Pleasing the Irish

[Arks]

I'm in small town Arkansas and it's very rare for me to host someone from outside the USA. Like maybe 1/year. I got this review on TA from an Irish woman passing through, and I'm thinking I'll just not bother to respond. I think anyone from the US who reads it will see it for what it is, unreasonable criticisms for a US accommodation. For example, saying I should put up a sign that the bathroom lavatory water is potable "because bathroom water is usually not," or expecting tea and milk (I provide tea bags, but it's green tea and she wanted "regular tea").
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A beautifully created apartment. Absolutely wonderful bathroom with such invention, the most technologically advanced bathroom you could want. The huge bed was so welcoming and comfortable, and three tvs all in well appointed spots.

For me the fly in the ointment was that there was no tea, and you had to take water from the bathroom, there's nowhere to get fresh water. I wonder if you could put a notice to say it's potable, ie drinking quality, water (generally bathroom water isn't), or a drum of water to make tea / coffee would work otherwise. I'm not a coffee drinker and I love a cup of tea, with milk, and for accommodation of this quality, I'd taken for granted that it would be there.

And there was only enough milk for one cup of coffee. So that was a bit of a letdown. It would be nice too, to know that all the restaurants in the immediate area would be closed on a Sunday afternoon. There is another part of town across the river and it had restaurants open, but we had to drive. Overall this is a lovely place, but for the cost ( and there isn't breakfast of any type) it would be good to go that little extra and put necessities in the room.

 

[gillumhouse]

It was mostly good. And I agree, people will wonder what planet she was from to not know all our water is potable. And I have news doe her - for what you provide, your rates are not excessive! She even mentioned how awesome the bathroom is. If tea is the only thing she could complain about, '
nuff said.

 

[Morticia]

This is interesting. I would never have thought that the water in a bathroom (in a hotel or other accommodation) would not be potable. I’ve seen that at airports, tho. But, now I’m wondering, as I’m traveling this summer. Can I fill my water bottle from the bathroom tap in Ireland? How do you brush your teeth? Obviously the people who live in that country know the answer, but I don’t.

Yeah, the tea thing. I traded tea bags for pop tarts with one of our UK pals on here so I would have ‘real’ tea. I will say the Brits appreciated it. But, when you rarely see anyone from overseas you can’t prep.

And, all the info is available on your website.

 

[Arks]

How do you brush your teeth?

Good question! Bottled water, I guess. But I'm not going to start supplying bottled water. My housekeepers have enough things to check and replenish without adding more.

Unless mine was her first stop in the USA (very unlikely) she's already seen that all hotel rooms expect you to draw your coffee/tea water from the bathroom tap. And nobody has signs up about it. Nobody.

 

[gillumhouse]

From things my UK forum-mates have written, many have a water reservoir on the roof that I guess rain water drains into. This is a water source for the bathrooms I think. Mort, I think I would relate this water story to the Irish innkeepers as a way of asking. You were confused by it and wondered why she asked the question. That way you are asking a question but not sounding as "HUH?" as we thought her statement.

 

[Anon Inn]

Oh my. She'll figure it out after a couple more lodgings. I do supply coffee, tea (several, including black) and half and half in the guest fridge. Hot water dispenser is always at the ready. Guests frequently ask me to fill their cold water bottles because they can't fit them under the room sinks. They could use the provided cups to pour from the tap into their bottle, but they rarely think of that.
I don't recall ever staying in an Irish B&B where room water (if ensuite) was not potable.

 

[JimBoone]

From things my UK forum-mates have written, many have a water reservoir on the roof that I guess rainwater drains into. This is a water source for the bathrooms, I think.

Had a system like that at my last "day job", the rainwater only supplied the toilets, there was a sign over each toilet saying, "don't drink the water", somehow that didn't seem necessary for most of us that were employees.

 

[dumitru]

You drink the tap water from the bathroom sink?

 

[TheBeachHouse]

You drink the tap water from the bathroom sink?

Sure. It’s the exact same water that comes from the kitchen sink, fills the toilet, the hose, the hot water heater, ice maker. It’s all the same water.

 

[gillumhouse]

You drink the tap water from the bathroom sink?

We only have one source of water here. Water flows from the filtration plant into town and then through water lines to the meter and into the house. ALL water comes in from that water line. I also have a water line that goes to a connection for my hose to water my plants, wash the car, erc. Same water but it stays outside.

 

[Anon Inn]

You drink the tap water from the bathroom sink?

Most in the US are on regulated water sources, either public or private. Our regulations generally require all running water to be potable, whether the tap is inside or outside the house. We even water our yards with treated potable water. For most US residents this is normal.

 

[Arks]

Our regulations generally require all running water to be potable, whether the tap is inside or outside the house. We even water our yards with treated potable water. For most US residents this is normal.

And lawn sprinkler systems are generally required to have backflow preventers so water from the lawn system can be sucked back into the city water system.

