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Myths about hotel room service
酒店客房服务的秘密
There's nothing quite like hotel room service. Be it an indulgence or a necessity, few things seem better suited to serve a jet-lagged traveler than a freshly delivered breakfast tray or a late-night sandwich. While seasoned road warriors may have their room service routines down to a science, many of us pause before picking up the phone to order. Maybe it's the fact that room service food can seem incredibly expensive, take forever to get to the room and is often tepid and less than tasty when it finally arrives.
没有什么可以比得上酒店客房服务了。不管是放纵一下还是必须要住酒店，对于倒时差的旅行者而言，没有什么比新鲜早饭或深夜三明治更适合的了。虽然那些经常旅行的人有一套自己的客房服务例程，但我们很多人在打电话订餐前都会先思考一下。也许是因为客房服务的食物太贵，也有可能是送达时间较慢，通常是因为终于等来了食物，却发现其实并不好吃。
Here are two myths about room service.
下面是有关客房服务的两个秘密。
1. Room service menu prices are identical to those in the hotel's restaurant.
1. 客房服务的菜单价格与酒店餐馆的价格一样。
It sure doesn't seem that way. John Mariani, the legendary food critic and author of Mariani's Virtual Gourmet Newsletter, says that "they are usually somewhat higher plus they add a massive service charge and very often, a gratuity."
虽然看上去不是那么回儿事。食品评论界的传奇人物以及《马里亚尼真实美食家通讯》（Mariani's Virtual Gourmet Newsletter）的作者约翰·马里亚尼说道："通常客房服务的食物更贵，因为要收取很多的服务费，大多数情况下还会加上小费。"
Larry Olmsted, author of the bestselling Real Food Fake Food, falls into that higher-priced camp as well, noting that "in many cases, the exact same dishes are priced higher on the room service menu than in the hotel restaurants."
畅销书《真假美食》的作者拉里·奥姆斯特德和马里亚尼的观点相同，指出"大多数情况下，同样的菜肴，客房服务菜单上的标价要比酒店餐馆的价格高。"
The culprit may be the add-ons that make room service seem like an expensive indulgence. Alexander Lobrano, a Paris-based food writer and restaurant critic whose newsletter is Hungry for Paris, says that room service prices "aren't usually that far off those of prices in the restaurant."
原因就是价格更高能使客房服务看起来像是一种奢侈放纵。法国的一位美食作家和餐馆评论家亚历山大·洛布拉诺说客房服务的价格"并不比餐馆的价格高很多。"他的通讯书籍是《饥饿巴黎》（Hungry for Paris）。
He insists that it is those extras that can make for an expensive tab when you order that club sandwich or bowl of pasta and have it sent up to your room. What drives the prices up "is the fine print of service charges, tray charges and other ways of making you pay for the pleasure of private dining, something that most hotels have pretty much fallen out of love with because it's logistically complicated."
他坚持认为当你点总汇三明治和或一碗意大利面并要求送到房间时，这些增加的费用就是一笔较高的小费。推动价格上涨的原因"就是服务收费和托盘收费的精细打印或是你觉得为私人用餐付费的其它乐趣，也有可能是酒店缺失的东西，因为酒店是逻辑复杂的构成。"
Those fees, add Olmsted, might include "a service fee comparable to what you would tip downstairs, plus an 'in-room dining' surcharge, often in the $5-12 range, means it almost always costs more to dine in."
奥姆斯特德补充说这些费用可能包括"可与在楼下消费相媲美的服务费用，再加上'房内用餐'的额外收费，通常都是在5到12美元之间，因此在房间吃饭总会贵一些。"
2. Room service food is just as fresh as I'd get in the restaurant.
2. 客房服务的食物并不如餐馆的新鲜。
Ah, not exactly. Lobrano points out that "most room service items are at least partially pre-prepared."
啊，不完全是。洛布拉诺指出"客房服务的大多数食物，至少有部分都是提前准备好的。"
