Request For Complimentary Hotel Stay: Fill & Download for Free

Original Question- what do Indians bargain everywhere.This is not true. We do not bargain everywhere.These are the places where we do not bargain-International schools. We somehow want the school to enroll our child.International food chains such as Pizza Hut and McDonald's. We rather offer tips.Five start hotels stay. We pay tips.Big hospitals. We request the doctor to save the patient at any cost.Disco, Bar, Pubs or Spa. We pay extra tips.This is where we bargain -Richshaw puller. Bargain and reduce fare from 30 to 25.Vegetable vendor in the street. We pay 10 rupees for potato worth 12 and save 2 rupees.Bycycle repair. We pay 50 if he asks for 70 for a service.Fruit seller. We pay 60 instead of 70 for one KG of apple.Small kirana shop. We bargain a little.Overall the fact is that we bargain wherever we see a scope of bargaining and where our prestige is not at stake.I leave the conclusion of the story to you.

I was visiting Pune in August 2019 to meet my friends. I was staying at a Treebo hotel near Hinjewadi and had booked a single room for 8 days. The room was good enough, although a little small but okay for one person to stay in. Plus there was complimentary breakfast, so it was alright for me.The first day went well. No real troubles but the problem started happening from the second day onwards. The AC in my room suddenly stopped working in the evening while I was watching the TV. I thought maybe there was a power issue or something and decided to wait but it didn’t come back to life. I tried switching it and on and off, apply the traditional method of starting electronic appliances - tapping and beating on it but it didn't work. So I called at the reception requesting for someone to have a look.A staff member came but he was unable to fix it. He assured me that he would call an electrician the next day to look at it. However, the night was very hot. I retired to bed sweating and was somehow unable to get asleep. There were beads of perspiration all over my forehead. It was an August night and hence, it was very hot. Unfortunately, my room didn’t come with a fan so AC was the only hope and with that gone, I was sweating like a pig.Somehow the night passed. After having breakfast in the morning I went out, handing over the keys to the receptionist requesting her to arrange for an electrician to fix the AC in my room. When I came back the AC was working and I was happy. But as I was about to go to bed, it switched off automatically.I went to the reception to complain about it. Staying in a room without a fan, without an AC was not possible. The receptionist informed me that there were no other rooms available in their hotel - the usual reply you’ll always hear from them. I had no option but to spend another sleepless night in the hot chamber. There were no windows either that I could open for some fresh air.The next day, I contacted Treebo helpline and after a long conversation with them and the receptionist, they were able to change my hotel for the rest of the 4/5 days left.Thankfully the hotel was not far from where I was staying so it wasn’t a difficult task to relocate my luggage. I requested for reimbursement of my cab fare but they didn’t agree to that. But anyway, the second hotel was better with a larger room and thankfully the AC worked fine there. Also, it had a fan for backup but yes, those two nights were horrible. I was sweating profusely and hardly got any sleep. Later on, I complained to Treebo if they could compensate for those two days of stay but there was no response from their side. I too let that go since that came as a blessing in disguise. The new room was better, bigger and the breakfast spread was more lavish.

