Is hospitality dead?
It would seem so given the way a disabled person with memory issues was allegedly treated by a hotel in Manchester, England, where a standard double room costs £52.00 per night.
Margaret Jones, 63, arrived in the city on Thursday evening for an overnight stay at the Britannia Hotel on Portland Street. She had booked and paid in advance and arrived at the hotel around 9pm.
At the hotel check-in, she said, she was informed by reception staff that she would be required to pay a recently introduced £1.20 ‘tourist tax’ before she would be allowed to access her room, the Manchester Evening News reported.The hotel refused to accept cash for the payment when she handed over £1.50 in coins.
The woman said that due to her memory issues she primarily pays for things in cash as she often forgets her card PIN numbers, which can lead to severe panic attacks.
She was told she must pay the City Visitor Charge levy by card.
“I don’t like using my card, normally I carry cash all the time,” Margaret explained to the newspaper.
“I’m reluctant to use my cards because I don’t remember my PIN numbers. I know where I stand with cash, my cards all look the same so I often forget which card I’m using.
“I gave them £1.50 in cash and they refused it. They told me they don’t take cash, and I explained about my mental impairment, but they didn’t seem to want to listen.”
Margaret, who uses a mobility walker, alleged she was then told by staff that she would need to leave the hotel if she couldn’t pay the levy by card.
Margaret, who uses a mobility walker, alleged she was then told by staff that she would need to leave the hotel if she couldn’t pay the levy by card.
“I tried to use one of my cards and it wanted my PIN number,” she said.
“They told me that I couldn’t have my room and I couldn’t stay there. They actually turned me away from the building - I was pretty much left stranded in the freezing cold. I didn’t know what to do - I was shaking and crying.”
Margaret says she then stood outside the hotel for around 15 minutes, before contacting a friend, who offered to pay the levy via the internet or over the phone. She said this offer was also refused by staff.
“I’ve offered cash, payment by phone or the internet, and they wouldn’t accept any of it. They didn’t seem to care.”
Margaret said she eventually found a card that she could use for a tap payment without requiring a PIN and she was able to pay the fee and granted access to her booking for the night. But she said the experience has left her feeling anxious and embarrassed.
“It’s ludicrous,” she said. “I thought cash was legal tender. I told them I was at another Britannia hotel a few months ago and had no issues and they just said ‘well, different hotels have different rules’. Maybe I’m being too old-fashioned, but surely there’s a way of collecting the fee in cash or something? Not everybody has cards.
“I don’t mind paying the £1.20 city fee but when I've already paid for a room and to be told I can’t stay there and turned away in the cold, I think there’s something seriously wrong with that."
“They told me that I couldn’t have my room and I couldn’t stay there. They actually turned me away from the building - I was pretty much left stranded in the freezing cold. I didn’t know what to do - I was shaking and crying.”
Margaret says she then stood outside the hotel for around 15 minutes, before contacting a friend, who offered to pay the levy via the internet or over the phone. She said this offer was also refused by staff.
“I’ve offered cash, payment by phone or the internet, and they wouldn’t accept any of it. They didn’t seem to care.”
Margaret said she eventually found a card that she could use for a tap payment without requiring a PIN and she was able to pay the fee and granted access to her booking for the night. But she said the experience has left her feeling anxious and embarrassed.
“It’s ludicrous,” she said. “I thought cash was legal tender. I told them I was at another Britannia hotel a few months ago and had no issues and they just said ‘well, different hotels have different rules’. Maybe I’m being too old-fashioned, but surely there’s a way of collecting the fee in cash or something? Not everybody has cards.
“I don’t mind paying the £1.20 city fee but when I've already paid for a room and to be told I can’t stay there and turned away in the cold, I think there’s something seriously wrong with that."
The newspaper approached both Britannia Hotels and Manchester Accommodation BID for comment. They were apparently too embarrassed to respond.
I think they might have underestimated the damage to both the hotel brand - remember the name Britannia Hotels - and to the cold, bleak city of Manchester.
And this is not the only Manchester hotel at the centre of a "hospitality" furore.
The Maldron hotel chain has been accused of trying to cash in on Oasis shows next year by cancelling bookings customers had made before the dates of the band's reunion tour had been announced.
Lily Stroud from Newcastle told the BBC she reserved rooms on two weekends at a Maldron Hotel in Manchester for July 2025 after speculation about the band's return.
But the hotel chain cancelled her bookings after the tour announcement due to a "technical error", with the same rooms now listed as unavailable.
A spokesman for Maldron Hotels said there was "an overbooking issue" at two of its locations and it was not an attempt to "resell rooms at inflated prices".
I'm sure everyone will believe them.
Prices for some Manchester hotels for the weekends of the Oasis gigs are currently double those of the weeks before and afterwards.
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