Baby Ingests Tiles At Waldorf Astoria Maldives: What Is Hotel's Liability?

Hmmmmm, I wonder what the predominant religion is there?

Compensation: spa and upgrade already received and doctor's fee

One day stay free also possible.

This is such an odd story with much left out. It looks like tile grout not tile pieces (still not a good situation). The onsite physician's notes are correct. You're on an island don't expect the same level of emergency services as you're used to. Had they bought travel insurance then perhaps they could have left the Maldives and had the child seen at an Emergency Room in the US if they felt they needed a higher level of care. The article does not say what type of upgrade they received. Was it one of the two blow out large villas? On my stay there, we were put there for just a day while we waited for our flight. I'd take that upgrade as sufficient compensation.

Irreligion, possibly

You are a loser

So to summarise….. Parents left a 13 months old unattended while they both slept. Parents should be ashamed of themselves.

Pro tip, don’t leave a 13 month alone and on floor surface to move around and find dangerous things while you both sleep.

So they
- got to the hotel ahead of check-in time
- were graciously appointed a temporary place to stay
- went to sleep leaving the baby crawling around the room as it pleases
- consequently the baby puts anything it finds in its mouth as babies do
- fortunately there is no harm to the baby, who was and is doing fine
- the sleeping beauties somehow believe they should get, what, a million dollars?

How is this even possible?

Also why bring a baby to the Maldives?

How are these parents not embarrassed seeking compensation. They were in the room with the child. Hotel went out of its way to provide them with a temporary room. This is exactly why the hotels do not go out of their way anymore. These kind of people ruin it for everywhere. And most importantly, the child is okay and didn’t sustain any injuries. If the parents were so worried about the child, why did they stay on the island to enjoy the upgrade and the spa treatments? And now, they want to be compensated. The hotel is right, go kick rocks!

FWIW, I took my parents here two years ago and my mom fell over unmarked wood design near a restaurant which required a trip to the hospital in Male. We got our yacht comped ($3,000 value) which I thought was fair.

If I were truly concerned my infant might need invasive surgery to remove tile shards from his intestinal tract, then I would have immediately left the remote island and gotten medical care in a larger center. In that case, the stay should have been comped and evacuation costs reimbursed, even though I would strongly argue falling asleep with an uncontained infant at a remote beach resort is 100% parental malpractice.

That the family stayed and (while the infant presumably needed close monitoring) accepted spa treatments (never been to a spa that lets your infant come along) shows through their behavior their level of concern, which was, not to put too fine a point on it, low.

Kudos to all involved for calling the bluff here. There was no injury, there was no serious concern on the part of the parents; they accepted goodwill gestures at the time and everyone is fine. I’m not sure what other compensation would be due here.

Who goes to sleep with a toddler wandering around an unfamiliar room?

Parents of the year

Because families travel too. Many hotels in the Maldives(including the Waldorf Astoria) are set up for kids. They have play areas specifically for them, activities, babysitters, etc.

I can see questioning them for letting the baby just crawl free in the room while they slept. Questioning people taking a baby to the Maldives at all is ludicrous.

Dear Hilton,
Do not fold to these extortionists. Ban them from staying at any Hilton properties in the future. Thank you.

Laziness and stupidity. An unattended infant can ingest any number of dangerous items from soap to small make up remover pads.

It seems to be the norm nowadays that parents go to 'sleep' or 'got distracted just for a *few* seconds' (in reality, they might be well tethered to their screens'), a child is left completly unsupervised, then child gets hurt and, suddenly, everybody else, except the parents themselves, is liable.

The so-called 'parental autonomy' argument should be applied here: parents autonomously made the decision to go to sleep and leave their child unsupervised, therefore they should deal with their consequences of their autonomy.

I also don't understand how people can pay for luxury hotels in the maldives but won't pay for babysitting, which these fancy hotels can definitely arrange.

100% the fault of the parents. Poor kid.

