could easily have ordered a pot of coffee via room service, OR gone to a cafe, OR gone down to breakfast at the prescribed time.
I might agree that it was bad customer service if none of these other options were available.
I might agree that it was bad customer service if none of these other options were available.
Apr 24th, 2014, 07:04 AM
#49
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<i><font color=#555555>"If you had bothered to read the next paragraph"</font></i>
Sweetie, I read every word, but your condescension from that high throne is duly noted.
<i><font color=#555555>"A hotel can put a coffee machine in a room if they provide a fire-resistant surround for it."</font></i>
Yeah, like that's really visible to the customer. Yeah, like some in Italy don't find a way to skirt the rules.
<i><font color=#555555>"The exact rules may vary from region to region."</font></i>
Sort of like my hair color.
<i><font color=#555555>"Most Italians wouldn't touch the kind of coffee produced…by a Melitta filter, either."</font></i>
That would be foolish on their part. Yes, it is well known that, generally speaking, Italians are slow to embrace change, often to their detriment. But I can assure readers, there are plenty of Italian coffee snobs in NYC who have ditched their metal Bialettis for the tasty cone-drip brews of freshly roasted beans that have taken NYC by storm. And some of these now famous stores are owned, operated, and managed by Italians.
Sweetie, I read every word, but your condescension from that high throne is duly noted.
<i><font color=#555555>"A hotel can put a coffee machine in a room if they provide a fire-resistant surround for it."</font></i>
Yeah, like that's really visible to the customer. Yeah, like some in Italy don't find a way to skirt the rules.
<i><font color=#555555>"The exact rules may vary from region to region."</font></i>
Sort of like my hair color.
<i><font color=#555555>"Most Italians wouldn't touch the kind of coffee produced…by a Melitta filter, either."</font></i>
That would be foolish on their part. Yes, it is well known that, generally speaking, Italians are slow to embrace change, often to their detriment. But I can assure readers, there are plenty of Italian coffee snobs in NYC who have ditched their metal Bialettis for the tasty cone-drip brews of freshly roasted beans that have taken NYC by storm. And some of these now famous stores are owned, operated, and managed by Italians.
Apr 24th, 2014, 01:30 PM
#50
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heck, I love a coffeemaker in the hotel room, I must have coffee when I first wake up. Those coffeemakers are perfectly fine as that's what I use at home (and what on earth is wrong with Melitta filters? that's a good way to make coffee). But, I just book a hotel room based on whether they have one or not, if I can, I don't ask for one if there isn't one provided. IN fact, I don't really understand that, asking for some amenity or service that a hotel doesn't provide.
I really do not like hotel breakfast rooms and don't want to be forced to go to them for a cup of coffee, and I don't eat breakfast. So that isn't a solution for everyone. Besides, I don't want to have to get all ready and dressed before I have coffee. I don't know the hotel in question, but expensive hotels often are the ones without some services, like coffeepots. I guess they do expect you would order room service. This is true even in the US, where coffeemakers are more common in hotel rooms sometimes.
But if you read Tripadvisor, British people are forever whining about not having hotpots in hotel rooms to make tea (a pot that just boils water). I find that a very odd complaint as that isn't common at all, why would they expect that in every hotel in the world.
I really do not like hotel breakfast rooms and don't want to be forced to go to them for a cup of coffee, and I don't eat breakfast. So that isn't a solution for everyone. Besides, I don't want to have to get all ready and dressed before I have coffee. I don't know the hotel in question, but expensive hotels often are the ones without some services, like coffeepots. I guess they do expect you would order room service. This is true even in the US, where coffeemakers are more common in hotel rooms sometimes.
But if you read Tripadvisor, British people are forever whining about not having hotpots in hotel rooms to make tea (a pot that just boils water). I find that a very odd complaint as that isn't common at all, why would they expect that in every hotel in the world.
Apr 24th, 2014, 02:45 PM
#51
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<i><font color=#555555>"I must have coffee when I first wake up."</font></i>
I don't know a single professional singer who doesn't travel with a Portable Immersion Heater. If you live a career "on the road," you often have no idea how to get your hands on your favorite first beverage of the day. Some lobby calls on road tours are at 4AM. 5 AM is the typical start time for satellite media campaigns. A diva can consider herself lucky if she got booked into a hotel that offers room service at that hour. And even luckier if room service gets to your room before you dress and check-out.
