B&B want me to pay £150 fine!

[froggy1811]

So, this might be a longish read, but please bear with me! Recently my husband and I went to stay at a pub B&B. It is not often that we would ever be in a financial position to do this; however, we love the area and decided to treat ourselves. Anyway, when we arrived we didn't exactly receive the warm welcome that we were hoping for! I thought that perhaps I was imagining things; however, I received a message this morning from Booking.Com demanding that I pay £150 to the B&B for not following their policies. They have stated that this is because my husband smoked a cigarette in the room (please don't all shout at me at once! 😱) BUT, in his defence, he did this hanging out of the window at 2am and disposed of the dimp discreetly - so the only way I can imagine that they knew, is if someone from across the road of where we were staying, saw him and told the landlord!

To be honest, the attitude of the owners was absolutely dreadful from the moment we arrived! And I got the distinct impression that they didn't like us straight away! I shall list some of my points below:

1: Upon arrival we were told that if we wanted a table for dinner, we should have pre-booked. Our fault entirely, but it was the irritable way it was said to us.

2: My husband ordered several half pint ales at the same time, so that he could try them and decide which one he wished to drink for the night. Unfortunately, the idiot forgot which one was which, but as his drinks was still relatively full he asked the landlord which he thought was which based on the liquids colour. The landlords response was extremely cold and scratchy! He made it plain my husband was a fool in his eyes, and then he just stomped off without trying to assist him.

3: Over the course of the night, I had ordered 2 bottles of Prosecco (although, the second bottle didn't actually get drunk, as I couldn't manage any more!) So, it was taken up to our room.

4: We had booked a King room, but this was actually a really cramped, small double , and my husband's legs hung over the end of the bed. Shower and sink only a few inches apart so if you opened the door it hit the sink, and there was zero room to dress in there! The toilet seat was also wonky.

5: Room wasn't the cleanest, and no option to pay extra for a later check out.

6: When my husband went down for the breakfast, the landlord made reference to the amount of Prosecco I had drank the night before! This is despite the fact that we sat quietly at a table all night and was not in any way 'loud' or rowdy! So why mention this?!

7: WiFi didn't work all night long.

I know my husband shouldn't have smoked out of the window, but I have a suspicion that they just didn't like us from the moment we arrived. I had expressed this concern to my husband, who just brushed it off. We were quiet guests who made sure the room was spotlessly immaculate before we left, so I just genuinely feel like they were looking for issues!

Would you pay this? Do you think AIBU?

@thelegohooverer

How do smokers not understand that it blows back in?

Most of us do. Most of us also respect no-smoking rules.

Pay half the "fine".

This is a joke, surely. Smoking out of the window is not discrete. Someone ordering 3 x half pints only to decide what to drink for the rest of the night…wow! My hubby would only drink 3 halves max. If you’re only setting yourself up on that the landlord would have known drunken antics were approaching.
Absolutely no sympathy, you sound like nightmares.

I think you paid what for you is a lot of money so you had high expectations, but actually £85 only buys a cheap hotel room (especially post Covid where everything seems to have become so much more expensive). DS and his friend stayed in a youth hostel last week and that cost £60 a night for a twin room!

You sound like nightmare guests tbh

Smoking is fucking foul, and I hate it when relatives crack a window open and think it gets rid of the smell.

Your husband is in the wrong here.

Doesn't matter about the other issues you were having with the hotel. 2 wrongs don't make a right. But not only was what your husband did wrong it was illegal, so you've completely lost your leg to stand on.

If it cigarettes stink so much though it would be on his hair and clothes regardless so the pillows and room would still smell. There’s no way of knowing if he smoked in the room or was a heavy smoker that had been outside. What did he do with the butt ?

I’m sorry you had a bad night away though. I’m not sure the hospitality sector comes out well of the pandemic really. We weren’t brilliant at it before either.

@BrainPotter

This is a joke, surely. Smoking out of the window is not discrete. Someone ordering 3 x half pints only to decide what to drink for the rest of the night…wow! My hubby would only drink 3 halves max. If you’re only setting yourself up on that the landlord would have known drunken antics were approaching. Absolutely no sympathy, you sound like nightmares.

