A blight fell on my few days in the Lake District.
To keep things as short as possible, three of us booked a room each for two nights bed and breakfast in a four star hotel at a cost of £225 each room - £675.
It was booked by me via an internet broker and secured on arrival by a credit card belonging to my brother.
On the morning of day one, I noticed mould in the shower in my room.
Little black flakes were coming off the tiling grout and floating around in the puddle of water in the shower tray as I washed.
I complained and the shower was cleaned.
I asked the hotel for a discount off night one, on the basis I shouldn't have to pay full price for a room with a dirty shower.
The other rooms were fine, as was one night's dinner - we ate out on the second night.
The discount I had in mind was £25.
Come check-out time - Saturday - still no decision on the room discount.
We were told the manager wasn't in and we would be spoken to on Monday, but in the meantime we would have to pay the full bill or face police action.
My offer was to pay everything, less £25.
The hotel refused and after about 30 minutes we were presented with a fully paid account - they had simply charged my brother's card for the whole lot.
My brother is annoyed about that, as he regards the transaction as unauthorised - they knew the bill was in dispute.
The only name and address they have for the booking is mine - the invoice for the total is to me - so it's a bit ropey to charge someone else's credit card, even if they were in the party.
The manager is still supposed to be calling me on Monday, but I am now 80 miles away on the end of a phone and have lost all bargaining power.
Brother has contacted the card issuer - Mastercard - who have asked him to call back on Monday to speak to someone in 'retail disputes'.
I would like to apply some leverage to the hotel - stop the card payment - but I imagine that might be difficult.
Any thoughts or experiences?
Last edited by: ifithelps on Sun 8 Aug 10 at 12:42
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I would think the theat to call the Police was just that..I can't imagine the Police being remotely interested in a commercial dispute as long as the hotel had your address, which they must have had.
I would think the best chance is your CC company as an un-authorised debit by the hotel.
I'm not sure how these things work, though.
Good luck.
Ted
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just console yourself that the slippers towels and dressing gown are going to come in really handy in the winter in iFfy towers ;-)
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...slippers towels and dressing gown are going to come in really handy in the winter in iFfy towers ;-)...
Yes, and I was looking forward to watching the widescreen telly, but the damn thing was held on to the wall by security bolts.
Oddly enough, as I was sat in reception just before they charged my brother's card, two staff scampered upstairs - I thought at the time they'd gone to check I hadn't stolen anything.
My guess is they can only hit my brother's card once, and they wanted to make sure they had charged for absolutely everything.
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I think £25 is reasonable, and I hope the manager will as well - I would wait until you hear from him before worrying too much. He might turn out to be happy to refund you.
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...I would wait until you hear from him before worrying too much. He might turn out to be happy to refund you...
True, although the impression I got was we were being fobbed off.
It seems unlikely that a four-star hotel, which also caters for weddings, lacks anyone on duty on a Saturday morning with the authority to negotiate a small discount for a grubby room.
It's peak season in the Lake District, and weekends must be the busiest time for this sort of hotel.
It would make more sense if there were no senior staff in on Monday and Tuesday.
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>> It would make more sense if there were no senior staff in on Monday and
>> Tuesday.
Indeed, although perhaps one of the perks of being 'senior' staff is the standard weekend off.
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I don't like to sound pessimistic, but it might be a case of out of sight, out of mind. If it was me and I didn't hear from them by mid-week, I would contact my credit card company to get the disputed amount refunded to my account.
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...I would contact my credit card company to get the disputed amount refunded to my account...
Brother is contacting credit card company on Monday.
Obviously, I think we have a good case.
But from the retailer's point of view, there would be no point in the system of authorised payments if the card holder can stop the payment two days later.
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Whilst this sort of thing is annoying and irritating it is easy to let it become a bigger problem in your mind than it really is. The problem is minor by your own admission, you only seek a reduction of 4% on the total bill. In my experience very few hotel rooms, however much you pay, are perfect and a small amount of mold in a shower is not something to get too upset about. The hotel did remedy the problem when you pointed it our to them which I personally would have seen as the end of the matter.
