What a rip-off! LOL!

[jpcher]

I stayed in a hotel in Charleston that had a basket with all sorts of chocolates and treats.  Because my (at the time) 2 y/o DD was with me, I put the basket on the top shelf of the closet.  The hotel tried to charge me for the entire basket's contents & the basket itself.  I think it was close to $250.  It took some convincing that I had only moved the basket.

YIKES! Was the basket wrapped/price-tagged in any way? I'm asking because what if you took only one or two pieces out of the basket? Would you still have been charged $250?

[One Fish, Two Fish]

I stayed in a hotel in Charleston that had a basket with all sorts of chocolates and treats.  Because my (at the time) 2 y/o DD was with me, I put the basket on the top shelf of the closet.  The hotel tried to charge me for the entire basket's contents & the basket itself.  I think it was close to $250.  It took some convincing that I had only moved the basket.

YIKES! Was the basket wrapped/price-tagged in any way? I'm asking because what if you took only one or two pieces out of the basket? Would you still have been charged $250?

The basket was open, and there was a price list for the things inside of it.  The $250 was the price for all of the contents + the basket itself.

[Lady Snowdon]

At one hotel DH and I stayed at, we bought an upgrade of some sort (I think for free meals in the dining room), and it came with a complimentary bottle of wine.  We got up to our room, and there are FOUR bottles of wine in the room, only one of which was our complimentary bottle.  We had to go inspect each one to find out which one was already ours, and which ones we'd have to pay for if we opened.  The complimentary one ended up being on a small end table by the window, while the other three were concentrated by the tub and the bed.  I thought that was uber sneaky. 

[Cami]

I vote that it's a rip off because they deliberately put the price in small print hoping you won't notice it.

If it were on the up and up, the price would be as clearly marked as everything else on the tag.

[kckgirl]

I vote that it's a rip off because they deliberately put the price in small print hoping you won't notice it.

If it were on the up and up, the price would be as clearly marked as everything else on the tag.

I agree with this. I don't care if it's standard practice at hotels. People who don't travel a lot don't know that and it should be clearly marked, not hidden in the fine print.

[Audrey Quest]

I think if there is bottled water and there is a tag on it, its probably not free and you should act accordingly.
 
If the bottle is not marked at all, that's one thing.  But, you know they are not going to go to the trouble of ordering tags for bottles of water that they are giving away for free.  You'd be more likely to find a cheap sticker on them.
 
I've been to hotels where if you remove something from the mini-fridge for more than 20-30 seconds, it logs it as a purchase.
 
DH and I were going to go down to the bar for a nightcap but the prices for drinks in the bar were similar to what it would cost for me to just mix one up from the mini-fridge and really, a bit cheaper because we wouldn't have to tip.  That is the only time I have ever taken something out of the mini-fridge.

[kareng57]

Really, if you're thirsty, how hard is it to get some ice and have a drink of tap water?

Oh, not difficult at all! Had I known, that's exactly what we would have done!

It's not so much the price of the bottle that I thought was a rip-off, more that the cost wasn't clearly printed (I do mean it was small -- 6 pt. type -- buried under much larger print describing the environmental-friendliness of the bottle) and that the bottles were so invitingly placed.

Add to the fact that we were drinking the same type of water at the spa with no additional charge.

$4.00 isn't going to break me nor spoil my trip. It's just that, not being a travel-savvy hotel patron, it really struck me as sneaky.


Traveler beware! 

So, now you know.  It's not so much a rip-off as much as a standard practice.

The hotel is counting on that the guests know that it will be a much higher price than if they'd walked a block to a corner store, but they're willing to pay for the convenience.  It's the same for the packaged cookies/chocolate bars.

[bansidhe]

It's terribly underhanded. If you're going to charge for something, you need to make it clear that there's a price attached to it, not practically hide it, hoping someone will consume the item and thus be stuck paying for it. I last stayed at a hotel in 1999 and would never think to check the fine print on a bottle of water.

Gah! I am annoyed on OP's behalf. 

[pharmagal]

From the Miriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

Definition of RIP OFF

1 a : rob; also : cheat, defraud
  b : steal
2 : to copy or imitate blatantly or unscrupulously
3 : to perform, achieve, or score quickly or easily <ripped off 10 straight points>

From the Macmillian Online Dictionary

1. to cheat someone, especially by charging them too much money for something
     "Tourists are worried they'll get ripped off."
     "This government is ripping off the country."

