Tl;dr – Will I need to login and create an account before accessing the menu as well?
Friends, if you’ve been reading for a while, you know I don’t often like to rant and complain, but I need to get this one off my chest. I recently returned from a fantastic trip to Turkey and Germany, where one of the properties I stayed at was the interesting Schloss Lieser Autograph Collection (full review of this property and trip as soon as I finish documenting my Costa Rica/Panama travels and Japan, Australia, New Zealand…sigh).
The night we arrived, we were too tired to forage for food and opted to order room service. We were directed to browse the menu on the television. Easy enough, right? Nope.
Powering on the ‘tele’, I located the in-room dining section, only to have the screen randomly go blank on me each time I tried to scroll down the menu. This occurred a few times on BOTH TVs in the suite. Accordingly, I called down to explain the situation and requested a physical/paper menu. The attendant replied ‘Certainly, right away.’ A few moments later, a hotel staff member knocked at the door and asked to take a look at the television to see if he could troubleshoot the issue. Mind you…he came all the way up to the room, sans menu, asking to fix the TV issue, so I could then presumably scroll through that menu to then figure out what I want to eat.
I politely declined and asked again if we could just get a physical menu. He obliged and returned a few moments later with a sheet of paper, detailing the in-room dining offerings.
Look, I’m all for modern hotel rooms and utilizing technology. Although I’m far from gadgety, I’m very tech-forward, and I’ve worked in tech myself. So, excuse me if I’m dating myself when I say – can I please just get a physical in-room dining menu? Is that too much to ask?
The bounty:
I appreciate the convenience of a TV menu – you can push changes/updates to the menu much more easily than having to replace all the physical copies in every single hotel room. For larger properties, this is significantly more convenient. I’m sure it’s more sanitary, too. That’s all well and great, but if it’s up to me, I’d like the physical menu.
You can even make it fun. I particularly enjoy it when you’re at a luxury property and the in-room dining menu is somewhat hidden and or incorporated into the decor. ‘Is that an old school rotary phone over there on that mantle? Nope, it’s a decoy with a bottom compartment and, wow, look at that – inside is the room service menu. I was just thinking about some food!’
Separately, there’s something so… I don’t know…’ pukka’ about flipping the pages of a leather-bound menu while sitting in a robe that you just changed into five after dropping your bags. I’d venture that there’s a prominent intersection on the Venn diagram between folks who refuse to ever get a Kindle and prefer a cozy cup of ‘joe’ as they flip through a good old paperback, and those who are purists when it comes to physical in-room dining menus.
I can’t be alone here. Don’t leave me hanging.
Anyone?
