Hotel elevator broken - compensation?
 

Just checked in at hotel - were told on check-in that 1 of 2 elevators was undergoing major repairs but repairs were complete on other elevator - with notice posted to that effect by elevator. Upon returning from day touring, returned to find remaining elevator was "stuck on 4th floor". We have room on 9th floor - walked up to room and it is now 3 hours later with no sign of elevator being fixed. Desk is not helpful.

No other rooms available at this hotel. Do not really want to move to another hotel - we are finishing 2 1/2 week trip with our 2 adult kids and have lots of luggage - we are all tired and fatigued with travel.

Have 1 more night after today left and then home - just ordered Chinese food and son is hiking downstairs to get it.

Suggestions?

I'd say you are due a refund on the nights when there was no elevator or being moved at their expense/convenience to another comparable hotel.

Looks like your son is getting his exercise or next time order a pizza...delivered.

I'd talk to the MOD and/or the hotel manager in the morning. I would want a refund of the June 23 room rate. Insist that they book me into a room at a (better) neighboring hotel at the same rate and have their staff haul the luggage down the stairs. I would expect that the manager will explain that they will have an elevator fixed that day. At which point I would settle for the refund of the one night.

Tomorrow night, if in the same predicament, call room service for dinner if available.

And if the manager is not cooperative and you paid with a credit card, call them ASAP and dispute the charge for the nights in question. Take pictures of the elevator sign...

There is no way a CC issuer is going to take your side on this one..the hotel PROVIDED the promised lodging. The fact that the elevator became inoperable is not taking your ability to sleep in the hotel away..just makes it somewhat more inconvenient although apparently more so for you than your kids.

Of course the CC would take your side. Why wouldn't they? It's implied in a modern hotel with nine stories that there would be elevator service provided.

Demand to use the service elevator to move your luggage out as you check in to a new hotel.

Get a refund for the rest of your stay and try to get some compensation for the day without the elevator. I don't think you're entitled to 2 working elevators - just one.

Dukey, think about it -- what if your room was on the top floor of a 40-story building? Would you still say you were promised a room to sleep in and that wasn't taken away, so tough? I;m with Andrew on this one - I believe you were promised a room to sleep in, and an elevator to get you there. What if the person were in a wheelchair or couldn't climb steps (broken leg, emphysema, whatever)? (P.S. if the room was on the 2nd floor, I would feel differently).

When you pay for a hotel room, you're also paying for the amenities that hotel offers. That's why the Red Roof Inn costs less than Le Parker Meridien. You're paying for the lovely lobby, the expensive rugs and lamps, the alarm clock in your room, the rain showerhead, the nice-smelling body lotion and, unless extra charges are clearly noted, the pool, spa and gym. Of course you're paying for use of the elevator in the cost of your room. Otherwise, like the gym, they'd have to note it separately on the rate card.

The hotel hasn't met its part of the contract with you and you should definitely be compensated.

Last summer, DD and I were checking in to a Hampton Inn for a 6 night stay -college orientation & skating camp. The hotel had suffered a lightning hit a couple hours earlier. They were putting guests on the lowest possible floor and offered to haul your luggage to your room. They did finally get one elevator working before the end of the stay but we were on the third floor so considered it exercize.

ST

Dukey, what is the basis for the idea that you'd have no recourse with the CC company? How about if the hotel room was on the 54th floor and no elevators worked? If there was no water or electricity in the buiding would you also feel that the "the hotel PROVIDED the promised lodging"? After all you CAN sleep with no water or electricity too. A two or three floor hotel would be one thing -- but NINE floors?

Neo, I guess you didn't read my post :)

Yes I did. Why? I'm just agreeing with you and asking some of the same questions you asked plus some other examples.

If the hotel isn't offering compensation, I wouldn't demand it. Nor would I dispute the charge on my CC. But I'd never be staying in that hotel again.

If the elevators are still broken, I suspect that there are some empty rooms on the second or third floor by now, considering all the people who have left because they won't or can't walk up the stairs. ((*))

Ask the manager to deliver food to your room - personally! This will teach him :))

If the hotel squawks about the refund (or the challenge to the charge on the CC bill), tell them to go sue the elevator people.

It is now a day later and this is what occurred. Elevator worked for 15 minutes and then got stuck again. DH spoke to evening person in charge and DH asked if elevator was not repaired that evening would it be possible for us to move to a lower floor in AM.

Somehow, elevatore was fixed overnight and has worked all day BUT - they changed us to 2 second floor rooms (from 1 2-bedroom mega suite with balcony and incredible views of Vancouver) and gave away our original room.

Great confusion erupted regarding he-said-she-said regarding whether or not we had confirmed/accepted this move, but in the end we were forced to move to second floor this AM, even though elevator was now operational. They would not help us move. I am sure we could have simply refused, but were sick of fighting and did not want to worry all day while touring city what they would do with all our stuff if we merely left it in the room.

The hotel manager this AM said he would "do something about the rate" but no idea what that exactly means. If I were travelling alone or even with just DH, I would have handled this differently, but since everyone in family was now at point of blaming others in the family for the misunderstanding, I opted for path of least in-fighting and moved on to tour Vancouver for the day.

At this point I believe fair would be to charge us for only one night, and will consider disputing it on credit card bill.

Just to throw out another point here:
if anyone in the family had a disability that required use of an elevator ..in the US that disabled person could file and win a ADA lawsuit for lack of ADA acess.