Having said that I would expect that the manager will duly authorise a small discount for goodwill. It is usual practice in hotels for any matter concerning billing to need to be referred to the manager.
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How did the full charge get onto your brother's card? If he did authorise it I don't think the issuer will be very keen on a refund of any sort. The police might be interested - refusing to pay a bill for services rendered might warrant their attention if there was someone around to chase it up.
Last edited by: Perky Penguin on Sun 8 Aug 10 at 14:47
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...it is easy to let it become a bigger problem in your mind than it really is...
Too right.
I think what has annoyed us more is the snidey way the full lot was put on my brother's credit card.
To us, they've pulled a stroke - a good one from their point of view because they get all the money they seek.
But a stroke, nonetheless.
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See above - how did the charge get onto his card?
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Perky,
...How did the full charge get onto your brother's card?...
When we arrived, they asked for a card, and we were told it would have to be authorised if we wanted to charge anything to the rooms.
They seemed to work on the cost of the room, plus £25 per room per night - £150 - as a sort of 'credit limit'.
So at check-in my brother's card was 'pre-authorised' for £825 - the full cost of the rooms, plus the £150.
We were told the final bill - which was less than that because we didn't charge £150 to the rooms - could be paid for in any way we wished.
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Stupid me! I had forgotten about the "Swipe the card at check-in" procedure! That explains that! Good luck! BTW is the hotel part of a chain?
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...BTW is the hotel part of a chain?...
It's a Best Western, which I think is a sort of joint booking operation rather than a chain - the individual hotels are separately owned.
I don't think we are in 'name and shame' territory because I've not named it - there are a fair few BWs in the Lakes.
But I'm quite happy to point out this hotel was fine in all other respects, and room 38 now has the cleanest shower you'll find anywhere. :)
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Yes - I think BW is a franchise ie if you have a building that meets their standards and pay them a fee you can call yourself Ambleside Best Western or whatever. Some comment to Head Office might achieve something if you don't get satisfaction from the hotel.
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BW must have come up in the world if they have one with four stars. My experience of them (work) was that they were shabby.
JH
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Best Western featured in "Undercover Boss" a few weeks ago, one of their Cumbrian Hotels featured as a flagship.
www.channel4.com/programmes/undercover-boss/episode-guide/series-2
Best Western are a franchise package....might be worth a letter to the guy featured in the programme.
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No doubt you were right in a way ifithelps, but I don't think I would demand £25 from the hotel even if I noticed a bit of black mould in the shower. There's often a bit of black mould in showers and I've never heard of anyone being harmed by it.
Perhaps you come from a more recent, more allergic, more paranoid generation than mine, and quite enjoy a random dust-up in the course of your daily life. All I can say is that if I got into a quarrel with a hotel over something like that I would be too ashamed to tell people about it. Hypocrisy on my part perhaps.
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...There's often a bit of black mould in showers and I've never heard of anyone being harmed by it....
Agreed, and I wouldn't have bothered if the mould had stayed where it was.
But when I looked down and saw lots of little bits floating in the shower tray, I deemed the matter to be a little more serious.
I also spent about 10 minutes trying to wash the bits away, but the more I sprayed the lower part of the cubicle, the more bits came off.
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Maybe it'll be time for you to threaten them. I would think a little publicity might satisfy your own mind.
Headline in the Windermere Observer......' I complained about dirty room...Hotel threatened me with the police ' Local rags always like a juicy story.
Ted
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...Headline in the Windermere Observer...
They might look after their own:
Moaning Visitors Get What They Deserve From Fine, Upstanding Local Hotel :)
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Travel Adviser beckons....! Police would be dis-interested - civil dispute, no dishonesty - any self respecting cop would have sorted it on the spot, probably to your advantage....
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...any self respecting cop would have sorted it on the spot, probably to your advantage...
Perhaps the hotel knew that which is why they opted to thrash my brother's card instead.
Cumbria might be different, but I would have thought they might struggle to get police attendance for such a trivial, civil dispute.
Although it's a four star hotel and it was raining - chance for the polis of a nice cup of tea in the dry.
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Civil dispute. Not a criminal matter.
