Reading the daily fail article (sorry I gave them the clicks) hotel staff went to their address to... confirm it was their address? So perhaps they had sent letters and they'd been returned claiming not at this address, (or just not replied to) and were seeking confirmation...?
This is what I thought when I read it too, people do give false details or just ignore communication, especially when they owe money.
As part of my job I chase payment owed (before the event) and the amount of people who ignore all communication, who's email address bounces back, who ignore letters, who's phones never get answered and then rock up the day before wanting it all sorted there and then and to go ahead and get very shitty when you can't oblige and say the event is cancelled, who think you owe them something because they might have chosen to spend money there, people want customer service but they don't want to have to put themselves out to tell you what they want, when and pay for it. They're busy and haven't got time.
Who get arsey when you chase for payment because 'cost of living' (like hospitality staff are somehow exempt from it, you know, one of the lower paid industries out there)
So I can imagine it's only worse if you're chasing actual money owed. The hotel were trying to help people out, and keep cash flow going for themselves in difficult times and to do that sometimes you need to bend a little, that's what they did, and I doubt they'll do it again, because they've been stung, not to mention the human element of needing to be seen as bending over backwards to accommodate anything people decide they want, be it possible, viable or fair or not because otherwise it's 'poor customer service'.
Giving good customer service and going above and beyond leaves you vulnerable to stuff like this, and then you get people saying it's your own fault for doing it. No win situation.
And when it all comes out like this, or on a review on social media, many people don't care about the paperwork or proof that the hotel have, they don't care if there's evidence (such as CCTV proving that the buffet was out for longer than the couple said - one of the reasons for the dispute in the first place) that the complaint is fabricated, in fact we've seen here that refuting claims like that by the hotel can be seen as distasteful. You're never supposed to show that a customer is wrong, being untruthful or out of order because that's poor customer service.
I'm glad this has gone the other way tbh because the amount of places that get trashed by scamming or just simply entitled people that have been in the wrong but can't possibly accept it is not on, there needs to be some balance back and people start realising they're not owed the universe because they have or they might be a customer.