Washington DC. That's Daft WHAT?

Who would have thought it would be tough to send a bottle of champagne to a guest in a hotel? The following are notes of some transatlantic calls from me offering to part with my hard earned.

9am. First call. Main Reception. First person tells me that apparently I need to speak to Room Service. So I speak to Room Service whose first language is not English. She has no clue what I am talking about and asks me to call back later.

9.30am. Second call. Main Reception. Third member of staff says that Room Service cannot service me because I want champagne sent to a room which is illegal before 11am local time (it is now 4.30 local). I should call back after 6am local and speak to the Concierge.

11am. Third call. Concierge please. Fourth person tells me they are not open until 7am local, please call after 7.10am (late start I assume).

12.20. Fourth call. Concierge. Finally open. I would like to send a bottle of champagne to a room. What room number asks the fifth person? I don't know, so they look it up and find 2 matching room numbers. OK I says, what are those 2 room numbers and if you connect me to the first one, I can come back and get the second one if required. Oh no, we can't give out room numbers Sir, it is company policy. So he connects me to the first one on his list. No answer. Either wrong room number or gone out as I have now been calling for 3 hours for a simple delivery.

12.31. I text him and ask for his room number.
12.33. Response comes back and he's just going out.

12.35 Fifth call. Concierge. Sixth member of staff. No, this cannot be done from the Concierge desk and has to be done through Room Service. So I get connected with Room Service. The seventh member of staff explains that in this particular local area, alcohol cannot be served before 11am and that he would be happy to send a bottle up after that time. All I have to do is FAX my credit card details, a copy of my credit card, a note detailing which champagne I would like and a copy of my driving licence over to Room Service at the Hilton and they will take care of it. This is to stop fraud. But surely the fraud would be fairly obvious since they are sending it up to someone's ROOM! In hindsight, I should just have sent up a bottle of champagne and charged it...given the hassle involved in doing this, it is a wonder ANY fraud ever happens.

Let's just say that after 5 calls, 7 members of staff and a complete run around, I'm going to go with the "its the thought that counts". I've had a good laugh today, unfortunately it was at my own expense.

Bottoms up.