What do people think about this?
Discussion
A couple of years ago we stayed in a hotel on Exmoor, the room was lovely, the restaurant quite pricey but very good.
A few months ago we decided to go again and to treat our friends who live nearby to dinner in the restaurant
This is a 4* hotel that is not cheap.
Check in was in a separate building that houses the restaurant, we were given vague directions to our room and even more vague directions to the EV charger on site.
We eventually found our room, we passed multiple rooms with the doors open and not at all made up, just a mess. We found our room, the carpet was heavily stained, the bed falling apart, the heating not working, the tea tray dirty.
However, time was tight, friends arriving for dinner, so we put on our glad rags and met them at the restaurant.
The menus arrived and we all ordered. About 10 mins later waiter came and told us that none of the main courses we had chosen were available, we chose other similar items, to be told they weren’t available either. The left us with 1 choice, a burger (crap for a restaurant that’s not cheap and for my wife who can’t have gluten).
They then told us they only had 2 burgers but could do a minute steak for the others.
At this point I asked to speak to the manager, complained about the menu issue, my wife chipped in about the room issues. the manager spoke over my wife repeatedly and shouted at her. The food arrived so we ate quickly and left the restaurant.
On checkout the next day the manager offered us a voucher for £50 to make up for the issues. I took it, but said I doubted they would ever see us or our local friends again.
I posted an honest review in Tripadvisor explaining the issues. It was very similar to a number of other reviews.
The next day I had an email from the manager saying the voucher was now invalid. At no point were any conditions applied to the voucher.
IMO the whole be place is very badly run, and withdrawing compensation because of a bad review is unethical unprofessional and potentially bordering on extortion. Further it breaches TA rules.
What would people do next?
A few months ago we decided to go again and to treat our friends who live nearby to dinner in the restaurant
This is a 4* hotel that is not cheap.
Check in was in a separate building that houses the restaurant, we were given vague directions to our room and even more vague directions to the EV charger on site.
We eventually found our room, we passed multiple rooms with the doors open and not at all made up, just a mess. We found our room, the carpet was heavily stained, the bed falling apart, the heating not working, the tea tray dirty.
However, time was tight, friends arriving for dinner, so we put on our glad rags and met them at the restaurant.
The menus arrived and we all ordered. About 10 mins later waiter came and told us that none of the main courses we had chosen were available, we chose other similar items, to be told they weren’t available either. The left us with 1 choice, a burger (crap for a restaurant that’s not cheap and for my wife who can’t have gluten).
They then told us they only had 2 burgers but could do a minute steak for the others.
At this point I asked to speak to the manager, complained about the menu issue, my wife chipped in about the room issues. the manager spoke over my wife repeatedly and shouted at her. The food arrived so we ate quickly and left the restaurant.
On checkout the next day the manager offered us a voucher for £50 to make up for the issues. I took it, but said I doubted they would ever see us or our local friends again.
I posted an honest review in Tripadvisor explaining the issues. It was very similar to a number of other reviews.
The next day I had an email from the manager saying the voucher was now invalid. At no point were any conditions applied to the voucher.
IMO the whole be place is very badly run, and withdrawing compensation because of a bad review is unethical unprofessional and potentially bordering on extortion. Further it breaches TA rules.
What would people do next?
blueg33 said:
loskie said:
Thank you for your kind wrods.
Now your attitude is shining through.
There's always 3 sides to a story.
Response to your attitude. It was not two years later and you don t seem to understand forums. Now your attitude is shining through.
There's always 3 sides to a story.
Your post was idiotic and added nothing.
595Heaven said:
blueg33 said:
loskie said:
Thank you for your kind wrods.
Now your attitude is shining through.
There's always 3 sides to a story.
Response to your attitude. It was not two years later and you don t seem to understand forums. Now your attitude is shining through.
There's always 3 sides to a story.
Your post was idiotic and added nothing.
If it helps I went in a car and my friends arrived in their 993
I wasn't happy with a moderately expensive hotel we stayed at in London recently - it was nearly good, but daft things messed it up.
On checkout there were a few people around and I didn't feel minded to make a fuss. Plus my wife would have been mortified - she never complains. So I sent them an email suggesting they refunded 20% to my card, which they promptly did. Happy with that.
I would not have accepted a voucher - I need actual money back. I'm still seething about poor work from a garage 3 months ago - they dismissed any kind of discount out of hand.
On checkout there were a few people around and I didn't feel minded to make a fuss. Plus my wife would have been mortified - she never complains. So I sent them an email suggesting they refunded 20% to my card, which they promptly did. Happy with that.
I would not have accepted a voucher - I need actual money back. I'm still seething about poor work from a garage 3 months ago - they dismissed any kind of discount out of hand.
Edited by Sheepshanks on Sunday 22 February 08:44
595Heaven said:
Honestly, what are you expecting as a helpful reply?
It was a few months ago and if you wanted to get things put right, I think you ve left it far too late.
Suck it up and move on.
And WTAF are you talking about extortion for?
Genuine question - what are TA rules?
TA rules. Summarised. Establishments should not off payment or withdraw compensation in exchange for better reviews or removal of reviews. It was a few months ago and if you wanted to get things put right, I think you ve left it far too late.
Suck it up and move on.
And WTAF are you talking about extortion for?
Genuine question - what are TA rules?
Extortion was flagged when I asked google about withdrawal of the voucher.
As I said, I’m not going back, but feel their attitude is extremely unprofessional. My wife runs a holiday business for us and works for a larger one. Neither would attempt to punish a customer for an honest review.
blueg33 said:
What would people do next?
Just vote with your feet/wallet and, unless you’re prepared to go back, move on. We had a negative experience with a 5* country house hotel, with issues that really shouldn’t have occurred at that level: when raised the manager’s response was to suggest that we give them a call when we were next going and they’d make sure they didn’t reoccur. There are lots of other nice hotels out there so simply haven’t bothered… prefer to stay at places that get it right without any drama and don’t want to go back there marked as guests who have complained.
blueg33 said:
595Heaven said:
Honestly, what are you expecting as a helpful reply?
It was a few months ago and if you wanted to get things put right, I think you ve left it far too late.
Suck it up and move on.
And WTAF are you talking about extortion for?
Genuine question - what are TA rules?
TA rules. Summarised. Establishments should not off payment or withdraw compensation in exchange for better reviews or removal of reviews. It was a few months ago and if you wanted to get things put right, I think you ve left it far too late.
Suck it up and move on.
And WTAF are you talking about extortion for?
Genuine question - what are TA rules?
Extortion was flagged when I asked google about withdrawal of the voucher.
As I said, I m not going back, but feel their attitude is extremely unprofessional. My wife runs a holiday business for us and works for a larger one. Neither would attempt to punish a customer for an honest review.
There does that help?
TBH dealing with issues on a public forum(Facebook, TA etc) rather than directly is not really cricket.
Remember the phrase "washing your dirty linen in public".
Blue62 said:
Sounds appalling, you ll obviously never return but you could provide a little more detail on this s
t hole to make sure the rest of us can avoid it. Four star on Exmoor, is it old, modern, out in the wilds etc
We can’t name and shame. t hole to make sure the rest of us can avoid it. Four star on Exmoor, is it old, modern, out in the wilds etcIt’s just off the A39 and not far from Exmoor zoo. It’s a country house hotel.
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