<i><font color=#555555>"and what on earth is wrong with Melitta filters?"</font></i>
Absolutely nothing. In fact, pour-over coffee is the preferred brewing method of caffeine aficionados around the world. But some people on travel boards like to speak for ALL people, especially if she thinks citizenship christens you with some level of good taste and authority.
If you Google the "art of pour-over coffee," tasty brew lovers will discover its birth in the Far East. Here is just one example from the NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/ma...ood-t-000.html
Italy is not the only coffee-loving country in the world, and there are a lot of Italians who don't like espresso or don't have the stomach lining to handle it. I own three Bialettis and the Rancilio Espresso Machine. I have a long history of enjoying all versions of famous Italian roasts. I wouldn't use my Melitta to enjoy my "Regina" beans from Tazza D'Oro, but I wouldn't use my Bialetti or my Rancilio to brew Blue Bottle's "Giant Steps."
Connoisseurs appreciate the value of great tools. Smart connoisseurs know there is no such thing as a one-tool-fits-all.
I don't know a single professional singer who doesn't travel with a Portable Immersion Heater. If you live a career "on the road," you often have no idea how to get your hands on your favorite first beverage of the day. Some lobby calls on road tours are at 4AM. 5 AM is the typical start time for satellite media campaigns. A diva can consider herself lucky if she got booked into a hotel that offers room service at that hour. And even luckier if room service gets to your room before you dress and check-out.
<i><font color=#555555>"and what on earth is wrong with Melitta filters?"</font></i>
Absolutely nothing. In fact, pour-over coffee is the preferred brewing method of caffeine aficionados around the world. But some people on travel boards like to speak for ALL people, especially if she thinks citizenship christens you with some level of good taste and authority.
If you Google the "art of pour-over coffee," tasty brew lovers will discover its birth in the Far East. Here is just one example from the NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/ma...ood-t-000.html
Italy is not the only coffee-loving country in the world, and there are a lot of Italians who don't like espresso or don't have the stomach lining to handle it. I own three Bialettis and the Rancilio Espresso Machine. I have a long history of enjoying all versions of famous Italian roasts. I wouldn't use my Melitta to enjoy my "Regina" beans from Tazza D'Oro, but I wouldn't use my Bialetti or my Rancilio to brew Blue Bottle's "Giant Steps."
Connoisseurs appreciate the value of great tools. Smart connoisseurs know there is no such thing as a one-tool-fits-all.
Apr 24th, 2014, 03:50 PM
#52
My mom has been traveling with her Melitta cone and filters since I was a little girl. If she is traveling for a relatively short time domestically, she brings her own coffee too. I don't go that far, but like Christina I prefer to drink my coffee as I'm getting ready for the day, and I rarely want breakfast.
Apr 24th, 2014, 10:44 PM
#53
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>>I find it interesting that so many people from the UK seem to constantly be talking about the "shame" there wasn't this and the "shame" there wasn't that in their hotel rooms.<<
In UK English, that only indicates a mild disappointment: "would have been nice to have", and it's a note for other British visitors who might be expecting various things that are commonplace in the UK.
In UK English, that only indicates a mild disappointment: "would have been nice to have", and it's a note for other British visitors who might be expecting various things that are commonplace in the UK.
Apr 25th, 2014, 12:24 AM
#54
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As experienced travelers, we always carry our own cappucino machine, especially to Italy since many places will not make it after noon. Before the recession, when we had money, we took a person with us who would make that large TCHHHHHHHHH sound, that the larger restaurant and bar machines make. But we all must make sacrifices.
As far as a hotel admitting failure by having tea and coffee makers in the room, I have stayed at places where there are vending machines in the room, although some times when I am drunk this is very convenient and I am amused as each little baggie falls down.
Wherever I travel, no matter how many stars, each hotel should know and anticipate all of my personal needs, because I am always more important than the place I am visiting.
As far as a hotel admitting failure by having tea and coffee makers in the room, I have stayed at places where there are vending machines in the room, although some times when I am drunk this is very convenient and I am amused as each little baggie falls down.
Wherever I travel, no matter how many stars, each hotel should know and anticipate all of my personal needs, because I am always more important than the place I am visiting.
