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WTF happened to room service?

WTF happened to room service?
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  • WTF happened to room service?

    Post #1 - February 7th, 2018, 8:12 am
    Post #1 - February 7th, 2018, 8:12 am Post #1 - February 7th, 2018, 8:12 am
    I'm at the Marriott in North Bethesda, MD, and ordered a sandwich so I could keep working in my room until the conference started in the afternoon.

    The woman on the phone said, "I need to let you know, it's a $5 delivery charge."
    I said that it sounded high, $2-3 is more typical, and she replied that I could avoid the charge by picking it up myself at the hotel restaurant. I said, "If I was willing to walk down to the restaurant, I'd eat it there," and then ordered my food to be delivered, grumbling. Yes, my company is paying for it, but I still want them to get good value from me. It came pretty quickly, but when I opened the door, there's a guy there with a paper shopping bag, who just hands it to me like it was Jimmy Johns (who doesn't charge $5, but my issues with them are another show). Inside is a cardboard box that unfolds into a sort-of-plate, plasticware, and a fast food-style plastic cup with my ice water.

    With hotel-inflated prices plus delivery charges, I expect a cloche-covered plate, metal flatware, and someone to lay the order out on a table. The delivery guy did not seem to expect a tip, certainly none was coming from me. Apparently, this "Fresh Bites" program has been rolling out at Marriott for a couple years, and I see notes online that Hilton and others are taking the same approach, saying that millennials don't want those things. (They're ruining everything, I tell you!)

    That being said, it was an awesome pastrami sandwich, falling-apart tender, caramelized onions, brown mustard and gruyere. But I won't order it again as room service, because there's no service to the room.
    What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
    -- Lin Yutang
  • Post #2 - February 7th, 2018, 12:54 pm
    Post #2 - February 7th, 2018, 12:54 pm Post #2 - February 7th, 2018, 12:54 pm
    New York is never a good basis to judge anything by but in my heyday of traveling for work (it's about once a month now compared to the weekly schedule of the past), I was staying at the Waldorf and ordered scrambled eggs and a side of fries late one night and that's what I received - along with a glass of water - for my $30. Service charge was extra.

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