Parents need to take a look in mirror, accept their accountability, and stop looking to blame others for their lack of parenting skills and ease their conscience. They put their own child directly at risk and should be held accountable for neglect.

as doc, this seems like a non-story. Parents should have been more aware. Property should have been better cared for. The kid poops out non-digestible stuff anyways. I'd have been thrilled with what they got had I been in the same situation with my own kid.

If it was two years ago... it would seem that the baby turned out to be fine? I It's sad that their vacation was ruined but also they should probably have been watching the baby more carefully. Hilton and the property have probably done their best in this situation unless the parents can point to significant health impact or medical bills, at which point they should be reaching out to an attorney rather than Hilton.

Enough if these”don’t judge parents” expectations. When parents do absolutely stupid things they ought to be judged. Nothing wrong with that.

100% parents’ fault. Who sleeps while leaving their OWN 13 month old child unattended. What if he had gotten an electric shock, is that also hotel’s responsibility?

Heck, I don’t walk barefoot in a hotel room, can’t imagine how can someone allow their infant to crawl on it.

what am I missing? The incident happened at the beginning of their stay, they were promised a free stay, so why did they pay at the end of the stay, or if it was prepaid, why did they not have the refund processed before leaving?

I'm a parent of a 3 year old boy. He has traveled with us extensively. I only needed to read the first few lines of this post to realize these parents were blatantly neglectful to both fall asleep without a plan in place to supervise their child. They don't deserve ANY compensation and its outrageous that they even tried to get anything beyond the comped stay they were offered.

Its upsetting that parents like this get air time and not a visit from child protective services.

Good lord some of yall are sanctimonious cretins that have either never had kids or haven't cared for an infant or toddler in decades. It's astonishing how quickly a small child can get out of sight or pick something off the floor and throw it into their mouth. From the reporting it doesn't sound like the parents actually went to bed either, more that they just dozed off, which after a long travel day with an infant is definitely understandable and as said, the hotel didn't provide a crib or bassinet.

At the end of the day, the hotel is the one that left the room in that condition with busted wall tiles. That's on the hotel, as that's a safety issue not just for kids accidently eating them but somebody could step on it for example and cut their foot. If a room is in that condition, it shouldn't be considered habitable by the hotel.

Hope the baby is ok. Indeed the hotel is liable and should cover medical costs and claim via their insurance once settled. In terms of goodwill, refunding part or all of their stay would be appropriate.

Lukas died 2 days ago. Scary, writing from the dead. Look online.... D. Wayne Lukas, famous horse racing trainer. Dead at age 89.

Those parents are idiots. It is NEGLECT to leave your 13-month child unsupervised in a hotel room. Amazing they cant take any responsibility.

Smart move by the father to stay anonymous...

WTF? How on Earth is the hotel supposed to be liable for the incident and why do parents expect to be "compensated" for their own stupidity?

Why are we bringing babies to the Maldives in the first place?

These don't sound like great parents to begin with.

Nah completely disagree. A 13 month old can easily seriously injure or kill themselves in an accident with absolutely nothing wrong with the location. Falling asleep either a child that age just roaming is crazy.

Hotel may have liability, but the psrents come across terribly here.

My take in this: the parents feel guilty and tried to push the guilt on the property. Honestly in this kind of countries, including at luxury properties we all faced these kind of issues and worse (e.g. defective electric cables). Don't let your kinds hand around in a place you aren't familiar with!

I never said a kid couldn't do that. Most babies go through a stage where it seems like everything they do is an attempt to kill/seriously harm themselves. And while the parents should have stayed awake and don't come across in the best light, I can absolutely understand why they dozed off once in the room.

At the end of the day, the liability is on the hotel for the room being in the condition it was in. That does matter. If the baby had actually eaten a makeup pad or some other trash the parents put in the trash can as some other commenter posited, that would then be a different story.