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Followed a few days later by "Scruffy Lakeland Hotel Trashed by Stag Party"
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>>But from the retailer's point of view, there would be no point in the system of authorised payments if the card holder can stop the payment two days later.
Quite right under normal circumstances, but in this instance there is a dispute.
My credit card company obtained a refund of over £1100 for me a few years ago without any hassle whatsoever.
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And, the only problem we've had in a hotel was swiftly resolved by a very apologetic duty manager bearing gifts.
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just remember that they need the credit card company more than the credit company needs them
without this lifeline they are dead in the water in a month
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The bill is authorised, its authorised the moment you present the card and sign in, or if done on line the moment you present the three digit check number on the back into the web page.
Thats why they ask for the card up front to cover the minimum amount of spend. You do, in effect, pay for the room up front.
Any problem with the hotel then becomes a dispute after payment. you wil have to pursue it through the credit card company or get a cheque off the hotel.
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I agree with PU.
Have you looked at their site to see if there's any other criticisms?
www.tripadvisor.com/
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Best Western operate 4-star hotels in France too. They are nothing special in my limited experience. I would have thought it better to deal with their head office rather than local management. That has certainly worked for us in the past with chains like Accor Hotels (Ibis, Novotel, etc).
We have stayed now in around 250 different French hotels - usually 2 or 3 star - and perfection is rare, believe me. I think French hotel standards, like many other things, have actually declined in recent years. We now travel with a kit of bits and pieces for repairing or bodging shower fittings!
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>>>Best Western operate 4-star hotels in France too<<<
Taken from Wikipedia
each Best Western hotel is an independently owned and operated franchise. Best Western does not offer franchises in the traditional sense (where both franchisee and franchisor are operating for-profit), however. Instead, Best Western operates as a nonprofit membership association, with each franchisee acting and voting as a member of the association.
To me this means that BW do NOT operate the hotels.
This is despite the claim on the Best Western Site that "Best Western International is the world's largest hotel chain with over 4200 hotels in 80 countries".
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Forget the £25 , just post a full and honest report of what happened on Trip Adviser and all similar websites giving the hotel no stars.....
I always check out any place I stay before I go with Trip Adviser and millions of others do likewise so a bad review hurts them much more than a £25 refund....
Best Western is indeed a franchise and the hotels are independently owned so I would complain to the BW Head Office in UK as well suggesting they review the service at this hotel.
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I do use review sites to check hotels before booking, but have to admit that I often take comments with a pinch of salt, as I think that people are more likely to post gripes than praise.
In particular I pay low regard to comments regarding poor food at overseas holiday hotels, as many Brits seem to only be happy with stuff they know and recognise, and are not experimental enough for "foreign" food. For instance I stayed in a large Turkish hotel which had about the largest buffets you could imagine, with plenty of choices, and yet still people moaned that the food was rubbish. Maybe my standards are too low. More likely that other peoples expectations are too high, in the price range.
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So you would judge a hotel that was satisfactory in all respects, according to the OP, other than a minor issue with a shower which was remedied by the hotel as worthy of no stars and a bad review?
There seems to a lack of proportion in a lot of the responses to this post.
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CGN - I said give them an honest review.
The hotel has failed not only in cleanliness but in the matter of that old fashioned word ......service
At that rate per night you expect everything to be 100% and an apology even if not accompanied by a refund would have helped.
The attitude of the desk in the matter definitely warrants no stars and is symptomatic of a deeper malaise in the hotel management.
If housekeeping and the desk are getting it wrong who knows what the chef is doing to your soup......
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>>I do use review sites to check hotels before booking, but have to admit that I often take comments with a pinch of salt, as I think that people are more likely to post gripes than praise.
I also take some comments with a pinch of salt. But I particularly like Active Hotels because you need to stay at a particular hotel before you can post a review. We generally look for places that have a rating of 9 or 10/10, and have, so far, not been disappointed. But having said that, last year as part of a group we booked into a hotel that rated only a humble 7/10 and it was excellent.
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At over 200 notes per head for 2 nights I too would expect the room to be spotless and that would include absence of bits of grot in the shower tray.
Getting all heavy and threatening to get the law involved when asked to knock a not particularly massive amount off the bill for the trouble is not the stuff of which repeat business and word-of-mouth recommendations are made. I know we've only the OP's side of things here, but still.
