A Response From NoHotel

Received on November 7th (note how they even get the date wrong)

10 November 2006

Dear Mr Cartwright,

Thank you for your e-mail following your recent reservation with Novotel Manchester Centre. I was sorry to learn of the difficulties you experienced on this occasion. I have now had the opportunity to investigate the issue you raised with Iain Black, General Manager of the hotel.

I sincerely regret that you feel our terms and conditions are not clear. I understand that on this occasion your booking was made on our web site taking advantage of the ‘hot deal’ offer, which requires the clients credit card details to be provided. An extract of the conditions reads:

All reservations must be guaranteed with a credit card valid at the date of the start of your stay, unless otherwise specified.

We do indeed send a confirmation trusting that the booker has met the above conditions and provided a valid credit card. At no point are you guided through a payment process on line. Neither do these conditions state this is the case.

Mr Black assures me that hotel staff attempted to process your card on three occasions and it was declined each time. You were telephoned by the hotel twice, which you acknowledged when you arrived at the hotel. Unfortunately, as you failed to meet the stated conditions, your booking was subsequently released. Had staff been able to speak with you directly, you may have been able to provide alternative payment details, and your booking would have been retained.

I understand that in an attempt to assist you in this difficult situation, you were offered alternative accommodation and luggage storage at Novotel, and staff offered to contact the Ibis hotel on Portland Street on your behalf, though you declined each of these offers.

We feel that the terms and conditions shown to you at the time of booking are explicit and transparent, and I am sorry that you do not agree. We do of course regret that you were caused inconvenience on this occasion; however I am confident that hotel staff acted in accordance with our service standards.

Thank you once again for taking the time to bring this matter to my attention, as feedback from our guests is invaluable to our efforts to continually improve the quality of our services. I hope that we may welcome you back to Novotel in the future.

Yours sincerely,

Loretta Hammond

Guest Relations, Accor UK and Ireland