Tbf, a pub landlord will have seen people drink more than three halves before, without incident.

The guests after you probably refused the room because of the smokey smell.

The Landlord would have had to
-deal with the unhappy customers
-find a new room for them

• would have lost the use of one of his rooms that night

AND would have needed to deep clean the one you used.

The fine doesn't seem so unfair. Why didn't your husband smoke outside?

You broke the rules; you need to pay up.

I am laughing my ass off at the idea that someone having 3 half pints over the course of a meal is outrageous! And ok so the OP had a WHOLE bottle of prosecco and then some more, so what? As a former pub manager (thank you covid) I can state that a person who rarely drinks is usually a bigger wanker on 2 glasses of wine than a regular drinker is on 10.
So when you post on MN that you had "a couple and was a bit giggly as I dont usually drink" you were probably a complete bloody nightmare as you cant handle booze and should just stay off it.

And yes, tasters are normal. I have always done it as I want my customers to be happy with what they want. I always got info on the guest beers too so I could say what colour/strength/tones they have. Its what a good LL does. This one sounds like a dick tbh.

@NotTerfNorCis

I don't smoke but would one cigarette smoked out the window really make a room with clean bedding smell all day?

Yes

So your husband was a twat and smoked inside in a non smoking room (don’t think there are such things as smoking rooms anymore that’s how unreasonable he was) and you think it’s ok? Jesus. No wonder hospitality hates people.

I am laughing my ass off at the idea that someone having 3 half pints over the course of a meal is outrageous!

But the 3 / several half pints weren't what he drank with his meal. They were the tasters he used in order to decide what he would settle in to drink for the rest of the evening, as stated in the OP. We don't know how much he drank after that, but apparently enough to still be going strong at 2am.

I just clicked on second reading that OP didn't go down to breakfast after her 1 or 2 bottles of Prosecco which is probably what sparked the Landlord's comment about it. Friendly ribbing that she had a hangover?

The only information that is relevant is that your DH broke the law by smoking in the room.

Everything else is just padding and conjecture and whining.

This needs to be in faulty towers! No idea how it all actually played out but all of you sound hilariously awful!

They would have smelled the cigarette smoke, but £150 is excessive. In this weather, surely leaving the windows open for a few hours would have got rid of the smell. They do sound unfriendly. I wouldn’t wantto go there.

@Flapjacker48

a "dimp"? say what now?

I think it’s what’s left of a cigarette when a persons finished smoking one.

It’s called a dowpee in Scotland.

YABVU

You (your dh) broke the rules and so you have been fined.
How friendly the welcome was isn't relevant in the slightest.
In fact, the 'rule' isn't some quirk of the B&B owners, it is actually the law, and has been for a long time, so shouldn't have been any surprise you you or your dh.

Interesting how you "forgot" to mention that, despite the meal not been booked, and the restaurant being full, they still kindly moved things round to accommodate you, as this didn't fit your narrative of how unfriendly and unwelcoming they apparently were .

Yabvu and need to pay. They need the fine money to pay for the extra cleaning to get rid of the horrible smoke smell which still comes in even if you lean out of a window. You sound like nightmare guests, I'm not surprised if it seemed like they were losing patience with you!

@thinkingaboutLangCleg

They would have smelled the cigarette smoke, but £150 is excessive. In this weather, surely leaving the windows open for a few hours would have got rid of the smell. They do sound unfriendly. I wouldn’t wantto go there.

no, it gets in the carpets and the fabric in the room.

@CheddarGorgeous

The only information that is relevant is that your DH broke the law by smoking in the room.

Everything else is just padding and conjecture and whining.

He did NOT break the law!

It is against the law to smoke in a designated smoke free area and therefore there are penalties involved in breaking these legally binding rules. The manager / owner of an area (including vehicles) has the responsibility for taking reasonable steps as dictated by law to ensure the area remains smoke free. What these steps are may be found in Department of Health guidance.

It goes on to say the owner can charge upto £200 if someone is caught smoking in a smoke-free area.

Your husband smoked in a non smoking room. That’s the only bit that’s relevant.