Italy's Top Court: Hotels Can Refuse Free Tap Water
Did Italy's top court protect entrepreneurial freedom or fail basic consumer fairness on hotel tap water?
Above: A tourist fills his water bottle from a fountain at the Flora hotel in Venice on June 8, 2022. Image credit: Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images
The Spin
Narrative A
Italy's top court got it right — hotels are private businesses, and no law requires them to serve tap water. Entrepreneurial freedom means operators set their own menus and prices. A guest who spent over a week at a five-star resort and sued for thousands over a water preference was never owed a free carafe.
Narrative B
Paying over €5,700 for a week at a five-star hotel and still being denied even a paid carafe of tap water is an embarrassment to Italian hospitality. France and Spain mandate tap water in restaurants — Italy lets hotels charge €10 a liter while calling it entrepreneurial freedom. This ruling entrenches a system that profits off basic hydration at the expense of basic consumer fairness.