I would be too, if I were them. People like these should not have kids. They are certainly audacious and shameless to be asked to be compensated. I hope they see these comments. They are getting what they deserve. It’s amazing how low people can go for some points.

I’m trying to be empathetic to the parents. Maybe they had just done 30+ hrs of travel and were past the point of exhaustion and unintentionally fell asleep.

Short of that, it’s wild to “release” a baby in an unfamiliar (and non-baby-proofed) room unsupervised. Kid could have just as easily pulled on an electrical cord and dropped a nespresso maker on his head.

@Lucky - change the title to

NEGLEGENT PARENTS PASS OUT AND LEAVE 1 YEAR OLD TO WANDER AROUND ROOM WITH NO SUPERVISION.

Shame on these parents. WTF! One parent naps, the other supervises. Switch in 1 hour or whatever. You don't leave a 1 year old unsupervised in a hotel room!!!!

You are 100% wrong. The parents are 100% at fault.

We had kids. Never left them as babies to roam free in a hotel room.

You are 100% wrong. No wonder you are anonymous.

This is the fault of the parents. Also they need to chill tf out. A little tile passing through the baby’s digestive system isn’t going to cause any harm.

@Conner, they could have left if they were so concerned about the baby. They stayed, and enjoyed the upgrade and the spa treatments. Now, apparently it was not enough for them. Rapacious much?

How could parents fall asleep letting their toddler on his own ????

I think I know what happened here. As per the article, “they were reportedly assured that all costs, including the cost of the stay and incremental expenses at the resort, would be reimbursed.” Perhaps they went a little crazy and spent more than they could afford. And now they are on the hook to pay for it.
Also, the incompetent father mentions that the hotel is reluctant to take responsibility for the injury to his son. What injury??? There was no injury. In this case, I honestly believe that the parents want their child to be injured so they can get few dollars from the Waldorf Astoria. What an embarrassment.

99% parents fault, not WA Maldives.

IF you want to criticize WA Maldives, write an article about how they retroactively add Holiday supplemental charges to guests who booked stays without these being present at the time of booking.

Can you imagine the kinds of ridiculous things hotels have to deal with, and as a result how they start to view the average guest? Makes you eventually want to get out of the business I'm sure, or at least restrict who you serve to people who aren't likely to cause trouble.
A baby taking apart a wall and eating it? This is their liability?
How about a guest who breaks a drinking glass and eats it? Are they responsible for that too? How about someone who jumps off a balcony into a pool? Or drinks the shampoo and has to go to the hospital?

There has to be some level of "expected normal behavior" that a hotel, or any reasonable person, would not be liable for someone else doing with normal everyday objects.

I think what some people are missing is the combination of no crib available and the tiles being loose. It’s a Waldorf Astoria… how is a crib not available? The room costs thousands of dollars a night and they don’t have enough cribs?

Don’t you think an upgrade and spa treatments makes up for that? These greedy parents want to milk more.

Then the parents shouldn't have fallen asleep!

We all know what’s going on here, since the couple thought that the stay along with the incidentals would be comped, perhaps they spent more than they could afford. Now they are on the hook for it.
Since the father keeps bringing up the injury to his son although there was none, makes me wonder why he is lying.

Agreeing with the vast majority of the comments. This is 99% the parents fault. As someone who travels internationally with their young kids, I can empathize with how tiring and stressful it can be. That said, wtf are you doing falling asleep while letting your infant crawl around a hotel room?!? How can anyone possibly justify this and try to blame the hotel?! This is why parents who travel with infants/toddlers can get a bad reputation. Just a complete and total lack of self-awareness and accountability. If I was the hotel, I would've done the bare minimum and told the parents it's their fault for not watching their kid.

This is not the hotel’s fault and while the dad claims injury to their baby, is it documented?

So no injury?

I had a somewhat similar situation in that my 2 year old son ingested something, but the fault was with the resort.