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well actually you said
"Forget the £25 , just post a full and honest report of what happened on Trip Adviser and all similar websites giving the hotel no stars"
And since we weren't there we don't really know what was said in the way of apology or the attitude of the staff All we do know was that the hotel admitted to the fairly minor problem and rectified it , which in my book is a reasonable outcome. A demand for compensation looks a little disproportionate as does giving a no stars review on tripadvisor - save that for the genuinely awful. Believe me there are some hotels I have stayed in where you would be ecstatic if a bit of mold in the shower was the only problem
Whilst we all want everything to be perfect the world is not like that and businesses like the rest of us make mistakes. As long as they are corrected with good will that's fine by me.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Mon 9 Aug 10 at 13:36
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...admitted to the fairly minor problem and rectified it , which in my book is a reasonable outcome...
My reasoning is that I paid for a clean, functioning room for two nights/mornings to include use of the toilet and shower.
One morning's use of the toilet and shower was impaired by the mould.
It is daft to pay the same price for a room with a mouldy shower as for a room with a clean one.
Night one has to be cheaper than night two.
Unless you say the price I booked was for rooms with mouldy showers, and the clean shower on day two was a bonus.
The promised call from the hotel this morning has not materialised - they've got their money, so they now couldn't give a stuff.
Brother's inquiries with Mastercard have begun - the only way the hotel will take any notice of us now is if there is a possibility the card company won't pay them.
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Just think.
You had a long weekend away that cost a four figure sum.
And you're moaning about £25, which will have completely spoilt the weekend for everybody. It will have put up your blood pressure. It's still putting up your blood pressure, and why?
I stayed in a hotel in Paris last week where some American moaned online that the lift was too small and therefore gave it no stars. My comment is that the hotel is better avoided by fat Americans.
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Mon 9 Aug 10 at 14:09
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...which will have completely spoilt the weekend for everybody. It will have put up your blood pressure. It's still putting up your blood pressure, and why?...
Mapmaker,
None of the above statement is correct, but other than that, I'm sure it's a worthwhile contribution.
I've made several light-hearted comments throughout the thread, which go some way to illustrate the view I take of what happened.
It's true that I don't like the way they shoved the money on my brother's card, and nor do I appreciate lots of promises to 'ring on Monday', when clearly there's no intention to do so.
Perhaps the hotel I stayed in is best avoided by people who expect others to do as they say they are going to do.
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Best Western boss took part in the undercover boss series on Channel 4. I'd tell the hotel you were going to contact that nice chap that went undercover etc. And then if they don't do anything I'd be phoning him and play up the Channel 4 programme (Undercover Boss). The chain obviously has problems and they might strike this hotel off their list.
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If the mould was that bad, in your opinion, why didn't you ask to be moved to another room. They dealt with it though so get over it. There's more important things to worry about in life.
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Before making a formal written complaint I suggest you reference
www.qualityintourism.com/content/pdfs/Standards/Hotel%20Standard%20INT.pdf
You will then be able to determine if the star rating for the hotel was correctly identified.
It may however bore you into submission!
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Has anyone else noticed that there is only one 4* Best Western in the Lake District?
It doesn't sound that bad. I had a bath at the Turin Palace and the lumps of clinker that came out of the bath taps were beyond counting.
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...It sounds very good...
It is fairly good - had it not been for the shower, there would have been no complaints.
It's what I would regard as just about four stars, although it has no aircon or fridges in the rooms, which you tend to find in more modern four star hotels.
Value is average - it's the Lake District in August so prices are bound to be high.
The rest of the place was clean.
I wouldn't try to put anyone off stopping there, although if anything goes wrong, I suspect the 'like it or lump it' attitude we encountered is typical.
There was a bit of that when we checked in.
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Does the Lake District need air-con now?
Blimey - global warming must be further advanced than I thought. ;-)
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>> Does the Lake District need air-con now?
>> Blimey - global warming must be further advanced than I thought. ;-)
>>
It is because if you open the windows, a swarm of nasties will probably eat you alive!
