what do you think a hotel should do for its current guests when its employees strike?

yesterday brought the strike complete with blowing of whistles, cheering of picketing. Today there is no food service with guests not notified (in my case, I called to order room service and was told all the restaurants were down -then a half hour later 8:40 p.m. I received a note to this affect which didn't help).

This note also mentions a "take away breakfast" free of charge - which is ironic since my not-very-small room rate includes a hot full breakfast.

If you've had experience with this, what would you expect the hotel to do to accomodate for this disruption? Discount on stay? Discount on future stay? More loyalty points / rewards program? The food part is what has me really peeved - not many options in the neighborhood and would have preferred to know that before I got home and settled in.

Where are you? What city? What do you think the hotel management, with no staff, should do for you? Do you know if the management had prior notice of the labor action, or were they as surprised and shocked as you were?

I feel for you, but #@%& happens. If the city is Paris, I'd welcome the chance to go exploring for breakfast -- make lemonade, if you will.

I read this morning is a reputable newspaper, probably an AP pickup, that the Greek protests and unrest are expected to spread even though the riots in Greece were locally instigated--police shot a teenager.

Could this be connected? Hard to know without knowing poster's city or reason for the strike.

I'm in Brussels at the Conrad. I realize there is not that much that they can actually do but timely information goes a long way. As far as I know, the strike happened because they fired some middle management and the other employees went on strike.

Admittedly, since I am here for business, its not as much of an issue - I would not be pleased if I were shelling out hundreds of euro per night and my room wasn't made up and no food options available.

Want to trade. I am sure some others would make up the bed and walk all by themyselfs to a place that serves food, and you can be in here working your a** off.

sure roger. if you want to work your @ss off doing my job that I did all week for 12+ hour days and just wanted to get a bowl of soup for my first meal of downtime.

Why don't you just ask a hotel manager?

I actually did not intend to imply that I would be demanding something / needing to talk to hotel managers but was wondering what others' experiences may be and if anything was reasonable. I'm sure there will be people here demanding ridiculous things and I agree it will be a difficult position for the hotel and the staff who chose not to strike. that's all.

I would be asking for some Hilton points. Not sure how many, but somewhere between 20-35k per night would seem reasonable, as the Conrad goes for 35k per night.

Remember that one stays at the Conrad for service. If it were just a bed, they wouldn't charge so much. You have a legit gripe, and I would think they will be happy to oblige with some points.

Actually, it may be difficult for them to actually provide the service, but it isn't at all difficult for them to offer you a "courtesy discount", or a free weekend stay somewhere, etc. etc. I disagree with those who say "#@%& happens" -- yes, it does, but I'm sure this hotel costs more than one without the equivalent amenities, and when I've paid for something, I expect to get it, and should be compensated if I don't. And I am NOT one of those "demand the world" people.

okay, I think I would expect some discount on the current stay. I hardly ever use room service in a hotel, so that wouldn't bother me at all, although I know for that level of hotel, that is part of what they are selling. However, if you were not that convenient to other restaurants, I know, a good hotel restaurant/bar can be nice.

Hard to say what percent I'd expect, but I think I would expect some discount on the current stay.

I stayed at a Sofitel in San Francisco that had some problems, but not a strike -- they had a false fire alarm twice in one day and the second time it was at 1-2 am. Now that wasn't exactly their fault (they blamed guests for pulling it), but on the other hand, I heard from staff or someone that the problem was that the fire alarm thing you pull in some ballroom/conference room was right near the door and the lightswitch or something.

Anyway, they comped me my steak dinner with wine that night -- I was only there that one night and my rate was real good, about $110 prepaid, so they gave me a meal worth maybe $30-40 (the price was that, it would be cheaper to them, of course). I was satisfied with that. I didn't even ask for it, either, they did it at checkout.