Luxury hotel apologises for refusing to plug in terminally ill child’s breathing tube

19 comments

1. I really don’t see how they can possibly “make amends” for their actions here, and throwing a “young inexperienced” staff member under the bus to add on as well, what an organisation of truly outstanding integrity.

   I think the UK is seriously struggling with a staggering lack of both common sense, and empathy.

   How can you look at a couple with a baby, be told that the baby is actually terminally ill and they just need to plug in some medical equipment to give them medicine, and STILL refuse to help?

2. Manager must be a Labour member. That’ll explain it.

3. What I suspect happened: all staff were told that customers are not permitted to plug devices into the restaurant sockets _for any reason_. Devices meaning chargers for laptops, phones, tablets, etc etc etc. Things that most people have and that you might wish to charge while you’re eating if the facility to do so is available. A young staff member was neither experienced enough or confident enough to go against this rule in this instance.

4. It may have been an “inexperienced member of staff” but that doesn’t explain why no manager would take a phone call. So often now, managers don’t step up and just shirk the uncomfortable aspects of the job. Probably would have all been resolved without it getting to social media. Only when it gets to TripAdvisor do they go into damage limitation mode.

5. So their training failed and they blamed the trained instead of the senior trainer ?

6. Luxury is pushing it slightly, the duck bay is a dump.

7. Calling it a breathing tube is incorrect. It’s a nebuliser.

   Nebulisers deliver medication in a breathable form.

   This child required scheduled medication via nebuliser, and was denied a plug socket to do so.

   There is no need for the headline to be wrong.

   That said. Fucking hell. Awful for the family.

8. When my son was an infant we were in a hotel (Premier Inn) and I asked someone on staff if they could microwave a bottle for us (to sterilise it). Bottle was already prepped, they just needed to put it in a microwave for 90 seconds. They wouldn’t do it either, something about health and safety. I asked the teenager who I was talking to if I could speak to a manager, and he brought me to another teenager who said the same thing.

   I get it, they’re doing their job and following their processes. But sometimes these things do seem to just work against common pragmatism. I ended up having to wash the bottle in the hotel sink with a travel kettle.

9. I worked 13 years in hospitality and it really says a lot about the culture at that hotel if the answer is “we don’t do it here” . And no manager to answer the call?
   Like WTAF?
   The hotels i worked in weren’t the best but even there if reception or restaurant staff didn’t know they would get duty manager and duty manager would approve it.

   Good thing the hotel is being publicly blasted about it – it’s management failure.

10. In most places if you asked to plug in your phone charger they would accommodate it, sounds very likely it was a case of an individual misunderstanding, or unwilling, rather than policy.

11. They had some pretty shocking reviews *before* this happened

12. This just makes me think the company is likely a terrible employer. A good employer wouldn’t have staff afraid to plug in a breathing tube. A good employer’s staff wouldn’t even need to question whether it was something they should do. I have worked for good and bad employers- all the former, everyone would just do it, all the latter, a huge number of people would be terrified of consequences and probably just say no.

13. This sounds awful but at the end of the day they were staying at a nice hotel with a terminally sick 3 month old with extreme medical needs, the fuck were they expecting, the staff are not trained for any of this and why were they asking the restaurant, they needed to nebulize at a certain time couldn’t they use the plugs in their room?

    It’s an awful situation but this story gives me a bad smell.

14. This came up on my Facebook when it happened because I used to live in that area and have friends up there, still. I’m glad the mob went for them and they were made to apologise.

15. Okay the Junior staffmember misundertood. Fine.

    Who the fuck was on the phone then? A second Junior staffmember?

16. Do we even believe it was a ‘young, inexperienced member of staff’ or are they just making that up as an excuse due to the huge backlash they’ve got

17. I wouldn’t have even asked, just plugged it in. It’s not like it’s going to cost them a fortune in leccy!
    We need much more common sense generally.
    Yes if it was a 3kW heater they might have a good reason to object, buy not for small loads like phone chargers and medical equipment.

18. Absolutely ridiculous. Will say though that in the staff members defence they most likely were told by management not to let anyone use the plugs. Totally bonkers that they wouldn’t have used their common sense to just plug it in though.

    When I worked at selfridges a wheelchair users phone had died and she needed to contact her mother. I plugged her phone into our staff charger and the manager came to plug it out. We had a argument about it because they had no compassion, just kept telling me it was the rules. I got put on warning for it. Ended up walking with her to the instore apple concession so it could be charged. At least their staff were nice.

19. “Luxury hotel”?! The Duck Bay is not my idea of luxury, nor anyone who knows the Duck Bay.

    Who on earth decided that the Duck Bay was a luxury hotel? I think they haven’t visited there, eaten there nor stayed there. Perhaps they have only ever lived under a rock before.

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