Complaint Help Please - Thistle Hotels

phyonics

Hi folks,

I'll try to keep this brief. We stayed in a thistle hotel in London for 1 night recently. We used tesco clubcard vouchers to pay for most of the stay, the cost of the room for one night (a junior suite) was £160.

We were not impressed with the room, it was very worn. The decor was in real need of updating, the tiling/grouting in the bathroom was laughable (I took piccies for evidence), paint was chipped and flaking off on the balcony, the bed was like the opposite of one of those 'no roll together beds'. All in all it was poor.

I complained to the hotel reception on the night and they weren't helpful, saying all their rooms were the same standard. When we got home I immediately sent a complaint email to Thistle asking for a refund of the £160. I think I'm within my rights to do that as even though we didn't actually spend £160 cos of using tesco vouchers, we would have got £160 of something else if we didn't use them at this hotel. Anyway they wrote back and say, yes we acknowledge the problems and offered us a free nights stay at the same hotel.

I wrote and refused this saying I had no desire to go back there and again asked for £160 back. I've just received a second reply from them offering a complimentary stay at their sister Thistle hotel not far away from the problem one. Again I have no desire to take them up on this. I'm quite prepared to again write and ask for the money back, but can anyone suggest anything that may help resolve this in my favour. I have previously offered to send them the photos I took which they have ignored.

Any suggestions folks?

Thanks

Marko

Darksun

Hmm, tricky one - legally you're probably not entitled to a full refund, since you did spend the night in the room. You might be able to get a partial refund because the room was not of a reasonable standard, but you might have to fight for it. The fact that you used clubcard points rather than money might make the situation more complicated aswell.

If you're not already, make sure you address your letters to

The Manager
Thistle Hotel Limited
Corporate Office
PO Box 909
Bath Road
Uxbridge
UB8 9FH

I think you should also contact Tescos saying that you were disappointed with one of their partners. Don't ask Tescos for anything, since legally I don't think they have any responsibility, but if you're lucky they might give you some clubcard points as a gesture of goodwill.

hollydays

If they introduced a hotel standard judging tiles,grouting and bathroom fixtures it would help us all.

Matt_Nixon

Was the hotel the Thistle Kensington Park?

I stayed there early October, all the decor was very 80's and tired, my stay was paid for by my company so I didn't complain.

researcher

I stayed in the Thistle Kensington Park last month - I paid £42 for a double room - booked through priceline + I chatted the receptionist into giving us an upgrade to an executive room, which was still very tired.

I don't think it is ever necessary to pay £160 per night for London Hotel.

Thistle will not refund you £160, but probably will offer the £40 you paid, and possibly a little extra as a goodwill gesture. However, I would contact Tesco and speak to them, they might refund you your deals vouchers, which you can use for something more worthwhile.