Turn down.

I see ads for hotels offering "Turn down service." Does this really mean folding your blankets down ready for you to get in bed. If so I am feeling so deprived having to do that myself all my life.

Have you been forgetting to put the chocolate on your pillow all your life? It's never to late to start

Shows a sign of the times, such a service was automatically provided by all hotels, certainly that I stayed in, but now it is only the better hotels which do it automatically. There ought to be no case for advertising the service.

I think I'd feel like a cad if I called the front desk and told them I was ready for bed come get my bed ready. Or was there a certain time that they'd come do it? I know that when we were on a cruise, the ship's personnel did that while we were out for the evening. But what happens when you stay in, do you just stand around while they pull your sheets back?

What I don't understand about this is why it is considered a service.

It's like the hotel is deciding when I'm going to bed, and that's not something I want from them. For those of us who can't afford suites in hotels, the room with the bed is the place we entertain guests and possibly conduct business - I really don't want or need a turned-down bed until *I* decide it's time to turn it down. They don't come in and turn on my bathwater for me, and this seems that much of an intrusion. It's the kind of thing that could be a deciding factor for me to never go back.

Now that I think of it, I really dislike having my napkin spread on my lap by a waiter, too, or my coat held for me, chair pulled out, etc. If I suddenly become fabulously wealthy, looks like I won't be getting a lady's maid - there's something about too personal service that gets my back up.

Other "Turn Down" service options:

- the volume on the adult movie channel
- refusing to rent rooms to unsavory characters (just who does the tasting to determine savority?)
- change your pillows from polyester to soft goose down
- if you sleep face-up, they come in and roll you over
- if you ask for an unreasonable wake up call, they refuse and turn down your request
- an printer error long ago in pre-condo era for lease to own service which should have read turned own service
- the maids have the right to refuse undesired date proposals

Yes they would typically do it when you were unlikely to be in the room, so when you were having dinner. Some hotels would also lay out your nightwear for you too having placed it under your pillow during the day.

If you happened to be in your room then they would ask if they could turn down the bed and would be very quick about it to cause the least amount of inconvenience.

If they iron my newspaper I'm sold.

Come to think of it, they did put my pj's under my pillow. I remember I looked all over the room for them when I was ready to go to bed and wondered where they had gone.

Mountaingoat: amusing observation lol. I DO think they should tell you that they have "turn down" service - but more as a "warning" rather than as an advertisement for something supposedly "wonderful" : )

I just want to be "left alone" at both hotels and restaurants. Privacy is important to me.

In hotels:
a) they can come clean my room when I leave (to go HOME, not "for the day") and not before, unless we're there for several weeks (we're not "party animals" and we don't have children - how messy can it get when, generally, you really only sleep/shower there? And we always make the bed ourselves before we head out for breakfast/brunch).
b) if we have garbage that NEEDS to be removed (for instance, containing food leftovers), then we put the bag outside the door, or dispose of it ourselves when we go out for the day.
c) Who needs clean towels each and every day? Waste of resources, bad for the environment. Aren't you supposed to wash off all the dirt BEFORE you get out of the tub/shower? lol.
d) I don't want anyone touching ANY of my stuff (sheesh, my nightwear??). What else are they rummaging through?
e) We generally put the "do not disturb" sign on the door and lock the deadbolt. But that doesn't seem to stop the staff from repeatedly knocking on the door and using their master keys to gain entry while I'm in the tub lol.
f) don't assume anything and don't expect me to conform my daily activities to the hotel "shift schedule". If I want to stay out all night and sleep all day, that's my choice not the "right" of the hotel to disturb you whenever THEY think it is "convenient". If I want/need something, I'll let you know. Isn't that what the "front desk" is for?

Restaurants (waiters/"busboys" etc):
a) If I wanted anyone to touch my coat, I'd have left it at "coat check" before I sat down. Besides, most restaurants here have the air-conditioning turned up too high, so I probably want to keep it on. And don't decide for me how far I want my chair pushed in, or for that matter, WHICH chair I want to sit in.
b) I simply want you to take my order and bring it to the table in a reasonable amount of time.
c) I expect to have a water glass filled as soon as I sit down. I shouldn't have to ASK for it. After that, I don't want my water glass refilled unless it is EMPTY. There is no need to "top it off" every time I take two sips lol
d) I shouldn't have to ask (and wait) for an extra napkin if I've ordered something like sticky bbq ribs.
e) Don't take my fork away once I'm finished my salad and then expect me to wait for a new one once the entree arrives. Provide a "salad fork" in the first place, sheesh. I shouldn't have to specifically request a proper "steak knife" either. Unless your meat is REALLY tender, I can't cut it with a knife meant to butter bread with lol.
f) Don't "regale" me with your life story. I really don't care as dining out is NOT "all about you". I'm the one who is paying, after all. And if I wanted bad comedy, there are plenty of other venues. I don't care what your name is either, although I'm sure it's a really nice one and I'm also sure your parents thought the moniker was absolutely meaningful in some way. Did you ask what MY name was? Or what my dreams and hopes are? No. And I wouldn't want you to either.
g) You may ask me ONCE if the food is alright. Not five times. Not ten times. And please do it before I'm 3/4 way through the meal (a little late to send it back at that point lol) or when I have already pushed the entire plate off to the side 30 minutes ago.
h) Don't serve me (supposedly) grilled lambchops (that I ordered medium) along with smashed potatoes (that I ordered BAKED, with sour cream and all the "trimmings") that are literally swimming in blood and then try to tell me that lamb is traditionally not "overcooked". Yes I know that. I'm actually a "blue rare" steak fan, but if I wanted lamb/mutton truly raw, I'd just go bite the jugular of a live sheep. Don't ARGUE with me or try to make me feel like a yokum from the hicksticks - at my age, I know WAY more about cooking than you do, so just take it back and give me a new plate or give me a refund or a gift certificate (not that I'm likely to come back, but I might give it as a gift to someone I don't love lol) or at the VERY least, a free dessert (not that I ever order dessert, but if the entree wasn't edible, it's possible I might be mollified by the offer - not to mention, I'm probably still quite hungry by that point lol).
i) Don't worry, I'll tip you regardless. It is NOT the fault of the waitstaff if the food isn't edible. But I'll tip all of you even MORE if you give me everything I need at the onset and STOP interrupting private conversations every 5 minutes lol