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>> a swarm of nasties
Surely there are also some decent folk in the Lakes?
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there are only a few people in the lakes, the bodies will probably surface at some time.
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I think cleanliness should be a given in any Hotel or B&B. After all, you're paying a lot of money just to sleep in a room for one/two nights so a clean room/bedding and bathroom is the absolute minimum I'd expect.
Fair enough if the decor is a bit worn, and you don't get a flat screen TV, or minibar etc but what is there should be clean.
Perhaps a small claims court process would help?£85 to register a claim but you can put that on their bill if you win.
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>> Perhaps a small claims court process would help?£85 to register a claim but you can
>> put that on their bill if you win.
What is the actual loss for which he is claiming?
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>>
>> What is the actual loss for which he is claiming?
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.. that he was conned in to thinking it was a "four star" hotel when it was defined by someone who had a different view of what four stars meant?
In any case is he not on dodgy grounds as the contract was in his name but he did not pay for the service himself?
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small claims court? for a slight dirty shower?
For gawds sake, get a grip.
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>> four star hotel at a cost of £225 each room
... and you are claiming for just £25 off that price?
I never paid that much for a hotel in my whole life!
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Let us know how you get on, ifithelps.
My understanding is that when you make a booking for a hotel room, they are legally obliged to provide you with a room as described. The contract would be (e.g.) for a double room with ensuite facilities and breakfast. Things like cleanliness of the shower, the comfortableness of the bed, the quietness of the room, the quality of the breakfast, are sufficiently subjective that if they are not up to your expectations, then there is nothing you can do legally, and the hotel is under no obligation to give you a discount or refund if you think you have been hard done by.
"My reasoning is that I paid for a clean, functioning room for two nights/mornings to include use of the toilet and shower."
No. Legally you paid for a room for two nights/mornings to to include use of the toilet and shower. Unless you have it in print that it was to be clean and functioning, including a definition of those words, you don't have a case.
"One morning's use of the toilet and shower was impaired by the mould."
One's experience might be impaired by various things, but that does not mean that you have a case against the hotel for a partial refund.
"It is daft to pay the same price for a room with a mouldy shower as for a room with a clean one."
Maybe, but that's the way life works.
Remember, if you have made a booking, most hotels will charge you the full price of the room if you do not show up, and you are entitled to no discount or refund. Why would you be entitled to a refund simply because the room was not to your satisfaction - especially if you made your complaint known, and they remedied the situation?
"My brother is annoyed about that, as he regards the transaction as unauthorised - they knew the bill was in dispute."
If he gave them the card when you arrived, he was effectively authorising the transaction, and the cost, having been agreed previously, was not in dispute.
"The only name and address they have for the booking is mine - the invoice for the total is to me - so it's a bit ropey to charge someone else's credit card, even if they were in the party."
He gave them the card, which meant that he was guaranteeing payment for the whole party if you all decided to do a runner.
To be honest, the hotel have not covered themselves in glory - and their customer relations skills appear to be in need of some improvement. I hope that the hotel management will make an appropriate gesture. But, legally speaking, I don't see how they can be obliged to do anything.
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I once stayed in a some Travelodge type place at Chester Services on the M56. There was a sign at reception promising a full refund if I was unhappy in any way with the room. The cot that we had booked was missing, there were two lightbulbs out and there were cigarette burns on the bedding, in a no-smoking room. All things that I could have coped with and things that wouldn't necessarily have ruined my stay but, as the hotel had put that sign up I asked for, and received, a full refund with no questions asked. If the hotel that OP stayed in did not have such a sign then I fear that he cannot expect a refund of any sort.
I do agree though that the hotel staff have acted in a less than professional manner and that it would not have hurt the hotel at all to make a small goodwill gesture. There are now several people on this forum who will in all probability not stay in the only four star Best Western in the Lakes, which will obviously cost the hotel a lot more than the £25 refund requested by IIH.
EDIT - just looked at the Best Western website and if I were looking for a hotel in the Lakes, I would not even consider the one stayed at by IIH due to the lack of photos of the interior.