 

[Julieamberjosh]

I'm in small town Arkansas and it's very rare for me to host someone from outside the USA. Like maybe 1/year. I got this review on TA from an Irish woman passing through, and I'm thinking I'll just not bother to respond. I think anyone from the US who reads it will see it for what it is, unreasonable criticisms for a US accommodation. For example, saying I should put up a sign that the bathroom lavatory water is potable "because bathroom water is usually not," or expecting tea and milk (I provide tea bags, but it's green tea and she wanted "regular tea").
-----------------------
A beautifully created apartment. Absolutely wonderful bathroom with such invention, the most technologically advanced bathroom you could want. The huge bed was so welcoming and comfortable, and three tvs all in well appointed spots.

For me the fly in the ointment was that there was no tea, and you had to take water from the bathroom, there's nowhere to get fresh water. I wonder if you could put a notice to say it's potable, ie drinking quality, water (generally bathroom water isn't), or a drum of water to make tea / coffee would work otherwise. I'm not a coffee drinker and I love a cup of tea, with milk, and for accommodation of this quality, I'd taken for granted that it would be there.

And there was only enough milk for one cup of coffee. So that was a bit of a letdown. It would be nice too, to know that all the restaurants in the immediate area would be closed on a Sunday afternoon. There is another part of town across the river and it had restaurants open, but we had to drive. Overall this is a lovely place, but for the cost ( and there isn't breakfast of any type) it would be good to go that little extra and put necessities in the room.

I wouldn’t reply to that. We get quite a few international quest and I never hear complaint like that.

 

[Morticia]

I did some research for my travels. What I basically got about tap water is that if it isn’t labeled ‘potable’ don’t assume it is. Also, tap water is more highly regulated than bottled water, so drink the tap water as long as it’s labeled. But never drink the hot water from the tap, only the cold.

Because, as K said, tap water has different sources overseas.

 

[Generic]

You drink the tap water from the bathroom sink?

Absolutely, it's all one water supply around here. Does calling it "Acqua di Rubinetto" make it sound fancier? One of the world's largest soft drink bottlers actually sells city water from two cities in this country put through an extra reverse osmosis filter with a name that starts with D and ends with i and has a isan in the middle I constantly laugh at the people buying Smart Water because it's vitamin enriched tap water... doesn't sound very smart to me to be paying for it.

Should I tell you how much we pay per cubic metre of water? It's a city service, it's part of our property tax. We don't actually have meters.

 

[user 26]

I’m on the other side of this, I guess.

Please consider that if you research this subject online, many articles tell you not to drink the water from the bathroom tap. That it might be not be as well filtered to actually unhealthy. I won’t quote articles here, people can find them easily. I just offer this for you to think about. Your water might be great. Mine was not. And old pipes in the upper most, oldest taps where I lived recently were actually leaching lead.

I don’t think it’s such a burden to ask your staff to drop two sealed bottles of water in each guest room. I would.
I’m not a fan of bottled water in principle but sometimes it’s the way to go.

I had water dispensers that gave hot and cold water. After the first purchase that came with a bottle of water, I rinsed and refilled from the kitchen sink. People insisted they could tell it was spring water. It was not. I then got mini ones for the rooms. They cost me about $20 each, I got eight of them. Very big hit. I don’t know if the owner kept them. Probably sold them as she did away with all the amenities my guests loved, including breakfast.

Personally, I don’t care for green tea. Why not put a couple ‘regular’ tea bags in the suites and some kind of shelf stable or powdered creamer packets?

And I would respond. ‘Thank you for your suggestions!’ Etc. Turn it around.
Then make changes or don’t. It’s your place.

p.s. After $100,000 + in renovations to my condo, I don’t drink the water from my upstairs bath. I don’t even use it to brush my teeth. I swear I’m not an old fusspot but it tastes funny. I’m looking at what I can/need to do next.

 

[dumitru]

I'm a simple man and I have simple thoughts.
Even if the same water runs through the pipes ("It's all pipes!"), I'm hesitant to drink the water from the room where people are doing their dirty business one meter away from the tap. By the same logic, would you use the cold water from your showerhead?
Please understand that I'm not putting down the water quality in your area. It's more of a general hygiene thing for me

 

[JimBoone]

Guess I'm just country, grew up in a house with lead pipes, drank that water and from the garden hose. Sometimes I miss that old South Georgia water with the marsh grass flavor. Don't bend so well today, but back when it was not unusual to just bend down and drink from the bath faucet, maybe it gave me immunity to last into old age. Simpler for the wife, there was a cold water tap on that walkway and one in the kitchen sink, the outhouse was across the chicken yard.

 

[Arks]

By the same logic, would you use the cold water from your showerhead?

Of course. It's all the same.
Even the water in the toilet tank is clean. The tank, not the bowl...big difference!
It's all chlorinated here.

 

[gillumhouse]

We had no running water. Hauled it in 5, 8, and 10 gallon milk cans. For drinking, we had an aluminum bucket of water on a stool next to the sink with a ladle in it. You filled the ladle, drank, and put the ;ladle back in the bucket. No one thought anything about that in the 1950s. (And we were healthy as horses!)