Grand Hyatt DC And My Unintended $80 Wine Bill

Two weeks ago I was in DC for BACON, a great experience where I had the chance to meet blogging celebrities. Trying to hang with the cool kids, I booked a room at the Grand Hyatt DC after jumping from one Hyatt House to another in order to requalify for Diamond. (those hotels reviews will not be coming as someone named Alex lost his Samsung S7 for the second time in 2 months. Sidebar: 34 years of living and debauchery and I never lost a phone before. Criticism welcome.) Anyhow the time was 7PM and our BACON event was was just starting. Before heading over there I decided to go to the Club Lounge for a drink or two.

I arrived to see Lucky, Gary, Angelina, and Mr. Pizza himself in motion sitting in the backroom carrying on and having a good time. I went to pour myself a glass of wine only to find that the liquor cabinet was locked. I asked the waitress for a glass of white and she has me fill out an inventory card. After that, I joined the gang who had a full bottle opened. With my cup empty, I went back to the waitress and said that the table would like another bottle. Once again, I filled out the inventory card.

Not too long thereafter, we left the lounge to catch up with the rest of the BoardingArea crew. From there, the night proceeds as nights do.

Out of DC, I received a folio for my stay that had an $80 charge for wine, $16 for the first glass and $64 for the bottle. Confused, I Googled, “Grand Hyatt DC Club Lounge” and read on TPG’s page that drinks are not complimentary but are on the ‘honor system.’ Obviously I have no honor because I thought that the drinks were free as the Hyatt Regency Chicago O’ Hare has the same inventory card but does not charge for drinks. Indeed, most lounges from the Grand Hyatt Shanghai to the Hyatt Regency Mexico City do not charge for drinks.

Feeling foolish, I called the Grand Hyatt DC and spoke to accounting. I began the conversation by saying that I had a funny anecdote about my bill. Laughing the entire time, the person in accounting said that she would waive the balance because my story was very entertaining. I concluded by telling her, “No wonder the table was all smiles when I came back with a bottle! They must have thought I was so generous.”

Disclaimer: While I allow all comments on my blog and am open about the stupid things that I do, I’m hoping, just this once, that all readers, young or old, diamond or platinum status, will see the humor. Otherwise, be my guest and tell me how the hotel doesn’t owe me anything, that I’m lucky to have gotten the credit, and I’m a cheap you know what.