Hotel being awkward or am AIBU?

[peterrrabbittt]

I was gifted a voucher worth £50 for a hotel back in September last year. It was for a lovely 5 star hotel not far from where I live and it can be used in any part of the hotel e.g the spa, restaurant or towards booking a room. It was valid from September 2019 to February 2020 (although I thought it was March, not sure why I must of just glanced at it and read it wrong. I appreciate it’s completely my fault).

Anyway, I planned on using it last year in November and decided to take a friend. We decided to use it in the restaurant and have a lovely meal as both of us aren’t really fussed on spa treatments. After being told over the phone that we didn’t need to book a table beforehand, we just turned up, however we were given the wrong information. We were told that we would need to either book over the phone or online. Fine, I said I would ring up in a couple of weeks when I received my rota from work and knew when I’d be off.

Unfortunately I became very ill before Christmas with a stomach bug which lasted a couple of weeks so didn’t get a chance to go before then and then I was working a lot of overtime in January as they were very short staffed in work (I know this isn’t the hotels problem). I have no idea what made me do it, but I looked at the voucher yesterday morning and realised it had expired on Friday, literally 2 days ago. I decided to phone up the hotel and explained the situation and asked if they would make an exception given the circumstances. The voucher itself is worth £50 but as it’s quite a nice place we would definitely be spending a lot more on drinks and deserts as it wouldn’t cover the total (I didn’t say this on the phone though). I said I would be happy to come within the next week if they had any bookings available as I didn’t expect them to wait for months for us to use it. The receptionist took all the details and said she would give me a call back as soon as possible. I didn’t hear anything back last night but they’ve finally called me back this afternoon and said they can’t do it unfortunately, didn’t give a reason why.

I just feel like they’ve been purposely awkward. I appreciate it was my fault for reading the small print wrong but given that I’d already tried to use it last year but couldn’t due to their mix up, I thought that they might have made an exception just this once. It just feels like such a waste to me.

AIBU? If so please feel free to tell me that I’m being a spoiled entitled brat!

It doesn't matter what happens elsewhere. These vouchers have an expiry date, they have expired. This thread is infested with children.

These vouchers have an expiry date, they have expired. This thread is infested with children.
you work in a council or something like that, don't you? You can't be working in the private sector with that attitude

Naming and shaming is not the sane as a factual review. I reiterate, it is a tantrum. 'I'll scweem till I get my way'.

@JosefKeller
Hahaha totally

They should be on the “Computer says no” thread

Naming and shaming is not the sane as a factual review.
in this case, it's exactly what it is. Stating the facts is not having a tantrum.

your reaction is very odd I have to say!

@midsomermurderess

Factual review

I had a voucher that lasted 5 months.
I called up and said can I use this if I come in for dinner. I was told I could use the voucher and I didn’t need to book ahead for a meal.

On their advice I got to the venue and was told I couldn’t use the voucher I had to book ahead. They would not let me have dinner with the voucher even though I was told otherwise by another staff member.

I was then unwell and was unable to book again before the end of the expiry date.
I have been told it’s tough.

Is it a handwritten date? It sounds like they have made a mistake by making it for 5 months rather than six months

Unfortunately not a hand written one as that would have been a good idea. All printed out and sent in an envelope!

I can understand why vouchers run out, they have to account for them within a financial year

They can note it as an accrual. If they have to do it within the financial year, this would mean they can’t sell vouchers in the months before year end. Even if they have a year expiry on them, it will straddle two financial years unless it is sold in April.

I think they are being really mean.

This isn’t a freebie promotion voucher, the hotel have actually been given £50 for it.

@Sceptre86 it isn’t an offer.
It was a gift voucher.
Bought for £50.

you work in a council or something like that, don't you?

Easy now. I don't have that attitude and have worked for the council. There are jobworths all over.

I reiterate, it is a tantrum.

You're the one stamping your foot here because others don't agree with you!

Agree with @MrsTerryPratchett about the 'council' remarks too.

YANBU to ask if they will honour the voucher, especially considering the extenuating circumstance of the mix up in November, but the hotel is NBU to refuse to extend it beyond the original expiration date.

I work in retail customer service and every day there is someone wanting me to break policy for them and they always have a good reason why I should just do it for them or bend the rules just this once. They are not unreasonable to ask the question and state their case, but I am not unreasonable for sticking to the policy set out by head office, especially when their excuse is "I havent had time" ... to return a product that has a 90 day return policy, the store is open 6am-midnight, they work 9-5 in an office a 10 minute walk away, they pop in for lunch at least once a week and do their big shop at the store every Friday.

A lot of places have more leeway if you contact them before the expiration date and ask for an extension than if you contact them afterwards and want them to honour an expired agreement. Contacting them before the expiration you're showing the company that you want to use their services, havent had the opportunity but are aware that their offer is time sensitive whereas after the fact it can look like you forgot about it and are now expecting the company to fix your mistake so that you can get something "free".

Regarding the issue with having tried to book a meal previously, and been given the wrong information - I assume the information was correct if you just wished to turn up and eat, and pay by card/cash. I assume if you're using a voucher, you need to book in advance and tell them you're paying by this method, and I expect that's in the voucher T&C's and you didn't mention that over the phone. If this is the case the hotel weren't in the wrong at all.

I don’t think returning a product is the same as an expired voucher. The hotel WBVU and I think you should name them - I named Handpicked because their service was excellent - it should cut both ways.

