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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Whaaaaa? Wednesday


Another whaaaa? I didn't know that.

When I checked out of the Westin Hotel, (this past BlogHer experience) I had additional charges on my bill.

You know the little refrigerator in the rooms? Stocked with drinks, cute little bottles of booze? Chips, nuts, candy bars, etc.? Well my bill reflected I had had a food fest all weekend! There were like $60 in charges. Hu?????

I questioned at the desk and said in fact, I never took one thing from there. Sure I moved a few things around to put my water bottles in there. I picked up the booze bottles, just because they were cute. I read the labels on the nuts and trail mix before deciding against them.

I touched them.


That's why the fee. (They adjusted it off my bill.) Everything is on a sensor. Who would have thought? Each item I picked up was tallied as a purchase. I assumed housekeeping monitored the refrigerator daily, restocked when necessary, and reported items taken. Not so.

Did you know that?

22 comments:

Sunshine said...

The real question is, did you still get charged just for touching them? Because then that totally sucks.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I had no idea. That seems almost crazy. Because you touch them you get charged???? I hope that error was quickly fixed.

Anonymous said...

Dear Thrifty Scot aka Spouse: I'm sorry I laughed at you when you frantically screamed at me "Don't touch the mini-bar! If you open the door to peek, they'll charge us!". You were right, I was wrong. And today I am absolutely amazed.

Anonymous said...

No way. Really???? That's just weird and creepy.

Desiree Eaglin said...

That's crazy! I didn't know that!

Anonymous said...

Good information to know. I've always been skeered of those little refrigerator thingies. Now I know why.

Lori Stewart Weidert said...

That is whack. I've been to some hotels that have twisty ties on them, and you get charged for breaking the seal.

Did you get your money back?

jennyonthespot said...

WELL, I must say I never knew that. Good girl for checking! That's craziness... I wonder how many people have missed those extra charges on their bills? There should be a "Warning" posted 'r sumthin'!

Patience said...

Wow! I, like you, thought housekeeping just kept a tally. And I always wondered what would happen if one of them got hungry!

Glad they took it off your bill!

Dr Zibbs said...

What I do know is when I see room service cleaning someone else's room, I walk in and pretend it's my room and grab a few items. Sounds wrong but things always even out in the end.

Jen said...

This is just too Big Brother for me to handle. They're on a sensor?!?!?!?

How creepy is that.

delmer said...

That's a new on on me.

You gotta love technology.

John D. said...

Hey, you should charge them for touching their bottles!

RE: "...I had additional charges on my bill.

Yeah, that happens to me. But then I remember I ordered porn.

San said...

Wonder what you'll be charged for the jello & juice you didn't eat or drink at Hotel ****mont :)

Terri said...

i had heard of that; really only at the higher class hotels tho, its a bit cra-zazy for me. And they charge ridonkulous prices too, like $6 for a bottle of water. unreal.

CaShThoMa said...

Yep, same thing happened to me during my stay at the Westin for Blogher. There was something like 60 dollars charged and the guy at the desk said, "We'll take it off but look carefully, there is a note on the refrig that say not to touch things, that they get billed to the room by movement sensor. Indeed, there was a (very) small piece of paper on the outside of the refrig that said as much. DUMB.

Sherry said...

I did not know that...I assumed as you did that if you took something away they kept a tally...not just for touching!!! Geesh!! Good to know for future!

Fightin' Mad Mary said...

That happened to me 3 out of the 4 times I stayed at the Omni in Chicago last year. My company paid the bill, but I still called the hotel out on the false charges. It makes me wonder if they had those same sensors - I had to move the water bottles to get to the wine opener every time. I bought my wine and my water around the corner at Trader Joe's to save money 'cause I'm cheap like that.

Kevin McKeever said...

I hate the minibar ... yet it taunts me so. Cheers!

Joan said...

I heard the morning radio guys talking about the same thing. I bet it ends up being more trouble for the hotel than it's worth.

GoteeMan said...

That is just nuckin futs!

Sensors on the mini-fridge items...

Next thing you know, they will be putting sensors on the bed to calculate the occupancy, so they can up the room charge, and sensors in the toilets - a dime a log????

When will this madness stop?! Madness, I say, Madness!!!

J/

Greg C said...

They tried that with me once. I moved a bottle of water and they charged me 5 dollars. I complained and they adjusted the bill. That movie that was watched was done by someone else to, lol. I love Wednesday and thing.