Last edited by: Badwolf on Wed 11 Aug 10 at 12:18
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Premier Inn (who have the hotel at Chester services) are good at customer relations. A few years ago, we booked into one, and the sheets weren't clean. We reported this to the lady at the desk, and the bed was remade, and we not only got a voucher which gave us an effective 50% discount, but also a very nice letter from the management thanking us for reporting the fault.
Premier Inn may lack character, but when it comes to customer relations, I have always found them to be first class.
(They're also within my price range!)
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Thanks for the recent posts - very considered.
There was never any chance I would pursue legal action.
Brother has spoken to Mastercard, they are not willing to act because we did get most of what we paid for - can't argue with that.
My brother is a banker in the traditional sense - he likes things to balance and be done right.
A 'cardholder not present' transaction when the cardholder is sat three yards away does not ring true with him, but Mastercard seem to think it's OK.
I have written what I consider to be a more than fair review on Laterooms -the site I booked through.
The site says it sends the reviews to the hotel - still no call from them, which I think indicates what they are about.
I might ping off an email to BW, with no high hopes of a reply.
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Any suggestions what I do about my Canarian holiday, sharing an apartment with cockroaches (which the large tour operator admitted they knew about) and bed-bugs?
I believe ABTA is a cosy consortium of travel companies!
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>>suggestions
1. Book with a credit card.
2. Kick up a fuss the moment you arrive, rather than once you get home. And kick up that fuss with the credit card company too.
Once you are home, the bites will fade, just like the memories of the holiday - be it good or bad.
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1. Did that!
2. Tried that. Couldn't contact local rep. Local rep failed to meet two appointments made by calls to UK. Eventually moved to another room without cockroaches but still contained other wildlife.
I guess I'll never book another holiday through the son of Tom!
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Tom - I would write to Thomson customer sevices and see what reply you get. Ask for reasonable compensation or a discount on your next holiday for the inconvenience.
If you are really annoyed and upset and badly inconvenienced as I was by horrendous building works on a holiday in Kefalonia some years ago and if the operator does not offer adequate compensation get a solicitor involved. A couple of letters usually does the trick...
I was so annoyed with being fobbed off by the hotel and our tour operator that I organised the protests at our hotel by around 30 of us.
When these were ignored and we had returned home I organised a class action against the tour operator which ended up with each of us getting 50% of our holiday cost back.
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Customer services admitted the cockroach problem was known about, offered £25 and told us to go away!
I tried getting other guests involved. Two other couples wouldn't, because their wives were at home! Another were too 'tired and emotional'. The remainder couldn't be bothered (I wonder what conditions they live in).
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Re the OP, lets work out what the refund should be
Cleaning staff are paid minimum wage, say 6 quid per hour. Each room takes 10 minutes to clean, and given that half of it wasnt done thats 50p. Add another 25p for materials, and 25p for incidentals, thats a refund of
1 shiny pound coin.
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>>1 shiny pound coin.
but it's the principle!
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...1 shiny pound coin...but it's the principle!...
The cost of cleaning the room has nothing to do with me - so 'one shiny pound' is just irrelevant nonsense.
I fail to see what's wrong with objecting to poor service.
Better that then saying nothing at the time and then moaning about it afterwards.
This hotel sets its stall out as high class accommodation with prices to match.
I expect it to live up to that.
They've taken our money and cannot even be bothered to call, as promised.
That is not acceptable to me.
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...update...
Finally got a call from the hotel, although it took a recorded delivery threat of legal action to illicit it.
The offer from the hotel was £30, which was upped to £40 after I pointed out we had been put to a little time and trouble.
Quite happy with the outcome, it's a tiny bit more than I asked for in reception.
I remain annoyed that we had to be so persistent for any notice to be taken off us.
Only when we made it clear to the hotel we would not be fobbed off was anything done.
It is a shame, but being Mr Nice and Polite doesn't get you anywhere with establishments such as this.
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Let's hope they have learned from this. Sometimes you have to complain or the service remains poor for everyone for too long.
I won't mention the actual hotel I stayed in maybe two years ago that still hasn't taken the money from me despite me handing over my card and signing for it etc... they obviously did something wrong on the machine. I even asked later over the phone if they'd really settled the bill for me. I didn't take it too far or someone may have lost a job when nobody had realised an error had been made. The card company said there had been no request for money apart from the preauthorisation.
