Hotel Westminster

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Please see copy of letter sent to Gold Crest Re the Westminster Hotel Ostend. I am still awaiting a reply from Gold Crest:
Dear Sir
Re: Booking Reference Number 8104 – Westminster Hotel, Ostend, Seaside Break.
Further to my telephone conversation with your booking staff on Saturday 28th June 2008, I now wish to put in writing my complaints regarding a recent holiday taken with your company. I have been given your name as my complaints are regarding the accommodation and condition of The Westminster Hotel Ostend, I am further lodging with you a complaint regarding the manger’s attitude towards not only me but other members of our party.
I booked for three people, booking reference number above, to go on the Ostend Seaside Break, departing Monday 23rd June returning Friday 27th June, the other two people were Mr L. Boulter and Mrs J. Boulter. Everything was fine until we reached the hotel. Once we were given our rooms we then discovered how tatty and un-kept the hotel was. My room, number 19, was in fact no bigger than a broom cupboard, we measured the room and it was approximately 6ft x 8 ft with an “on suit”, I should state my food larder at home is larger than the room I was given at the Westminster. I also need to point out that the condition of the room and particularly the bathroom were extremely poor and the toilet basin was a very unsavoury colour, it had been cleaned, but desperately needed decaling the toilet seat had marks on it, the widow did not open, the walls in the bathroom has flaking plaster, all very run down really. Although the actual bed was old and stained, the linen was clean and the rooms were cleaned each day and I have no complaint at all with the cleaning staff.
I could have asked for a different room, but that would have been on a different floor to Mr and Mrs Boulter (my friends), which I did not want to do in case they should need me in an emergency( I need to explain, Mr Boulter is aged 89 years and Mrs Boulter 82 years).
I also would like to point out that the restaurant was always clean, the food was very good and the waiting staff were excellent, in fact all of the staff were very pleasant except for the manager.
You should know as Accommodations Manager, Gold Crest had two trips at this hotel, using the same coach. Trip 1: Ostend, Seaside Break, itinerary bed breakfast, evening meal, all week. Trip 2: World War 1, War Graves, itinerary, bed breakfast evening meal, all week, except for Thursday when this group had lunch instead of evening meal.
The manager of the Westminster decided that all the Gold Crest clients were to have lunch instead of evening meal on the Thursday. This caused a lot of dissatisfaction for the people on the Seaside Break, most of them had already made arrangement to go out for the day and did not want to come back for a lunch time meal. You also need to know that a different holiday company were also at the hotel, they were still able to have an evening meal, the chef had to cook for them in the evening so it is not as though the people on the Seaside Break were putting the staff out. Apparently our driver spoke to the hotel manager explaining that people were unhappy with the change, but this was to no avail. Myself, Mr and Mrs Boulter had made arrangements to go out for the day on the Thursday (we were not told until the Wednesday night that our meal had been changed to the lunch time), we certainly were not happy with this change in arrangements.
Like most of the people on the Seaside Break, we decided we would still go out for the day on the Thursday and bought food in town to take back to the hotel to have early evening, instead of going back for lunch. Once back at the hotel, at about 5.30pm we took our food down to the lounge bar asked for a coffee and started eating the food we had bought. At this point I spoke to the hotel manager who was making the coffee for us, I told him I was not happy about the change in meal times, I also told him I would be placing a complaint to yourselves, he was extremely rude to me, so to avoid any confrontation I walked away and waiting for the coffees. Myself, Mr and Mrs Boulter then ate our food and stated to drink the coffee which the hotel manager had made, the coffee tasted disgusting and we quickly realised he had made the coffee with sour milk, I took the coffee’s back and complained about this and he was very rude to me again, he reimbursed me for the coffee’s but almost throw the money in my face, he certainly did not offer to make another cup or apologise for using sour milk. If we had not realised this coffee was made with sour milk we all could have been extremely sick. As soon as we had finished our food the manager came over to us, we were then told that some confusion had taken place and an evening meal was available for us, to which I answered, it was too late, dinner was about to be served and as we had just finished the food we had bought, we were no longer hungry.
It was such a shame that this incident happened on our last evening, apart from the hotel being very run down, we were having a very nice time, Ostend in a lovely town, the people are very friendly, even the staff at the hotel, except of course the manager, were friendly and very sweet.
I feel that as the main holiday company you should be aware of the problem the Westminster Group have. In the same road as the Westminster Hotel, we saw two other Westminster Group hotels, all of these hotels certainly need some care and attention they all look very third rate and certainly do not have a star rating. I and most of my fellow travellers felt The Westminster hotel was not up to scratch as we were told it was being pulled down in September, but later the story changed and we were told this had been a rumour that had being going around for years. To be frank all the other Westminster Group hotel that we saw up the road looked as tatty if not worse than the Westminster.
The holiday was not that cheap, after all I had to pay a single supplement which took the holiday price up to £270.00 and I slept in a room no bigger than a broom cupboard for four nights, so in my case the holiday was expensive. In November of this year with another holiday company I fly to Turkey, spend a week in a 4 star hotel, fully inclusive, also including two excursions, my holiday insurance, everything and it is only going to cost me another £120.00 more than I paid for this holiday, so if I compare the holiday in November (which is with Saga) and this holiday then in my opinion this one is the more expensive. The general opinion of the people on our coach was, if this is the standard of hotels that Gold Crest use, then they will not be travelling with Gold Crest again.
To conclude, I am claiming for three evening meals which were paid for and not supplied. I would also like the name and address of the chief executive of The Westminster Hotel Group so that a formal complaint can be sent to them, I don’t see why you should take all of the responsibility for the problems incurred.
I look forward to hearing from you in the very near future.
Yours truly,
Mrs J.M.Brown.

Thank you for reading the above, I do hope you take my sentiments on board.