2  to steal something
     "Cars get ripped off all the time around here."


I'm not aware of the pricing of the bottles of water in the States so please forgive me, however here in Australia, a 750ml bottle of Pump branded water (approx 25 ounces?) retails anywhere from approx $2.70 at the local supermarket to $4.50 at the garage around the corner.  One deli charges over $5.00.

Now if any of the above were trying to charge me $10 for a bottle that size, then yes, I'd feel ripped off.  But businesses are in that very industry to make money.  Profit margins are getting tighter and tighter across the markets and consumers expect bigger and deeper discounts more and more often.  So of course they have to have something they are going to actually make money on, simply to compensate for the items they sell at cost or just over.  And it doesn't matter whether they run a hotel or a corner shop.

The last hotel I stayed at in Sydney had a 1.5L bottle of Franklins water for $8.  I went downstairs to the 7-11 to buy my snacks and drinks.  Not because I perceive it as a rip off, but because everyone is in the business of making money, and it's up to me to decide who I allow to make money from me.

During the working day when I'm out, if I'm not near a supermarket, I will quite happily pay $4.50 for water if I need it.

The size of the text on the label isn't underhanded at all.  I've always worked on the rule of thumb that nothing in life is free so where's the price tag?  Your drinks in the spa were guaranteed to have already been built into the price of the treatment package.  As would have been snacks and your "free" gift.

[Thipu1]

Unless something has a tag that plainly says 'With our compliments' we don't touch it when staying away from home. 

We understand that hotels, resorts and ships work on a rather tight profit margin and need to maximize on-site revenue.  That doesn't mean that we have to buy in beyond a reasonable level.

[JenJay]

The last couple of places DH and I stayed had a little snack room down in the lobby. You used your key card to get in and paid cash on your honor. I'm not surprised that the water wasn't free, but I'm also not surprised that many people don't immediately realize that. There are many little things most hotels give you complimentary - soaps (face, body and hand in some places), shampoo, lotion, sometimes toothpaste, shower cap, dish soap, sponge and dishwasher tabs where applicable, coffee, sugars and creamer, sometimes tea, etc. I've seen most of these items in all the hotels I've stayed in the past few years and we're talking budget-friendly chains. I don't think it's unreasonable to accidentally assume a bottle of water left sitting out alone would be part of that, especially when you've given it a once-over and not found a price on it.

I like a PP's suggestion to call ahead and have them remove anything that isn't complimentary.

[Virg]

kareng57 wrote:

"So, now you know.  It's not so much a rip-off as much as a standard practice."

These two things aren't mutually exclusive.  Finding tip jars in every single retail establishment in a vacation town doesn't make the practice any less grabby, and the fact that many hotels put stuff in the rooms with the price printed smaller than the rest of the label doesn't make it any less underhanded.  And my take on the price is that I didn't pay $4.00 for a bottle of water inside the Magic Kingdom at Disney, so I don't have any problem labeling that price a rip-off.

Virg

[Momiitz]

I think if there is bottled water and there is a tag on it, its probably not free and you should act accordingly.
 
If the bottle is not marked at all, that's one thing.  But, you know they are not going to go to the trouble of ordering tags for bottles of water that they are giving away for free.  You'd be more likely to find a cheap sticker on them.

I don't stay at many hotels. I did stay at one moderately priced hotel and they had complimentary bottles of water that had a tag.  The tag was tied to the bottle with very pretty ribbon. They also gave each guest a free apple.

I do try to read everything on items but honestly I could very well have missed a price at very tiny print. With my lack of experience with hotels I would have guessed it was a nice gift from the hotel.

I vote sneaky rip off because of the tiny hidden price tag.

[thedudeabides]

The bottle had a tag on it.  Your daughter should have read it.  I don't see that as sneaky of the hotel at all.

I have stayed at hotels where the water was complimentary, but that is always indicated in writing.

[nowhere]

The bottle had a tag on it.  Your daughter should have read it.  I don't see that as sneaky of the hotel at all.

I have stayed at hotels where the water was complimentary, but that is always indicated in writing.

I agree. The daughter didn't even read the tag before drinking the water, so it didn't matter how small the text was or how well it was hidden.