Nickel and Dimed: On Getting Fleeced at the Standard

Had a mixed experience at The Standard this weekend. It involved free yoga and overpriced beer. In this post guest blogger Rob Jordan tells the story.

The Standard Hotel on the Venetian Causeway usually sets itself apart from its haughty SoBe counterparts just over the bridge.

Sure it’s pricey and can lean pretentious with all its New Age spa mumbo jumbo, but it’s also the kind of place where rum-and-coke-toting guests pad around in hooded terry cloth robes and flip flops. Complimentary iced tea is on tap in the cool, quasi-Scandinavian lobby dotted with rocking chairs. Free community yoga classes are available to anyone through the end of August. It’s all a bit quirky, generally easy-going and welcoming – a world away from nose-in-the-air places like the Delano or the Shore Club.

So, my disappointment was acute when the Standard ripped me off SoBe-style this past Saturday.

A friend and I were enjoying the aquatic meat market that is the hotel’s pool on weekends: rippling abs, bare boobies, mojito-fueled frolicking. It called for a drink and a snack. Budget-minded, we decided to split a $7 Sierra Nevada and a $5 baba ghanoush appetizer. The hoppy beer was a perfect foil for the garlicky eggplant dip. All was well (although the beer – neatly divided into two cups – appeared on the anemic side of 12 ounces).

Then the check came.

The beer was tallied as $8. After I pointed out to the server that the listed price was $7, he said something about the menu being in need of an update but agreed to look into the discrepancy. A few minutes later, he returned. The beer was still down as $8, and the check total amounted to the same as before. “Sorry,” the server said hurriedly, “the menu is old.” He was gone before I could respond. My credit card had been processed for the full amount – plus an automatic 18% tip.