I’m answering the question: “What did someone do in TSA/airport security that made you say "You gotta be kidding me?"In mid-2019 I had been in the UK and was returning home to Australia via a quick stop-over at an Arabic country (won’t name the country- it’s irrelevant!). I had been through numerous x-ray points and security gates by the time I got to my gate for boarding. There was about 45 minutes to wait until my flight departed.At the boarding lounge was yet another x-ray point, so I dutifully put my hand luggage on the conveyor belt and walked through the gate. As I was waiting to collect my hand luggage at the end of the conveyor belt I heard a ‘beep beep’ alarm go off, and the next thing I knew two uniformed guys (with guns) were by my side, holding my handbag, demanding that I come with them.They took me to a side room and asked that I completely empty out my handbag. I asked them why? They said I had been flagged for carrying a ‘prohibited weapon’ in my bag. I was incredulous, and assumed they’d mistaken me for another passenger.At this point I’ll explain that I’m a woman in my fifties who is quite the ‘motherly’ type. In my hotel room the previous night was a little complimentary sewing kit, which looked like this (Photo courtesy Google.)I had popped it into my handbag, thinking it was a useful little kit in case a button came off whilst I was travelling. No point in passing up on a free gift, eh, especially since I am a keen sewer and love repairing clothes!I emptied out the contents of my handbag, and the security guards immediately picked up the sewing kit and asked me: “Is this yours?” I said yes, I had taken it from my hotel room the previous night as it was a complimentary hotel gift. They opened up the kit, and tucked onto the other side of the cardboard was a tiny pair of flimsy plastic scissors, like this: (Photo: Google)The scissor ‘blades’ were all of one inch long, and the finger holes were so tiny my finger or thumb wouldn’t even fit through them. I doubt very much they would cut paper, yet alone a cotton thread.The guards asked me if I knew that carrying scissors on flights was prohibited? I said yes, but these weren’t real scissors - they were toy plastic ones, and couldn’t cut anything!“But you are carrying scissors, which you have admitted you know to be prohibited,” they said.It was then I said: “You’ve gotta be kidding me?”I was then told that concealing a prohibited weapon was a very serious offence and I could be fined or face imprisonment.I tried reasoning with them. “They’re a kid’s plastic toy which hotels around the world give away in sewing kits!” But they were having none of my ‘excuses.’I was told I would have to wait in the security room for a more senior officer to come and decide what I would be charged with.At this point I began to get worried. I realised they weren’t joking, and were deadly serious. They took the offending ‘weapon’ with them and left me alone in the room.I decided I had to act quickly before they threw me in prison. I got out my passport, remembering that in all Australian passports, there’s a Travel Smart booklet which lists a Consular Emergency Centre number to call in case you get in trouble in a foreign country. (For Australians this number is +61 2 6261 3305). I called this number on my phone. This is my Travel Smart booklet.The phone was answered immediately by a reassuring man with an Australian accent. I told him where I was being held and what my predicament was. He also said: “You’ve gotta be kidding me?” But no, there I was, confined in an airport security room about to be charged with concealing a dangerous prohibited weapon.The consular guy told me to stay on the line, and to pass my phone to the most senior security guard as soon as they returned. He said tell them the Australian Embassy requests a formal interview with the arresting officer.Ten minutes later, the guards returned with a very senior looking officer in a scary green uniform, complete with gun and baton on his belt. Before he had time to speak, I told him that the Australian Embassy requested a formal interview with the most senior officer in the room - and I shoved my phone in his hand.I couldn’t understand the conversation that took place as it was in a language that I don’t speak - but it lasted for about five minutes, and seemed to get quite heated! There were raised voices and lots of gesticulating by the officer on the phone. Finally he hung up and passed my phone back to me. Without another word they all left the room.I sat down and wondered what on earth was going to happen to me. I could faintly hear a final boarding call for my flight through the closed door. I naturally assumed I was going to miss my plane, and was almost in tears by this time.Suddenly the door flew open again, and two guards plus an airline hostess came into the room. She smiled a reassuring smile at me, and asked me to quickly follow her. I shoved all my handbag contents into my bag again and followed her through the door. She led me through another door and down a long corridor.Before long I realised we were on a plane entry gangway. We entered the plane, and the hostess turned to the left in the direction of First Class. She showed me to a First Class seat, told me to sit down and enjoy my flight. I sat down speechless, trying to come to terms with what had just happened. I turned to another passenger across the isle and said: “Is this flight going to Australia?” He confirmed, yes, it was my scheduled flight to Adelaide.I heard the plane door hiss shut behind me and soon the plane was slowly moving backwards. Shortly after the hostess returned with a glass of wine on a tray. “All your food and drink on this flight are complimentary,” she told me, and gave me a wink. “You probably need this now.”“What’s going on?” I asked her. “I’ll tell you later,” she said. “I’ll come back later and explain. Just enjoy your flight for now.”Around 30 minutes later she returned and told me that an Australian consular official on the phone had ‘read the riot act’ to the security guards, and told them there would be a major diplomatic incident if I was not immediately released and escorted onto my plane.“They scared the hell out of those stupid guards,” the hostess said. “That’s why you’ve been upgraded to First Class on this flight. You’re very lucky you’re Australian and have good consular officials.”I did enjoy my flight - very much so. The steak was particularly tender, and I had no need to use the sharp serrated steak knife they kindly provided with my meal.“You gotta be kidding me, right…?”