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“Do not use your reward vouchers for Bespoke Hotels Group ”

written by on 06/02/2012

As my friend and I we are attending a wedding on 5th and 6th April in Chersty with our husbands we realised that we can use our Tesco reward points to book a hotel near the wedding. We called the Bridge Hotel in Chertsey to get a quotation and they told us bookings cannot be made for April until the end of January 2012. We then called in January to get a quotation so we would know how many vouchers to redeem at Tesco. They gave me a quotation of £168.00 for 2 a night stay in a double/twin room.
I promtley received my Tesco vouchers and then called the ‘central reservations’ number for the Bespoke Hotels group. They then proceeded to tell me that the price would be £167 PER NIGHT and this is because we are using our Tesco vouchers. I strongly feel that they are misleading the customer and after calling twice we were not informed that this would happen. They told me the price of £168 for two nights would be for if we are paying cash or by credit card. I really cannot understand why we are being ‘victimised’ for using our club card vouchers at Bespoke Hotels. I think this is very unfair and in no way a ‘reward’. It does not say anywhere in the confirmation collateral that I recived from Tesco that prices would differ, nor does it say this anywhere on the website of Bespoke Hotels or when we called up initially to get a quotation.

I then wrote to the sales director about this and her reply was :

'The Be Away rate is based on an average rate throughout the year and in the case of The Bridge is set at £167.00 per night for Bed & Breakfast. Hotels individually offer flexible rates , much like airlines and train fares, that fluctuate depending on seasonality and demand. There will be occasions where the hotel will offer cheaper rates and also where they will offer higher rates , depending upon the levels of demand etc.
The published ‘rack’ rate in April for a double room are from £195 per night not including breakfast

Whilst I appreciate that the Be Away Rate is higher than the current flexible rate offered by the hotel , this is the criteria of the hotels pricing and several guests have benefitted from this when the hotel has been selling at their highest rates.

I have spoken to the hotel and re-iterated the fact that any Tesco promotion enquiry should be dealt with by our Central Reservations office to avoid such confusion in the future'

-Clearly this discriminates for when people stay at low season, and only 'several' people will benefit. They clearly have not advertised this correctly or even provided the rack rate information up front. How can we tell if this really is a reward?