This week’s Compensation Clinic is making a stop in Alaska of all places where a reader and friend of mine had to spend several weeks for a work project and the Sheraton Anchorage had issues with hot water.
Remember that you can always email us, send a message via Facebook or use Twitter and include photos too. We’ll try to cover a Compensation Clinic case here regularly.
Even though the reader was initially targeting Hyatt Globalist again (and will almost certainly get there given his large number of stays per year), but the Marriott Bonvoy double stay promotion caused him to divert some of the reservation to different Marriott properties in Anchorage.
Last month during a cold February morning he suddenly found himself without hot water which really isn’t idea in Alaska, at least not in the winter.
The reader wrote (on the morning of the incident) :
I’m currently at the Sheraton Anchorage. Got a room with what must be the world’s smallest toilet, but what was even worse is the lack of hot water. I notified the front desk several times and nothing changed.
How much is that worth in terms of compensation? It was really annoying having to go to work without taking a hot shower.
When I came back in the late afternoon, there was a little note from the maintenance team and a TWIX bar. It was a nice touch but I won’t let them get away with that.
Usually when something like this happens, I ask for 50-100% of the room rate or the equivalent in points.
I suggested that he ask the hotel for points since it was a business-related stay.
Here is a similar case of no hot water I personally experienced in Hong Kong back in 2023:
Compensation Clinic: No Hot Water Meltdown On Christmas Eve At The Sheraton HK
The hotel discounted that night by 50%, and since then, I have had nothing but good experiences at the Sheraton Hong Kong. However, this is a good example of why you should always press for compensation when this happens for an extended period of time.
Our reader replied later to me:
I spoke with a manager after getting the note and we eventually agreed on 10,000 points compensation. It’s less than half a night here but I guess better than nothing. …
As long as the guest is happy with this I guess it’s fine. I think it would have warranted a higher compensation, especially as he had to go to work right after.
What I found rather amusing was a picture of the extremely tiny toilet he included in the email:
It’s like being in some kind of miniature museum. Literally a bathroom for dwarfs. Why is is the toilet so narrow and close to the ground?
I remember when this water incident happened to me in HK, I boiled some water with the tea kettle to at least wash up with hot water for a bit. That’s always an option but definitely a bit tedious and you better be careful to mix the hot water well.
Conclusion
A friend of mine contacted me while staying at the Sheraton Anchorage, saying there is suddenly no hot water available in his room. He stayed at this hotel for a week so the hotel had ample time to fix it and did so later in the afternoon.
They also sent a little maintenance note to the room together with a Twix chocolate bar which is kinda funny. Still, as I suggested he approached the duty manager with a compensation request and received 10,000 points for the bad experience.
