Complaint letter and Data Protection issues

Nurselayer

Hi all,

A friend of mine went to an exclusive hotel with her then boyfriend, (he paid). Unfortunately the stay wasn't too great and she wrote and complained.

Since then she split up with said boyfriend. Hotel wrote back to her and offered her a comp meal and accomodation to make up for the disappointment of their first stay.

Ex-boyfriend has now been in touch and hotel have discussed the contents of the letter and the offer that they made with him.

Has there been a breach of Data Protection here? I would have said that because the letter was addressed to her that the hotel should not have discussed it's contents with anyone else. Opinions please?

Obviously she is upset as her ex is now quizzing her on who she was planning to take, etc etc.

stevenhp1987

I would have thought, as he paid, he should be the one getting the complimentary free meal/accommodation and as he paid, he would have the right to know about the freebie from his contract with the hotel?

maninthestreet

He paid, so the contract was between him and the hotel - so why shouldn't they discuss the compensation offer with him???

ShaneUK

The breach technically has been that they dealt with her in the first place. If ex-bf paid for the booking, he is the one that should be complaining and getting the compensation.

peachyprice

Did she tell the hotel they'd split up???

As above, the hotel is in the wrong for replying to her in the first place because he's the one they had a contract with.

Googlewhacker

Nurselayer wrote: »

Hi all,

A friend of mine went to an exclusive hotel with her then boyfriend, (he paid). Unfortunately the stay wasn't too great and she wrote and complained.

Since then she split up with said boyfriend. Hotel wrote back to her and offered her a comp meal and accomodation to make up for the disappointment of their first stay.

Ex-boyfriend has now been in touch and hotel have discussed the contents of the letter and the offer that they made with him.

Has there been a breach of Data Protection here? I would have said that because the letter was addressed to her that the hotel should not have discussed it's contents with anyone else. Opinions please?

Obviously she is upset as her ex is now quizzing her on who she was planning to take, etc etc.

As said before why is she trying it on for a freebie when HE was the one that paid for it all?

Equaliser123

Nurselayer wrote: »

Since then she split up with said boyfriend. Hotel wrote back to her and offered her a comp meal and accomodation to make up for the disappointment of their first stay.

Ex-boyfriend has now been in touch and hotel have discussed the contents of the letter and the offer that they made with him.

Has there been a breach of Data Protection here? I would have said that because the letter was addressed to her that the hotel should not have discussed it's contents with anyone else. Opinions please?

.

No breach as no "personal data" was disclosed by the sounds of it.

davemorton

If it was all on paper (i.e. not computerised data) then is it even covered by the data protection act??? (genuinely looking for an answer, not being funny)

Equaliser123

davemorton wrote: »

If it was all on paper (i.e. not computerised data) then is it even covered by the data protection act??? (genuinely looking for an answer, not being funny)

Yes. DPA 1998 extended data protection to non-computerised data.

Bamber19

ShaneUK wrote: »

The breach technically has been that they dealt with her in the first place. If ex-bf paid for the booking, he is the one that should be complaining and getting the compensation.

peachyprice wrote: »

As above, the hotel is in the wrong for replying to her in the first place because he's the one they had a contract with.

I don't believe this is correct. The complaint is completely outside of the contract. A person is perfectly entitled to make a personal complaint about an aspect of their stay in a hotel, and the hotel is perfectly entitled to respond to that person and offer a goodwill gesture without there being any data protection breach simply because there was no contract between the complainer and the hotel.

stuartritchings

hi all i recently received a letter from halifax bank which had a different address to mine on it as it had been delivered down the road.should i complain or would i get compensation