Remember the two pints and two packets of crisps that cost €19.90 in Temple Bar?
Well that was bad, but this is worse…
A British businessman was charged
for three small bottles of water at a posh London hotel after being unaware the establishment had a £50 'minimum spend' policy, which was tacked on to the end of his bill.The story went viral after an (understandably) disgruntled Edward Heaton posted to Twitter a picture of his receipt from the Wellesley Hotel in Knightsbridge, hashtagged
.Avoid @wellesleylondon - £75 for 3 San Pellegrino in their garden. Not told of minimum spend of £25/head. #ripoff pic.twitter.com/0QRHaROsqa
— Edward Heaton (@EdwardHeaton) July 23, 2014
Nope, we can't quite believe it either - that's
in our money. For three 500ml bottles of San Pellegrino. Which cost 60p each in Tesco.To make matters worse, the hotel's initial response on Twitter was hardly what you'd call apologetic.
Mr Heaton, who had been hosting a business meeting in the hotel at the time, paid the bill because he didn't want to "make a scene" in front of his client, reported The Independent.
“I have no issue if they have a minimum charge, but they need to make it clear," Mr Heaton told the paper, explaining that he subsequently emailed the hotel to complain.
"It is the lack of transparency that I have a problem with.”
The hotel - which markets itself as "London’s first boutique-grand hotel" - subsequently apologised, saying the minimum spend policy of £25 per person was applied on its cigar terraces after 4pm and was "comparable to similar venues across London".
Right.
Remind us not to visit swanky hotels in London, then (not that we would be anyway, but you know…).
But what we can't understand is - why wasn’t the cost of the water deducted from the minimum spend limit?
Anyone?