Searle

In the end, we find that how and what a hotel pays its room

service servers is a matter between the hotel and the servers. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment entered on an order sustaining without leave to amend a hotel’s demurrer to an unfair business practice complaint brought by a hotel patron. The patron alleged a 17 percent service charge the hotel adds to its room service bills is paid directly to room service servers and that, in failing to expressly advise patrons about this aspect of the server’s compensation, the hotel is engaging in a deceptive practice which induces patrons to pay gratuities patrons would not otherwise feel obligated to provide. Because there is no allegation the hotel deceives its guests about the costs of its room service meals and because patrons are free to both obtain meals outside their rooms and to provide as small or as large a gratuity as they wish, the hotel’s billing practice is not actionable.

Summary

According to the allegations of the complaint, which we accept as true, on July 10, 2001, plaintiff and appellant Linda Searle stayed with her husband at the Wyndham Plaza Hotel in San Diego, which is operated by defendant Wyndham…