[Re: Loose Cannon: Another Day, Another Dollar Surcharge, Direct Newsline, Dec. 1, 2003]:
I will also be sending you an invoice for $5.41 (based on my $65/hr rate) for the 5 minutes it took to read this. And I will be happy to take your AmEx number as well.
One of your best yet….
Len Zappolo
Media Manager
Aegon Direct Marketing Services, Inc.
Frazer, PA
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Nice turn of writing about surcharges.
One item I will take exception with is your complaint about a charge for daily linen changes in your hotel room. I ask; do you change the sheets at home every day? If not, what are you doing in your hotel room that requires a daily linen change?
The hospitality industry spends millions, if not billions of dollars changing sheets every day in hotel rooms. It uses billions of gallons of potable water to wash those sheets and millions of kilowatts of energy to wash and dry those sheets. There is a cost to the hotel for doing this, just as there is a cost for providing snacks in your minibar and pornography on your TV. You don’t expect those items to be free, do you? (Hmm, maybe there’s an idea here for a new business luxury hotel: “Free Smokehouse Almonds and Porn!”)
When we travel, we specifically request that our linens not be changed daily. We do it out of a desire to conserve the natural resources of the planet. It’s the same desire that motivates us to turn off lights in rooms we aren’t in, turn down the heat when we leave home for the day, and not leave the refrigerator door wide open all day.
Give it a try. I bet the sheets will be just as comfortable on the second and third day, and you might sleep a bit better knowing you’re having a little less impact on the planet.
Keep up the good work!
Chris Altwegg
Marketing Consultant
Seattle, WA
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