With Compliments or Complimentary?

This tag was attached to a bottle of drinking water placed in my hotel room. The tag let guests know that the bottle of water was already included in the room charge, different from the drinks in the refrigerator, which are chargeable.

So what's wrong with the tag? The text. It should read: "With Compliments" or "Complimentary", not "With Complimentary".

"Complimentary" means "given free to repay a favour or as an act of courtesy" (Source: The Free Dictionary by Farlex). In this case, the bottle of water is given free to hotel guests.

The hotel is rated 4-Star, with superb customer service. Yet, one small error on a seemingly insignificant item has dented my image of the hotel, at least enough for me to write this post about it.

Is English confusing? Yes. Hard to learn? Yes. Yet, no reason not to keep trying. You can do it!

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