Hotel refuses to replace personal device broken by one of their appliances [closed]

Firstly, I have to echo Tom - you are being vague, almost to the point of suspicion.

What can I do??

It highly depends on what it was that you claim did the damage - did a wall mounted TV fall off the wall and damage your phone? Or did a kettle fall off a shelf and damage your phone?

Why does it matter? Because a wall mounted TV falling off the wall mounting is a heck of a lot easier to prove as being the hotels responsibility than a badly replaced kettle body or base falling off shelf.

No really, what can I do?

First, take photos. Take lots and lots of photos. Take photos of the device that was damaged, take photos of the item that you claim damaged it, take photos of the place it fell from, take photos of the place it fell to, take wide shots of the room to put it all in context.

Once you have photographic documentation, you then pursue the issue.

Start with the hotel - explain what happened, and ask if they will recompense you for the damage caused. If it was a TV that fell off the wall, you have a lot more weight on your side - not only was damage caused to your effects, but its a health and safety matter as you could have been injured.

If the hotel fobs you off, then you still have several options.

Complain (or threaten to complain) to the local regulatory body for that country.

In Portugal, hotels are regulated by the Tourism of Portugal IP regulatory authority - you can threaten the hotel with a complaint and they may back down, depending on how much weight the regulatory body carries (in other words, are they scared of the body?)

You can contact the Tourism of Portugal IP body via:

Turismo de Portugal, I.P.
Ministry of Economy and Innovation,
Rua Ivone Silva, Lote 6, 
1050-124 Lisbon

Telephone + 351 211 140 200

Email info@turismodeportugal.pt

Issue a small claims action against the hotel

The EU requires all member states to have a small claims process, which is easy and cheap to access.

Read the information provided by the European Judicial Network and talk to a local legal advocate at a citizens advice centre about how to bring your claim.