Tony and Jan Jenkinson stayed at the Broadway Hotel in Blackpool but were not overly impressed with their stay, to say the least. They subsequently wrote of their experience on the travel website Trip Advisor but were shocked to find that their credit card had been charged £100 because of this.
Tony described the hotel in the north east of England as a “rotten stinking hovel” complaining that the carpet was bad, the wallpaper peeling off and that the bed was truly dire.
“It must have come out of the ark, the base was all scuffed and dirty and the springs in the mattress attacked you in the night,” Tony proclaimed.
“Despite the fact that repeat customers and couples love our hotel, your friends and family may not,” reads the small print contained in the booking documentation provided by the hotel.
“For every bad review left on any website, the group organiser will be charged a maximum £100 per review.”
Yes, you have read that right – if you feel your stay at this particular hotel was not up to scratch and then decided to talk about this experience online, then you set yourself up for a hundred quid fine!
Jan did not have her glasses on, explained Tony, and so she signed the documentation without reading all of the information contained within. But much to their horror they found that a stopover at the hotel, which they had picked on the basis that it had a car park and charged a modest £36 per night, had cost them much more than they had bargained on.
“Annoyed isn’t strong enough for how I feel about this, what happened to freedom of speech?” fumed Tony Jenkinson on BBC News of the hotel’s actions. And we have to say that we think that he has a pretty good damned point! Why shouldn’t someone be able to express their dissatisfaction with a service they have received?
Trading Standards are looking into the ‘bad review fee’ with a local representative of the authority stating that he had never seen anything like it in all his experience in the job.
Just think about it – if you were served cold food in a restaurant and complained to the waiter, you wouldn’t expect to then be charged more for your meal, right?
So next time you stop over on your travels somewhere to rest your weary head, whether it be a ropey bed and breakfast or a five star super hotel, be sure to read the small print!
Photo: via Getty.