My family did a weekend staycation at the Four Seasons Lanai at Manele in the spring of 2021. During breakfast on Saturday morning, my son was given a kid's set of compostable spoon and fork. Well, he ended up biting the fork while eating and swallowed a piece of the tip. We spoke with the restaurant's manager, who was very sorry. She even followed up with us later during meal service and shared that many of the compostable utensils were all very brittle. We shared this information with the food and services manager as well who apologized.

Naturally, we were concerned about a possible sharp piece going through his system. Called his pediatrician and all we could do is watch, observe, and look for the piece if it passes through. The hotel gave us ample gloves to use as we checked his diaper each time. Needless to say, this didn't make for a fun weekend. The F&S manager introduced us to the resort's General Manager, who was also very apologetic.

When we returned home, I emailed the GM and asked for the stay to be refunded. Although he could not do that, he offered to comp us another weekend. Easy enough for us since we live in Hawaii, but could be harder for people to accept if they live farther away. The hotel also didn't offer the complimentary transfer on Lanai Air that was offered to all revenue guests (but I don't mind flying on Cessna Caravans as they're fun for me). We were given an ocean view room and had a much better stay the 2nd time. 🙂

I’ve met the resort manager a few times myself, and I can say he’s not Maldivian or Muslim. So ... try again

Maybe when travelling with a baby one should build the itinerary in a way that does not include 30+ hrs of travel. Stop over en route or whatever. Or just fly to the Bahamas.

There's a big gap missing in the story. First, they saw the on-site doctor who (IMO) gave a pretty good summary of what happened and what to do. The next part of the story it talks about invasive surgery. Who made that diagnosis? I doubt it was the on-site doctor, so I would like to know who.

Then, it immediately goes to asking the manager for compensation. How was the child ultimately treated if the surgery wasn't viable? And how long did it take for the treatment? I've been in this situation with my wife. Screw the vacation, the only thing I cared about was my wife being okay. I don't know, but it seems the parents had different priorities.

In the end, long flight or not, broken tile or not, the toddler should not have been left unsupervised. I get it, parents aren't perfect. But, then own the mistake. Take turns napping, grab a pot of caffeinated coffee to stay up, get a crib from the hotel (that is absent...did the parents even ask for a crib when they noticed one wasn't in the room), something.

I once ate a pillow at a hotel and blamed the hotel for their negligence.

That “expected normal behavior” is really “taking responsibility for your (in)actions.” And no, it seems that fewer and fewer people are willing to do that.

Why the f*** do you want to bring a 13 month old to Maldives?

To start with the first point, I’m not a legal expert, but it definitely feels like the parents should have FULL responsibility for the lack of properly being a parent.

There are absolutely zero benefit for the baby and full of hazards being on an island middle of the ocean.

And with generation of idiots raising this now 3 year old, imagine what decades of bad parenting would lead to.
30 years from now we still need to suffer another whole generation raised by idiots?

You forgot the part that in Maldives the baby can go swimming with sharks.

Makes coffee maker look a lot less dangerous.

I think the compensation already provided is commensurate with the single lapse on the hotel's part - the temporary room was somewhat in disrepair. All else is on the parent - you don't allow a toddler unsupervised and unfettered access anywhere other than a crib.

This is 100% on the parents. The hotel has no liability here. What if the baby fell into the ocean? Would these parents claim that there should have been rails installed along the walkways and private decks? GTFO.

These parents sound like insufferable a-holes who want to blame the world for all of their problems and not take any responsibility for their own actions.

Adding my voice to everyone who argue the parents are entirely at fault here.
It’s a baby. You do not fall asleep with him crawling around a room.
He could have suggested himself with a laundry plastic back, or hot electricted or pulled a heavy lamp off a table. I could come up with a dozen horror scenarios here. That’s why I’m not a big fan of taking young kids on holiday - you must compromise on the rest part.
The whole story smells of deep entitlement and a level of greed, but it also serves as a cautionary tale

You are wrong in your analysis. There is an assumption that hotel guests are either reasonable people who would not do certain things (like ingest tiles) or are supervised by reasonable people.
A baby let loose without supervision in a room that has not been baby proofed is a disaster waiting to happen.

