The owner, Mike seems to have attracted the attention of followers of Basil Fawlty, according to some of these reviews.
We were booked for three nights, and unhappily were forced to cancel at the very last minute, due to my becoming ill the night before our departure.
Eve, my wife rang and was not surprised to find we had lost our deposit, hey ho !
Mikes manner was brusque and unsympathetic.
He later e-mailed to say we would have to pay an additional night, at no point did he even make a pretence of concern or sympathy over my illness.
We have recently seen the account which shows he took a further nights payment, that is 3 nights, over £300 in total.
This apparently was entirely at his discretion.
I am now better..... and poorer...... Thanks Mike !
This
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
24 June 2011
As owners of Highcliffe House, Karen & I felt that the recent review posted by "willy91186406" needed a response. We were rather surprised and shocked as we have never had any telephone communication with Willy, the booking was made by Willy's wife Eve via our online booking system which like all booking systems has a tick box to ensure you have read and agreed to the Terms and Conditions before you can proceed to payment. This was ticked as duly done and the deposit payment was taken by the Eviivo sytem.
Eve telephoned Highcliffe House at 11.30 am on the day of arrival to say they would not be coming as her husband wasn't feeling well. It was pointed out that as there was only three hours before they were due to check-in that it might be difficult to re-let the first night, however the room was immediately made available again online and the Lynton Tourist Office advised of the availabliity. Eve was advised both verbally and by email that if we could re-let any of the nights they would get a refund for those nights. In order to release the room online we have to deem it as 'no show' which then applies the outstanding balance charge concurrent with the travel industry practice, in this case £200.00
Unfortunately the poor weather over that period reduced the number of walk-in tourists in the town and with nobody booking online the room remained empty.
During a subsequent telephone call with Eve I offered to supply a letter in support of any claim for full reimbursement via their travel insurance or gold card cover in view of Willy's illness. Sadly this offer was declined.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC