A British couple who stayed at the Broadway Hotel in North West England got an unexpected charge on their credit card after a horrible night’s stay. Tony and Jan Jenkinson were initially charged £36 but after a scathing review on Trip Advisor, the hotel instituted a strange policy.
Here is the Jenkinsons’ review.
We chose this hotel because it had ‘ample parking’ , car park was full so had to park across the road at another hotel.
Couldn’t believe the state of the room. The hot tap didn’t work, when we reported it we were told they knew about it and it would be fixed in the morning (we were only there for one night.) The drawer fronts fell off when we opened the chest of drawers. Again, they knew about this and it was supposed to be dealt with in the morning. The kettle wouldn’t work, were told you had to switch on the socket it was plugged into, also switch on another socket to make it work. This was because the whole place was rewired wrongly according to the member of staff who dealt with us, and they couldn’t afford to have it put right. There were instructions on how to make a phone call, we would have had a job as there was no phone!! The wallpaper was peeling off the walls, the carpet was thin, dirty and stained. The bed was something else, 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. The curtains were tattered and filthy, there were polystyrene tiles on the ceiling which are a fire hazard.
BREAKFAST… This was a joke and consisted of 1/2 cooked rasher of bacon, 1 ‘plastic’ sausage, 1 egg, 1 hash brown and a spoonful of beans!! Oh, I nearly forgot, 2 slices of toast each, but no marmalade to put on them. Weak tea and coffee. YUMMY!!
This place should be shut down, I don’t know if they are ever inspected, but if so, I don’t know how this place has passed!!
If you are offered this place to stay for a fortnight for 10p, you are being robbed!!
STAY AWAY!!!!
Harsh? Sure. A little over-the-top? Yeah. I mean, they paid £36 for a reason. But the hot water issue is a legit complaint and one that probably deserves a negative review. And that ceiling? Yeah, that’s just disgusting.
Anyway, when the hotel got wind of the review they dropped a £100 fine on the Jenkinson’s. Here’s the the policy’s exact words.
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 organizer will be charged a maximum £100 per review.
Tony Jenkinson claims “the print was so small it was practically impossible to see.”
Trip Advisor weighed-in, calling the Broadway Hotel a bunch of bullies.
When Sky News alerted Trip Advisor of the hotel’s bullying tactic, its spokesperson responded:
“It is completely against the spirit and policies of our site for any business owner to attempt to bully or intimidate reviewers who have had a negative experience,” said spokesman James Kay.
The hotel has since refunded the couple’s money and reportedly scrapped their policy.