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That's happened to me a couple of times.
I did try the first time to correct their error, but when you're treated like an idiot...............
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Exactly BT. I tried as best I could say to management the bill was not paid and they said it was. To have dug deeper could have got someone in trouble. So I gave in. Theoretically it's still in the timeframe that they can still take the money I think so I cannot give it to charity or anything.
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"...it's still in the timeframe that they can still take the money I think so I cannot give it to charity..."
that's so sickly it's made my head spin
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Thanks for the update, ifithelps.
Nice that they did something . . . in the end.
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About 13 yrs ago I bought a caravan from a dealer about 60 miles away.
I gave the salesman a cheque for £4K and asked him to ring me when it had cleared.
He duly rang and I collected the van a couple of days later.
They still haven't cashed the cheque. I called in a month or so later when I was in the area and the site was empty and derelict. I guess the salesman was upset at losing his job and binned my cheque, and perhaps others.
It's the only reason I can think of.
Too late now, too long has passed.
Ted
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. I guess the salesman was upset at losing his job and binned my cheque
>
>>> i know someone who did that 2 months ago
they were told they were out of a job when they came back to base
not sure what happened after that
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A parking ticket machine stole two 50p pieces from me this evening. So I duffed it up a few times and it shed 5 quid or so into my hand. Still wouldn't produce a ticket though however hard I hit it.
Still, makes a change dunnit? Heh heh.
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quite a good change in fact :-)
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I once put money in a parking meter (2 x £1) and it printed the ticket. Except the ticket was for £1 and I got a parking fine. I appealed and they said if the money in the machine didn't match what the machine had counted then they'd let me off. I got let off because the machine was out. I bet this would not work today.
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I have stayed in three Best Western Hotels (including one very nice looking establishment just outside Frankfurt) and have been dissapointed with all,
SWMBOs employer has used a fourth for staff events, equally disappointing.
We now avoid them.
Sooner or later they will run out of customers.
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Remember that Best Western does not own any of the hotels. They market hotels owned by others. They do inspect them etc. and some must come and go as Best Western hotels at times.
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...update...
My even-handed review on laterooms.com which somehow failed to appear, appeared after I asked what had happened to it.
It has now been removed.
This reinforces my long held view that all reviews on the booking sites are a waste of space and cannot be relied on.
The booking sites are in thrall to the hotels and are not interested in fair comment.
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They may feel they have little choice but to remove a review if the hotel claims it contains untruths.
Your point stands though - that makes the reviews as a whole of little use.
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...They may feel they have little choice but to remove a review if the hotel claims it contains untruths...
Not really, they should simply give the hotel the right of reply.
In any event, my review was very temperate and presented no difficulties from a legal point of view.
There are some negative comments in other reviews of the same hotel, but I think the point still stands, Laterooms are uncomfortable and would rather not publish poor reviews.
I include my own review in the 'cannot be relied on' category, because it's quite likely mine was the only mouldy shower they've had in years.
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During our USA visit this summer I left several reviews on Trip Advisor all of which made it through, including the poor ones.
I have only ever used Laterooms once and it was a successful visit.
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Ifithelps is saying booking sites like laterooms seem not to like or tolerate much in the way of negative comments. Trip Advisor hasn't got the conflict of interest to contend with.
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I've already mentioned Active Hotels on here. I find them very useful indeed, as reviews can only be posted by folk that actually stay at their hotels, and, what's more, they don't exclude adverse comments.
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Stayed for a couple of nights at the Cragwood Hotel in Windermere - managed to get two nights B&B for 39 quid pppn. Really, really good place to stay. Highly recommended. There was a cobweb in the room but didn't haggle !
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39 quid including a free spider ? Can't complain about the value...
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Boil it in the kettle before you munch it, I'm sure it'll be fine
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did it have a sell by date?
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Did you find it on the Web?
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Glad I wasn't a fly on the wall...
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Don't eat it now, freeze it and keep it for a family meal....
Everyone can have a leg.
I'll get......etc.
Ted
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Dirty hotel bathroom leads to billing dispute - Ted
