Ritz offers weak apology with little explanation

The Story

Ritz-Carlton apologizes to guests for 15% CIAA service charge.

The Facts

• The Ritz-Carlton issues an apology on Friday to hotel patrons that were billed the 15% charge during the CIAA tournament February 24th-28th
• The issue came to life when a patron complained to WBTV about the charge.
• The hotel stated that the charge was due to the size of the CIAA event and was for their lobby beverage servers as they are the ones handling the most demand throughout the weekend.
• The hotel did not respond when asked whether or not it added similar service charges for other large sporting events (ex, ACC Championship, Speed Street, Belk Bowl).

Quotes:

“It is important for all guests to feel welcomed at our hotel and for them to receive the highest level of service, respect and hospitality we strive for every day…” – The Ritz-Carlton Hotel public apology.

“I would like for the city of Charlotte and the CIAA to vigorously pursue the answer of “whether other large events Nascar, ACC, football games are charged a service charge fee and is it specified on the receipt”. If not this is discrimination against the CIAA. I want some answers and there should be a boycott of the Ritz Carlton until those answers are rendered.” – CharlotteObserver.com comment.

C5’s take:

It sounds like The Ritz-Carlton is saying “Sorry I’m Not Sorry” about the charge. In the original article, it was posed that the charge was for a large group. You know — when restaurants will automatically add a surcharge onto your bill when you are dining with a big party. However, the receipt clearly says “CIAA” and not something that would imply an automatic charge for a large group. Either the charge was wrongly represented or The Ritz was singling out the CIAA. What will be interesting to see is if The Ritz adds surcharges during other big event weekends later this year.

Photo: WBTV

This story was originally published March 9, 2015 at 12:47 AM with the headline "Ritz offers weak apology with little explanation."