This is why sometimes I hate people.

I have to totally agree with you on this. I mean, it's not that the hotels won't give her fresh sheets every night. All she has to do is ASK! That must be terribly upsetting to an uncouth exec like her though. What a great way to represent a charitable organization. Stay in a hostel, lady.

Normally my ears perk up when someone says "I deserve this" as ususally, my question to this would be, Why?

In addition, I try in most areas of my life not to want something that I don't need.

However, in this case, I side with the female traveler for several reasons.

1st - The fact that it's a $200/nite hotel room does not mean that what her employer paid for it.
I just spent the last 2 nights in Houston. The internet rate for a room at the hotel I stayed in was $189. The rate posted was $249. My company paid a corporate rate of $89.00

Business travel is very hard on a person. If she says 100 nights a year in a hotel, that 100 nights she's not at home, living out of a suitcase, eating out every meal (which honestly, looses it's charm very quickly).
She's away from her family and her office and has to schedule much of her personal life around this.
If she's working for a charity organization - she's probably out there working fund raisers, schmoozing, and having to constantly be "on".
You wake up early, work all day, attend working dinners, get back to a room that is not your home around 9 or 10 o'clock, and then sit up for a few more hours working on your laptop.

How do I know this? This is the life my boss leads. I saw her in person 1 day last week, for about 3 hours.
She drove to San Antonio from Austin and stayed there Tues and Wed. Flew from San Antonio to Dallas for Thursday and Friday. Went home for the weekend. Spent Monday in San Antonio again, while I flew to Houston in the AM. She flew from San Antonio to Houston, a 6am flight on Wednesday, arriving at 7am. the meeting started at 8am.
Today, she's catching a 12 noon fight from Houston to San Antonio, and will be flying back to Houston on a 7pm flight tonight, arriving at 8pm, so she can grab a quick bite and collapse.
Then, she'll stay in Houston Thursday and Friday, finally going home in Austin for the weekend.

Does my boss deserve clean sheets on her bed every night?

YOU BET YOU ASS SHE DOES!!!!!!

I don't ask for clean sheets but I don't reuse my towels at a hotel.

Re: This is why sometimes I hate people.


Oh hey - just was rereading this, I'm about the most cynical person you'll ever meet but really, you've got to look at the big picture.

IF this woman is involved in, let's say, fundraising for the charity she works for - She's out there getting donations of 10 of thousands or 100 of thousands of dollars.
It takes a special talent to get others to understand whatever her charity supports is all about, and to get individuals or companies to donate that kind of money. I'm sure she earns every penny she's paid.

A person like that would choose to use her talents somewhere else if after a hard day, she had to stay at a Days Inn.

Even if, let's say, she did stay at a cut rate hotel, saving $100 a night.
Over the course of a year, that's only a $10,000 savings. If she works 50 weeks a year that's 250 work days (I'm pretty sure she puts in a lot more than that), and if she is spending 100 nights in a hotel, that is only $40 a day extra, to keep a key person in a safe, comfortable environment.

Finally, that's what a good hotel is there to provide, excellant service.
It is the housekeeper job to change sheets, clean the baths, etc. That is what he/she is getting paid for. If no one ever wanted sheets changed during their stay, the hotel would have to lay off some people, putting them out of work.

A set of clean sheets is not worth hating someone over.

Consider something in your life that's a little luxury, that makes you feel good, thus giving you a better attitude.
If your job can provide you with something that says -'you're worth it'
they are getting their moneys worth by giving you an environment that helps you work at your peak

Re: This is why sometimes I hate people.


You've made some great points I agree with and like you, I also perk up when someone says, "I deserve this." Especially in the context of what I think of as luxury and not necessity.

Without really knowing what she does and who she does it for it's hard to really say whether she deserves clean sheets every night or a slap across the face.

For me, the way she said it and her added "ridiculous" comment just struck me as being self-important and arrogant. I realize this is human nature but to come from someone who supposedly works for the betterment of others who may not even have a bed to put sheets on seems to be out of touch of what she's working for. Sure, $10,000 may not be a lot of money when looking at the big picture, but it seems that 10k might be put to better use and could be spent to provide needy kids lots of shoes, food, winter jackets, immunizations, etc. rather than on one woman who feels she "deserves" fresh linen on her bed every night.

I don't hate her but her attitude smacks of hypocrisy in some way and I really can't stand a hypocrite.

I dont have a problem with sheets but I need to have clean Towels,
flannels, bath mats etc.

I remember one time when my husband and I were staying in a very nice hotel. It was our honeymoon. One of the services that the hotel offered was turn down service. The first day/night everything went well - nice room and view, etc.

The following night we did not get our turn down service. Now granted it is a small thing, but they are supposed to be a top hotel and you pay a lot of money so you expect things to be perfect. My husband called and the person on phone said - oh we have a big convention in so we don't have enough time to give this individual attention to everyone. So my husband spoke with a manager. As a result, they made sure that gave us the proper attention and (not that we were trying to get something besides the service we should get) they sent us extra champagne.

What I am trying to say is that it should have nothing to do with why a person is at a particular hotel or who is paying for it, when you stay at a certain level of hotel, you expect that amount of service. I can understand why they are doing such a thing, however, you are paying premium prices, you shouldn't have to ask for premium service.

Also, like some one said if this person is bringing in huge amounts of money to the charity, then paying for a premium hotel is nothing in the scheme of things. Many charities will put up celebrities in the nicest hotels, because they will bring in lots of money. Depending on this particular person's situation, it may warrant it.

i guess my thing is, they were clean sheets when you checked in, and all you did was sleep in them last night? what's the big deal? if you were there for two months and never had them changed, ewwww... but a night, two nights, who cares? plus they change them if you check the little box on the card anyway-is it that big of an inconvenience?

i traveled alot with my previous job, and there was never a time i couldn't find a sheraton (awesome beds by the way and pretty nice hotels) at the most $119 a night. $200-plus seems like an awful lot to me...

Dragon - It really has nothing to do with changing sheets as much as service. When you go to a top hotel you expect to be pampered and get all the perks with it. Same as turn down service - I don't get it at home, but if I pay for a top hotel I expect turn down service. You are paying top dollar for service. I love the feeling of crawling into bed on nice crisp sheets. It is a luxury you expect when staying at an expensive hotel.

It is not the inconvenience; it is the expectation that top hotels provide a certain level of service - without asking for it. If you wanted to save some money and not pay the additional amount of money for this service then you stay at a Holiday Inn.

$200 plus also depends on the location. In the city of Boston, you are lucky to get a basic hotel at $200. The Marriott I know is in the $400 a night range.

linkat, i see your point. and i never went to boston-i was in cleveland, atlanta, and vegas (hee hee they sent me to vegas on business). i guess too i have never been on the road 100 nights a year. clean sheets just never made a difference to me (unless they weren't clean when i checked in...yuck). maybe too its the way the article makes her sound. but i definitely see your point.

I know!
Aren't their beds just the greatest?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh

There is always a right way and a wrong way to handle a problem. This woman could have very well handled it in the wrong way. You can complain about the exact same thing, but you get better results and not sound like a nitpicky a$$.

Personally, I would not have been upset about the sheets especially since I could simply fill out a form to request them being changed each night. However, I can understand thinking this hotel is not as nice as I thought if I did receive this sort of message. And if I really thought this was not right I would simply leave it on a comment card or speak with a manger, but always in a polite way.