I stayed at this hotel as part of a party at the weekend. We felt that this hotel would be convenient for everyone attending and we were given (what we thought was) a good rate so it seemed like a good choice. Last night I realised that the hotel had debited an additional UNAUTHORISED £100.00 from my account 3 days earlier and after doing some investigation I realised that other members of the party's accounts had also been debited. After several phone calls to the hotel I was advised that this charge was for smoking in a non-smoking room. I ALSO DO NOT SMOKE (see comment below) and the girls who were with me in the room did not smoke at any time while we were in the room. When we arrived at the hotel we quickly left our bags in the room and made our way down stairs as we were already late for dinner. The next morning we had our breakfast, packed our bags and left. The room was left in a very good state and there was certainly no smell of smoke or any other smell in the room. The hotel claim that there was a 'strong smell of smoke in all rooms and evidence of ash on windows'. Despite not being able to provide me with any reasonable evidence of this, other than the signatures from the cleaning staff, the hotel are unwilling to show any compassion or to investigate the matter further. As far as they are concerned, these signatures are enough evidence for them. I have been advised by the trading standards agency and the citizens advice bureau that in their eyes this would not constitute reasonable evidence.

The hotel have told me that a letter had been sent to my house advising me of the fine on the day the charge was made. Nearly one week later and I have yet to receive this letter. The hotel had no problem contacting me on my mobile on a number of occasions prior to the final balance being paid. Why they couldn’t lift the phone to advise me and the rest of the party about these charges is beyond me. In fact, a simple email would have sufficed but I was not afforded this courtesy either.

I am absolutely disgusted at the way I have been treated by this hotel and will NEVER be back and neither will any of the other 30 people who attended the hotel to have dinner with us. Collectively, we spent over £2000.00 in the hotel and this is how they treat us!?! If this is the type of hospitality the UK City of Culture has to offer then god help those visiting the city next year.

I will be taking the matter further. However, to all those thinking about making a reservation at this hotel - BE WARNED: You may think you are getting a good deal but in fact you could end up getting ripped off like me and the lady who left the comment below.

I also have issues with the information that was provided to me before making the reservation with regards to the amount of money that would be held on each card for security purposes. They told me that £50.00 would be held on each card in case of damage. Does this mean the hotel ultimately have access to £150.00?

I also have issues regarding the hotels handling of personal information. The hotel staff offered other members of the party the names of people who were fined over the phone despite there being no clear reason for them to do so. This flippant regard for personal data is concerning. The hotel feel that they were justified in giving out this information because they 'presume' we all already knew each other. Absurd!