I guess like a couple of other folks here, I'm not cut out to be a "princess" complete with handmaidens and footmen lol

p.s. RE: hotels ... I really really like the origami animals made out of towels though : ))))

(edited because I apparently forgot the alphabet lol)

Wonderful! That's it exactly!

Oh Wow! Picky, picky, picky!

I stayed in a hotel in Ottawa Ontario Canada during December 2012, that offer turned down service.
It consisted of the bed being turned down, and chocolates, and 2 apples each in a tulle bag, and 2 water bottles being placed on the bed.

They expect you to eat apples before going to bed?

I stayed in plenty of hotels in the 60s and 70s with a po under the bed. Now that was service. We rarely need them now with en suites, back then there was usually one loo per corridor and if you were at the other end that receptacle was priceless.

Oh dear, I'm obviously a spoilt brat! I love being fussed over by waiters, those little courtesies like chair pulled out, napkin spread on lap. A good restaurant does all that, asks if your food is OK just the once, fills up the roll basket without being asked to, provides enough forks etc. as a matter of course. It's the difference between good service and servility, which I agree some establishments fail to differentiate between.

In a hotel I like to know that the room is cleaned, bed turned down, bathroom clean and tidy - all done when I'm not there by the magic hotel fairies.

If I'm having an indulgent night out or indulgent weekend away then I like to be thoroughly indulged.

I fall somewhere between Jake and Christin.

I'm not a neat freak, so a nice clean up every day is nice. I do like clean linens every day (towels, sheets). I also don't want to be waited on hand and foot as if I were royalty.

I'm a teacher, so I can hardly afford nice hotels, anyway. But last year, I was sent to a conference in Vegas -- get this -- at the Venetian! Woot! I must say they had the best room service (I don't mean from the kitchen) I have ever enjoyed! I do believe I could get used to that kind of lifestyle.

I have stayed in fleabags, roach motels, Motel 6s, Holiday Inns, and Hyatts. I sort of agree with the old commercial which was something about how when the lights go off and your head hits the pillow, all that really matters is it's clean and safe.

Christinap, we all like a pamper but I was amused by Hotels advertising "Turn down service" as something so special as to point it out as a reason to stay there. I have my own personal grape pealer and newspaper ironer but feel it has to stop somewhere.

LOL, mountaingoat! A personal grape peeler? Do you call her Beulah? "Newspaper ironer" is a new one on me. LOL

Hi Bitterlold,


I saw a documentary once on the aristocracy in England and they used to get the butler to iron the creases out of the newspaper. Makes as much sense as my mum ironing underwear and sheets I suppose.

Here is the blurb from the site:
"ARC The.Hotel Ottawa features 112 designer inspired guest rooms including 2 Executive suites, 6 Junior suites, and 7 Luxury suites that feature Roman style bathtubs. All of our guestrooms feature the latest in amenities and turn down service complete with Belgian Chocolate, signature green apple and ARC water. Experience what separates ARC The.Hotel Ottawa from the rest." http://www.arcthehotel.com/ottawa-hotels/rooms-suites/pleasure.php

For a luxury hotel in Ottawa the rate is very,very reasonable.

I understood (and remember reading an article by a former butler) that the ironing was to fix the ink to the paper so that it didn't stain hands and clothing.

Newpaper ink is rather good at getting everywhere.

What on earth is a signature green apple. Do they have a variety named after the hotel or something?

Thanks paper aero. That reminds me of the Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the peasant says "He must be a king." Other peasant asks why. "Because he is not covered in crap."

I read my papers online so my grape peeler has a rough time ironing my monitor.

PS. I cannot believe I misspelt peeler (pealer). I play a lot of tournament scrabble online. Using all the crazy words like waqf and qin I find myself forgetting how to spell basic words.