A couple who were charged £100 by a Blackpool hotel after posting a negative TripAdvisor review are set to receive a refund, following intervention by the local council. Tony and Jan Jenkinson described the Broadway Hotel as a “filthy, stinking hovel” in their review, only to find the charge added to their credit card bill.
The hotel had a policy stating that “for every bad review left on any website, the group organiser will be charged a maximum £100 per review.” When the couple queried the charge, they were told it was incurred under this “no bad review policy” included in the terms and conditions.
Blackpool Council confirmed on Wednesday that the hotel has agreed to reimburse the Jenkinsons and scrap the policy. Gillian Campbell, the council’s cabinet member for public protection, said: “Our trading standards team became aware of this issue last week. As a result, we have spoken to the hotel owner and asked for the policy to be removed, which has now happened.”
John Greenbank, trading standards area manager north, said: “I have worked for trading standards for many years and have never seen anything like this. The hotel management clearly thinks that they have come up with a novel way to prevent bad reviews. However, we believe this could be deemed an unfair trading practice.”
TripAdvisor spokesman James Kay condemned the hotel’s actions, stating: “While, thankfully, such instances are very rare, it is completely against the spirit and policies of our site for any business owner to attempt to bully or intimidate reviewers who have had a negative experience. Where we find evidence of a business doing so, we will take action to protect the integrity of our site.”