@ERD the father made the diagnosis, and concluded that the baby was too young for the invasive surgery. The kid sustained no injuries although the father keeps talking about the injuries to his boy. It’s almost like he wanted his son to be injured. Despicable!

The parents decided to stay on the island, and accepted the spa treatments along with the upgrade. Shame on these parents!

Never fall asleep with a 13 month old in the house and not contained in a crib and a tent over it!!!

@Lucky, please let the father know that his greed is showing.

Is your poop soft, synthetic, feathers or memory?

First, who would be selfish enough to take a 13 month old to the Maldives? The other guests must have loved being with this family. Second, I'd refer these parents to a 1976 issue of the National Lampoon magazine, which portrayed the fictitious magazine, "Negligent Parent". The cover showed a mother, on a diving board, holding a cocktail in one hand, and the kid in the other, while smoking a cigarette and talking non-stop. These parent were asleep, while the future Darwin Award winning kid ran amok. Kudos to the resort for not compensating them. I would advise them to use contraception, so as not to bother the world with any of their future spawn.

Watch your kid. If the baby eats a shell on the beach, does the hotel have to pay for that as well?

Because you show up before check in time

@Hepworth, these two parents absolutely would. They have no grain of shame in their body. Such a shame!

Biting a pillow while you are on all fours is not the same as eating it.

None. The parents are trying to benefit from the incident. It’s very apparent

@Lucky, are these parents of Asian decent who migrated to the United States? I haven’t ever seen such a lack of consciousness otherwise.

You are absolutely right. I hope these parents are seeing all the comments. They must be the worst parents in the world and hope they haven’t had any more kids or plan on having other kids.

@Lucky, I am questioning the parent’s credibility at this point. Is there a video of the boy injecting the tile pieces. How do we know since the parents were asleep and woke up to the kid crying. How do we know why the kid was crying? The insurance denied the claim since there was no injury. The dad seems he is hungry for money. I hope the parents come clean.

It has been my observation that what passes for "customer service" in the Maldives wouldn't be acceptable at a Walmart in the US. Due to many articles that I've read that are similar to this one they have been removed from my travel list. There are plenty of beautiful places where the people are truly kind and happy to have you (Fiji comes to mind).

Based on your comment, I am certain that you’ve never been to Maldives. I hope you never do because people like you, ruin it for everyone. Please enjoy Fiji. Have a great day.

“The hotel refused to offer compensation on the spot, and the resort manager told the family that they’d go through their insurance provider. However, they were reportedly assured that all costs, including the cost of the stay and incremental expenses at the resort, would be reimbursed.”
They were assured by who if the hotel refused to offer compensation and the resort manager told them that they would go through their insurance? Their attorney?

Are you guys serious? an uber luxury hotel as you said, would leave a broken tile as per your picture when you arrive? Everyone wants compensation and exaggerate about things just to have money.
This article is not serious and the parents are ridiculous a baby is left alone while they sleep.

@Miami305
I've used this same name the entire decade I've been reading and commenting on Lucky's blog. I just hate refuse to make new web accounts when I don't actually have to. If that bothers you, that's a you problem.

And I really doubt that there has never ever been a moment when you didn't have eyes on your infant, and you've never experienced that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you don't instantly know where they are or hear them making a worrisome sound. We're all human, and no human is perfect. 99% of the time nothing serious happens when we err, and it sounds like you've been lucky enough to be in the 99% while these parents were in the 1%.

How is that even possible? The hotel’s yacht picks you up at the airport. It’s actually ridiculous their room wasn’t ready when the hotel controls the pick up from the airport. Everything is scheduled by the hotel when you visit the Maldives so this is 100% on the hotel. You just don’t randomly show up early to the resort.

Because the hotel said their insurance company would deal with the refund.