JAR, not exactly. The ADA requires that they have an elevator, but elevators do break. They would have had to offer a full refund or make other arrangements for the disabled person, however.

The very few times I have disputed a charge, the credit card company has made it clear it will not mediate the dispute. It places the disputed amount in "suspension" for a limited amount of time and verifies the accuracy of the charge (i.e., I signed a receipt, the card was swiped through a card reader, whatever). It's been up to me to achieve a resolution with the vendor.

In Gail's case, I wouldn't sign the charge receipt when checking out if the hotel hasn't appropriately reduced the total charge. The hotel already has the credit card number and can still charge the full amount, but at least the hotel won't have the cardholder's signature implying acceptance of the charged amount.

And, Gail, I hope you'll post a review of this hotel on Tripadvisor.com and also alert all of us here to the hotel's name.

BTW, we complained to the hotel we stayed at in NY last Thanksgiving about the lack of a decent shower --not warm and not much water -- and after several complaints, they refunded us quite a bit of money. We got the refund about 4 months after the fact.

I loved this discussion 'cus we've all "been there". Lots of great ideas......and gail, I have to say that I admire the way you handled it in the interest of keeping peace w/in the family unit!!!! VACATIONS ARE FUN and adventuresome...in spite of bad weather, wasted time, wasted $$$$$, construction, naughty elevators, hotel employees with "attitude" :) :) Sounds like this incident didn't totally ruin your day in Vancouver!

I will post review on tripadvisor - (Sunset Inn and Suites, Vancouver, BC) but it will be difficult since the hotel is beautiful, rooms huge, bedding comfortable and while the hotel is ultimately responsible for the maintenance of the elevator, stuff happens. I think my DH bears some of the responsibility for the confusion - he was trying to be helpful to his family and instead started a big mess. On the other hand, I also believe in the service industry in "the customer is always right" - and that the proper course for the hotel would have been to inconvenience the other party getting ready to occupy our room - either by offering them the 2 rooms, sending them to another hotel, etc. rather than forcing us to move.

Anyway, lovely hotel, incredible city, good vacation, with one really big blip at the end.

Gail, you are right to request the first night free, and I think we all support you on that. And in posting an honest review.

Doesn't look right to me how the whole ordeal was handled, and the vague promise of "doing something to the rate".

Print out this thread and give it to the manager.

oooh Cassandra....GREAT idea!

Another update - we checked out this AM at 5:30. I have copy of final bill, which included no compendation for the aggravation. I did not sign, but instead, wrote note to manager.

Night clerk was no help - his English was not great and he had no power to do anything. Of course, they already have my credit card number and can charge me whatever they want.

Grrrrrrr........

I'm going to come down squarely in the middle here, thereby annoying everyone no doubt:

If, when the bill comes through on your CC, you see no adjustment, call the CC company, explain the situation, and ask for 25 per cent off the bill as compensation. If you get that, or even only something merely close to that, I'd take the money and run.

Why not an entire night's comp?

The main problem here is that you accepted the room, as opposed to opting out (and I fully agree that in such instance, the normal cancellation policy should not apply.) I understand why you didn't want to move - I hate last minute moves myself - but by not doing so you acknowledged the situation to be inconvenient, but not absolutely untenable (which it would have been had the hotel room been on the fortieth floor, or one of your number handicapped.) By taking the room, you were obviously given value by the hotel that exceeds, by a considerable degree, 0 per cent of the room rate for that night.

I do think you are right to post on Tripadvisor: the hotel obviously has fallen asleep a bit on regular maintenance - TWO elevators should never be completely down. OTOH, I think they themselves were seriously inconvenienced (try operating a multistorey hotel when your cleaning and laundry staff don't have access to an elevator!) so they should learn quickly from this experience.

Hope you enjoyed Vancouver.

Sue - you bring up some good points. But when we accepted the room one elevator was working. It was only after it appeared we would be elevator-less that we even looked into changing rooms.

I did post on Tripadvisor. Waiting to see what posts on my credit card - charge has been "pending" when I checked on-line.

And we loved Vancouver - wonderful city. Added to short lists of places I might rather live than Boston.

Hi again gail.

Yes, I do note that you took the room (at least for the first night) based on a situation that subsequently deteriorated. But that you were able to cope with the situation by walking up could be presented as an argument by the hotel that the situation wasn't untenable to you even at that point.

Don't get me wrong, I think hotels need to be held accountable: I'm at present disputing a charge by a hotel for a stay I have clear evidence that I cancelled in accord with their policy. And I can certainly appreciate the aggravation you and your family experienced. But I note that you seem to be considering not paying the charge; think carefully about this one. I haven't paid the charges in respect of my own dispute because I don't want to finance over $300, especially when I received no value in respect of that $300 whatsoever, but on the other hand watching the interest mount on the unpaid balance is not pleasant. I have been assured the interest will be credited in the event of resolution, but it is still not pleasant; I'm trying to anticipate all the possible arguments the hotel might make for not accepting my evidence. I'm also keenly aware that the hotel is as much a 'customer' of the CC company as I am, so the CC company is somewhat vested in keeping both parties happy.

Point of this long diatribe is: when considering your course of action, consider the most conservative as well as the most liberal interpretation of your situation. The conservative one is the one I've tried to point out to you.

Best of luck.