Can a hotel charge for soiled linen and mattress ?

Grumpy_chap

deannagone said:

Just for information I have plastic type protectors on all my beds, they actually have a fabric flannel like top surface, no rustling whatsoever.  They do protect mattresses very well as they are waterproof.  Nothing will get through them.  All the mattresses look like new, which is why I use them.

I don't understand why anyone would object at this type of product being in place, nor why a hotel would not simply have these.  I always thought this was fairly standard, but I don't go around lifting the sheets in hotels to check.

comeandgo

Grumpy_chap said:

deannagone said:

Just for information I have plastic type protectors on all my beds, they actually have a fabric flannel like top surface, no rustling whatsoever.  They do protect mattresses very well as they are waterproof.  Nothing will get through them.  All the mattresses look like new, which is why I use them.

I don't understand why anyone would object at this type of product being in place, nor why a hotel would not simply have these.  I always thought this was fairly standard, but I don't go around lifting the sheets in hotels to check.

I do go around lifting the sheets and if plastic coated protectors used I strip the bed and take them off and if I’m staying a few nights put it in the wardrobe .  I hate these things and discovered I sweat when they are on a mattress.

pinkshoes

As the OP has not returned then I guess we will never get to the bottom of this matter. 🙄

IvanOpinion

That is a really cr@ppy comment to make

ItsComingRome

Grumpy_chap said:

deannagone said:

Just for information I have plastic type protectors on all my beds, they actually have a fabric flannel like top surface, no rustling whatsoever.  They do protect mattresses very well as they are waterproof.  Nothing will get through them.  All the mattresses look like new, which is why I use them.

I don't understand why anyone would object at this type of product being in place, nor why a hotel would not simply have these.  I always thought this was fairly standard, but I don't go around lifting the sheets in hotels to check.

It presumably depends on how much it affects your sleep.  If it doesn't it's unlikely most people would bother to check but these things certainly can be noticeable on certain mattresses, particularly softer ones (or particularly thick ones on almost any mattress.)

Gavin83

This reminds me of something that happened to me once. I woke up in my hotel bed covered in brown sticky stuff. I was horrified and thought the worst when I then found a wrapper and realised I’d fallen asleep on a chocolate bar, which had then melted. It was my last day and I just took all the sheets off and piled them next to the bed so you couldn’t see the mess.

Never got asked to buy a new mattress though!

Ginsipper007

Hmmmm, would it not depend on whether the 'accident' was foreseeable?  I had this issue a long time ago with one of my daughters, and she was initially too embarrassed to admit to the 'soiling.'  Hazard of being a young woman.  To that extent, might also be a hazard of having women stay full stop.  Should the hotel have taken reasonable measures?  Possibly.

JetpackVelociraptor

Unless you can be certain that the person didn't soil the bed so badly that the hotel had to buy a new mattress and deep clean the room, I think you should just pay up.

Assuming that £300 covers all of the costs associated with the soiling, you're looking at:

-replacement of the mattress, reasonable to charge if it wasn't already at end of life and could cost quite a bit for a good quality one.

-replacement of the bedding, also reasonable to charge

-additional staff costs for a deep clean of the room, again reasonable to charge for the extra time spent cleaning that would be above and beyond what they normally have to do for a room changeover

-loss of revenue for a night or two, due to the extra time required to remove/replace the mattress, deep clean the room and depending on the extent of the problem, possibly a full day or two required to air it out and remove the smell... While they're doing that, they can't let guests stay in that room, and may have had to change somebody's booking to move them to a different room. That means possibly compensating someone for a change in their booking, or refusing a customer if they're fully booked at the time.

They may have sufficient proof to take you to small claims court over it, and add the additional costs of doing so to the bill in the process. If you decide not to pay you're basically gambling that they're making it up - it's possible, but you risk losing more money if you're wrong. Personally I would ask the person who made the mess to cover the cost.

elsien

Why are people saying the bedding needs to be replaced - isn't that what washing machines are for? You don't buy your children new clothes and sheets every time their nappy leaks, do you? 

Jenni_D

elsien said:

Why are people saying the bedding needs to be replaced - isn't that what washing machines are for?

Quite. Back in the day they apparently used to use towel nappies on children, and wash them once soiled.

Also, as someone else mentioned previously, unless the hotel was at 100% capacity and the room being out of use actually caused a loss, then they probably can't charge for this. (Unless it was a special room - e.g. family room - and they had to turn away a booking specifically on that basis).