Name and shame them on social media what for? Adhering to their own policies?

@melj1213 but it isn’t an offer

Someone has paid the hotel £50 to buy a voucher as a gift to redeem.

Unless the OP tells us different.

I wonder how much experience some of those supporting the hotel and criticising the Op have of the luxury service market.

People seem to be missing the point that it is all about service and the customer being right. It’s not about sticking to the very letter of a policy every time and saying ‘no’ to customers.....especially over petty things. In luxury shops or hotels the staff expect to always smile and bend over backwards and do it in a charming way. They expect there will be some ridiculous requests (this isn’t one by the way) and that they will largely smile and say ‘of course madam’ - this is all part of it.

If you are a regular frequenter of luxury establishments you know this. That’s why it’s shocking to hear a 5* hotel might not behave like this, or that other people on MN suggest Op be treated like some kind of scammer or just told ‘too late, off you go’.

Anyone running a luxury service business will tell you service is key. You do have to be flexible and charming and treat the customer as right. If this doesn’t sit well with you, but you feel the need to enforce rigid rules and regulations on clients who might later spend hundreds or thousands, you are not suited to this kind of work and won’t benefit the business.

I wonder if this really was a 5* hotel or just a local establishment which sees itself as a bit superior, but hasn’t grasped the levels of customer service required and expected. For goodness sake, misinformation, turning guests away, treating those with a gift voucher as second class, not answering the phone, refusal to offer an extension so close to the deadline......not at all in keeping with a luxury lace and more like Basil Fawlty.
Luxury places treat every guest as valuable and important and make them feel special whether they are spending little or a lot. They know that often the small spender or slightly scruffy person can be extremely wealthy and become a very valuable customer lately.

You expect and should receive fantastic service, which actually will go above and beyond. It should leave a pleasant taste and feeling of ‘that was really good - they went out of their way to help me’ rather than an unpleasant taste and sense of ‘jobsworths who really enjoyed not helping me’.

These vouchers have an expiry date, they have expired. This thread is infested with children

Not really. The hotel told the OP the wrong information and I am assuming she mentioned the voucher when she asked about booking. Even if she didn't, if I worked for the hotel I would ask the question if I knew it was buried in the terms of the voucher. That is if someone phoned and said do I need to book for your restaurant I'd ask if they had a voucher before I gave the reply yes or no.

but it isn’t an offer

I didnt mean "offer" as a promotion/deal I meant it as "offer [of services to value of the voucher]"

Someone has paid the hotel £50 to buy a voucher as a gift to redeem.

And that person bought the voucher in the knowledge that the hotel places a time limit on their gift being used and there is a risk that their £50 gift will not be used. It is not the hotel's problem that the voucher was not redeemed before the, clearly printed, voucher expiration

But keeping customers happy IS the hotel’s business.

Any luxury business will tell you that the nature of the beast is the need to be flexible sometimes and not insist on rigidly sticking to the letter of the law. It is through this approach that they win loyalty and good reviews by word of mouth.

Anyone knows how valuable and how damaging personal, shared experiences are to the service sector. When someone hears from a friend or colleague ‘and they were really decent and helped me by.....’ they take note and book to go there 6 months down the line. But when they hear ‘they were pretty unreasonable/totally inflexible when....’ they bear it in mind when booking somewhere later in the year.

Repeat bookings, good word of mouth, happy customers......it’s all worth so much more than a few quid and being rigid for the sake of it and no real gain. Quality businesses DO show flexibility and goodwill. They thrive through doing so.

It’s absolutely not just about the rights and wrongs (although in this case the hotel contributed to the deadline not being met) but about a customer brand and on-going custom.

I wonder if some posters on this thread have ever received amazing service....the kind that goes above and beyond and treats the customer better than is deserved. It’s a bit sad to think some people can’t even imagine staff who smile and go the extra mile and genuinely look to make things work for customers, rather than to establish barriers.

I’ve had times where I’ve made a mistake or a bit of an unreasonable request in upmarket businesses. To be honest, never has anyone looked surprised or said ‘no’ or treated me or my request with disdain, but treated even the smallest request as something serious that they really want to help me with. And I go back. It’s part of what I pay for.

Only in the less good establishments do staff look surprised at requests, suck their teeth, say it’s probably not possible and then seem to get some kind of kick out of saying ‘no’ even to very minor requests. We don’t return to them. But I guess the prices don’t allow for the flexibility and seeming generosity of spirit because the prices don’t cover it.

A 5 hotel is getting it wrong to be jobsworth about a few days. But given they don’t answer the phone on a Sunday night, give misinformation and turn guests away who have come for a meal after misinformation, they seem more like Primark enforcing a strict returns policy, rather somewhere a bit more upmarket like Boden who always look to please the customer - they will take a return if it’s been washed incorrectly, if it’s beyond returns period, if you’ve lost your postage paid label - they put themselves out and are charming about it. Does it cost them - yes! Do they make more money in return - Yes!! Can’t some of you see this last point and get beyond wanting a 5 hotel to rigidly enforce the rules and tell Op she must be on her way and there’s nothing that can de fone, when of course the issue could so easily be resolved.

YANBU at it does seem short-sighted of a high-end venue to not extend it for a week.

It’s expired. You’re a CF for trying to get them to take it tbh

It's expired by 2 days, it isn't cheeky to ask if they would still honour it. Must places would, if it's a gift voucher they will have already pocketed the money for it

Most*