A businessman has vowed to never visit a posh London hotel again after he was charged £75 - for three bottles of water.
Edward Heaton was meeting a client at the exclusive Wellesley Hotel in Knightsbridge during the recent heatwave.
Instead of a tea or coffee, he ordered three 500ml bottles of San Pellegrino - which typically cost 60p in supermarkets.
Water joke! Edward Heaton was charged £75 for the three bottles at the Wellesley Hotel in Knightsbridge
Ed Heaton who had to fork out £75 for 3 bottles of water in a restaurant in London
But when the property buying agent asked for the bill he was staggered to be charged £75.
It
emerged the Wellesley - a five-star hotel which charges £600 a night
for a suite - operates a minimum charge of £25 per person when using its
bar after 4pm.
The water had already cost £5.50 per bottle and there was also a service charge of £8.33.
A 'minimum spend' charge of £50.17 was also added, bringing the total to £75.
Edward,
who runs property buying firm Heaton and Partners, said: ‘I have no
issue if they have a minimum charge, but they need to make it clear. It
is the lack of transparency that I have a problem with.
‘I
was meeting a client at a hotel. When we sat down, a waitress came over
and took our order. It was a very hot day, around 4pm and we asked for
three bottles of water.
‘There
was no menu, we just gave our order, had the water and then I asked for
a bill. It came to £75 - for three small bottles of water.
‘I
thought it was extraordinary and I quietly asked if it was correct and
they said “yes, there is a minimum order of £25 per person after 4pm”.
‘I didn't
want to make a scene because of the people I was with so I paid the bill
but got in touch with them later to complain.
‘They
were incredibly unapologetic and would not budge, but there were no
menus when we sat down and no one explained the minimum spend.’
The
Wellesley, in Knightsbridge, opened in December 2012 and takes its name
from Sir Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington.
Suites cost from £600 and the hotel raves about its terrace, which it calls one of London's finest.
But
their customer service has been criticised by Edward, who emailed the
hotel to say he wasn't happy with his experience on July 17. He also
tweeted his thoughts.
The hotel
responded by tweeting: ‘Thanks for letting us know. We will make sure
our policy at the Crystal Bar is dazzlingly clear to all in future. All
the best.’
Edward, 44, said: ‘For £75, we probably could have had a nice glass of wine each or maybe even a bottle of champagne.
Luxury hotel: The Wellesley in Knightsbridge, London, where guests are charged a minimum spend fee after 4pm
‘But three bottles of water? I wasn't angry. I was just totally bemused.
‘I
spend a lot of time in central London and I have a lot of meetings in
the top hotels. I am pretty well versed in how these places work but I
have never had this before.
‘I will never set foot in that hotel again.’
Most
supermarkets charge around 60p for a 500ml bottle of San Pellegrino,
which is a popular brand used in hotels and restaurants.
For £75, Ed could have bought 125 bottles or 62.5 litres of the water.
A
statement from the hotel said: ‘The Wellesley applies a minimum spend
of £25 per person as standard after 4pm for guests occupying the hotel's
cigar terraces where Mr Edward Heaton held his business meeting on 17
July 2014.
‘Guests
are made aware of this policy on arrival and the rates are printed on
the menus distributed on the terraces. The minimum spend of £25 per
person is comparable to similar venues across London.
‘Mr Heaton did not raise concern at the time of his visit but did send an e-mail of complaint the following week.
‘In
response, The Wellesley's management team replied on the same day to
offer its sincere apologies to Mr Heaton for an experience he deemed
less than satisfactory and we would like to take this opportunity to
apologise again. ‘
DM
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