Thomas Cook crew in Cuba

[Bobbins]

Originally Posted by YorkshireT

Unless T and Cs are presented to the customer and agreed, they are useless - no contract, at least in Countries with a proper rule of law.

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Read dreamisawish's post a few back.

[dreamisawish]

Some things I’d like to add for context.

I worked at a not great hotel in London, which was a big hotel but not in a chain. Sometimes if the receptionist who checked someone in had taken payment from a faulty card and hadn’t noticed, or had taken payment incorrectly at check in (at this hotel payment was always done at check in because we had a quick check out policy where you just put your key in a box) then that receptionist had to pay for that stay. One girl I worked with was charged £400 out of her paycheck because they weren’t able to charge a guests card after they left. The hotel was honestly the worst to its staff which is why I left, but if this is happening here in England, it probably could also happen elsewhere. What I’m saying is some of these receptionists/ managers are probably quite desperate to get payment, because it could land on their heads if they don’t.

Second point is that locking guests out of their rooms is a common way to get them to come down to reception to have a talk. You can never guarantee that they will read a note you leave for them. When we used to lock people out for non payment we would nearly always let them back in to their rooms to access their belongings - as long as it wasn’t their last night- and give them a day to come up with payment. Same with when the travel company went bust, we did give guests a few days to find the money. They weren’t being held hostage in their rooms, which must be illegal if not highly immoral.

I’ve seen the CAA have set up a telephone line specially for telling them you are having problems with your hotel which is good news, hopefully this won’t be happening again.