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A West Cumbrian couple who stayed at the Broadway Hotel in Blackpool are appealing to Trading Standards after they were fined £100 by the hotelier for leaving a negative review on TripAdvisor.
After Jan and Tony Jenkinson discovered an unexpected £100 charge on their credit card they contacted the hotel and were told it had a ‘no bad reviews policy’ in its terms and conditions.
The policy stated: “Despite the fact that repeat customers and couples love our hotel, your friends and family may not. For every bad review left on any website, the group organiser will be charged a maximum £100 per review.”
Hotel Owner tried to contact the hotel for comment but phone lines were dead and the website appeared to be offline.
Cumbrian Trading Standards has warned hotel owners who charge guests for posting bad reviews online that they could be breaking the law.
John Greenbank, Trading Standards area manager north, said: “I have worked for Trading Standards for many years and have never seen anything like this. The hotel management clearly thinks that they have come up with a novel way to prevent bad reviews, however we believe this could be deemed an unfair trading practice.”
Cumbria’s Country Council’s Trading Standards have said that this could be deemed an unfair term under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 and have passed it on to colleagues at Blackpool Trading Standards to investigate.
The couple have sought a refund via their credit card company.
Cllr John McCreesh, cabinet member for Trading Standards, said: “Customers need to be free to be honest about the service they’re getting. Other customers depend upon it. Hotel owners should focus on getting their service right rather than shutting down aggrieved customers with threats and fines.
“People should have the right to vent their disappointment if a hotel stay did not meet their expectations and should not be prevented from having their say.”
UPDATE: Blackpool Trading Standards has said that it has been in touch with the management of Broadway Hotel who have agreed not charge guests these fines in the future.
Image courtesy of Visit Blackpool
